Of the 18 attempts at the Nearest the Pin prize at the 12th hole, it was won with the very 1st attempt there by your Captain. I was very pleased to given a bottle of Rioja Reserva for my 5-iron shot.

At the very tricky par 4 dog-leg 17th hole, the prize for Nearest the Pin in 2 shots went to John Simpson. He confirmed that the birdie putt had been successfully dispatched – unlike the Captain at the 12th.

This month we did have 4 players competing for the Guest prize and the winner with 36 points was Bob Challens – a Mid Herts member and one of Howard’s guests. Bob carried off a bottle of Chablis from the Jeff Wood cellars but remained unconvinced that 2019 was a good year for white Burgundy.

There was some confusion, unfortunately created by me, over the award of the TIT with Andrew Stevenson reluctantly taking it home. My understanding was that it could not be won by the same person 2 months in a row but apparently our rules state 2 appearances in a row. So my apologies once again to Andrew, who does have the consolation of seeing one added to his handicap for next month – when he will definitely not be able to retain this particular trophy.

There was stiff competition for the runner-up berth which was settled on countback. We had 3 players on 31 points. Andy Pohler finished 4th, Henry Richardson had 2 more points than Andy on the back 9 to claim 3rd but Ray Beckman secured 2nd place with 17 of his points coming on the back 9 holes. The clear winner of the July Trophy was Bob Broomhall with a score of 34 points. Having taken home the TiT last month, Bob showed us how quickly anyone’s golf can change from month to month, or even hole to hole.

Post golf, we enjoyed a very pleasant summer dinner of Lasagne then Lemon & Lime Posset (which caused some debate as to its form). Andrew Stevenson relished his role as Fines Master and made sure that your Captain was made to pay for the errors made in awarding the prizes, as well as managing to lose 4 balls in the first 4 holes. The end product of his efforts was to raise £ 210 for our charity fund. My thanks go to Andrew and everyone for their generosity – including those who were unable to attend.

Our August outing will be to Knebworth GC – my second home – on Thursday 23rd. This will be our 2018 Captain’s Day. I propose that we repeat last year’s popular format with our usual post-match fines being replaced by the pre-match opportunities to purchase “Mulligans” for £5 each and a length of String at £1 per ft to improve or move your lie, but not to take the place of your next shot. I am sure that it will be a lot of fun with big decisions cropping up that you would not normally have to make.

I look forward to seeing you at Knebworth in a few weeks’ time – don’t forget your scissors.

Colin Oates

Before summarising our activities, I would like to thank Richard Ebbs for covering the necessary preparation of the day while our Secretary Alan Horn was gallivanting around his old haunts in Umbria.
The 1st spot prize of the day was offered for Nearest the Pin at the 8th hole. However, many players seemed to find some kind of magnet at the bottom of the afore mentioned River Kym. As none of the others managed to hit the green – quite a rare occurrence - the prize was held back for auction. To keep everyone’s interest levels up in the heat, there was a prize for Nearest the Pin in 2 shots at the 18th hole. This did have a clear winner in Richard Ebbs, repeating his success at Letchworth in May.
Having played with Richard, it was no surprise to me to see him take home the May Cup with a winning score of 30 points. There was a strong belief that his resulting handicap reduction has been somewhat overdue. I had apparently decided to avoid 3 wins in a row by 3-putting the 17th & 18th , also scoring 30 points but finishing as runner-up on countback – if only I had that much control over my putter, or any of those other 13 sticks !

Competition for the TiT was not quite as close and although Ivor was convinced that his score of 22 would see him take this award home, he was surprised and dismayed to discover that Bob Broomhall had secured it with 3 fewer points. This completed a full house of prize winners in the Captain’s 3-ball.

After the prize giving, Andy Pohler took on the role of our Fines Master again as he extracted £105 from those present. We had advance donations from the absent Andrew Stevenson and David Steel, then added £45 in an auction for 3 bottles of Jeff’s finest wines. Andy & Marie Pohler are on the brink of moving house and they held a garage sale which raised £120 mainly from Marie's discarded handbags, and they have kindly donated the total sum to our Captain's charity. Andy also had discovered a large number of 'found' golf balls and as Jeff admitted to losing so many, he put in a further £10 to secure this mystery bundle which may keep him going until the end of the season……may. So overall, an astonishing total of £335 was added to this year’s charity fund. My gratitude goes out to the Pohlers and to all of our contributors.

Our 5th outing of 2018 will be on Wednesday 25th July at Mid Herts GC – the home club of our Treasurer, Howard Smith. Please enter using our website and make the usual BACS payment to make his job a little easier. Let me close with thanks to Jeff for standing in for Howard. I look forward to seeing you at his home club in a few weeks’ time. In the meantime, enjoy the long hot summer, on and off the course.

Colin Oates

Having led the field of players out with new member John Simpson and the Captain, Mike Stockford (much to his surprise) managed to win the Nearest the Pin prize at the 13th hole with a fine shot that ran up to within 15 feet or so of the hole. Mike decided to save his birdie putt for another day.  The prize for being Nearest to the Pin in 2 shots at the 9th hole went to “Ricardo” – apparently a new alias for Richard Ebbs. Like Mike, Richard did not want to spoil his card with a birdie. 

It is likely that the day saw one LEGS record broken by Andrew Stevenson when he bagged the TiT with a score that reached double figures – I will say no more.

Our sole guest was brought along by Ray Beckman, and Pete Sayers duly secured his prize with a decent score. Our Secretary did enjoy informing Ray that he was close to the prizes by finishing with 31 points, but not close enough in 4th place. In 3rd place, but still no prize, was Richard Ebbs with a score of 32. The runner up spot with 33 went to our Secretary Alan Horn – his second 2nd place so far this year. News of the consequent handicap reduction was well received by the rest of the participants. As if to demonstrate how close the competition had been, the winner with 34 points was our Captain – yes, me for the 2nd event in a row. I look forward to playing of my new single figure handicap from June onwards.

After enjoying our dinner and the prizegiving, Andy Pohler added to his regular role of Director of Photography by taking on the role of Fines Master – giving Andrew a well-earned rest. Not for the 1st time, he performed very well in this role and even managed to fine someone for not wearing shorts – although Howard did not enjoy the moment as much as the rest of us. A total of £112 was raised for the Captain’s chosen charity and my thanks go to all that contributed.

Our next outing will be to St Neots Golf Club on Wednesday 27th June. If you weren’t able to play here last year then I would encourage you to try to make it this year. Not only was the course established in 1890 but they serve excellent fare and in portions that offer as much of a challenge as the golf course does.
Please enter using our website and make the usual BACS payment to make our Treasurer’s job a little easier. I look forward to seeing you in the county of Cambridgeshire in 4 weeks’ time.

Colin Oates

This was because Tom couldn’t stay for the meal as he had had a prior engagement for the evening involving fine wines and high profile guests. Before he headed off with his prize he was able to confirm to our Secretary that he had indeed finished in 3rd place rather than runner up as Alan had suggested.

The Nearest the Pin prize at the 16th hole was won by Jeff Wood who bagged a bottle of Chablis for his fine tee shot at that par 3.

The prize for the best Guest Score with 32 points went to Chris Wood – a total that was some way ahead of the score from his father Jeff. Chris then very kindly donated his Chablis to be auctioned for our charity – much to his father’s disappointment as he already had other plans for its consumption.

There was some fairly stiff competition for the TIT with 3 players failing to reach 20 points. For the 1st time in many years, the award went home with Henry Richardson.

The runner-up spot eventually went to Andy Pohler with 31 points. Much to my surprise, my score of 34 points was sufficient for our Secretary to present me with the April Trophy. Having popped one in the lake at the last hole – much to my disappointment – it does go to prove that the game of golf continues to surprise us all, most of the time.

After failing his pre-match fitness test, Ian Mcluskie joined us for a very pleasant 2-course dinner which was accompanied by complimentary wine that had been supplied by the club. The somewhat generous portions did lead to one sarcastic enquiry as to whether or not it had been sponsored by Weight Watchers.
The day came to a close with Fines Master, Andrew Stevenson, auctioning a Magnum of Prosecco (also donated by Pavenham Park) and the bottle of Chablis. Ian kindly donated his match fee and Tom his dinner cost. After a wide range of fines, the total heading into our charity fund was £ 255 – my thanks to all for your generosity.

Our next outing will be to Letchworth on Wednesday 16th May. Their greens are usually some of the quickest in the county so I’m looking forward to a real challenge. Please enter using our website and make the usual BACS payment in advance to make our Treasurer’s job a little easier. Thanks again to Jeff looking after this in April. I look forward to seeing you at Letchworth in a few weeks’ time.

Colin Oates

The news that no bunker shots were allowed due to these extensive areas of GUR did bring some sighs of relief from some members – pardon the pun. Despite a little inconvenience, I think that Wellingborough should be congratulated on their very ambitious plan. The course should be in terrific condition for our next visit in March 2019.

As far as this year’s visit goes, there was the usual pre-match banter amidst many claims of no golf being played since our last meeting at Bedford & County, over 4 months ago. Once on the course, it soon became clear that this had very little relevance to the levels of performance on the day, with many people appearing to have forgotten their bad habits during this period of inactivity.
Our 2 guests had a fruitful afternoon with Ken Barber taking the prize for best Guest Score with 33 points. The only other competitor for this prize, John Simpson, managed to secure his own award by winning the Nearest the Pin prize at the 4th hole. The prize for Longest Drive, which was being given for the last time, went to serial winner, Andy Pohler with a great effort up the 17th fairway. In future, in order to widen the pool of potential winners, this prize will be redirected to a Nearest the Pin in 2 shots, but not at a par 3!
It was great to see last year’s Captain, Andrew Stevenson, secure the runner-up spot with a very creditable score of 35 points. It will be good to see him being challenged to match this as the season progresses, while playing off his new handicap of 22. Our winner of the March Trophy with 36 points was Mike Webb. The very same chap who, while we shared bacon rolls pre-match, had expressed his frustration at the very poor standard of his recent golf. Thus proving that well known investment caveat – “past performance is no guide to future trends”.

Although notable by its absence, the TIT was “given” to Jeff Wood. Perhaps this was a little harsh given his struggle to complete the last few holes due to a sports-related recent injury (table tennis – in case you were wondering). However, I am sure it will spur him on in future.

We were joined for dinner by 2 non-playing members, Colin Bolster & Richard Ebbs. This was held in a private dining room in their beautiful clubhouse overlooking the grounds. After the prizes, Andrew Stevenson took on the role of our 1st Fines Master of the season. He did a great job and managed to extract £150 from those present. A further £20 was donated to secure a bottle of Champagne, perhaps in order that Mike Stockford can continue to demonstrate his golfing prowess once he gets home?
(Thanks Mike)

The evening closed with Henry running through the correct answers to last year’s forecast quiz and everyone else trying to keep up as they marked their allocated papers. A remarkable illustration of foresight was shown by your incoming Secretary Alan Horn, by scoring 46 points. This was 4 more than runner-up George Clarke and Alan was rewarded with a trophy and 2 bottles of wine. Henry was pleased to announce that this exercise had raised £ 100 for this year’s charity – Macmillan. Many thanks for a terrific effort from Henry, as well as all those who entered.

Our next outing will be at Pavenham Park on Thursday 19th April. Please enter using our website and make the usual BACS payment to make our Treasurer’s job a little easier. Let me close with thanks to Jeff for standing in for Howard in this capacity. We hope to see Howard’s return to golf at Letchworth for our May event.

Before then, I look forward to seeing you at Pavenham Park in around 3 weeks’ time.

Colin Oates

The History of LEGS is not in itself particularly startling, but what has surprised those who set it up and the inaugural members is the success it has enjoyed over the years.

The initial meetings were held in a variety of licensed premises in and around Luton between April and September 1986.   Nobody can remember why it was important to always drink whilst discussing such an important issue.

The people involved were, in alphabetical order - George Clarke, Harry Critchley, Alan Hughes, Colin Roberts and Mike Webb.

At first it was thought LEGS should stand for “Luton’s Eccentric Golf Society”. It was then decided that some clubs may not take us seriously and accept bookings.  So we became executives, which probably contravened the Trades Description Acts of that time for most of us.

George was then the area manager of the Woolwich Building Society, so he had plenty of time on his hands to get LEGS started.

Harry was the manager of Bank of Scotland Luton branch, so he had as much if not more time to kill than George.

Colin was the manager of Legal and General and was always looking for things to do to fill his day.

Alan was a hard working self employed Insurance Broker, who enjoyed doing as much of his business on the golf course as he could.

Mike was a self employed commercial surveyor looking for any excuse to do anything but act for his clients.

A list of potential members was compiled - mostly from the immediate Luton area.  Colin Roberts, offered to host the inaugural meeting at his offices on the 22nd October 1986.  Legal and General provided a superb buffet and the scene was set.

At the meeting, George became secretary, Harry - treasurer, Alan - vice captain, Colin - co-ordinator and Mike - captain.

A full year’s program was agreed and booked for 1987 with the first meeting held at Dunstable Downs on March 24th.

History written by founding member Mike Webb

Charity
The aim of LEGS was to provide an opportunity for people to meet, play golf at various venues throughout the year and raise money for charity.

It was decided that each captain would chose the charity for that year.  This continues today. We are delighted to say that funds for various local and national causes have reached some £65,000.

It is important for members and their guests to understand that we are foremost a golf society based on fellowship which raises money for charity.  We are not a fund raising group who play golf.

Trophies
All four founders agreed to each provide a trophy.  George - the booby prize, Harry – the winner, Colin – the runner up, Alan – Nearest the pin, Mike – longest drive.  Unfortunately all seem to have gone missing. 

New Trophies
Captain Jeff Wood decided new trophies should be introduced during his tenure in 2014.  Members were invited in pairs to sponsor a trophy for each of the month’s that we play.  This was fully supported and now complete.