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Pavenham | July 16th

Our 2025 Captain’s Day at Pavenham Park proved to be a memorable day and was widely regarded as one of the most enjoyable outings that we’ve had for a long time. Our return back into Bedfordshire attracted 18 players including a regular guest, Mike Rayer from Bedford Blues RFC.

The golf course has stood up well to the recent dry spell and fortunately, the greens were not as speedy and scary as they’ve been in the past. Perhaps the highlight of the day came at the par 4 1st hole. Having hit his drive into the trees, Jos hit his 2nd shot to 5 feet and holed the very steep downhill putt for a birdie 3 – just the 5 points to start then !

At the end of another dry warm LEGS afternoon there were a few players that managed to better their handicap but one player stood out with his score of 41 points - David Steel taking home the July Trophy. The runner-up was Trevor Horwood with 39 closely followed by home player Richard Sharp on 38 points.
Our 3 nearest the pin prizes went to; Tom Inskip at the par 3 6th, Andrew Randall in 2 shots at the 12th and Treasurer Jeff at the par 5 last hole in 3 shots.

This month’s “Last Legs” trophy was won by Henry Richardson with 21 points - last month’s winner. It shows just how fickle this game of golf can be.

As part of our Captain’s Day the Boddington Cup was presented to the best aggregate score of the pairs that had been secretly drawn. With a score of 75, our enormous trophy was taken home by Pete Schofield and David Steel. 
The summary of the scores is shown below together with the appropriate handicap adjustments.

Captain Graham generously supplied wine with dinner as well as a couple of remarkable cheese platters that the club had prepared specially for us. He had also secured a £40 voucher for the Three Tuns which Jos bought in the auction for £40.

Our Handicap Secretary’s work selling his “Mulligans” and “5ft of string” managed to raise £235 for the Captain’s charity. In addition, there were several significant donations from non-playing members that enabled Jeff to confirm the overall total raised for “Crisis” was an outstanding £448.

Next month, we move less than 7 miles down the road to The Bedfordshire on Thursday 21st August. I hope you can join us to play and if not, perhaps join us for dinner. The August entry form on our website is now open for business and our account awaits your entry fee.

Enjoy your summer, on and off the golf course.

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Mid Herts | June 19th

We had a great, if very warm, day at Mid Herts with the course in fine fettle and the welcome, hospitality and food, excellent as always. Fourteen LEGS members braved the heat to play at one of the best courses on our circuit which was enjoyed by all. It was great that President Mike Webb was able to join us together with Howard Smith, a former long term Treasurer.

The standard of golf on the day was good with first prize going to Henry Richarson with an excellent 39 points. Co-sponsor of the Trophy, Ray Beckman, presented Henry with his well deserved prize. A three point handicap cut awaits his next appearance! Second place with 35 points was Jos Daalhuizen (cut 2) and third was Andrew Stevenson with a creditable 33 points (cut 1).

Nearest-the-pin in three on the ninth was Andy Pohler, in two on the fourteenth was Tom Inskip and in one on the sixteenth was Richard Sharpe.

The much coveted Last LEGS Trophy was awarded to Pete Sayers.

Congratulations to all winners, who were all subsequently relieved of a few quid by Fines Master on the day Tom Inskip! Tom had us all in one way or another and some of his inspirational, funny and climate-change focused fines were both effective and very appropriate on such a warm day. Well done Tom!

Treasurer Jeff advised that we had raised £168 on the day which included generous donations by absent members which goes towards our chosen charity, CRISIS. Thank you all for such fabulous support.

We very much look forward to returning to Mid Herts in 2026.

 

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St Neots | May 13th

St Neots Report

A warm sunny day in Cambridgeshire greeted our 16 players at St Neots GC. Our day was enhanced by the much hoped for reduction in the wind experienced last month – perhaps summer is on it’s way ?  

As usual, the golf course was well presented and it has held up well during this very dry spring season. The speed of the greens was heading towards their summer best and the difficulty of the slopes and hollows were a challenge to all. I am pleased to report that the improved conditions led to a general improvement in scores with half of our players scoring 30 or more points. Having said that, only one person was below their handicap - David Steel securing his 1st LEGS trophy of the year with 38 points. He was presented with the May Cup by its co-sponsor, Jeff Wood - the other being Ian McLuskie. The runner-up was Trevor Horwood with 35 closely followed by Bob Broomhall on 34 points.

The summary of the scores is shown below together with the “handicap rewards” for the podium finishers. This month’s “Last Leg” trophy was won by Alan Horn with 21 points. As you can see there was pretty much an arithmetic progression from last place up to the winner.

I am relieved to report that the Secretary once again hid a poor performance by being the nearest the pin in 2 shots at the par 4 12th hole. On the scenic par 3 8th hole, that crosses the River Kym, the prize went to Bernard Henry who narrowly missed his birdie putt. To complete our trio of spot prizes, John Simpson took the 3 shot prize at the par 5 14th hole.

Last Leg winner Alan enjoyed his Finesmaster role and took some revenge on the rest of us. In addition to some kind donations received from missing members, Captain Graham secured the auctioned 2-ball voucher donated by SNGC.  All of this effort and generosity resulted in a terrific total of £311 being raised for “Crisis”.

Next month, our tour of the counties takes us into Hertfordshire, Mid Herts GC to be more precise. This is the home club of our former Treasurer Howard and it offers a variety of holes in a peaceful setting. I hope you can join us to play and if not, perhaps for dinner.

The June entry form on our website is now open for business and our account awaits your entry fee.

Enjoy your golf !

Colin Oates
Secretary 2025     

 

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Wellingborough | April 16th

A wonderful historic clubhouse and a sunny day on a lovely golf course – what more could you ask for ? – answer, No Wind !

Our April outing at Wellingborough GC attracted 18 players. They included our 2 new members, Andrew Randall, introduced by Mike Webb and Brian Bamber, introduced by Pete Schofield. After dinner, they were presented with their new LEGS ties by Captain Graham. You will see that they had been carefully prepared by our official “Keeper of the Ties”.
After a very challenging 18 holes played in very windy conditions, it was no surprise that only 3 players managed to score 30 or more points. The clear winner was Pete Schofield with a fine score of 36 and he was presented with the April Cup by its co-sponsor, Alan Horn - the other being Ken McCarthy. Pete finished ahead of Richard Shortland, 2nd with 33 and Bob Broomhall in 3rd place with 31 points. As you will see in the summary of the results that’s set out below, our Handicap Secretary has been sharpening his scythe !

Competition for the “Last Leg” was a lot closer with 3 players on 20 points. After a countback exercise on the last 6 holes, Jos Daalhuizen had the pleasure of taking the trophy for April. However, it should be noted that due to our house rule that no one is allowed to retain this trophy, the Secretary being 1 point behind them led to the countback exercise being required.
I am pleased to report that the Secretary partially made up for this embarrassment by taking the prize for nearest the pin in 2 at the 18th hole. On the par 3 4th hole, the prize went to Andrew Stevenson who was obviously keen to remind the Treasurer that it was in 1 shot !

To help boost this year’s Charity Pot, the Captain donated a very special bottle of Scotch that he’d recently received as an unwanted birthday present. This was snapped up by Bob for a bargain £40.
Pete Schofield took on the role of Finesmaster and his work plus donations from missing members led to a wonderful total of £285 being raised for “Crisis”.

Next month takes us from Northamptonshire to Cambridgeshire as our schedule moves on St Neots – hopefully for a less windy round of golf. The entry form on our website is now open for business.
As the weather improves and the days get longer, if you can’t make the golf, please let me know if you would like to join us for dinner only.

I look forward to seeing you at your next event.

Colin Oates
Secretary 2025

 

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South Beds | March 19th

We mustered 15 players for our 1st event of 2025 and the golfing weather gods smiled on us at South Beds GC. This is clear from the photos of the first few shots of the year from the 1st tee from the Captain, the Secretary & the Handicap Secretary. The glorious sunshine was enjoyed by all and it proved to be ideal weather for golf – for some.

Like many local clubs, the previous week had seen extensive course maintenance taking place so the greens proved even more tricky than usual. The 2nd group out certainly enjoyed the conditions and that 4-ball included the top 3 scorers – albeit on countback. As you will see from the results summary at the bottom, we had 3 players finish on 36 points. Alan Horn was edged out of the places on countback and Clive Haywood squeezed past Paul Jones into 2nd place based on the last 3 holes. However, we did have a clear winner, Jeff Wood with 39 points. His “reward” will be a reduction of 3 in his playing handicap next month.

At the par 4 7th hole, the nearest player in 2 shots was Tom Inskip, seen smiling with his prize.
However, our other 2 prizes for nearest the pin at a par 3 and a par 5 went to auction to enhance the Captain’s Charity. This was not because there was nobody near but because Clive was nearest to both. However, having already secured 2nd place he was unable to take any more prizes home. Bringing up the rear with a score of 21 points was The Secretary. Having gone many years without doing so, this is now 2 occasions in the past 6 months – methinks more practice is required.

In addition to the golfing prizes, Andrew presented the prizes for Henry’s 2024 Forecast Quiz. The winner was Paul Jones with Alan Horn taking the runner-up spot – on the tie-breaker.
I have also included a photo of the latest LEGS branded tops – as modelled by the Three Amigos !

We enjoyed a lovely dinner of Chicken & Mushroom Pie (probably ordered by Past Captain, Pete “The Pieman” Schofield). After dinner, my thanks go to Paul Jones for his Finesmaster performance. I’m very pleased to report that £200 was raised for Captain Graham’s chosen charity, “Crisis – Together we will end homelessness”.

I would like to remind you that our next outing will be to Wellingborough GC on Wednesday 17th April. It’s one of my favourite courses and the sign-up screen is now on open our website. I hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you there.

Colin Oates
Secretary 2025

South Beds Results:

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Bowls Night

This year’s LEGS Bowling evening attracted 24 members & their guests and a very jolly time was had by all. Mike Webb had set us up with 4 rinks and the 8 teams generally played boys v girls – just to give a competitive edge to proceedings. After 2 hours of bowling it was clear that there was a wide range of abilities on show.

Many sporting analogies arose during the evening;

• Cricket – “wide” being the important description of quite a few deliveries.
  
• Football – although VAR was not in use, it was clear that many bowls had gone “over the line”
  
• Golf – the “ditches” were frequently found, many efforts were “a club short” and bowls regularly appeared to be “out of bounds”

Captain Graham delivered a display that endorsed the general feeling that contrary to popular belief, golf actually is his sport! At one stage, Secretary Colin looked like the tension had all got too much for him – see photo !

Thanks to Tom & Andrew for organising the pre-event Nepalese meal which proved to be a resounding success. Finally a word for one of our founding members – Mike Webb on the occasion of his birthday. He looked like he’s returning to his old self and spent the evening trying to coach some of our players. It certainly tried his patience.

So overall, a very entertaining evening and a great way to set up this season’s series of 9 golf outings.

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2025 Fixture Dates

• Wednesday 19th March South Beds
• Wednesday 16th April Wellingborough
• Wednesday 14th May St Neots
• Thursday 19th June Mid Herts
• Wednesday 16th July Pavenham Park
• Thursday 21st August Bedfordshire
• Tue/Wed 2/3rd September Cotswold Tour
• Thursday 18th September Knebworth
• Wednesday 15th October Kettering (TBC)
• Thursday 13th November Bedford & County
  

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