An Introduction to the Seniors Section

Senior’s Captain Colin Brown Overall running of Clays Seniors Section silverbirchcat@btinternet.com 01978 852754
Honorary Secretary Derek Lyon Deals with all press and communications. Honorary secretary. dglyon9@aol.com 07545 493648
Senior’s Past Captain & Commitee Member Bob Brown Clays Council Officer bobbrown2010@hotmail.co.uk   01978 264 999
Treasurer Cliff Lloyd Deals with all financial matters within Seniors Section. Cliff.lloyd@btinternet.com 01829 270527
Competition and Match Organiser Stewart Poole Organises match and kitty competitions aswell as inter club matches. stewartcobra@aol.com 01978 362010
Medal and Honours Board Organiser Don Wraight Organises all honours board and medal competitions. donwraight@msn.com  01978 263199
Commitee Member Barry Evans Club Commitee Members barrybk@talktalk.net 01978 352940
Commitee Member Andrew Mitchell Seniors Medal Organiser a9afm@orange.net 01978357714
Commitee Member Peter Almond Commitee Member peteralmond@talktalk.net 01978351271

The above list is to assist members in raising a query or problem with the appropriate committee member. All details of the Seniors competitions and formats can be found within the seniors constitution by clicking this link below.

Click here to download a copy of the Seniors Constitution >>

About the Senior Section at Clays

The key objective of the small group of members elected to organise activities for the Seniors is to ensure that everyone enjoys themselves. Anyone who arrives at the club on Seniors’ days and listens to the banter and sees the smiling faces before and after our games will be in no doubt that this objective is being achieved.

The section now has over 100 members and there are regularly up to 50 playing on a Tuesday and Thursday morning using the tees allocated to us from 9.20 to 11.00. Every time we meet we have a competition and although it may seem a contradiction, the only way we can ensure that the banter and smiles continue, win or lose, is to have rules, of which everyone is aware, that are applied consistently.

In all games played the Rules of Golf including local rules, where appropriate, apply. Additionally rules specific to Seniors competitions are contained within the Section Constitution which has been agreed by the membership as a whole and can only be amended with their agreement at an AGM , provided prior notice of the proposed amendment has been.

Handicaps

If you are an existing Club member your handicap will be in the system and will be used as the basis for calculating your score in the appropriate competition. If you are a new member and have not produced a handicap certificate from a previous club it will be necessary for you to submit 3 scorecards to the handicap secretary who will then issue a new handicap.

These players and those who do not have an active handicap, having not played in at least 3 qualifying competitions in the previous 12 months, are not able to play in any Matchplay or pairs strokeplay competitions.They can play in all other singles competitions including, for example, the Seniors Trophy, DJ Bogey, Medals or Kitty comps but only as a marker and the cards from these games can be submitted to the handicap secretary for handicap review.

Competitions. Various competitions are held throughout the year and are detailed below.

Kitty Comps

As their name implies everybody puts £1 in the kitty and most of the money is shared out as prizes. Those who want to play place their tally on the right hand side of the board and a draw for partners is made at 9.00 prompt.

We do encourage everyone playing on a Tuesday and Thursday to play during our tee time block and only those members playing in this block will be entered in the competition. 4 or 5 comps take place every month and can be team games, pairs or individual competitions and either Strokeplay or Stableford format.

In months where there is no individual honours board comp one of the Kitty comps will be a Stableford qualifier off the yellow tees. All competitions are played off full handicap. Players who do not have a handicap would not be able to win a Kitty Comp but would be able to play in individual competitions and submit the card for handicap purposes.

The cards of those showing good performance (typically 3 shots below net par or 39 points) would be submitted to the handicap secretary for ongoing assessment.

Seniors Medal

This is held normally on the first Thursday in every month and would always be a qualifying competition provided it is played on the measured course. Tee times for the competition are allocated from 9.00 to 11.00 but one earlier tee time is available should anyone need to complete his round early.

Using this earlier tee times can only be done by agreement with the Medal Organiser. An entry sheet is placed on the notice board for members to indicate that they wish to enter the competition. Tee times are determined by a draw, which is placed on the board about 1 week before the competition.

Any unused tee times after the draw has taken place will be available for general club. Members without a handicap will not be able to compete in the competition. They can if they wish play as a marker and submit their card as one of their 3 cards.

Honours Board Competitions

There are seven competitions held during the year details of these are given when notices are posted in February inviting entries for that year’s competitions. To qualify for entry a member must have played in at least three qualifying competitions in the year previous to the competition, or in the case of Knockout competitions the year prior to the “Closing date for entry” at the end of March.

In pairs strokeplay competitions competitors play off ¾ of full handicap. In pairs Matchplay competitions the stroke allowance would be ¾ of the difference between a players’ handicap and the handicap of the best player within the group. In singles Matchplay the stroke allowance is the full difference between a player and his opponent.

Example

Best player 10 H/C player; 25 Handicap players’ stroke allowance is (25-10) x 0.75 = (11.25) 11 strokes.

Inter Club Matches

We play home and away matches against 11 other local clubs; more details will be provided by one of the committee. When the match is played at Clays those not playing book their own tee times before the normal block and hold an informal kitty comp.