Captain's Blog - Par Date November 16th 2017 Dear all,
I thought I would try and write a monthly blog to share my experiences as captain and let you know what’s going on at the Club. I would like to start by reiterating what I said in my speech at the Drive-In. It is a great honour to be the captain of such a warm, friendly club where I have so many fond memories (and the odd nightmare of course!). I am especially proud, as a founder member, to be captain in our silver jubilee year.
I have put every event for next year into my diary and intend to take part in pretty much everything. I am looking forward to getting more actively involved in the BOF’s and to meeting as many of you on the course as possible. Those meetings will kick off with a very tough first round match in the knockouts against the seemingly unbeatable Mark Fuller but who knows… To give this blog a bit of structure I thought I would set things out each month as follows below. Events Viv and I enjoyed the Drive-In tremendously. We would like to thank again all the people who worked hard to make the day and all of you that took part in the Scramble, and stayed on for the rest of the show. I think everyone had a great time and the weather was beautiful. As ever though, the Competitions & Matches Committee have recognised some improvements that could be made. Firstly, we have done some eager research into what the definition of a Texas Scramble is, and looked at all the different types of Scrambles. Needless to say I learned a lot! We have decided, as a result, to operate a Florida or Step Aside Scramble for our Scramble events going forward as this is the traditional way BGC Scrambles have taken place. Secondly, we recognise that quite a few members missed the captains’ presentations and speech so we have adjusted the timetable for next year to build in changing time and to ensure that there is plenty of room for everyone to be present in comfort. I would like to personally apologise to anyone who found themselves in the wrong place and felt left out as a result. We have already put a fool-proof plan together for next year to avoid this happening again. Our next club social event is the Turkey & Ham Trot on Sunday, 10th December. The sign-up sheet is on the board, so please sign-up and get involved. There are stacks of prizes and I am sure everyone is dying to see who will win the Paxo Sage & Onion Stuffing this year. Let’s face it there is nothing better than seeing your fellow members suffering. Humour This month’s nomination has to go to Tim Burke and Nick Mabbutt. Playing Alex Smith and Josh Evans, they were all square after three holes but went on to lose the next eight holes and lose the match 8&7. Teeing off from the tenth, the highlight of the match was on the 13th where they were on the green for two and back on the green for five! Club Matches The sign-up sheet for the 2018 Men’s Friendlies is now up on the board. Please go ahead and put your name down to play for the Club. Selection is not going to be on a first come first served basis for these matches. Instead an all-inclusive approach will be taken to give as many players as possible the opportunity to take part and pair up with their fellow members. Course News I know Steve gives us regular updates, so I am not going to duplicate his fine words. In this section I will simply offer a few of my own observations. The first of these is the general condition of the course, which I think is very acceptable for the time of year with the greens continuing to run well. It is also exciting to see the work going on at the 14th and 18th tees. I am sure that these changes will added to the playing pleasure come the summer. I also think that the pond clearance on the 12th has made the hole a lot more attractive and the natural look is starting to take place. That’s all for now, other than to say if you fancy grassing up a fellow member for the humour section please do. Thank you for getting this far!
Dave Allard – Captain of the Men’s Section | 
