Senior golfers' European horizon expands

For seven years, senior golfers in England and Wales have had the National Seniors Pairs Championship to play for. This year the tournament spreads to Holland, Belgium and Ireland to become the European Seniors Pairs Championship, with Denmark and Germany to come on stream in 2009 as well.

Golfers play in pairs from any club in the UK, being drawn against a pair from another club. Win that and they go through to the next round, and so on until they reach the national semi-finals in early October '“ and after that maybe the European final.

Entry is 25 per pair, maximum handicap is 18 and players must be over 50 to comply with European golf standards for seniors '“ though most are several years older.

There is no limit to the number who can enter from each club though they are kept apart as far as possible. Early rounds are played on a regional basis to minimise travel and players have a window of about four weeks for each round. Email entries are open only until March 26.

And for those who prefer team events the Seniors Club Classic goes into its 10th year '“ a tournament for teams of four who play other clubs, again either home or away. Entry here is 35 per team and two reserves are allowed to cover for injuries and holidays.

Both events are run by the Seniors Golf Association, a registered non-profit making organisation which also organises golf events for the Royal British Legion, with golfers having raised over 120,000 in the past few years.

For more information go to: www.seniorsgolfassociation.net