After some questionable July weather, the architects of Tenby Seniors Open Day on Tuesday finally hit the sweet spot - the hottest day of the year thus far, providing excellent conditions for this annual Stableford tournament.

Tenby didn’t have the weather that was endured by the players at Royal Troon over the weekend - and we didn’t have Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickleson either! Oh no, they will have to age a bit before they can enter for this prestigious event!

Over 150 entries were received, though, split between the mature over 70s and the ‘younger set’ of 55 to 69-year-olds, and the consensus of opinion was that the course was in fine shape, the greens were fast and true and the rough was diabolical!

Top class planning and preparation is essential if a competition such as this is to be a success; fortunately the team that organised this year’s event was absolutely up to the mark and the day ran very smoothly.

Interestingly, the chief planner was our secretary Derek Cole, but he doesn’t feature in the photograph because he is away in Singapore - where it is probably wetter than Tenby! The photograph does show Seniors captain Peter Williams with two more of Derek’s team; treasurer Stan Hudson and vice-captain Dudley Williams, collecting entrance fees and selling raffle tickets in the Pro Shop - no, that is not a clothes line behind them! Many more Seniors were involved; starters, scorers, spotters, registrars et al, and captain Peter passes on his sincere thanks to all of you.

A summary of the results is as follows; prizes were awarded to the top four scorers from visiting clubs and the top four from Tenby in the 55 - 69-year-old class and the 70+ year-old class - 16 prizes in all.

In addition there were two more chances to be a winner, nearest the pin on the par three 12th hole and nearest the centre line on the par five 14th hole. Last but not least, there were 13 twos scored, each earning the accurate golfer a sleeve of golf balls.

Did I forget the monster raffle? Well tickets at £1 had been on sale all day as punters attempted to grab one of the scores of prizes donated by the Tenby Seniors - not quite one prize per punter, but not too very far off…

And the winners were:

Top scoring visitor in the 55 - 69 class - Peter Johnson from South Pembrokeshire club with 37 points.

Top scoring Tenby player in the 55 - 69 class - Martin Neilan with 42 points.

Top scoring visitor in the 70+ class - Keith Howells from Ashburnham club with 34 points.

Top scoring Tenby player in the 70+ class - Steve Sutcliffe with 39 points.

Nearest the pin - Steve Watkins from Neath club, 8ft 6in.

Nearest the centre line - Alan Eustace from Pontardawe, actually on the line.

And that is just about that, so finally - many thanks to Scott and the boys for presenting the course in great condition (don’t mention the rough!), many, many thanks to Tim and Tom (and occasionally Denise) in the Pro Shop for printing and issuing cards, and many, many, many thanks to Emma and Lynn and the other catering specialists who kept the competitors fed and watered (watered?) throughout the day. I’m looking forward to next year’s open day already!

M.F.