As the early morning mist began to lift, so began the whirr of electric trolleys and the excited chatter of golfers. Heavy overnight rain had softened the fairways and the greens, but the course was ready to welcome over 100 participants for the 2022 Senior Men’s Pairs Open. As the sun began to beat down it was hoped that those wearing shorts had applied the suntan lotion to their knees before play.
Reduced length off the tee because of softened fairways and several tricky pin positions kept scoring lower than expected. Despite this, it did not detract from what was an enjoyable day for virtually everyone, even those who were vying for the wooden spoon. And although many didn’t score well, several were able to console themselves with one of many raffle prizes.
The top four places were:
1st Keith Smith and Gary Evans (Shrewsbury), 43pts, £200;
2nd Alan Logie and Jeff Green (Sapey), 42pts, £120;
3rd Chris Alton and Steve Fellows (Bromsgrove), 42pts, £80;
4th Bill Freeman and Pete Fox (Bromsgrove), 41pts, £40.
The full results sheet is here Senior Open Final Positions
In addition, a sleeve of golf balls was on offer for a gross 2 at any hole (though video evidence would be required for anyone doing that at the par 5, 18th). These were won by Nigel Porter and John Kartz on the 3rd, Mike Pryce on the 7th and Pete Burgess on the 17th.
Finally, a round of thanks go to the greenkeeping staff for their excellent presentation of the course, the bar and restaurant team for delivering over 100 bacon baps and several urns of coffee over the day, and to my assistants on the day, Gary McCartney (card checking) and Pam Hall (raffle supremo).
Deryck Hall
Seniors Captain