What on earth is happening to the world today? Let us hope that peace  wins the day. I hope you have all wintered well and are coming out of hibernation refreshed and Covid and Long Covid free.

We have a great golf season to look forward to. March is delivering some sunshine, a few breezes and a drop or two of rain. I have found my shorts and have a month or two to get them around my waistband. I have wintered and wined too well. All my swing thoughts are long forgotten and I have stopped purchasing completely unnecessary golf clothes on the internet. 2022 golf, here we come! 

We are delighted to announce that Cavendish Golf Club in Derbyshire has become our latest participating club. Designed by world renowned golf architect Alister MacKenzie, we look forward to visiting this wonderful old course for a GSGB meeting during 2023.

Now is the time to look forward to this year’s itinerary. At long last, the much delayed Spring Irish trip looks like going ahead, staying at Roganstown and playing The Island, Portmarnock Links and Killeen Castle. Refresh your Guinness drinking skills now rather than your putting. Only one of those two can be relied upon to give you absolute pleasure.   Then, in May, we start our monthly meetings. You can check where we are going on our fabulous web site. There are stunning photos of our fine venues plus a few familiar faces.

Entries for all events are filling up nicely as many of you seem confident enough to travel and also to dine together. Fingers crossed we can have a season free of restrictions.

We open up in May at the highly regarded Silloth on Solway which is paired with Seascale. I have never played Silloth so I hope we get good weather so I can build up a store of positive memories.  Scratch champions will defend their hard won trophies on these links and there will be plenty more prizes on offer for the average golfer with lower expectations!

June takes us south to visit the well respected Gog Magog courses. This is another first for me. There will be a 2 shot penalty to Paul and Yogi, Robin Moser and the Carpenters, if they play, so we all have a chance!

Our AGM in July is back at Ramside in Durham where Christine and I are spending an extra night and will be partaking in a glass or two beforehand, sharing time with GSGB friends. That probably will not help our golf. We would still love a few more of you to join in this event. Take a few extra days and enjoy some time in Northumberland (or even Scotland if they will let us in). At the AGM, subject to your support, we expect to endorse the cooking of our resident chef Robin ’I cook ‘em’ Moser who will present and explain our finances. He tells me (spoiler alert) that we have survived.  The rest of us will have to behave under the watchful eyes of Linda Hill, our President. Plus there is bound to be some shuffling of our committee pack (no joker jokes please) and at least two new nominees. Thanks to all of those stepping down who have done their six years. You deserve a break!

August sees us visit Kent and the lovely and often windswept links of Littlestone paired with Cooden Beach. September sees us at Cirencester and Tewkesbury Park with a golden chance to tour the Cotswolds. Here we will compete for our Barlow Senior and Knight Super Senior trophies. These two events are close to being full so please enter quickly if you wish to join in the fun.

Tours have been really difficult to organize recently. Hopes are high for the Autumn extravaganza to Bordeaux and Biarritz. There will be great hotels, fabulous food, delicious wines and challenging golf.  Good luck to all who sail on that voyage. Looking even further ahead we are considering trips to Turkey as a Spring venue and Lisbon as an Autumn venue. What a great golf society we are!

Where we could really do with some help from you is to find some new members. The break with the virus has led to a few members giving up their irons and our membership level is now down to around the 500 mark. If we could all spread the word as to how much we enjoy our events I feel sure many golfers will find what we offer appealing. Please mention us to friends and your nearby local clubs. It is word of mouth that generates new members for us.

We have a strong committee and an excellent secretary in Brian. I am very privileged to work with them all. I very much look forward to giving you some golf tips at some point this year, especially to Christine who has been enjoying regular lessons this winter (from her pro!).

Giles Hinchcliffe (Chairman)