June & July arrived, unpacked its bags and apparently took up permanent residence. The sun shone, the fairways turned firm enough to add fifty yards to a well-struck drive and eighty to one heading towards trouble, and Boundary Lakes enjoyed another packed month of golf.
There have been matches, Roll Ups, away days, team events, leaderboards and enough Stableford points to suggest that somebody, somewhere, must finally have worked out how to play this game.
Admittedly, July became so busy that parts of this newsletter have wandered into early August. Much like one of our tee shots, it started in the right direction before drifting slightly further than intended.
In this newsletter:
- Matt’s Unbeaten March — At this point, we’re afraid to mention it.
- Senior Team Open — Serious competition, questionable course management.
- Captain’s Away Day — Nearly 50 Seniors. What could possibly go wrong?
- The Roll Ups Roll On — Same Thursday, different excuses.
- East Sussex: Four Seasons in Two Days — Golf, sunshine, rain and eventual surrender.
- Cup & Eclectic: The Crunch — Where every point matters and every missed putt gets remembered.
- Digital Divots: Every Score Counts — Unfortunately, even the bad ones.
- 11,113 Points of Summer Golf — And still nobody has solved it.
- Welcome Back, Maurie & Hutch — Proof you can’t keep a good Senior away.
- And Finally… — Because even Seniors eventually reach the 19th.
Match Play and Matt’s Unbeaten March
There has been no shortage of club matches, with Highcliffe, Romsey, Shanklin & Sandown, Test Valley and Alton all visiting the Lakes. We also crossed the Solent for the away leg against Shanklin & Sandown—a memorable expedition involving golf, ferries and the unusual requirement to remember not only your clubs but which county you had left them in.
Through it all, Matt’s unbeaten run as Captain has continued.
At this rate, visiting teams may begin asking whether a draw can be agreed over coffee before anybody goes through the inconvenience of playing eighteen holes. Matt, naturally, remains modest about the whole thing, although witnesses have noticed that he now approaches team selection with the quiet confidence of a Premier League manager who knows the board cannot afford to sack him.
The matches have delivered competitive golf, excellent hospitality and plenty of good-natured rivalry. More importantly, they have once again shown what these fixtures are really about: representing the Seniors, enjoying the company, and discovering that an opponent who has been perfectly charming for three hours can become surprisingly firm when asked to concede a three-footer.
All results and match reports can be found on our site.
Senior Team Open
The Lakes hosted the Senior Team Open, bringing together experienced golfers from across the region for a friendly but fiercely contested day.
Basingstoke emerged as champions with an excellent 82 points. Salisbury Saints and Old Valley A both finished on 81, with Salisbury taking second place on count-back.
For those unfamiliar with count-back, it is golf’s traditional way of deciding that two identical scores were not quite identical enough. One team celebrates, another studies the card, and everyone else nods wisely while hoping somebody nearby understands the calculation.
The day was a tremendous success, with a full field, excellent organisation and a course that provided a fair test. “Fair” in this instance means that everybody played the same holes and had an equal opportunity to find the same rough.
Congratulations to Basingstoke and thank you to every player, organiser and volunteer who helped make the event such an enjoyable occasion.
You can view the full event breakdown and results here.
The Captain’s Away Day
Matt hosted his Senior Captain’s Away Day at High Post Golf Club, where nearly 50 Seniors gathered for one of the largest events of the year.
It was a brilliant day from beginning to end. A magnificent prize table, superb company, generous support for the Captain’s charity, and enough memorable moments to keep the clubhouse conversations going well into winter.
The golf was competitive, although the conditions ensured that local knowledge remained useful and blind optimism remained essential. Some returned with prizes, others with stories, and a select few with scorecards that were folded very carefully before being placed at the bottom of the golf bag.
The day captured everything we enjoy about Seniors golf. The scores mattered for a while, the company mattered throughout, and the stories will survive long after nobody can remember who made par at the sixth.
If you missed it—or simply wish to confirm that events happened as you now remember them—the full report can be read here.
The Roll Ups Keep Rolling
The weekly Roll Ups continue to attract strong fields, delivering excellent golf on the course and even better camaraderie afterwards. Nothing brings golfers together quite like eighteen holes followed by a detailed discussion of every unfortunate bounce, questionable pin position, and putt that absolutely had to break but unreasonably chose not to.
Since the beginning of June:
Division One Winners
Tony Feerick, Graeme Cook, Pete Schwodler, David Harrison, Kev Palmer, Matt Hood, John Blake and Bob Fanstone.
Jeff Rowlands has won twice, presumably because once was insufficient evidence.
Division Two Winners
Jim Schwodler, Eddie Sweeney, John Hill, Paul Stubbington, Martin Williams, Robert Perriam, Adey Gray and Don Mullins.
Antonio Falco also won twice, proving that consistency is perfectly achievable provided you ignore the previous several decades of golfing evidence.
Congratulations to all our winners and to everyone who continues to support the Roll Ups. The fields are growing, the competition is strong, and Thursday mornings now contain more tactical manoeuvring than a small military campaign—particularly when the draw is announced.
East Sussex National: Golf in Every Season
Our trip to East Sussex National was nothing if not eventful.
We enjoyed excellent hospitality, two championship courses, and all four seasons in roughly 45-minute intervals. Adey Gray stormed the East Course, after which the weather decided that one storm deserved another and launched its own assault on the West.
The second day was eventually abandoned. However, not before everybody had demonstrated admirable resilience, waterproof testing, and the ability to calculate exactly how wet they were prepared to become before declaring golf temporarily overrated.
Dom Freeman, meanwhile, was well prepared with his newly acquired golfing attire. Next time he has promised to bring his own clothes, which should considerably simplify both the packing arrangements and any subsequent investigation.
The unfinished business will be settled when we return on 19 August. The West Course is waiting, the Seniors are ready, and several waterproofs remain hanging in garages in the hope that they will never be needed again.
All the stories, photographs and results from our original adventure can be found here.
The Cup and Eclectic Enter the Crunch
The Senior Captain’s Cup and Seniors Eclectic are both approaching their decisive stages.
With only three rounds remaining in each competition, every point and every improved hole begins to matter. This is the point in the season when leaderboards are studied more closely, discarded scores are recalculated repeatedly, and golfers begin explaining that they are “not really thinking about it” immediately before describing every possible finishing permutation.
There is still plenty to play for. A strong round can transform a Captain’s Cup campaign, while one birdie—or merely the removal of an especially stubborn seven—can produce a dramatic move in the Eclectic.
Check the latest standings, work out where improvements can be made, and decide how you might climb towards the leading places. Then forget the entire plan while standing over your opening tee shot. Tradition must be respected.
Updated standings and competition trackers are available here for the SCC and here for the Eclectic.
Digital Divots: Every Score Counts
The Digital Divots Summer League is new this year, with 14 teams competing for virtual glory and very real bragging rights.
The team score is calculated from the combined averages of the three players’ qualifying Roll Up rounds. That means every team member needs to complete at least three eligible rounds before the competition closes on 24 September.
It would therefore be wise to check that everyone in your team is on course to qualify. Nobody wants to reach the final week and discover that the route to the title depends upon a teammate returning hurriedly from holiday, finding a free Thursday, and producing 40 points after six weeks without touching a club.
The leaderboard remains wide open. Check where your team stands, examine the gap to the leaders, and decide whether inspiration, encouragement or a discreet reminder in the clubhouse is now required.
Current standings and team updates can be viewed here.
Nine Roll Ups, 363 Rounds and 11,113 Points
Across June and July, the Boundary Lakes Seniors completed nine Roll Ups, played 363 rounds, and collectively amassed an extraordinary 11,113 Stableford points.
That is an impressive quantity of golf, particularly when you consider how many additional points were left in bunkers, behind trees, and hanging on the lip of the hole after somebody began walking towards the cup too early.
The period produced several 42-point rounds, a magnificent 43, and some remarkable consistency. It also included one extraordinary journey from 19 points to back-to-back 42s—proof that golf can change very quickly and that one disappointing score is merely the game preparing a more elaborate surprise.
There were soaring temperatures, running fairways, and occasional reports of golf swings disappearing without notice. Most were eventually recovered, although not always by their original owners.
Our full midsummer Roll Up review has the numbers, the leading performers, and the evidence that, despite 363 determined attempts, we still have not collectively solved golf. The complete breakdown and highlights are available here
Welcome Back, Maurie and Hutch
Finally, it was wonderful to see Maurie and Hutch back playing after lengthy absences.
Both returned to find the course looking splendid and the game every bit as awkward as when they left it. Golf is reassuring like that. You can be away for months, concentrate on recovery, rebuild your strength, and return to discover that a small white ball still has absolutely no respect for seniority or personal circumstance.
It was genuinely excellent to see them both back where they belong. We hope they enjoyed their return and that many more rounds follow—preferably with fewer aches, more pars, and absolutely no expectation that the game will become sensible.
Final Thoughts
June & July gave us sunshine, matches, competitions, away days, strong fields, and some outstanding performances. Matt remains unbeaten, the main competitions are approaching their conclusions, and Digital Divots has added another layer of friendly rivalry to the summer.
Most importantly, the Seniors continue to turn out in excellent numbers and enjoy the golf, friendship, and clubhouse banter that make this section so special.
There is still plenty of the season ahead. Keep playing, keep supporting the events, and keep believing that the next round will be the one where everything finally comes together.
Statistically, it has to happen eventually. Golf, unfortunately, has never shown much interest in statistics.
