2024 GC Leagues and
club competitions

report by Richard Keighley

EACF Leagues

I have been very pleased to be joined by Michael Tideswell as a second GC representative on the Club Committee, particularly as member numbers have continued to increase and the popular roll-ups on Wednesday mornings have usually attracted more than 20 players.

I am also fortunate to have been able to delegate responsibility for running our three EACF GC League teams to Ross Bagni, Marilyn Robinson and Michael Tideswell respectively. Les Heard also kindly managed the Club’s One Day Level and Handicap tournaments      

Open League

Ross Bagni managed our involvement in this League which consisted of six teams from the whole of the region. A good win against Letchworth promised a successful season but a combination of illness, injury and loss of form led to our team eventually finishing in fifth place.

Team selected from Ross Bagni, Les Heard, Eric Audsley, George Collin, Terry Collis, John Watson and Bill Ironside.

B level League

Marilyn Robinson was responsible for organising fixtures and managing team selection. Our team was in the Central and West area comprising six teams. Good wins against Northampton and Letchworth and a draw against Watford were only sufficient to take us to fourth place in a highly competitive league.

Team selected from Marilyn, Michael Tideswell, Nick Boxall, Gill Brewer, Ann Udal, Richard Keighley and Chris Harrison.

Handicap (Advantage) League

Our most successful League team finished third out of seven teams placed in the Western Area. It was denied second place on hoop count alone.

Michael Tideswell was the team manager responsible for selecting teams which recorded wins against Leighton-Linslade, Watford A and B, and Northampton but came a cropper at Stony Stratford against both their Blues and Greens teams.

Team selected from Michael Tideswell, Richard Keighley, Gill Brewer, Eddie Fisher, Richard Skidmore

4Club Trophy

There was disappointment for our team in the opening home leg of this annual tournament featuring teams from Leighton-Linslade, Northampton, Watford and ourselves. It finished in fourth place and never recovered sufficiently to improve that overall position in later rounds.

Watford 95 points, Leighton-Linslade 93 points. Northampton 67 points, WP  57 points.

GC Club Competitions

A new season-long Level Play competition was introduced and it attracted a field of 16 players. The Final featured Ross Bagni and Eric Audsley. It was a closely contested match which Ross won: 3-7, 7-5, 7-3.

The Handicap Tournament played to “Advantage Rules” had an entry of 9 players leading to a Final between John Watson and Nick Boxall. John won 7-4, 4-7, 7-6.

Conclusion

Clearly, results in the team competitions were unimpressive which I believe reflects a general increase in playing standards amongst clubs in our region. Tim Brewer attended a Coaching course and promptly applied his skills for the benefit of our members. His latest initiative is to offer short but valuable courses during the roll-up sessions.

Five of our members have qualified as GC referees, thanks to a course offered by Ian Shore of the Chiltern Academy.

Home News Diary Lawn booking Club competitions Activities History Membership Contacts How to get there Where to stay Why play croquet? Croquet myths Association croquet Golf croquet Useful links Archive

Club

Croquet

Wrest Park