Each month, our three Captains – Matt Tunstall, Jill Pottle and Kevin Price – share with us their news from the previous few weeks and take a quick look ahead to the upcoming month.

Men’s Captain, Matt Tunstall

I hope you’ve all had a pleasant June. I don’t think we’re far off needing to gather round and do a collective rain dance!

The fairways have become very solid which is leading to some interesting bounces, but the green keepers are doing an excellent job of protecting the greens and approaches.

June was a busy month with the Captain’s charity day and Golf Week. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their generosity on the charity day. We managed to raise a little over £2,000 for St Helena Hospice.

I’d also like to thank Harry Hibbert and the rest of the golf team for organising golf week. All in all, it was a great success and a lot of fun!

July will bring the all-important club championships and of course, Captains Day. Both of which would be great to have fully booked. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible to create an atmosphere around the 18th for the final groups.

I hope you all have a great month.
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Ladies Captain, Jill Pottle

Hi Everyone,

I think most of us were waiting for some warmer weather to come but did we really want it this hot?!

Please remember to take care whilst out on the courses during these hot spells and ensure you keep well hydrated.

I hope that those of you who joined in our various events during Golf Week had the fun that was intended. I have definitely never before sat down whilst taking a tee shot or had to hit a chip into a toilet!!

The ladies section held their Pro-Am competition towards the end of Golf Week. Thanks again to all the Pros that came and joined us on the day. Congratulations to George Day, a first time entrant, who was the winning Pro.

Our ladies teams have fared very well this year in our County Matches. Our Bronze Shield girls have already learnt their fate in the Quarter Finals with a tie against Chigwell (last year’s Winners) at Chelmsford. This match will be played on Monday 7th July. Good luck to all those representing us (and their caddies) in this fixture.

Our Silver Shield girls are sitting waiting with baited breath to hear whether they have also made it through to the Quarter Finals which will be a great achievement.

Our Harris Bowl squad have won two and lost two matches so we will see if this has been enough for them to progress.

Thursday July 24 will see me hosting my Ladies Captain’s Day, the theme for which this year is ‘Carnival’. Those of you who have seen us previously will know that we like to make the most of this day and you certainly won’t miss us if you see us out on the course dressed in all our colours.

Please remember to sign up for our summer competitions which are held during July to support the club.

Thanks must go, again, to all the Greenkeeping staff for keeping our courses in top-top condition, especially during this drought.

I look forward to seeing you all around the Clubhouse or out on the course.

Seniors Captain, Kevin Price

We’ve been blessed with fine, dry weather these last few weeks and summer only really feels like it’s just beginning, however, as Senior’s Captain, I realise that I’m already two thirds of the way through my term of office.

Our senior teams have played and been knocked out of their county events. Our club championship was concluded in June. Congratulations to Ian Mckay and Roger Fleuty for becoming the scratch and handicap champions.

We’re just over halfway through our Interclub matches and, following a run of home matches, we’ve been able to string a run of wins together.

We still have a number of things to look forward to though. My Seniors Captain’s charity day takes place at the end of July, when hopefully, we will raise some more well needed funds for the Nayland Community First Responders. We’re holding our Seniors Committee Cup in August and a Seniors invitation day at the end of September, alongside all of our other regular monthly competitions.

On July 21, a team of Seniors from the Club will take part in the annual Veterans InterClub Tournament. This is contested between 10 clubs from the Essex and Suffolk area, featuring 10 players from each club. The venue is rotated each year, (SbN were hosts in 2023.) This year, it will be held at Braintree Golf Club, where we have a strong team competing, captained by John Parkinson. We have won the tournament and been runners-up on numerous occasions, last tasting victory in 2019. I wish John and his team every success.