It is fitting and appropriate that golfers in their senior years, lucky enough to be able to enjoy playing golf, can also think of those less fortunate than themselves. Over the last four years, the Seniors Section of Tenby Golf Club have raised a total of some £5,500 through the dedicated efforts of their charity organiser, Brian Morgan, who has arranged weekly draws and Lottery Bonus Ball competitions.

In the current year ended September 30, a sum of £1,660 was distributed amongst mainly local charities, namely: Headway Pembrokeshire, Tenby Talking Newspapers, Paul Sartori Foundation, Special Units at Morriston and Withybush Hospitals, Welsh Guards Afghan Appeal, Swansea Miners Appeal Fund and Pembrokeshire Mencap.

The final presentation of a cheque for £300 to the Pembrokeshire Mencap Society was made by Seniors captain, Stan Hudson, as his final duty, before handing over captaincy for the next 12 months to vice-captain, Jim Martin.

Present to receive the cheque on behalf of Pembrokeshire Mencap were chairman, Mr. Brian Griffiths, and secretary, Mr Ian Wilshaw.

In reply, Mr. Griffiths thanked the golf club members for their generosity and outlined how important it was for the Pembrokeshire Mencap Society to receive such donations, which all go towards the Stackpole Mencap Gardens. An ambitious plan is in place to substantially improve facilities at the gardens and Brian encouraged members to visit the walled garden at Stackpole to see for themselves the progress being made and to, maybe, buy fruit and vegetables or pick-your-own.

Dinner celebrations for Dyfed League team

Last Friday, a contingent of Tenby Golf Club members attended the annual dinner and presentation at Carmarthen Golf Club which recognised the victorious individuals and teams that had taken part in the Dyfed League competitions over the season.

Prior to the presentation evening, a competition had been arranged for all the attendees, which took the form of an individual stableford.

The entries came from Dyfed League members who had travelled from all over the area to show their support for the league and to congratulate the organising committee who consistently ensure the competition's success.

The winning score was 35 points, which is a reflection of the difficulty of the course, but to add to the excitement of the occasion, no fewer than five entrants were on the same score and a countback was required to decide the winner.

Tenby were delighted to have two of their entrants in the top five and fifth place went to Paul Jenkins, who had 16 points on the back nine holes.

All was not lost and second place was awarded to the Tenby Dyfed League captain for 2011 and the newly-elected vice-captain of the club, Chris Beecher, who returned a back nine score of 19 points, only to lose out to the eventual winner on the back three holes.

The hospitality shown by Carmarthen Golf Club was exceptional and was only surpassed by the quality of the evening meal.

Guest speaker for the evening was Mr. Nigel Edwards, the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup captain. His curriculum vitae is impressive to say the least and his victories around the world were comparable to any of his fellow golfers from the professional ranks. He is a product of the Lewis Comprehensive School, Pengam, and is a member of the Whitchurch Golf Club, Cardiff.

His presentation relating to his exploits in the field of amateur golf was fascinating. His comments about the up-and-coming young players in the Walker Cup team were high praise indeed and it was reassuring to know that the future of golf in Great Britain and Ireland was in safe hands.

The evening concluded with the presentation of the awards and Tenby were proud to receive the trophy for winning Division IV with an accumulated total of 81 points from 12 fixtures. The club captain for Tenby, David Blackmore, received the shield on behalf of the Dyfed League team and was later joined by the Dyfed League captain, Chris Beecher, vice-captain, Tony Key, club secretary, David Hancock, club professional, Rhys Harry, and the guest of honour for the evening, Mr. Nigel Edwards, GB and I Walker Cup captain, for a photo call.

A proud moment for all concerned, not least for the dedicated team members who have been so loyal to the club over the season and without their support the achievement of putting Tenby at the top of the league would not have been possible. The club captain has assured the Dyfed League organisers that Tenby will do it all again next year and successive years, until they are at the top of Division One.

Onwards and upwards must be the order of the day, and remember there is no 'I' in team.

Victorious end to a successful season

Tenby Golf Club has probably had one of its most successful seasons for many years. As reported elsewhere on this page, the club won Division Four of the Dyfed Golfing Union Leagues.

The season ended last Saturday with the last of a number of friendly matches that the club plays.

First off at the beginning of the month were Ashburnham. Tenby travelled to their old rivals to contest a fixture that has been played since 1896. In a tough fought contest, with many matches going to the 18th hole, Tenby finished victorious to the tune of 6-3.

The following Saturday, Rosslare travelled across the Irish Sea in stormy conditions, confident of an Irish double over Wales, both in New Zealand and on the Tenby links. We all watched the game in the morning, which, as we all know, resulted in a win for Wales and then completed the double in the afternoon with an 8-1 for Tenby.

Last weekend, the Tenby clubhouse was full with players from Tenby, Pennard and Langland Bay to watch the eagerly awaited semi-final clash between Wales and France. You can just imagine the mood when we all took to the links later in the morning.

The format for this match is that we play in threes, with a player from each club marking a stableford card. At the end of the contest, the scores for all the players are added to make a final team score.

The result was a victory for Tenby with 561, followed by Pennard on 457, with Langland Bay close behind on 450.

The captain would like to congratulate all the players who have been selected for the club this year. The team spirit has been tremendous and we are all looking forward to next year.

One final word, all the visiting teams this year have commented about the quality of the course and the fantastic hospitality they have received and the captain would like to thank Chris, Hilary and Steve and both their teams for all the hard work they have put in to make this possible.

High jinks on windy links

An almost capacity turnout on Tuesday, with 40 Seniors keen to battle the elements on a very windy course. The format this week was a non-qualifying Stableford competition, with the results counting towards the Vardon trophy.

Leading scores and prize winners were: 1. Jeff Bamfield, 37 pts, wins £10; 2. (again) Allan Watts, 36, wins £5; 3. John Hall, 33, wins £3.

There were six 2s: Jeff Bamfield at the 6th; Russell Clarke at the 17th; Stan Hudson at the 17th; Brian Waters at the 6th; Jim Martin at the 17th; Philip Marsden at the 6th.

All seven win £2 - in addition to the admiration of the 34 players who had to make do with a three, perhaps a four, possibly a five - and sometimes even more!

There was no winner of the charity raffle for October 11 - the bonus ball number was 14 - and nobody drew this number!

Brian Morgan, King of the raffle, was delighted - and instantly decided that there would be no roll-over. He did manage to sell 44 tickets though - this is fast becoming "Who wants to be a millionaire?"

The low point of the day, for Owen Monaghan, was when his card was blown away by the force 5 wind.

The high point of the day, for Tony Morgan, was when his opening drive from the first tee sped with unerring accuracy straight into Derek Bath's golf bag!

Next Tuesday is Chapman Foursomes day. Brian Morgan and Jeff Bamfield conducted a random selection of playing partners from lists of high and low handicappers; the result together with start times can be viewed on the Tenby Seniors website.

See you there!

M.F.

Chicken supreme and Lamb chop!

Fifteen Chicken Trotters left the coop on Friday. There would have been at least one more, but sadly the current holder of the prestigious Badham Trophy, Neil Dickinson, was not fit enough to play - get well soon Neil, Meurig misses you!

Just like last week, everybody finished their 15 holes in the allotted time, so that Mickey, the Chief Chicken and his assistant, last week's winner, Steve Cole - were able to manually collect, correct, calculate and declare the following results:

Winner - David Lamb. With a very creditable score of 28 points and after a count back over the last six holes, David receives a less than overwhelming £1.30, and in addition a cruel and heartless 'Sin Bin' penalty of five strokes.

Second - Brian Waters. Achieving the same score of 28 points, but just failing to score well enough to beat David over the closing holes, Brian receives a frankly stingy £1 and to make matters worse - a swingeing handicap cut of three strokes.

Booby prize - Owen Monaghan. Owen's 12 points surprised Royston Morgan - who was convinced that he was this week's low scorer. Owen had his 30p entrance fee returned, and left promptly to spend a little time on the practice ground.

For the second week running there were no '2s', so more money pours into the kitty for the end of season celebrations.

Weather conditions were really very good, more of a light sweater than a full waterproofs day. It was encouraging to see the playing total improve by one this week - and a new Trotter, Mr. Peter Ellis, is warmly welcomed to the coop.

Obviously Mickey's handicapping system works - last week's winner and runner-up could not overcome the 'Sin Bin' reductions and did not feature in the winners' circle. Steve is bringing the Trotters' records into the 21st century by storing them on an Excel spreadsheet of his own design. He tells me that this is a safety precaution in case Mickey's longhand entry book crashes! I am also able to reveal that the very witty title of this article was a Cole brainchild.

So, another pleasant morning on the links. Do come and join the flock this (Friday) morning - see you there!

M.F.

Ladies' Section

On Wednesday, October 12, a number of members visited Ashburnham to support Heather Morgan and Barbara Williams in the final of the WWLGA Jubilee Foursomes against Gaynor Gavey and Frances Owen-John, of Pennard.

Having noted with some dismay the damage badgers are causing in the semi-rough, we were able to concentrate on the golf. Heather and Barbara began well and were two up after the first few holes, but their opponents gradually became accustomed to the course and steadily drew ahead.

The Tenby pair had played well in their previous matches, winning most rounds fairly comfortably, but sadly they were not at their best and even the invaluable support of their caddies, Rhian Walters and Mel Smith, did not result in a comeback and Gaynor and Frances eventually won by 5 and 3.

The match had been played in exactly the right spirit and we all enjoyed congratulating the winners and commiserating with the losers in the clubhouse.

Foursomes is not the easiest format and we all congratulate Heather and Barbara on reaching this final after several months of matches.

B.M.S.

Junior Section

On Sunday, October 9, there was a small turnout, with no yellow or black box entries.

The red box competition was won by Olivia Bradbury with a nett 73, while Sophie Lovatt took second with 76.

In the white box event, Jack Harries was first with a nett 72, closely followed by Matthew Webb with 73.

There was a better turnout last Sunday, when the red box competition was particularly closely fought, but Olivia Bradbury took first place with 36, after count-back, from Bethan Morris second, also with 36. Sophie Lovatt followed with 33 points. Well done all!

In the yellow box competition, Johnny Birt, with 26 points, was in first place, followed by Ben Sheldon.

Matthew Webb was the winner of the white box competition with 37 points and a handicap cut, while Luke Harries came second with 36 and Henrik Jaakola third with 34.

This Sunday, the tee time is 10.24 - please arrive early to sort groups out.