Kapil Dev, the former cricket team captain of Indian and winner the 1983 Cricket World Cup enjoyed some summer sun at OGC this weekend. A guest of Harry Kenth, he was joined for a round with Lalit & Dhiren Patel. Having enjoyed the course and meeting many members, he ended up paying for dinner after playing off a 3 handicap!

A stunning day was the back drop to the 2013 Birkett Barker Trophy. The course was in full splendour with everyone in the field of 65 players full of praise for the efforts of the greens staff. It was special day for one of the clubs youngest winners, James Bowen. A tremendous nett 67 in the morning was followed by a 71 in the afternoon, totalling 137 for the win. On a day where only a handful of rounds were played below net par, Rob Tovey hit the best net 66 round in the afternoon coming second with 139 and Alex Daniels third with 141.

On the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd May, a loud cracking noise could be heard across the fairways at OGC. The Old Oak Tree next to the first tee had split and fallen across the 18th green. Thankfully no one was injured and unbelievably, the only damage was a small scar on the edge of the green! Well done to the greens staff for clearing this away so promptly.

Snapshot showing some 18 Seniors, mainly made up from the Working Party, clearing the brook in readiness for the main playing season. Their efforts are much appreciated by the membership.

Some 40 plus balls were retrieved - perks for the workers!

Presentation of Captain’s Charity Cheque to Breast Friends Solihull

On Friday 10^th May the Immediate Past Captain, Ian Phipps, presented a cheque for £3,850 to Christine Bates and Sandy Worth from Breast Friends Solihull, a local group that helps ladies diagnosed with breast cancer.  Ian would again like to thank all of those members that contributed to this initiative.

This Competition was played in glorious sunshine on May Bank Holiday Monday with an excellent field of 26 pairs. Winners were James and Ed Lavery with a superb 65nett. Second were Paul and George Taylor with 68.5 and third Paul and Rob Tovey with 69.

Sunday 21st April: Captains Lunch - over 60 people attended this event to welcome Louis Meryon into his year of Captaincy. Lunch was a traditional roast of beef and the pictures show the carving skills of Louis with Captain elect John Jarvie, Lady Captain Ruth and our new Chairman of General Committee Bob Gay. 

On Tuesday April 9th the President presented a cheque for £2000 to Mrs Anne Lavery a member or the Marie Curie Appeals Committee. The money will go towards the build and equipping of a family room within the new Marie Curie West Midlands Hospice. The room is to provide somewhere for friends and family to  take a break from the emotions of visiting their loved ones during the stressful period they are undergoing care as a result of cancer. They plan to raise £110,000, our contirbution from the presidents pound will take them very close to their target.So just think every time you didn't play well enough to beat the target for the day you will have contributed to such a good cause.

Bob Ellis, lucky winner (again!) of the Tuesday Night Draw, receiving his £400 winnings from the President

The Easter Foursomes [Burnett Salver] was played on Sunday 7^th April having been postponed from Easter Monday because of snowy weather conditions! 14 pairs entered, which was down on previous years, and the winners were Cathy McMaster and Rob Tovey with 41 points and runners up were Julia Proud and Niyamal Ali with 35 points. Many congratulations to them.

On  a bitterly cold 4th April James Bowen won the Kenilworth Young Masters under 14's gross prize by one shot with a score of 80 gross.

Closing date for entries for following Competitions is Sunday 28^th April

• Singles Handicap KO – entry fee £2
• Summer Fourball KO – entry fee £3 per couple
• Mixed Foursomes KO – entry fee £3 per couple

Please see notice boards for more detail but note following important changes;

• All entries to each KO to be registered in the Pro’s Shop along with appropriate entry fee
• Juniors are only eligible for entry when accompanied by a playing adult and therefore  cannot play in the Singles Handicap KO

Draw will be made on 29^th April

The Olton Girls Open was held on April 4^th on one of the coldest April Days in recent history. Despite the bleak conditions the 41 girls from five Counties who entered were not daunted by the weather and the scores reflected this.

The 2013 Olton Girls Open Gross Champion is Fern Clark from Beau Desert GC gross 87, 2^nd Gross was Sophie Johnson from Market Drayton GC with 88  and 3^rd Gross was Jodie Chubb from Sutton Coldfield Ladies with 92.

In the Nett Competition Jasmin Luo aged 12 from Beau Desert GC scored a magnificent 67, six under par round to become the 2013 Olton Girls Nett Champion. 2^nd nett was Morgan Thomas also from Beau Desert GC and 3^rd Nett was Louise Le Blevec from Olton GC .

21 girls played in the 9 hole Competition with some as young as 9 years old. Nicola Allen  Robin Hood GC came first with 20pts, 2^nd was Eloise Stevens Shirley GC also on 20pts, 3^rd was Asheigh Bailey Olton GC with 16pts, 4^th was Ruby Kitchingman

The Warwickshire also on 16pts and 5^th was Milly Whitehead Nuneaton GC with 15pts.

This is the 3^rd year that this Competition has been run and this was the highest number of entries so far. I should like to thank all those who helped me on the day to make this so successful a Competition, one of very few Girls Opens in the Country.

Barbara Malins

The lingering snow cover played havoc with our Easter weekend events and competitions, causing a number of postponements and cancellations. New dates have now been arranged for some of these as follows:

INTERNATIONAL PAIRS, 29th March - Now re-arranged to SUNDAY 16th June

PGA PRO-AM QUALIFIER, 30th March - Now re-arranged to MONDAY 27th May

The Annual Dinner took place on Saturday 23^rd March with 88 sitting down for dinner, a large increase on last year.  Despite the heavy snow, everyone turned up to experience Mike Duck, making his debut as toastmaster, keep the evening moving which began with presentation of the numerous trophies.  After the President had said grace, a fine meal was provided by Chris & his team with Tim & his bar staff making sure that no one had an empty glass.  After dinner the evening was concluded with speeches by Damian Kelly (toast to the Club), the Captain (response), Colin Macmillan (toast to our guests) and finally comedian Lea Roberts.  This was Lea’s second appearance at Olton and he had everyone rolling with laughter as he did at last years’ Toffs versus Tuffs event.  Yet another great event at Olton Golf Club!

Congratulations to Mr Bob Ellis - lucky winner of last Tuesday's bumper £500.00 draw !

The General Committee has agreed to change the winter program in order to repair the damage to the approach to the 10^th green.  This area (50 yards from the green) is becoming increasingly wet and unsettled, this is mainly due to broken and collapsed old clay drains.

Work will need to commence immediately to allow time for the job to be carried out properly and more importantly to recover in time for spring.

This job could take at least 3 weeks to complete (weather permitting) and the green will be out of action on weekdays whilst work is being carried out.

The Course Manager's full report on the winter programme can be found on the Club notice boards and in the "Greens" section of the Members' area of the website.

Congratulations to our club Professional Charles Haynes. After narrowly missing out on reaching the final stages of the European Seniors’ Tour Qualifying School he went one better this year and reached the final stage.

This year 160 Professionals from all over Europe and many other parts of the world were selected to try to win their tour card that would qualify them to play in European Seniors’ Tour tournaments this year. The qualifying School is in two stages. Stage 1 is over 36 holes at either the Gramacho Golf Course in Portugal or the Silves course. Charley played the Silves course and after 36 holes was tied 10^th out of 77 with a level par 140 qualifying him to play in the final stage at the Pinta course at the Pestana Golf Resort at Lagoa Portugal.

72 players reached the final stage to be played over 72 holes. After 36 holes Charley was in the top 10 at level par. This included an incredible 29 for the second 9 holes to give him a 69 for that round. Unfortunately he was not able to maintain that level over the last 36 holes finishing 9 over par to tie in 47^th place out of the 160 original. This did not give him his card but may get him some invites during the season. For full details go to  www.Europeantour.com/seniortour

Please join me in congratulating Charley on an excellent achievement let’s hope he can go one better again next year.

Terry Smith

President

The photo shows Lady Captain Lynda Cooper doing her final official presentation prior to the AGM.

Lynda was presenting a cheque to Amy McNaughton-Brown of the Marie Curie Big Build for £7778 which had been her charity for 2012. The total amount raised during the year was just over £8300 the difference being money donated directly to the charity but through the fund raising.

The previous Lady President Jess Danter had also had the Big Build as her charity and between the two over £14000 was raised in two years.

The voices of the Buto Army were heard throughout the clubhouse as the the Anglo Captain, Martin Butlin announced the results and the 'tearing up' of the Celts 'Four in a Row' expectations. Over 80 members turned out for the annual confrontation which was won by the Anglo's 9-6.

The rousing sounds of the Pipes and Drum could not make it Four in A Row for the Celts Captain, Neil Henderson but with the Anglo trump card of Royal Support for the assembled, the boys in Red & White raised their game to win the day.

The turnout reflected the true colours of the membership and club life at OGC. The after match dinner was well attended to celebrate the Anglo success after 3 years of Celts gloating.  A memorable day was had by all.

Lady Captains Drive-In and Lunch; Sunday 18 November

Our new Lady Captain Ruth Hall had a beautiful sunny autumnal day for her Drive-In and Lunch. 3 balls were successfully driven  after which an excellent lunch was enjoyed by 60 people.

Best Wishes to Ruth from all the members for her 2yrs in Office!

The Annual Awards for the OGC Junior Section was held on Monday evening. The Junior organiser, Mike Bowen presneted the successes of the year to the players and their families. There were a number of highlights achieved by the section on a team and individual basis with Liam Phipps and Dhiren Patel taking major honours, but George Taylor took a personal major by winning the clubs Birkett Barker Trophy. Ben Wiggins, Junior Captain for 2012/13 completed the evening by announciing George as his Captain Elect.

The re-arranged Mixed Open was played on Sunday 7th October. Congratulations to the winners seen here receiving their prizes from the Captain, Ian Phipps and the Lady Captain, Lynda Cooper. The winners, with a score of 79 pts were:

Clare Howells & Mark Stacey, (Moor Hall GC)

Anne & Melvyn Fern, (Willesley Park GC)

Saturday 22nd September certainly turned out to be the best day of the week for the Weather and Golf !!.

We had a full field competing in our Saturday Open which is turning out to be one of the most popular events in our ladies' calendar; competitors had travelled from around the Midlands  and beyond !! The course was in super condition and did not let us down with the greens being challenging to even the most experienced golfers! This years pair’s better ball stableford competition gave some interesting results with our own Lara Bates taking the prize of the longest drive, Mary Lightfoot from Drotwich won the nearest the pin. The best front nine went to Pat Young and Joyce Nichols from Walmley and the best back nine went to Dawn Saunders and Di Wood from Shirley.

1^st place was won by Nicky Woodhouse and Helen Dellow from Stoneleigh Deer Park with 42 points.

2^nd place Jo Waring and Michelle Poulson from The Warwickshire with 40 points.

3^rd place Wendy McIntyre from Olton and her partner Betty Davidson from Shirley 38 points.

4^th place Helen Baker and Sarah Read from Olton with 38 points

5^th place Julie Ingram and Gill Clayton from Henley in Arden with 37 points.

There were also 12 winners of the 2’s competition

Thanks to the generosity of our ladies' section, with their lovely donation of the raffle prizes we managed to raise £365 for our Lady Captain's charity Marie Curie Hospice. We look forward to welcoming all our entrants next year !