We had an impressive turnout for our 2018 Spring Meeting at Sandwich, with 34 players ranging from 24 to 80 years of age. Royal St George’s is hosting the Open again in 2020 and preparations were already in evidence, with new bunkers on the 5th, 8th, and 18th already in play. The conditions were perfect, albeit a little light drizzle.
18 people had dinner on Thursday night at the Old Chequers cookery school, which made a fantastic meal for us as always and set us up nicely for the two days of golf ahead. Dinner on Friday night was the usual black-tie affair in the clubhouse, followed by an extended bar till midnight. The under 30s downed several pints each, as is customary, from an anonymous benefactor. We had a particularly young group this year as seen in the photo below, which bodes well for the future of our club.
Overlooking the gardens and terrace, clockwise from the left below: Sam Ponniah, Rupert Fisher, Tom Climie, Charlie Bendon, Alastair Climie, James Gallagher, Casper Mould, Theo Mould, Rory Townsend-Rose, Oliver Spray, Mark Wilson
The only glitch over the two days was our organiser being called in by the secretary to identify an SUV parked immediately outside the main doors, in contravention of a clear “NO Motorised Vehicles” sign. Surprisingly, the driver was found to be one of our more disciplinarian ex- beaks!
The winners were as follows:
The 4 best scores from the morning Stableford competitions below 11 Handicap and the 4 best scores above 11 Handicap go on to the knock-outs which were won by:
The Blackwell Carlisle Cup (for low handicaps) – Matthew Gibbens
The Trevor Matthews cup (for high handicaps) – – Alastair Climie
Henriques Coronation Challenge Cup (Stableford off handicap) – Oliver Spray
Posford Scratch Cup (Stableford off scratch) – Matthew Gibbens
Borthwick Cup (Younger Golfers Stableford)- Oliver Spray
Smouha Challenge Goblets (Foursomes) – Ross Bryan & Caspar Mould
President’s Salvers (Foursomes) – William North & James Gallagher
And under the Open Championship board, from left below : Johnny Cameron, Tom Webb and Tipper Wilson
We have already agreed to the dates of April 26th and 27th for the 2019 meeting – please put this in your diaries now!
