Fantastic turnout, fantastic weather.  We had 15 golfing OT’s for the AGM and lunch on Sunday 10 June and 14 OT’s playing golf in the afternoon.  We welcomed four new OT’s for this meeting Jack Malden, Mark Banham, Richard Parsons and Rob Mazur.  Biggest surprise was Jack who plays off 4 AND he has only been playing golf for two and half years!!  We do have a  numbers restriction at SGHGC yet given this years success we will see if we can increase this for 2019.  Good effort to see those coming up from Somerset and Wales.

Results of the day:

Held at the lovely North Hants GC.  Fantastic day for it.  Playing with rivals Kings Taunton!  Format of the day scratch stableford foursomes, three pairs per team.

Unfortunately we missed out by 4 points.

Team:  Willacy/Westwater, Pyke/G Whalley, Stickler/P Whalley

So another HH week begins and hopes are high.  How long will we last this year?

Five of the team start the quest with a Tuesday practice at Deal and rest followed Wednesday.   This year we welcomed Ed Bradnock into the team for the first time.

As per last year no rounds these days are easy and our opening match was against Cranleigh with a very late tee off time of 14:45.   Despite the loss of 3 1/2 to 1 1/2, once again we had two matches going down the 18th.  Hector & Stickler lost on the 18th, Willacy & Westwater agreed a half going down the 18th, after we knew the team had lost overall.  It was always going to be tough.

The Plate, down to six players, first round Friday morning against Stowe.  Taunton lost 2-1.

Thanks again to all.  Another fantastic week and already looking forward to 2019!  Great find Pete with the accommodation and hope Ed you enjoyed your first HH.

Team this year for the main competition was:
R Willacy & I Westwater
G Hector & P Stickler
G Whalley & M Pyke
P Whalley & T Blood
D Higginson & E Bradnock

Plate team was:
R Willacy & I Westwater
G Whalley & P Stickler
P Whalley & T Blood

This year was indeed a memorable day with a recent and maybe an all, or a nearly, an all time high attendance of 40 players, 18 of which were OT’s.  David M has been organising this venue since 1974 and cannot recall ever seeing so many OT’s and guests. Thankfully the snow melted just in time for the event to take place.

The OT winner in the morning singles was Mark Wilkinson with 42 points and, a newcomer, Richard Parsons with 40 points was second.

In the afternoon, Murray Dron (an OT) with his guest Richard Pallot won with 42 points (23 on the last nine) beating on countback OT’s Iain Westwater and David Morgan with 42 points (19 on the last nine).

Mark Wilkinson won the nearest the pin prize on the 17^th hole in the morning in memory of the late Mathew Compton.

What a great performance by the team!!

Back Row: Tim Blood, Iain Westwater, Pete Whalley
Front Row: Phil Stickler, Richard Willacy, Gary Hector

Main Competition:
First round drawn against local side Leatherjackets – won 2-1
Second round drawn against Sherborne – won 2-1
(Sherborne have won this competition 3 out of the last 4 years!)
Semi Finals drawn against Royal Air Force – Lost 2-1
Close though in the semi-final:
GH/PS Lost 2-1
RW/IW Won 1 up
PW/TB Lost 1 down

We haven’t achieved this result in many years so well done boys.    Beware Cranleigh at the Halford Hewitt!!

Great to be back after an absence of 13 years, last time we qualified was 2004.  We missed out in in 2010, 2011, 2012 as best non-qualifiers (i.e. by one or two points)!!

Having qualified at Northants GC (Fleet) the boys were quick to book AirBnB accommodation in Brancaster and a good job done too, great house with heated pool!

Team:  Richard Willacy, Iain Westwater, Gary Hector, Greg Whalley, Pete Whalley, Phil Stickler.

Main draw 1st round v Reed’s lost 2-1.  Teams who don’t get through  the main GM competition play in the Solihull Salver (stableford scratch competition) where the top 4 play for the committee bowl. Taunton scored 73 points, Solihull won with 94.  Loughborough won the committee bowl with Epsom winning the main competition, two out of two for Epsom.