The National Seniors Pairs Championship

The National Seniors Pairs Championship is a Pairs better-ball knockout event. Handicap allowance is 90% as in CONGU rules. In the event of the match being tied play continues on a sudden-death basis to decide the winner. The winning Pair then go through to the next round. We try to arrange fixtures so that each alternate round is home or away, to level the playing field a bit, and also, away players receive one extra courtesy stroke. This rule was introduced several years ago as home Pairs were winning in 75% of cases. It's now closer to 60-40, so it obviously works.

In the early rounds we try to minimise travel to about 75 minutes, wherever possible. In the later stages it depends on which Pairs are left in, but again we try to match Pairs that have the least difficult travel patterns. Courtesy of the course should be given to visiting players (though if that is not possible, as might happen at a proprietary Club) we have rule whereby the visitors' green fees are shared with the home players - see the Rules page by clicking on the page name on the left of this page. Each round has a window of about five weeks to arrange and play the match. The handicap limit is 18 - but again see the Rules page. 

Important Rule Change for 2018

We are, for 2018, making one important rule change following consultation with all our players (and thank you for everyone who sent in their comments). Each Pair will be allowed to name one reserve player, who can be used at any time if one of the original Pair is unavailable.

We did also ask if players over 70 could use a handicap up to 20 (or 22).  That suggestion was rejected by a sizeable majority and will not be implemented.

2018 Tournament - Round One - to be played by May 13th

Will home Pairs please contact their opponents asap to arrange the match. The weather will hopefully change very soon. Winners are to report the score after the match please. Also note that first-round losers go into the Plate tournament, so everyone gets at least two games. Good luck and enjoy !

Winning Pair in each draw, once the match has been played, are underlined to indicate they have won.

Serrecchia/Lewin (Bedfordshire) v Goldsmith/Cockley (Oakland Park)

Bickerdike/Bird (Naunton Downs) v Robinson/Hartley (Lilleybrook)

Fern/Parr (Five Lakes) v Loran/Evans (Colchester Playgolf)

Trueman/O’Hagen (Staverton Park) v Butin/Boyes (Wollaton Park)

Barrowcliffe/Lapage (Rowlands Castle) v Domaszewski/Purdy (Waterlooville)

Simpson/Rigby (Greenmount) v Green/Kenny (Elland)

Roy/Brett (Wavendon) v Toach/Barrett (Kilworth Springs)

Whitwham/Heaney (Bedfordshire) v Smedley/Conway (Staverton Park)

Penley/Winsall (Chobham) v Boucher/Davidson (Reigate Hill)

Smith/Thorne (Wycombe Heights) v Davey/Burch (Oakland Park)

Basson/Larcombe (Cumberwell Park) v Fill/Small (Naunton Downs)

Higgins/Paterson (Stock Brook Manor) v Edwards/Worth (Cambs Meridian)

Pendlebury/Pooley (Staverton Park) v Rollings/Peachey (Wavendon)

Peeling/Field (Colchester Playgolf) v Chick/Fleming (Langdon Hills)

Patrickson/Black (Cookridge Hall) v McLemore/Smith (Harrogate)

Cook/McCarthy (Langdon Hills) v Latta/Austin (Colchester)

Cox/Wilmot (Matlock) v Taylor/Baker (Tapton)

Turker/Payne (Woldingham) v Ball/Mander (Willingdon)

Wilson/Bernard (Tandridge) v Benson/Blackwell (Haywards Heath)

Smiley/Corry (Worldham) v Barnard/Turner (Stoneham)

Lynch/Robinson (Pannal) v Dunn/Harrison (Greenmount)

Smethers/Rowe (Brookmans Park) v Eve/Oakley (Langdon Hills)

Tucker/Lovell (Stock Brook Manor) v Bibby/Warner (Knebworth)

Hammond/Byron (Overstone Park) v Rogers/ Smith (Wollaton Park)

Morris/Huffer (Blackmoor) v Shaw/Philpott (Dummer)

Hislop/Adams (Poulton-le-Fylde) v Boustead/Saxon (Saddleworth)

Cramp/Mason (Tapton) v Chambers/North (Wollaton Park)

Bamfield/Toft (Middleton Hall) v Iqbal/Harwood (Seacroft)

Boucher/Penfold (Frinton) v Ehren/Walsh (Langdon Hills)

Lowe/Wakeman (Walsall) v Wheeler/Sharp (Cotswold Edge)

Wylde/Meredith (Worcester G&CC) v Watton/Fray (Walsall)

Thorley/Blood (Walsall) v Merritt/Brown (Staverton Park)

Barber/Barber (Royal Ascot) v Lyons/Retallic (Easthampstead)

Heath/Gnosill (Shifnal) v Jamieson/Pugh (Mile End)

Grindle/Stuart (Forest Hills) v Lewis/Evans (Maesteg)

Dalgliesh/Jones (Haywards Heath) v Hook/Flack (King’s Hill)

Corris/Brooks (Haywards Heath) v Palmer/Townes (Reigate Hill)

Porter/Bidwell (Rookery Park) v Clements/Russell (Cambs Meridian)

Burry/Backett (Seacroft) v Crowson/Towell (Low Laithes)

Blackburn/Blakeley (Howley Hall) v Nisbet/Ellis (Darrington)

Smith/Richmond (W Herts) v Penn/Nightingale (Oakland Park)

Courtney/Stonebridge (W Herts) v Schlosz/Salazar (S Herts)

Liston/Newman (Oakland Park) v Nicholson/Ireland (Easthampstead)

Feargrieve/McDaniell (Strawberry Hill) v Hollingsworth/Harrington (Oakland Park)

Morton/Curtis (Strawberry Hill) v Loader/Newton (W Herts)

Smith/Rainbow (Harpenden Common) v Fleming/Clark (Cheshunt)

Morris/Ulatowski (Cheshunt) v Taylor/Smith (W Essex)

Whitelaw/Harrison (Cambs Meridian) v Pownall/King (Cheshunt)

Fenwick/Poulten (Great Hadham) v O’Hare/Hanna (Welwyn Garden City)

Marshall/Sack (Cheshunt) v Cridland/Forbes (Royston)

Evans/Marsh (Royston) v Thomas/Whiteley (Langdon Hills)

The Finals 2017

The finals were held at Staverton Park in mid-October in warm and pleasant weather - though Storm Ophelia made its presence known just as we finished the semi-finals. A brilliant red sun could be seen in a stormy-looking sky but we stayed dry and pretty warm.

In the Plate semi-final Steve Lapage and Ian Barrowcliffe from Rowlands Castle defeated Brian Whitelaw and Roger Harrison from Cambridge Meridian. In the final, the same Pair lost to Staverton Park's Peter Trueman and Kevin O'Hagen, who sat out the semi-final due to the withdrawal of the fourth qualifiers. Congratulations to Peter Trueman and Kevin O'Hagen (Staverton Park), our 2017 Pairs Plate winners.

In the National Seniors Pairs Championship itself, the semi-finals also saw one Pair sitting out the first day. In the semi-final played Bob Bickerdike and Alan Stenton from Naunton Downs saw off, on the final putt, a fighting challenge from Jim Fern and Ron Parr from Five Lakes, both pairs enjoying their first taste of semi-final competition.

In the final they faced Bedfordshire GC's Nick Serrecchia and Mark Lewin, losing that match after a final filled with excellent golf. So, congratulations to Nick Serrecchia and Mark Lewin  (Bedfordshire Golf Club), our 2017 National Seniors Pairs Champions.