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Well, that’s it for another year, folks. Another season ended, but plenty to look back on, on these news pages. Keep watching for developments over the next few months. A new fixture list will be on the way ……

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Matt Webster took a good cricket team, with debutants Laurie Evans (left) and Matt Spriegel joining experienced campaigner Richard Gibson and young thrusters Joe Carmody-Firth and Jack Raison up to North Norfolk to compete in the Grafton Morrish in early October. A practice round in testing winds on Thursday was followed up by a first round in near gale force winds on the slim slither of land between the Brancaster marshes and The Wash, at Royal West Norfolk GC. Our first round opponents Rugby were a team we knew well, having played many times before and annually in a Hewitt warm up for the past few years. Their number included a recent world top 50 amateur and a strong 6 overall. With a lot of creative golf being played, ultimately we were overcome in the top match (Joe and Jack) and, with some questionable fortune for the opposition, in match 2 (Matt W and Laurie). Gibson and Spriegel were looking to be on the right side of game 3, but per competition rules had to offer a half from a winning position on the 16th.

After some soul searching and a team bbq on the Friday evening (photo right) we refocused our efforts on Saturday in the Solihull Salver, the scratch stableford competition for the 32 schools in rounds 1&2. Still in testing winds, but thankfully not quite as strong, our pairs managed 28, 28 and 31 points – admirable in a windy scratch competition and good enough for 3rd place, narrowly behind winners Solihull, and Canford. The top 4 of the 32 schools qualified for the semi finals of the Committee Bowl, played up the coast at Hunstanton on the Sunday. In beautiful morning conditions, we squared up to Canford and with a big win for Evans and Spriegel, and a loss for Carmody-Firth and Raison, Gibson and Webster were playing last in the deciding match. After battling back from 3 down through 10, they were in prime position to move back to all square playing their approaches to the 15th green. A challenging par 5 into the wind, Whitgift’s 2nd shot (a driver off the deck) was heading towards the green only to bounce sharply right into a bunker. Canford’s 2nd went a long way left and short, into what their senior player described as ‘the real deep stuff’. It looked surely to be a lost ball. After nearly three minutes of searching in thigh-high rough and brambles one of the 10 searchers promptly stood on the ball. A penalty drop back in line left 150 yards for their 4th shot, which sailed long and right down a slope and off the green, some 80 feet away. The Whitgift ball had not fared well after the horrendous bounce and was under the 6 foot lip of a revetted face. Gibson sensibly came out sideways leaving a 100 foot putt. Long story short, we took 3 to get down from there and Canford holed from off the green to snatch the hole, effectively a two hole swing in their favour. 16 was halved in pars and 17 also halved to give Canford the deciding point. A tragic tale we have all seen before but a wonderful week of  quality golf from 6 Old Whitgiftians playing their hearts out. Onward to the Hewitt in April.

Canford went on to win the Committee Bowl in the afternoon.

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The OWGS autumn tour has become an established feature in our calendar. This year we ventured to new surroundings, otherwise known as Birmingham. Not that you would have known it, surrounded as we were by green spaces (Sutton Park), expensive houses, and several good golf courses. And, by and large, the sun shone.

We started at Sutton Coldfield GC, a lovely heathland course ranked in the Top 100 in the country, set in the middle of a national nature reserve. 17 starters pitted their wits against a course in good condition and on greens that are rated as close to tour pace.  Jeremy Stanyard tussled with Alan Scovell (left) for top marks, eventually prevailing on countback, with both scoring 41 points. Little Aston was the venue for the next day’s play, a very highly ranked parkland course in a glorious setting. Three of our number were so overcome at the beauty of it all that, instead of rounding off their day on the 18th, they decided to play the 2nd all over again. Nobody noticed. In doing so, those three missed playing over, or around, or through, a bunker that completely spanned the 18th fairway, one of a number of such hazards which, to be honest, were a little surplus to requirements.  It was sufficient of a challenge without those. George Cook took the day’s playing honours with a great round. On the last day, we played next to our hotel, at Moor Hall GC, a more modest course, but with a brutal final five holes, four of which were well over 400 yards in length, and all par 4s.  Not satisfied with his first day triumph, Jeremy Stanyard came out on top again, and in so doing, brushed aside any remaining opposition for the overall tour title.

Several other prizes were awarded as well, not all of them for golf, and even those awarded for the golf were not all in recognition of success. But, with the caveat that ‘what goes on tour stays on tour’, it can be disclosed that Brodies won the house competition but narrowly missed out on the Award for Sartorial Elegance (photo top right), blessed as they were with Messrs Stanyard and Gould, and Tony Mason hit the longest drive (right).

The whole party would, it is certain, join in thanking the organisers John Gould, Tony Mason and finally spreadsheet and prizes maestro Alan Scovell, who would have left even Philip Hammond for dust.

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It poured when we arrived. A number of us said ‘not for me today, thank you’. Then it paused long enough to tempt us out on the course after all. Then it poured even harder. It was the Autumn Cup day, and it was autumn.

Royal Ashdown Forest (West Course) was the venue; not a long course, but challenging for all that, with narrow fairways between trees that had not been chopped down (see below), a few meandering streams across the course (some appearing for one day only ), and the odd bit of heather, just in case you had missed everything else. The rain added a new dimension to the putting conundrum; no longer a matter simply of pace and line, now it became a matter of judging how deep the water was that you were putting through. Howard Beeston was seen to measure the depth on at least one occasion, and it appears to have worked for him; his 32 points was enough to win the Autumn Cup (photo left) , in front of Martin Down and Mike Berners Price, both on 30.

Only nine players out of 18 starters managed to complete the full 18 holes; two did not actually start at all, three called it a day after four holes and another four after nine. The clubhouse looked increasingly attractive, the further away from it you travelled. And the lunch following the golf was very welcome, and very good.

We welcomed back, after a fourteen year break, Chris Jones, who has been in Singapore for all that time, and for his first meeting with us, Rory McKinnon, who had his own ‘Jean van de Velde moment’ on the 18th (right). Fortunately for Rory, it did not cost him The Open.

Thank you to Mike Spanswick for organising it all.

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The Hornsey-Walker Cup meeting was held at The Addington in early September. The trophy is the oldest in the society, having been presented first in 1927, so it is an important meeting and there was an appropriately good turnout of 29 players, which included, for the first time in recent memory, four of the school’s Halford Hewitt squad. It was good to see them and a separate scratch prize was awarded as a result.

The Addington itself was unrecognizable to anyone who last visited more than two years ago. The club is trying to recreate the course as it was originally designed and, partly as a result, hundreds, or more likely thousands, of trees have been removed between the fairways. The King George III memorial, previously hidden somewhere to the left of the 8th fairway, is now visible from the clubhouse, and the views from the top of the course have taken on a panoramic perspective! The course itself has plenty of ground under repair where tree work has been done and new heather is being planted, but the fairways appeared less unpredictable than on previous visits, and the greens very much sharper. A few unfortunate OWs reported putting off the green; they were that quick.

In the circumstances, the general level of scoring was quite good, and there is always something curiously satisfying when the winning nett score is level par. So it proved, and Andrew Winterbotham (left, with captain Jeremy Stanyard), a relatively new member and someone who has worked hard to get his handicap down, took the Hornsey-Walker home with him, having scored 36 points. He was hotly pursued by two more experienced golfers, David Absalom (36 points but worse on countback) and Nigel Huxtable (35 pts). Richard Gibson, captain of the Hewitt team and playing off +3, won the scratch prize with a gross 69 (level par). Nine other players reached 30 points or better.

The match vs Croham Hurst in August was cancelled, due to the greens being treated shortly before the scheduled date and therefore considered unsuitable for play.

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Mid – July and, despite a handful of Covid-enforced withdrawals in the days leading up to the fixture, there was a good turnout for the President’s Meeting. Hever Castle was the venue and the fairways were looking very parched after a long dry spell. Most participants were pleased there was a little breeze to give relief from the heat, and set off to win one of two cups on offer; the Veterans’ Cup meeting in June had been postponed (because of the heat) and was contested from Hever’s green tees (6023 yards) alongside the President’s Putter off the yellows (6502 yards).

Certainly this is one of the longest courses we play on; the 17th alone measures 618 yards off the yellows and, despite the extra length the dry fairways gave even the more modest golfer, most members found it a challenge to reach the green in the regulation three shots. Not Martin Hayes. Relatively fresh from completing his 100 matches in the Halford Hewitt, he produced one of the best rounds the society has seen in its open competitions, with 42 stableford points off a playing handicap of 4 – a gross 70, including a birdie 4 on that 618-yard 17th. Just tell me it was a single putt, Martin, please. Martin won the President’s Prize (he is seen, left, receiving the prize from OWGS President, Pip Burley) by 7 points from Mike Berners Price (35 points) and Jeremy Stanyard (34). (Mind you, Mike had himself burned up Tandridge that very morning, scoring 43 points, before rushing over to Hever!).

The Veterans’ Cup also saw some very good scores. Jerry Hamley won the Cup with 38 points, and Roddy Sage came second with 35, beating David Hedges on countback.

It was a pleasure to have three Hewitt centurions join us for this meeting (Peter Hedges, David Hedges and Martin Hayes). Almost certainly, a first. The meeting was expertly managed by John Gould, who overcame a number of challenges along the way, not least when the secretary (accidentally) pocketed his mobile phone before leaving the golf club. Apologies and thanks, several times over, John!

Halford Hewitt 2022 report.

The weather for the first round of the Halford Hewitt (played on 7th April) was just a windy as it had been for the Scratch Cup, see below, albeit that the ambient temperature was a little higher. The Whitgift team was missing Neill Williams, a stalwart in recent years, and also team captain Richard Gibson, but it was good to see Laurie Evans playing his first Hewitt, and not his last, if the enthusiasm with which he went about the task is anything to go by. Indeed, deputy captain Matt Webster was inspired to send Laurie out in the lead pair alongside Harry Sellers, who had only the 2021 Hewitt behind him. The two of them responded magnificently, winning the first five holes of their match against Downside, and the rest of the team followed their example. Downside had proved resilient opponents in 2018, fighting back to win in that first round match, but this year never looked likely to be a repeat. None of the first four matches to finish was closer than a 5&4 win, and the fifth match was scored as a half once the overall match was determined, but Whitgift were ahead in that one as well, 2up with four to play. So Whitgift comfortably secured a milestone victory and became the 21st school out of the 64 which compete to claim a 100th win in the Hewitt (which we first contested in 1935).

The second round against Watson’s was never likely to be as one-sided. Watson’s have won the Hewitt six times and have scored three wins out of 3 in matches against Whitgift, so they were undoubtedly favourites. Nonetheless there was a sense that Whitgift might spring a surprise, and indeed each of the five matches was very closely contested, with neither side gaining a significant lead in any of them at any stage. With the match always likely to be tight, there were plenty of nerves on display, and the relaxed golf played on the previous day was a distant memory. The nerves were on both sides, however, and not least when Watson’s second pair, playing the short 8th, managed to putt, yes, putt into a greenside bunker and still win the hole with a bogey four. Also on the 8th, a Watson’s player in the third pair missed a short putt to win the hole and instinctively reached past the hole to claw back the ball, without waiting for it to be conceded for the half. Understandable frustration maybe, but he was lucky that Whitgift conceded the half anyway; other schools may not have done. Happily, neither of the events on the 8th proved decisive, with Whitgift ending up winners of both matches, 2&1 and 3&2 respectively.

There was always the feeling that the lead match might prove pivotal. Again it was Harry Sellers and Laurie Evans, fresh from a 7&6 victory on the Thursday, in Whitgift’s lead pair, and it was refreshing to see how positively they responded to the challenge of playing against vastly more experienced, but still young, opponents, one of them a professional at an earlier stage. Whitgift birdied the first and never fell further than two holes behind. Indeed at the 15th, they managed to claw the match back to all square, and when Laurie hit a 250-yard 3-iron to the edge of the 16th green, with his opponent in trouble on the left, it looked likely that Whitgift could edge ahead. However, Watson’s responded with a vengeance. Their thirty yard wedge from the left rough finished within 3 feet of the hole, securing a birdie, which Laurie just failed to match from 10 feet. Then Watson’s repeated the feat at the par 4 17th, pitching dead for another birdie, while Whitgift could not match them from 15 feet away. This was high quality golf; Whitgift were still level par for their round, and lost. But overall, Whitgift were still well in the hunt, because the fourth pair, Matt Webster and Harvey Byers, came to the 17th one-up and close to that decisive third win. However the lead slipped away when Watson’s parred the hole and Matt’s par putt from twelve feet somehow lipped out when it appeared for all the world to have dropped. That seemed to give Watson’s, who had never led in the match but were now level, the momentum they needed. The 18th was halved in par 4s almost at the same time as Watson’s closed out a 2&1 win in the final pair, meaning that the entire match depended on the extra 19th hole. Both pairs found the green in regulation but Whitgift’s nervy 3-putt from 20 feet or so meant, sadly, that it was Watson’s who progressed.

There was frustration at the result but both sides were able to celebrate back in the clubhouse, because Martin Hayes – and, coincidentally, his opponent on the day from Watson’s – were both playing in their 100th Hewitt match. So they both were presented by the Hewitt President with the Silver Salvers that record the name of all Hewitt ‘centurions’. Martin is shown above being presented with the Salver. Well done, Martin – a fantastic achievement, matched only by four other Whitgiftians (Gordon Garment, David Hedges, Peter Hedges, and Andrew Stracey).

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Then, and now. A photo of the first ever Whitgift team to enter the Halford Hewitt in 1935 was discovered in one of the old albums kept at Deal (too late for ‘It’s a Long Game‘, unfortunately!), and is shown below with a contrasting one of the 2022 team at a pre-competition dinner at Royal St George’s. Times change!

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Hewitt week traditionally starts with the Peter Kenyon Bowl, also a foursomes competition, but designed to include potential supporters of the Hewitt schools as well as those playing in the Hewitt; hence handicaps are permitted. It is a competition that has been won by Whitgift pairs on a few occasions in the past, but this year is not going to be another. Four Whitgift pairs took part, in extremely blustery conditions, and while Mark Chatham and Paul Smeaton emerged with the best Whitgift score, it was not enough to be the best on the day, let alone over the two days of the competition. What was however encouraging was the number of participants; far greater than in recent years, so the move from the more distant Littlestone to Princes appears to be proving a popular one.

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The AGM and annual dinner for the OWGS were held at the Whitgift Sports Club on Monday 21^st March, and Society Captain Jeremy Stanyard (seen below (right) presenting the Challenge Cup to John Butler for his victory in the postponed 2020 knockout competition) presented his report on the year.

Despite the impact of Covid, the vast majority of the society’s events had been successfully held. There had been wins in the open events for Don Anderson, Simon Beck, Paul Smeaton (and for the Captain), in the two Scratch Cups for Neill Williams and Richard Gibson respectively (see above), and in the Autumn Tour for John Grima. The knockout for 2020 had been completed on the Tour, and that for 2021 had been won by Ian Chicken, who beat Simon Beck (after a replay!).

The society’s new strategy had been implemented, and there were promising signs of more engagement amongst younger members. The website was up and running, with links to social media platforms. Progress in the 2021 major competitions had been disappointing, with early defeats in all of them for our teams. The Captain also noted the feats during the year of OW Riccardo Fantinelli who, amongst other excellent performances, had reached the final of the British Boys’ Championship at Deal, before losing on the 37^th hole.

During the dinner, the Walker Cup, awarded each year to a schoolboy for achievement in golf, was presented by Charlie Walker to Charlie Pring, the School’s Captain of Golf, and we heard from Neil Kendrick, who gave us an update on the progress of the school’s golf programme.

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My goodness, that was cold! The weather is, it seems, always a factor in the Scratch Cup, and the fifth edition of that tournament was no exception, played at Royal Cinque Ports on Sunday 6th March. The sun came out at intervals, but that could not possibly offset the chilling effect of a 40-50 mph easterly wind coming straight off the sea. A three-club wind, some said, and from a different direction to the one most Deal die-hards are used to; it was not for the faint-hearted. The general view prior to the start was that 80 would be a good score in the conditions and it was agreed that the competition would be played as a stableford, rather than a medal, at least to allow players to move on rather than search for the inevitable lost balls.

There was no Neill Williams in the entry this year so,  Neill having won the first four Scratch Cups, a new name would be on the trophy; a field of 14, reduced in size by inexplicable absences on golf tours, holiday, Covid and even, in one case, a planned recovery from a hangover, took to the tee with added optimism. It was good to welcome three new members in the society, Oscar Bailey, Laurie Evans and Ian Hunter, all of whom are in the photo above (l to r; Harry Sellers, Oscar Bailey, Laurie Evans, James Beck, Jack Raison, and Ian Hunter, on the first tee).

The strength of the wind made it difficult for players to reach the greens in regulation, which in turn put pressure on their short games. Plus, several players commented on how difficult the greens were to putt on, once they were on them. Also difficult to reach, but well worth the effort, was the halfway hut. Many a cup of hot bovril and sherry was consumed in order to fortify the spirit for the back nine. With the homeward journey also plagued by the cross wind, the scores on the back nine were little different, overall, to those on the front, but without exception, everyone was happy to reach the sanctuary of the clubhouse, not least your correspondent.

The early estimates of the winning score were not far off. Only one player managed to achieve a score better than 28 (the stableford equivalent of a gross 80), and that was Hewitt captain Richard Gibson, who scored a very creditable 31 points (gross 77). Second was Laurie Evans, still recovering from his winning exertions in Australia’s Big Bash final, with 26 points, followed by Jonny Ufton and Nic Gates, both with 24. These four earned the right to the automatic places in the 2022 Halford Hewitt team. Martin Hayes won the Silver Medal, for entrants over the age of 50, for the fourth time. Congratulations to them, and to everyone else for turning up on an enjoyable, but very tough, day.

The early months of the year focus largely upon events on the Kent coast. The first playing events of the season are the Scratch Cup, to be played at Royal Cinque Ports (above), Deal, and the Peter Kenyon Bowl, which is an ‘opener’ of sorts for Hewitt week, and is this year scheduled to be played at Prince’s, Sandwich. For newcomers, this is a foursomes event like the Hewitt, but open to any members of the society and played under handicap. Further details of both events can be found on the Fixtures page.

Midway between the above events is our AGM and annual dinner, on Monday 21st March at Whitgift Sports Club, Croham Road. All members are encouraged to attend if they possibly can. A formal invitation will follow later in February, but please diarise the event now – it is always an enjoyable evening.

Members are also invited to enter our annual knockout competition; entries are due by 21st March, because the draw is made at the annual dinner. The first drawn name of each pair has the choice of venue (except for the final) and the loser pays the green fee (hence ensuring that everyone, apart from the eventual winner, pays just once).

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January is upon us and the first society news of the year is the draw for the 2022 Halford Hewitt, which is now back to its normal place in the calendar, April.

Whitgift is drawn against Downside in the first round, a repeat of the 2018 draw but hopefully there will be no repeat of the result, a 3-2 reverse having been ahead in four matches at the turn. As regards the rest of the draw, I can do worse than quote from Nick Owen’s summary posted on the Hewitt website, which names Whitgift as potentially amongst those to watch ….

“The outstanding tie of the first round will be Eton against Charterhouse at Sandwich early on Thursday morning.  Eton have the stronger recent record but Charterhouse are always tough to beat.  The third quarter is by far the hardest of the four, containing the holders Loretto, as well as Eton, Charterhouse, Malvern and Ampleforth.  On their form from last September, Loretto will fear no one but they may benefit here from the fact that the others will all have to play each other before the quarter-final.

The other quarters are fairly evenly balanced, with one or two stronger schools interspersed with potential giant-killers.  A betting man might identify Tonbridge, Watson’s and Whitgift in the first quarter, Bradfield, Wellington and Merchiston in the second and Epsom, Sherborne and Rossall in the fourth.  However real betting men don’t bet on the Hewitt.  Whatever happens, it should be a great tournament!”

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

There were no events in the last two months of 2021 but plenty was going on behind the scenes, principally the arrangement of the 2022 society calendar. The calendar is now published on the website (see under ‘Fixtures’) and there is plenty to look forward to. First off will be the draw for the Halford Hewitt, which takes place on Wednesday 12th January in London; the Hewitt itself reverts in 2022 to its familiar timing in April, after the disruptions suffered in 2020 and 2021. The AGM and annual dinner follow on 21st March and members are urged to attend this enjoyable evening if they possibly can; this year the event will be held at the Whitgift Sports Club at Croham Road.

The society’s open meetings have grown in number, and there are now seven in total, with visits to Royal Cinque Ports GC (on two occasions), Royal Ashdown, The Addington, Hever Castle, Shirley Park and Croham Hurst on the programme. The Shirley Park meeting is on a Sunday, in order to attract as many younger OWs as possible. Hopefully there is something for everyone, and members are encouraged to book early where they can.

The last playing action of the season took place in late October. The final of the 2021 Challenge Cup, the society’s annual knockout competition, went to a replay after Ian Chicken won The Addington’s 18th hole in the first match, to level things up with Simon Beck. Since extra holes would have meant waiting for a large society to tee off, the pair decided to play all over again at Ian’s home course, Burhill where an emphatic putting display saw Ian take the trophy. In truth, it never left his hands, since he won it in 2019 and the 2020 version – delayed by Covid – only finished a couple of weeks beforehand (see immediately below)!

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The 2021 Autumn tour took a party of 15 to south Wales. We are indebted to John Gould, tour organiser, for the following report and photos ….

The 10^th OWGS autumn tour eventually took place on 3-5 October having been cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. This year the tour taking place was in the balance, not just from the rising Covid cases but the chaotic petrol crisis. Messrs Scovell, Kelley, Gould, Brown and Stanyard all travelled a day early and experienced torrential rain on the M4 for most of the journey.

Day 1: Links golf at Pennard (left), an interesting experience. To quote Tony Harris ‘Pennard is the only course I’ve played where you need to look for balls even when all 3 players have hit straight down the middle. Maybe it would get easier after a few times…..  did they actually have fairways?’ Difficult was an understatement. Although fearful of more rain there were only a few showers. Plenty of sheep on the course with the greens being surrounded by electric fencing. Winner John Grima.

Day 2: Golf at Ashburnham. Links but far, far easier and only early light rain. Cows on the course. Winner Jeremy Stanyard.

Day 3: Links golf at Southerndown. A beautiful course set on the top of cliffs overlooking the Bristol channel. Very scenic, a tough test when playing in a gale force wind. Plenty of sheep on the course, hundreds of them. The winner – Alan Blok won on countback with 24 points! Hospitable club and home cooked ham, egg, chips followed by white chocolate roulade were compensation for the battering on the links.

Jeremy Stanyard and John Butler were paired together and were at last able to play the final of the OWGS knockout cup (note – the 2020 version). Congratulations to John the eventual winner. Condolences to Jeremy, at least he won prizes for the longest drive and a nearest the pin.

The last round was followed by the award of tour prizes. Overall winner on the tour was John Grima (pictured right receiving the trophy from John Gould). The unfortunate Alan Longhurst had to cry off sick on the morning of the tour, and was perhaps unsympathetically awarded the unsympathetically-named Christian Benteke prize. “For missing everything”. Many thanks to Alan for buying a round of drinks for us all at Southerndown. Finally, a special thanks to my band of helpers: Tony Mason and Alan Scovell for helping put the tour together. Alan Scovell for also arranging the pairings, competitions and prizes. Don Anderson for being our bookmaker and Tony Harris for taking care of the daily tour finances.

The 2022 tour will be to the Midlands.

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The Grafton Morrish finals were played in North Norfolk, also at the start of October, when the warmth of late September had been dispersed by a strong wind. Whitgift had qualified for the finals as one of the top seven in a field of 15 London schools at Royal Wimbledon, earlier in the summer. The qualifying team was Jack Raison/Harry Sellers, Martin Hayes/Toby Kemp, and Joe Firth/Carl Hills, and four of them (Kemp and Firth were the missing two) were in the team for Norfolk, aided and abetted by Tom Bloxsome and Matt Webster. The school had the benefit of a bye in the first round but that is where the good fortune ended. Drawn against Marlborough in the second round, Hayes/Hills won their match comfortably on the 14th, whilst the other two looked pretty even coming to the closing holes. However Raison/Sellers went down by one hole, losing both the 17th and 18th, whilst Bloxsome/Webster also lost one down, just failing to convert a 20ft putt to take the tie into extra holes. Marlborough went on to reach the semi-finals where they lost to Millfield, who then prevailed in what must rank as one of the closest of finals against Malvern. The first two of the three matches in the final were halved, with the third being level coming down the last, and both teams pitching to be within 12ft of the hole in three shots. Malvern did not sink their putt, but Millfield did. That final individual match was, amazingly, the only match in the entire week that Malvern lost. Such is golf!

Whitgift participated in the Plate competition, played as stableford foursomes, on the Saturday, but had the worst of the weather and finished just below half way down the field.

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As reported in last month’s page, Gordon Garment (photo featured on the News page) passed away in late August. Fittingly, given his lifelong love of, and participation in, the Halford Hewitt, his memorial service was on Thursday 9th September, the same day as this year’s competition started. The Whitgift players and spectators remembered Gordon at a lunch held after the first round match, with recollections around the table not only of his golfing achievements, but also his celebrated skill as an after-dinner speaker.

Unfortunately there was little to celebrate from the morning’s match. Despite a team which boasted some wise heads alongside some talented younger players, Whitgift lost to Shrewsbury. Princes’ rough penalised too many wayward shots and the simple fact is that Shrewsbury holed more of the critical putts. However the final result, 4 1/2 – 1/2, belied the closeness of the overall match, which saw four of the games go down the final hole, and three of those go to extra holes. There was therefore at one stage the tantalising prospect that, despite having won or halved all of the five foursomes matches over 18 holes, Shrewsbury could be denied victory if Whitgift could snatch each of those three last matches to finish. But it was not to be. Nor was it in the Plate competition, so often a source of solace to teams beaten in the first round; Whitgift met a strong Winchester side and went down 2 1/2 – 1/2.

Four intrepid Hewitt supporters played in the Peter Kenyon Bowl on the Wednesday of Hewitt week. This year’s competition, as always a foursomes event, took place at North Foreland, Broadstairs, and Messrs Butler, Hedges D, and Stanyard are shown below with the North Foreland Lighthouse, built in 1691, in the background. Hedges and Stanyard finished as the more successful pair but are by all accounts unlikely to feature on the podium!

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September began with a bright day on which to play the society’s Autumn Cup, the last open event of our season. The venue was Hever Castle GC, visited only once before for an open meeting, but looking very attractive in the sunshine, particularly around its very own ‘Amen Corner’, where water is a dominant feature of the 11th, 12th and 13th on the Championship course (picture right). 24 players turned up, but unfortunately Terry Newman, a Hever member, was unable to participate on his home course because of a shoulder injury. Nonetheless he kindly patrolled the inward nine offering advice where needed.

The main prize, the Autumn Cup, was taken by Paul Smeaton, in only his second outing with the society, scoring 38 points playing off 7. Second and third were two Hewitt players, David Hedges scoring 35 and Martin Hayes, honing his game in preparation for the following week’s Hewitt, on 33. Paul is shown receiving the cup from Captain Jeremy Stanyard (left).

August ended with the sad news that Gordon Garment had passed away, aged 89.

Robert (‘Bobby’) Gordon Garment was well-known and highly respected, especially by those who played alongside him or for him in the Halford Hewitt. He was a force of nature, someone who came almost to personify the efforts of Whitgiftians in the Halford Hewitt, and later the Cyril Gray, in the latter half of the twentieth century.

A successful chartered accountant, and once president of the OWA, he was one of the most amusing after-dinner speakers that you could hope to hear. But it was his golfing achievements that stand out, in particular for our society. He first played for Whitgift in the Halford Hewitt in 1950 and went on to play in every single year until 1999, an unbroken record of 50 years, clearly something quite extraordinary. He played over 100 matches in the competition, including the 1976 final in which he came within an inch of taking Merchiston into extra holes in the deciding match. He was captain of our Hewitt side on four separate occasions, including the other final in which the society has played, in 2002. He played another 47 matches for us in the Cyril Gray, itself a record number for an OW, and was deservedly a member of the side which won that competition in 1999.

Elsewhere, he was Captain at Royal Lytham & St Annes GC, an honour that he was appointed to on two separate occasions, another rarity.

His last appearance at one of our events was in 2019, when he attended our AGM and annual dinner, and received the Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award (picture right, with Gordon on the left alongside Andrew Stracey).

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Late August brought no improvement in the weather but it did herald some impressive performances by a couple of young OWs. First, Riccardo Fantinelli reached the 36-hole final of the British Boys’ Championship at Royal Cinque Ports, where he was 2up with just three to play. Unfortunately he was pegged back on the very last hole, where his opponent sank a 15 foot birdie putt which barely reached the hole before dropping in. Riccardo lost at the first extra hole, but impressed those watching with his performance and demeanour, both on and off the course. A week later he found himself alongside another OW, Harvey Byers, in the Brabazon Trophy, essentially the major English amateur strokeplay event of the year. Both of them had great weeks; Harvey finishing in a tie for seventh, having led the field at one stage, with Riccardo only one shot behind him in eleventh. All of which augurs well for our Halford Hewitt side in future years.

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August started with some very dubious weather, and the Scratch Cup, essentially a trial for the Halford Hewitt team, suffered from some of the heavy rain that had marred the end of July. The Scratch Cup, now in its fourth year, is renowned for being played in testing conditions but that is because it is normally played in February. This year’s event was held in August because the Hewitt itself has been postponed from its normal April date to early September, due to the Covid restrictions earlier in the year. However we were still at Royal Cinque Ports GC, Deal. Sadly the field for the event was cut by four withdrawals, all for sensible reasons, so only twelve took to the course. The heavy rain fell towards the end of the outward nine, and all those who reached the turn took shelter, as well as some sustenance, in the halfway hut! Whilst the rain washed away the chances of some, the resulting soft greens and the absence of much wind offered birdie chances on several of the outgoing holes, and three-time winner of the event, Neill Williams, took full advantage. He scored five birdies in those nine holes, and it could have been more (birdie opportunities from short distances on the 1st and 6th holes slipped by). Richard Gibson, now Captain of the Hewitt side, and fresh from his win in the Royal St George’s club championship (see below) was himself two under at the turn, and Stuart Hollins was level par.

The inward half at Deal is often the more difficult to play; not only is it slightly longer, but it is often into the prevailing wind. So it proved for the leaders, with Neill dropping his only shot to par on the 10th, and finishing four under, a gross 68, to win the Scratch Cup for the fourth year (pictured right, receiving the cup from Jeremy Stanyard). Congratulations, Neill, on a great round. Richard was level par on the back nine and finished two under, whilst Stuart finished two over. The rest of the field were some distance behind, but Toby Kemp, runner up in 2020, did well to finish fourth and claim the last of the automatic places in the Hewitt side. Watch this space to learn who Richard picks for the rest of the Hewitt team.

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Only a couple of days after the Scratch Cup, we were at Woodcote Park for the President’s Meeting, with Pip Burley in the second year of his presidency. It was a good day; Woodcote was in very good condition, we managed to avoid whatever rain there was, and we were pleased to welcome four guests, as well as a new member, Paul Smeaton. Playing with the Captain, Jeremy Stanyard, and fellow Wildernesse member Mark Chatham, Paul was in a position to win the overall event, but took four to get down from a shortish distance at the last and thereby allowed Jeremy to slip past him as the winner. Both of them scored a very commendable 37 points, but Jeremy took the President’s Prize – and the President’s Putter – on countback. (Jeremy is shown (right) receiving the prize from Pip Burley.) John Butler finished third with 35 points. Good scoring. John Grima’s guest Kevin Canning won the guest prize with an even more impressive 39 points, and he also won the ‘nearest the pin’ prize on Woodcote’s 13th hole. Many thanks to John Gould for organising an enjoyable day.

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Good news with the Halford Hewitt less than two months away. Matt Webster reports that Richard Gibson (pictured driving, left) won the Club Championship at Royal St George’s on Saturday 24 July by three shots. Played off the same tees and with similar flag positions to the final Sunday of the Open, Richard covered the front nine in 33. Well done, Richard.

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A day earlier, a field of 16 took to Royal Cinque Ports GC, just down the road from RSG, to contest the Thompson Tankards foursomes trophy in the morning and the Hornsey-Walker Cup, the society’s oldest and most prestigious handicap trophy, in the afternoon (photo left).

Foursomes has not been contested in the society’s open meetings for 21 years, so this was a bit of a departure, but a welcome one. The competition was full of incident, not least when Simon Halliday, playing as a guest, drove into a bunker. Nothing unusual about that, you might think, except that it was his buggy that he drove into the bunker, on the 3rd hole (photo right), and it proved difficult, and messy, to extract it. Still, the main thing is that Simon was not hurt and completed both rounds in the day. There was a tight tussle at the top of the leaderboard, with Alan Scovell and David Absalom eventually taking the tankard (only one of the two Thompson Tankards has been located so far) with 33 points, one ahead of Sue Beck and James Beck.

The wind grew stronger thoughout the day and scoring was difficult in the afternoon; a number of players suffered in rough that was at least as thick as that at Sandwich for the Open, with fairways scarcely as wide. It was predicted early on that a score 0f 30 points would be good in the conditions and so it proved. Simon Beck and his better half Sue, playing as a guest, both scored 30, although Simon handed the cards in with a resigned shrug of the shoulders, not expecting that they would be top. Sue would have had the better of any countback decision, but Simon was declared the winner as only members can win the society’s trophies. Still, the Cup will decorate the same family sideboard and the engraving on the trophy may well be the same, regardless! And it should be noted that both Becks handed their prize money back into the society’s Centenary charity, Variety Golf. Thank you. Captain Jeremy Stanyard suffered a 2-shot handicap cut because of his win in the recent Veterans’ Cup, and finished one adrift of the Becks with 29 points, the same score as Mark Chatham, who took third place on countback. Jeremy’s wife Jane kindly hosted a buffet dinner in the evening, at the Stanyard’s Deal home, to round off a splendid day.

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The match against KCS was held for the first time at Croham Hurst in early July; hitherto only Royal Wimbledon had been used as a venue for the fixture. Being on home turf clearly suited the Society, which came out 3-1 winners; only the third win in twelve outings. Tony Harris and Croham Captain Alan Longhurst led the charge, and claim to have finished at only four over par (better ball) for their round. So Whitgift hold the match trophy, the Chris Edge Salver (photo, above), at least until next year!

The Halford Hewitt draw took place on Tuesday 29th June, at 6pm – pretty much at the same time as the second half in the England vs Germany game! Fortunately this year’s draw was conducted on Zoom, so it was feasible to watch both events at once. It is possible therefore that the cheers when Whitgift were drawn against Shrewsbury were not in favour of either school, but heralded Raheem Sterling’s goal in the football. Whitgift’s first round tie will take place on Thursday 9th September at Prince’s, starting at 9am. This will be Whitgift’s first tie in the main Hewitt competition to be played at Prince’s, which is being used because Royal St George’s is not able to co-host this year’s delayed event, and next year Prince’s will only be used for the Plate competition. This might therefore be a unique occasion in two respects, because Whitgift have the opportunity against Shrewsbury to record their 100th win in the Hewitt, in their 178th tie (the 99th win came against Shrewsbury, as it happens, in 2019). So do come and support the team if you possibly can!

The Cyril Gray tournament (left) is part of a hectic end of June programme in the society calendar. It is a scratch foursomes event for over-50s, held at Worplesdon. This year’s Whitgift  team included Peter Blok, who first played in the event in 1996, twenty five years ago, and his ‘silver anniversary’ was marked on the Friday by a celebratory flypast of the Red Arrows. Peter would like to express his gratitude to whomever organised it. So far, no one has owned up. Unfortunately there was not much to celebrate on the course itself, as Whitgift were solidly beaten 3-0 by last year’s champions Liverpool, and then beaten again in the Plate, 2-1 by St Paul’s. Edinburgh Academy won the Cyril Gray Salver, and Watson’s the Plate – a Scottish double. Dudley Thompson and Don Anderson contested the Cyril Gray Seniors, and finished a creditable fourth.

Also at the end of June was the match against Old Alleynians. We have had a run of success in this match over recent years but the OAs convincingly won the previous encounter to this one. The 2021 result was a marginal improvement but still a 5 1/2 – 2 1/2 loss, with Absalom/McMillan and Furtado/d’Souza the only winners on the Whitgift side. Albeit that we had the youngest player on our side (James d’Souza), Dulwich seem to have been more successful than us in rounding up a number of 40-50 year-olds who are still capable of impressive distance (and accuracy) off the tee. Yes, of course, the handicaps should even things up, but somehow they don’t!

On 16th June, the society held the Veterans’ Cup meeting at Croham Hurst, alongside a parallel event for those thankfully still under 65 (by some distance, it has to be said). The weather was very hot to start with, but the threat of a downpour induced a fairly rapid tee off and progress around the course. The back markers were grateful to reach the clubhouse a matter of minutes before the heavens opened. The course was in good condition and of course the hard fairways allowed a great deal of run on the ball. Possibly, this was the main reason behind some very good scoring, but of course it could merely have been the skills applied. The Captain, Jeremy Stanyard (photo right), led the way off the tee and was accompanied by last year’s champion Vet, and also this year’s captain of Croham Hurst, Alan Longhurst. Some familiarity with the course must have rubbed off on Jeremy, who came home with a terrific 41 points and thereby took the Cup off his playing partner. Jerry Hamley was second with 38 points, with Alan Longhurst and Tony Harris tied for third, on 34. There was some even more impressive scoring by the ‘youngsters’, with Nick Matthews recording an amazing 44 points (although you would scarcely believe it from the photograph of him, left) followed by James d’Souza on 37 points. Well done to all, and especially the 14 out of 24 starters who scored more than 30 points.

Trinity won the match against the society at Woodcote Park on Tuesday, 1st June, and thus reclaimed the ‘Harrods Putter’ after a wait of six years. Glorious weather at Woodcote Park and the same could be said for some of the golf. The deciding match could have gone either way before it was settled on the 18th, the two pairs having shared one eagle and six birdies between them. Woodcote was in great condition and it was good to see both sides get six pairs out for this match.

The School won the annual encounter at Croham Hurst with the combined side of OWs and Masters, 3-1 with one match halved.