NEWS

The Old Citizens Golfing Society enjoyed a successful year in 2012. Our fixtures started with the  Halford Hewitt Cup at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club in late March. We were drawn to play Merchant Taylors in the 1st round. A very tough draw against the beaten Finalists from 2009! So we moved fairly swiftly into the Plate Competition at Prince’s Golf Club and came very close to beating Downside. Downside went on to be beaten in the semi-final so we hope for better luck and a longer run next year. Mark Stockton announced his retirement as Halford Hewitt Captain. Alex Tapp has agreed to take on the role and we all wish him the very best of luck for the future. I am sure the new and younger talent of Adam Jones and Jamie Spencer will help us progress but we do need better luck with the draw! Each year we seem to end up playing past winners or schools ranked in the top 10.

Our Spring meeting was held at Worplesdon, one of Surrey’s finest courses and very good value. It also provides us with some additional practice for the Cyril Gray Competition held at the same venue in late June. Our society Captain Paul Marsh won the Pollard Cup on a count-back over the last 3 holes from The Secretary. This was in spite of the fact that he had his club handicap reduced due to his many Society wins in 2011! The Spring Meeting success resulted in a further reduction of his handicap but that didn’t seem to hold him back!

We managed to organise a match against the School at Old Fold Manor in June, after the exams and before the Summer break. This year the Old Citizens managed to retain the Law Robertson Bowl presented many years ago for this fixture. We did have Jamie Spencer (a comparatively recent school leaver) playing for us which helped. We hope to unearth more golfing talent in the school and this is one of the best ways of achieving that aim.

The Cyril Gray tournament at Worplesdon past uneventfully, and resulted in narrow defeats in both round 1 and the Plate. We could put out a stronger team in this tournament and I do hope that some of our members who are now over 50 years old and therefore qualified to play will consider doing so! It would make the selectors life easier. We could deploy a stronger team and I am sure we could move through further stages of this popular tournament.  

Our usual Summer Meeting at Swinley Forest Golf Club was largely ruined by rain! Only the first 3 pairs managed to complete the course before the rains descended and flooded the greens to the extent that putting became impossible. I suppose that is the origin of the phrase rub of the green! Anyway the scores in the first and second pair were worthy and I do not think anyone else would have bettered them, rain or shine. Terry Bridle won the Spice Bowl with a gross score of 4 over par 72. Paul Marsh (again) won the John Carpenter Cup with a gross 76, net 70 from his handicap of 6. In fact Paul’s club handicap is nearer 11. Paul Marsh presented Bev Taylor with an engraved Claret Jug to recognise and celebrate his 50 plus years as a member of the Golfing Society. This is a remarkable achievement. Bev has served the Society well in many and various ways from Secretary, HH Captain, Society Captain and so on. He is still responsible for organising and cajoling players for the Cyril Gray Tournament. I am sure Bev will continue to support the Society for many years to come.    

The Captain’s Day in September was held at Hadley Wood Golf Club. The turnout was a little disappointing but we enjoyed the course and company. It was good to see Nigel Weekes join us for the day.  Paul Marsh provided some excellent mementoes of crystal glasses and we played for the Centurion Trophy kindly donated by the Stockton Family. This was won by Clive Lewis making a return to golf with the society. I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised as Clive was a past member at Hadley Wood. It was good to see Clive back and we hope he plays in more events next season. It was also good to see Len Dowsett in the bar after our morning round. Len still plays a few holes with his friends at Hadley Wood. 

It was a shame that we didn’t manage to put a team together for the Match against St Paul’s. Their organiser has already contacted me about the fixture for next year and suggested 8 per side. I do hope we can produce a team as this fixture will likely cease if not.

We do extend a warm welcome to all Old Citizens to our golf days. You do not need to be a member of a club or have a recognised handicap but a reasonable level of golfing ability would be helpful.

Please contact the Secretary for details.