NEWSOld Citizens Golfing Society Reports Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023

OCGS – Autumn Meeting at Royal Cinque Ports Deal Golf Club – Thursday 29th September 2022

It is always a pleasure to play this magnificent course and a different experience to pay one’s own ball off handicap instead of our annual Halford Hewitt scratch foursomes. This time we were blessed with fabulous warm weather, bright sunshine and virtually no wind.

We met up at noon for a light lunch and refreshments and then teed off from 1pm. In the end there were only seven of us and we played a 4-ball followed by a 3-ball. Given the benign conditions we were expecting to witness some good scores and we were not disappointed. After a titanic struggle in the first 4-ball, honours were even with 36 points each between John Gee-Grant, a man in good form and Alex Bennett, who scored a superb gross 77. The final group enjoyed both the company and golf and Mark Stockton just managed to emerge the victor after scoring 37 points, in the tightest of finishes. He claimed the Centurion Trophy, first donated in our centenary year 2009. We enjoyed some relaxed drinks on the balcony as tales were told of the highs and lows plus good and bad luck experienced on this very special links course.

Do please get in touch if you would like to join us for one of our meetings at [email protected]

Mark Stockton, Hon Secretary - OCGS

Halford Hewitt Report - 28th March to 2nd April 2023

The team of ten players and myself as non-playing Captain gathered on the East Kent coast in late March for our annual tilt at the Halford Hewitt competition. This year we were drawn against Berkhampsted School at Royal St. Georges. The draw meant that our first-round match was to be played on day 2 of the Tournament so we took advantage of the free day for additional practice and entered a number of pairs into the Peter Kenyon Bowl competition at Princes Golf Club. As might be expected the weather was both windy and variable at this time of year in darkest Kent!

As one of our regular venues, ‘The Kings Arms in Sandwich’, had been closed for refurbishment we looked around for an alternative when our Secretary Mark Stockton rang Royal St. Georges and discovered that Eton had failed to confirm their booking so we stepped in! The Team enjoyed the black-tie dinner at Royal St. Georges on Thursday evening and were ready for our early morning encounter with Berkhampsted. At this stage we were still one player short of a full team and my reserve was suffering from the golfer’s equivalent of tennis elbow and a broken finger! HH regular Paul Marsh had to delay his arrival in Kent to support his poorly wife. He had however promised to drive over late and be ready for Friday’s match.

On Friday morning I submitted the team order and pairings to the Tournament office. The first pairing of Alex Tapp and Mark Stockton set off followed by Alex Bennett and Alex Barnham. Louis Taylor and veteran Terry Bridle were out third then Adam Jones and Tom Ross fourth. The last pair was Paul Stockton and Paul Marsh.

Louis and Terry won their match on the 15th but the other pairings struggled against a stronger side. Paul Marsh had an urgent phone call to say his wife had taken a turn for the worse so he had to leave straightaway. The rest of us drove over to Princes Golf Club for our Plate match for which I only needed six players. Our opponents in this were Bishops Stortford, the team we played last year in the same event.

As the first pair arrived to tee off the rain started. The rain abated a little but remained showery for most of the matches. The tee off time was around 3:35pm so it was likely the matches would conclude close to dusk. Although we had beaten Bishops Stortford in the Cyril Gray tournament last June, we struggled against them this year and lost 2 matches to 1 so Bishops Stortford went through. I must make a special mention about Terry Bridle who with his partner Louis Taylor won both their matches on the day. Terry had many offers to carry his clubs but insisted on lugging them around for the 32 holes he played. A truly super human effort particularly as he has been having treatment for his back!

So, another year has passed but the team are getting stronger, we now have 4 young golfers who are gaining experience but we do need to find more youngsters to take us forward and step in for the older generation. Loretto school (Golf College) won the overall event for the third year in succession.

John Featherstone, OCGS Captain

OCGS – Spring Meeting at Hadley Wood Golf Club – Monday 22nd May 2023

On a rather breezy and initially overcast day, eight Old Citizens gathered at Hadley Wood Golf Club, a wonderful Alistair Mackenzie course (he of Augusta, Georgia & The Masters fame) for our Spring Meeting. A course noted for its fast, undulating greens, it was to prove a tough test for us all.

After a pleasant light lunch, we played an 18 holes stableford competition for the Stanley Bell trophy which dates from 1938. The course playing condition was excellent but was tough on holes into the wind and we thought that this was likely to play into the hands of the bigger hitters on downwind holes. Amongst these was Tom Ross, the defending champion who turned the 1st and 8th holes, both par 5s into birdie holes hitting both greens in 2 shots. Whilst this power game had its advantages and resulted in a top class gross 3-over par at the turn and 19 stableford points, John Gee-Grant was meanwhile playing a very consistent and accurate straight-hitting game allied to excellent putting. This reaped its rewards with a superb 21 points after 9 holes. No one else started as impressively as these two although Johan de Silva, a contemporary of Tom Ross and playing in his first OCGS meeting, scored 5 points on the 6th hole after a gross birdie 3.

There were better performances as the sun came out on the back 9 holes and sweaters were at last removed. Mark Stockton scored 20 points and John Featherstone had a decent 16 points. Terry Bridle also played a very good 7 holes dropping only 2 shots to par before fading slightly on the last 2 holes. Despite not being able to keep up his outstanding scoring of the first 9 holes on the back 9, John Gee-Grant emerged the victor overall with a fine 36 points off a playing handicap of 18. His playing partner Mark Stockton achieved 33 points whilst never threatening the winner and Tom Ross was a very close third with 32 points after a good gross 83 and a valiant attempt to retain his trophy. After our disdainful comments last year concerning the tarnished trophy, it was returned by Tom in shining splendour and duly presented to John Gee-Grant as we sipped well-earned drinks sitting outside on a lovely sunny terrace with a fine view of London’s taller buildings in the background.

What a great day it was, full of fun and the enjoyment of fellow OC company. We now look forward to our Summer Meeting at the classy Woking course on Monday 10th July. Do please get in touch if you would like to play at [email protected]

Mark Stockton, Hon Secretary - OCGS