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 July. Our call for some much-needed rain was finally answered which should start to revive some of the fairways. I think we’re all hoping for the nice summery weather to make a return.

It’s been another busy month at the club with the Men’s Captain’s day, Club Championships and various inter club matches, The highlights of which have been the enormous 17.5 – 0.5 victory over Epping by the Curry cup squad, and the continued success of the Jubilee Cup team who have reached the Quarter Finals after beating Harwich & Dovercourt 7.5 – 1.5. Good luck in the next round guys!

This month has also brought the news of the new Management Board budget. This was a difficult and carefully thought-out plan to preserve and maintain the golf club that we all care about. If you haven’t had a chance to read through the announcement, I would certainly encourage you to do so.

August brings another club favourite with the Copella Cup. The forecast is looking fair at the moment so I think we can all expect to see some big scores. Best of luck to all those playing and I hope you all have a great month.

Ladies Captain, Jill Pottle

Hi Everyone,

I bet you have all been relieved to see some recent rain after all that oppressive heat we experienced earlier in the summer. It’s typical that the school holidays have begun and the weather has changed! We are still getting run on the ball though which is a relief! Thanks must go, yet again, to the Greenkeeping staff for keeping our courses looking and playing amazingly despite all the problematic weather.

The rain certainly came on my recent Ladies Captain’s Day but the Ladies that participated braved the downpours to have an enjoyable day. Thank you to everyone that contributed to making my day so special.

Our Ladies section has a fairly quiet period now after the busy schedule with our County matches. Unfortunately, we lost our quarter finals in both the Bronze Shield and Silver Trophy events, but we are already planning ahead for next year’s campaign.

We continue to run our usual weekly competitions but playing numbers start to drop as ‘Grandma’ is often required to be elsewhere during the school break.

We will be playing one of our popular Trophy competitions, the Chris Mylam Trophy, which is a Greensomes Stableford event held to honour one of our past ladies. As Chris was a twin it is a stipulation in the competition rules that the format involves playing as a pair.

We have reported increased numbers in our recent club competitions which has been great to see. It has also been fantastic to see some new faces amongst the winners.

At the end of August we will be playing one of the last Mixed events of the golfing year, competing for the Princess Diana Trophy. Sign up will shortly be open for this and it would be lovely to see some new names on the start sheet. If anyone would like to play but doesn’t have a partner, please let me know and I will do my best to find you one.

Could I remind everyone to download the R&A app ‘Rules of Golf’ as it is a simple way to rectify those on course rules issues that arise from time to time. It has recently become apparent that more of us do not know even the most basic rules (even though we think we do) and a quick check on the app could save embarrassment on the course or arguments in the clubhouse after your round.

For those of you travelling during August, have safe journeys, great holidays and enjoy spending time with your friends and family.

Seniors Captain, Kevin Price

Summer is rolling by, already, the nights are drawing in and it is a little bit cooler in the evenings, but still plenty of warm, dry weeks to come for golf!

Firstly this month, many congratulations to John Parkinson, who captained our Veterans Inter Club Tournament team to victory. This tournament involves teams from across Suffolk and Essex and has been won by Stoke ten times in its 40-year history.

There is only one other thing I can write about this month, and this is my Senior Captain’s Charity Day held on July 28th. The golf was a team competition of best two from 4four scores and there were plenty of fun, side competitions, all designed to encourage people to contribute to the charity.

My charity for 2025, as I will have mentioned before, is the Nayland Community First Responders.
Most people believe the Responders to be an integrated part of the NHS and funded by them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. They are all volunteers, who have their own day jobs, they use their own vehicles, no blue lights, and must pay for their own uniforms and even buy their own medical equipment.

I couldn’t have picked a better charity for 2025. Just a small amount of revenue may help fund another volunteer for the year. What’s more, they are all local, operate in our area and have been called to our own golf club on countless occasions.

I must give a massive round of applause to the many members of the senior section who supported the day by their purchase of raffle tickets, donation of prizes, donation of lots for the auction, sponsorship of holes and for generally getting into the spirit of the day by entering the putting competition, beat the pro and bidding for auction items.

The competition was won by a team consisting of Tony Reeves, Mal Jones, Stuart Lawson and Ray Ludlam, but the real winners were the First responders, for whom we were able to raise in excess of £5,000 on the day.

We play golf for a hobby, they save lives for a hobby!