Well I suppose it had to happen, but it was still a shock when last week brought our first really wet game of the year. Our venue, Letchworth, was somewhere we have not been for 6 years due to some truly exorbitant rates that they wished to charge. However, I did manage to negotiate a price that allowed us to play and eat but it did mean that we had to play in October. So last Wednesday, 17 of us (including one guest) braved the elements and tried to make the best of the very wet conditions. There was absolutely no run on the ball which meant that accurate play was a necessity and the quantity of water on the greens made for difficult putting that led to increase in scores by several shots for many of us. 

Letchworth is a nice course to play and if only they were more open to doing some deals they might have us going back again sooner rather than later. 

It was a shame that Howard could not manage a full round and had to give up after 4 holes as his knee that is due to be replaced in a few weeks was badly impacted by the dampness in the air. Your Captain did not play well and was very lucky that Bob Davy had experienced another busy golfing week as part of his captaincy year at Potters Bar – which has played havoc with his own golf handicap. At the other end of the performance continuum, Mike Webb and Jeff Wood played very well with Mike just beating Jeff to the October Cup by 1 point. Longest drive was won by our esteemed Secretary, which came as a surprise to him as he couldn’t see it stay on the fairway due to the weather. Colin was edged into 2nd place by our only Guest who won nearest the pin on the 14th.

After trying to dry out a little, we enjoyed a typical golfing supper of Ham, Eggs and Chips which of course was followed up by our Senior Fines Master and Head of Money Extraction, Alan Horn skilfully managing to extract £ 158 from those present as the final fantastic contribution to my charities for this year.  I am always amazed at the level of contributions that all members of this wonderful society make for charity. It really highlights the fantastic degree of fellowship and camaraderie that we enjoy.

Your Captain and Secretary also drew some random numbers out  after the game in order to come up with the secret pairings of members who had been playing for the Boddington Cup. It was a close run thing, but in the end Ray Beckman and Jeff Wood were the lucky pairing with a joint score of 59 points and who are now the proud custodians of our largest trophy until next year.

Please remember that the November event at Bedford & County on Thursday 23rd is our last meeting of the year. The golf and dinner will be followed by our 2017 AGM. Please make sure that you come armed with a Christmas gift wrapped to put into the evening raffle as a prize. In addition please place a donation of £5 or £10 in an envelope to buy your entry to the raffle and kick off next year’s Captain’s Charity.

I must sound like a broken record, but as I sit here again on a cold dark grey morning I marvel at the way that we have managed to consistently choose days for our LEGS outings that have been fantastic for weather. Once again we picked the only day of the week with sunshine for our 1st ever visit to St Neots. There were 12 of us, including one guest, that enjoyed this year’s Captain’s Day. Before heading out, players were able to spend the money that would have otherwise gone on fines (plus in most cases substantially more) on the purchase of “Mulligans” and “a length of string”. These were to be used to replace poor shots and use some of the string to improve lies (not nearer the hole). I should add that attempts to buy all available Mulligans and all of the string, to prevent other players having access to them, were vigorously denied !

Great coffee and bacon rolls began the day and then we made our way out onto a course that was in fantastic condition. For those that have not played St Neots, you have missed one of the nicest and friendliest golf courses in the area. The course is challenging, it has many trees, a lot of water and almost every hole is a dog leg. However, this is part of its charm and if you’re sensible and take your medicine, then you can card a quite respectable score (31 points in my case !). I hope that everyone had fun working out when to use their string and/or Mulligan(s) – indeed for some individuals, even remembering that they were an option proved tricky.

I know that one or two players made great use of them, including Henry who managed to win nearest the pin by using a Mulligan. Although our esteemed Secretary Colin was closer to the pin, he also managed to card a very good 36 points to take the September Cup. Our prize for the Longest drive (or to be more accurate, longest 3 wood) went once again to Andy Pohler with a massive and straight shot. Best guest or rather our only guest, was Cliff Warner having been invited by Ivor for his 2nd LEGS fixture of the year. Speaking of Ivor, with a score of 22 points he managed to take home our other trophy, the “Tit”, for only the second time in 26 years !

Our golf was followed by a very substantial two course meal. Half a roast chicken each with veg followed by treacle sponge and custard. I think many of us did not have to eat again for some days afterwards. With no finesmaster required, dinner was followed by the prize giving and the auction of a bottle of Jeff’s finest selection Champagne. This together with a donation of old pound coins from Ray Beckman resulted in another £217 heading to this year’s charities for which I thank everyone. I hope that St Neots will become a regular venue in our calendar, it’s location, the course, staff and food are all very society friendly and really made us all feel very welcome.

I look forward to seeing as a many of you as possible on Wednesday 18th October at Letchworth where we will also be playing in anonymous pairs for the Boddington Cup.

And so LEGS strikes again and manages to select a fantastic day of weather for our annual day at Knebworth GC. This is probably our members’ most favourite course and it certainly did not disappoint this year. It was excellently presented with the head greenkeeper having thinned out a lot of trees and the reshaping of the fairways.

A total of 16 of our members enjoyed a wonderful day and there was some excellent play by many.

It was great to have our wayward Secretary back for this event especially as he is a member at Knebworth and that local knowledge together with some solid play managed to achieve a very credible second place with 34 points resulting in a 1 shot cut. Our winner of the day with a better 34 points, 20 of which were scored on the back nine was Andy Pohler. He also managed to hit a very long and straight longest drive up the 18th fairway. Whilst we normally adopt the “no-one can win two prizes”ruling, the fact that the drive was so good ( I watched every foot of it) and nobody else came close meant that as Captain, I took the decision to award Andy both the winners trophy (with a 1 shot cut) and bottle for the longest drive.

Nearest the Pin (at the 10th) was won by Ray Beckman and our sole guest of the day managed a credible 30 points and therefore was presented with one of Jeff's best garage wines.

After some fierce competition amongst a handful of players carding scores in the very low 20's, the tit was easily snatched away from Ray who had lovingly looked after it for the last month, by Howard with 16 points. Well it would have been snatched away if Ray had remembered to bring it back but we understand delivery will be arranged to allow Howard to really enjoy his award.

We were delighted to welcome LEGS President George Clarke for dinner which was our now traditional post match Knebworth supper of fish and chips. Following which our extremely talented Senior Fines Master Mr Alan Horn managed to extract some£200 from those present in aid of this years charity. I am always humbled by the generosity of members who give so much at our games.

Our next outing is at St Neots on Thursday September 28th and this will be our Captain’s Day. Due to this change your Secretary and Captain have decided to delay the playing of the Boddington Cup until our October event at Letchworth GC where normal playing rules will be back in force. At St Neots there will be no post-meal fines imposed but you will be able to buy a Mulligan or two for £5 each before starting your round. In addition, players may purchase a length of string at £1 per ft to improve / move your lie, but not to take the place of your next shot. All proceeds will go to this year's two charities. Although there will be no fines, there will be a donations pot and with the end date for the old pound coin being 15th October, this would be a great time to donate all your old pound coins that you still might have lurking in desk drawers, car glove boxes, sock drawers or ashtrays etc.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at St Neots next month and please do bring along some guests to what I hope will be an extra fun day.

As I sat here in Kettering the day after our outing, looking out on a very wet and dark day I can only marvel at our ability to pick the right day of the week on which to have our LEGS monthly golf day. It would have been one of the largest turnouts of the year so far, but unfortunately Ron Knox got stuck in France - see what Brexit does for you! So in the end 19 of us, including 5 guests, set out on what was for many, a new course.

Mid-Herts is celebrating 125 years this year and were putting colourful bunting up all over the place which made us feel a bit special. The warmth of greetings by everyone at the club from members on the putting green to the catering staff, together with 3 members playing as part of our LEGS contingent made us truly feel welcome.

Mid-Herts was in very good condition and if played sensibly delivered some impressive scores. I was also impressed at some of the strategic placing of trees and the kind way that they threw my ball back onto the middle of the fairway after a slightly misplaced tee shot! 

David Steel was masterful all day and managed to win the Best Player Trophy with 37 points playing off 20. He could also have won the Longest Drive with an immense hit but for our “not winning two prizes” rule. This meant that the Longest Drive prize was awarded to one of our guests on walkback. David is now cut 3 shots whilst second place Richard Ebbs who carded 35 points off 18, is cut 2 shots (in accordance with our handicap principles). 

At the other end of the rankings, I was playing with Ray Beckman who did not have a great round and was constantly saying that he needed 23 points to avoid the tit or Moob as it got called! Well if Ray had actually managed to score 23 then he would have been absolutely correct and would have just beaten Ian on count back but he didn’t. He scored 22 points so was the ‘proud’ recipient of the Moob for the next month.

We all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of Lasagne and Chips followed by a desert, and coffee. Then it was over to our Fines Master for the Day, Andy Pohler. He managed to extract an excellent sum of over £250 from those present and a large donation from Colin Oates (many thanks Colin) who once again felt guilty at missing another event. We will welcome Colin back at our next outing which is at Knebworth on the 24th August.  I will try to attend, but work may take me overseas. I have therefore delayed our Captain’s Day until the St Neots event in September, but hope as many of you as possible will make both Knebworth and St Neots.

Another fantastic choice weather wise! The select few LEGS members and guests who played at Potters Bar managed to miss the intense heatwave that we had all been suffering and played under a cloudy sky with a light breeze - bliss! Unfortunately, Gerry Van Lottum had a slight fall in the morning and had to cancel so the remaining 9 members and 2 guests teed off just after lunch. The golf course was in very good condition and we were made to feel very much at home by our Potters Bar Captain and the team there.

As with all Club Captains, Bob has been playing a huge amount of golf recently and this has had a dramatic impact on his stamina, as well as the quality of his game which has consequently suffered. Therefore, it was no surprise that he managed to put in another blistering effort to win the Tit. However, with the LEGS rules stating that nobody can retain this trophy, the honour of looking after it fell to Jeff, who after a solid first 9 holes played what he described as the “worst 9 holes of his life” on the back 9.

Great to see Ivor back again and he and his guest Cliff managed to play some very good golf. Cliff won Nearest the Pin and amassed more points than anyone with 35 but with the no more than one prize ruling, our other guest Simon Cotton took home one of Jeff's best reds. Ivor just managed to win our June Trophy on count back from Alan, both having scored 32 points. Mike Webb won the Longest Drive by managing to keep his ball on the fairway. Although others flew past his effort, they succumbed to the Potters Bar slopes which all seem to run away from the railway line.

Luckily no one on this outing hooked their drive enough to reach the new field of 60,000 solar panels just over the railway line, although we did hear of one such shot from one of our guests! Apparently they make a good crack and tinkle noise when hit!

Following a very refreshing shower (they are some of the best that we come across) everyone enjoyed a good meal of Steak Pie and vegetables followed by Strawberry Cheesecake. We would particularly like to thank Bob for arranging this despite the club’s ongoing problems with caterers.

One bottle of Champagne was auctioned off and we thank Steve Elliot for his bid. Also I must thank Ian and Richard for kind donations despite not being at the event. After the prize giving it seemed too hot and too small a group to have our usual fines process, so the opportunity was given to people to donate any amount they felt happy to give. This would probably cover any misdemeanours that they would have been fined for. This raised a fantastic £120 for this year’s charity.

Simon Cotton, Bob’s guest for the day, decided that we were not such a bad bunch and has agreed to join our friendly Society with immediate effect. We look forward to welcoming him along to many of our remaining days out.

Our next outing is at a new course for many of us, Mid-Herts GC on Wednesday 19th July (please note it is a Wednesday!). I do look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

What a great ability we seem to have to pick the right day of the week on which to have our golf game. 24 hours earlier Bedford suffered with over 27mm of rain, but our match at The Bedfordshire course was blessed with great weather, little wind and sunshine for most of the 18 holes. The course was in excellent condition given the weather the day before and looked very green and inviting.

Following some very good bacon rolls and coffee, 13 including David Gill our newest member and 2 guests enjoyed a round with some very good scoring from a number of players. Mike Stockford had the luxury of playing with two other Bedfordshire members, both of whom have now expressed a wish to join LEGS. Some LEGS members at times found trouble finding the tees following putting out on some holes, an issue not experience in Mike’s group of course.

Your Captain did take full advantage of the course landscape contours on two holes with amazing results including one wayward tee shot on the 12th hole hitting a bank running round a complete bunker and ending up on the green about 10ft from the pin. I actually managed a pretty respectable 20 points on the inwards 9 holes, which is often more than I get in an entire round! If only I had managed to get a few more points than the 12 on the outward 9, I would have been vying for the Winners trophy.

A good meal of Steak & Mushroom pie with vegetables, washed down with a glass of wine very kindly supplied by Mike Stockford, set up members and guests for prize giving and then our normal fining session.

The Bedfordshire Captain, John Simpson showed local knowledge in winning the nearest the pin. Longest drive was won by a certain Andy Pandy (Andy Pohler) which of course meant that he could not win the runner up prize, although he did deserve it playing off 8 and carding 35 points, so it was presented to David Steel who also played very well. Colin Bolster delivered an amazing turnaround from winning the tit at Porters Park to winning at The Bedfordshire with 36 points, so is cut 2 shots for the rest of the year. At the other end of the scale after playing rounds of golf on 6 consecutive days, Bob Davy was beginning to show signs of tiredness and proudly took home the tit to look after for another month.
Our resident expert at extracting money in the shape of fines, Alan Horn then used all his many ways to raise almost £130 from those present, which when combined with the money received from auctioning two bottles from Jeff’s excellent cellar (well - garage !) and generous donations from Mike Stockford and some of those who could not take part including Ron, Howard and Stuart, generated a total of over £240 for the charity, for which I thank everyone for their generosity.

Speaking of Charity, we have a couple of our members raising money currently so if you can, please do support them. As I write, Craig Templeton is in the middle of a Rust Bucket Challenge driving a £500 car to Barcelona and back in aid of a Childrens’ Charity. We will add a link to Craig’s donation page asap.

Using less horsepower, Paul Davy is aiming to complete a midnight walking marathon soon in aid of Sense.

With a wedding coming up Paul is also open to do any gardening work that you might have, please contact him if you have any need for a gardener. You know that he will do a good job just by looking at the state of Porters Park.

Our next outing is at Potters Bar on the 22nd June. Bob is their 2017 Captain and has made some improvements at the club that should benefit us as a society, like changing the caterers. Please do make the effort to come along and bring some guests. Guests always seem to enjoy themselves and many go on to become members, which is what we need.

Porters Park is one of our members' favourite courses to play with everyone asking to return on a yearly basis. The standard of the course is fantastic and is challenging to all handicaps and the overall club atmosphere is great. But trying to fit it into to our season at a price that is acceptable to members does get difficult as the Winter package which is just about affordable only runs from November through to March. Summer packages increase the price by over £30 making the day out of reach for many.  After some persuasion and not in small part down to Paul being a member of our Society, the Club Manager did agree to extend the Winter Package for us through until end of April but the course is now incredibly busy so as a one off and in order to play mid week it meant a very early start for most members. 
14 members and one guest teed off and enjoyed a course in fantastic condition and ideal weather conditions for playing a great round. It was therefore a shame that so many of us did not bring along our best games and struggled with the somewhat challenging greens, numerous ditches and frequent trees. I personally did not leave any damage on the fairways for the greenskeepers to repair as I was not often on them, playing from the rough, ditches or behind trees on what seemed like every hole!
Of course there were some members who managed to respond well and Tom Inskip came out winner which was a delight given that it was also his birthday. We believe that this is a Society first for a member to win on their birthday, so huge congratulations to Tom. Sorry to say that this performance means a 2 shot cut for the rest of the season Tom!
At the other end of the scale Colin Bolster had a nightmare of a day, and walked off with the Tit to look after for the next month. Nearest the Pin was one by Andy with a superb shot and Runner up was Mike who will also be cut a shot.
On arrival your Captain was told by our ‘local’ (Paul) that the best hole to have longest drive on was the 17th, “much better than the 15th - the fairway is less sloped” so contrary to the recommendations of the Society Secretary and the advice of the Pro we went with the 17th and of course you can guess who one longest drive !

We ended the round just as the showers started and returned to a delicious lunch of sausage and mash followed by Andy Pohler managing to extract a over £135 from those present including a large donation from our guest so that he could take home the guest prize of one of Jeff’s latest wine purchases from France. I am always humbled by the generosity of members and guests at our events and I believe it reflects on our hospitality and friendliness of the Society overall and the fact that we try and offer a great value for money day so that people are willing to contribute more to our chosen charities.

So all in all a great day was had by those who made the effort to get there, I believe we had the best of the day for weather and the early start allowed us to play a championship golf course at a very reasonable price. We will not make such early starts a regular occurrence, but may have to include them in order to get the deals that we need in order to keep prices for the year acceptable. Therefore I do ask on behalf of the Secretary that you take care to read the starting times that are sent out before each game and are published on the website too. this will ensure that we all manage to turn up on the right day and at the right time. We will also try and publicise any strange starting times, as we did this time, ahead of time to as many members as we can.

Our next outing is on May 18th at The Bedfordshire course Stagsden. Mike Stockford has managed to get us a great deal and so I do ask that as many of you as possible come along to support this club who have provided us a great day in the past. 

The 2017 LEGS season kicked off at the wonderful Wellingborough Golf Course on the 30th March. A great turnout for the first game of the year saw 16 members and 4 guests tee off and enjoy an absolutely fabulous golf course and vista.

Special thanks from Howard who was delighted that almost everyone had paid their fees by BACS before the day, which made his life much easier. Our new secretary Colin Oates did a great job of the organisation and in making sure that everyone knew what was going on.

The course was in excellent condition with no temporary tees or greens and we were lucky enough to be able to enjoy the whole course, even the rough for those of us who play more value style golf as summer time in Wellingborough with deep thick rough is not too pleasant.

The club has spent a lot on a recent refurbishment of facilities and have done a great job with it now looking very smart indeed. We also enjoyed an excellent dinner following the golf and as was agreed last year only had one course in order to save both costs and waistlines

There was some excellent play from both members and guests with very good scoring from most attendees.However there were also a few well under par scores with your new Captain being most under par of all both in terms of score and health - that is my excuse for being the proud winner of the tit for the first time of the year. Judging by my play I am sure it will not be the last! But I was also lucky enough to be part of a four ball who all managed to winner a prize at the end of the day.

Ian McLuskie has kindly produced a document that defines the roles and responsibilities of various positions within the society. Download it here (PDF) >>