News
Moor Park / Beaconsfield Report
St Annes Old Links/Fairhaven Report
St Annes Old Links / Fairhaven Report August 19 th – 20 th 2019
The GSGB August Meeting took place over two of Lancashire's oldest and most famous links courses when we visited St Annes Old Links GC and Fairhaven GC, one of the GSGB's more recent participating clubs. Good weather was enjoyed on both days by the 70 members who attended with any rain showers disappearing before play began. A stiff wind helped to create difficult playing conditions on the first day and the numerous bunkers only added to the test. Despite the wind, the superb greens and the excellent conditioning of the course made for a very enjoyable day for all.
Day 2 turned out to be a beautiful day at Fairhaven with a very light breeze and at times warm sunshine. The greens were once again in wonderful condition and despite having even more bunkers than St Annes, the scoring was better, particularly from the ladies. At Fairhaven, we were joined by club captain Mike Franklin who accepted the £500 Junior Section cheque from GSGB Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe before helping with the presentation. Fairhaven has often been ranked in the list of England's top 100 courses and it's not difficult to see why.  The King of Morocco Cup was won by Ian Chamberlain from Frinton with 69 points, beating David Evans from Chelmsford by 1 point. The Society Salver was won by Anna Clark from Belton Park with 67 points, a much more comfortable 6 point winning margin over Pat Hone from Highgate. Congratulations to all prize winners. A full list can be seen below. The next event will be held on September 16th –17th at Moor Park (High) / Beaconsfield . There are still places available so please contact the office if you wish to take part.
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East Sussex National AGM Meeting Report
The 2019 Golf Society of Great Britain AGM was held at East Sussex National on 23rd/24th July. Seventy five members enjoyed good weather for the duration of their stay. With temperatures reaching 35 degrees on the first day some would say that it was possibly a little too good! Thankfully the heat reduced by 5 or 6 degrees on Day 2 and a light breeze helped to make the golf much more comfortable for all.  Both golf courses are relatively modern American style parkland designs. The East course is a slightly more open and mounded design with the West generally thought of as being a more attractive layout. Members had differing views on which course they preferred which suggests that they are of a similar standard. The bunkers were out of play on Day 1 following thunderstorm damage and in all honesty, they need to be completely refurbished which the hotel plans to do during the next 6 months.  The Hotel accommodation and food were very good indeed, prices were reasonable and the venue may well be visited again by GSGB in future years. At the AGM Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe presented Liz Clark and David Latham with leaving gifts in recognition of their time spent on the Committee. Alan Golbourn was unanimously voted in as our new President but unfortunately, outgoing President Nigel Dickson was unable to attend due to a hip injury which made a long car journey impossible.
 The Handicap Cups for the best two-day aggregate scores were won by Alan Golbourn (Chelmsford) with 80 points and Gillian Curley (Northants County) 71 points. Paul and Yogi Jackson with 135 points, claimed the "Enjoy Golf Together Trophy" by compiling the best husband and wife aggregate score over the two days. Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe presented the prizes and the full list of winners can be found below.
Our next Meeting will take place at St Annes Old Links and Fairhaven on August 19th/20th.
The 2019 AGM will be held at Carden Park in Cheshire.
RESULTS SHEET – East Sussex National AGM MEETING 23 – 24 July 2019
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Middlesbrough/Cleveland Report
Middlesbrough/Cleveland Report June 20th – 21st 2019 After a rather damp start to the summer, a more settled spell of dry weather greeted our group of 41 members in North Yorkshire, much to the relief of everyone who took part.   At Dinner, we were joined by the Middlesbrough club captain Mr Jim Taylor and his wife Hilary. Mr Taylor gratefully accepted the Society donation of £500 to further junior golf at his club from GSGB Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe. The Founders Trophy for men was won by Paul Collier from Astbury with 69 points over the two days, narrowly defeating Ian Chamberlain on countback. The ladies Founders Trophy was won by Linda Cusack from Camberley Heath who scored 66 points, including an excellent score of 39 points on day 2. Kathy Ogden from Bath was the aggregate runner-up with 64 points.
A full list of all prize winners can be seen below. The next event will be the AGM meeting at East Sussex National on July 23rd/24th. Brian
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Woodhall Spa Report
Woodhall Spa Report May 21st - 22nd 2019 The GSGB's first meeting of the 2019 season was played at Woodhall Spa, home to the relatively modern Bracken layout and the world famous Hotchkin course which is currently ranked 78th in the World. The Hotchkin will always be linked to the society through Neil Hotchkin, designer and owner of the course and GSGB President between 1989-93. Forty three members enjoyed glorious weather over the two days of competition as they battled the notoriously well bunkered Hotchkin layout. A three year course renovation programme was recently completed by world renowned golf course architect Tom Doak and his team. Thousands of trees were removed to help with heather regeneration and bunkers have been both refurbished and added to create a more open heathland feel and a much improved golf course.
At Dinner, we were joined by the Woodhall Spa Captain, Mr David Hilton and the Ladies Vice-Captain Cynthia Treharne. GSGB Chairman, Giles Hinchcliffe, presented David with a £500 donation to be used to support the club's junior section. The Day 1 prizes were won by David Kerr with 33 points and Vanessa Adams with 28 points and the Day 2 winners were George Clark with 37 points and Christine Hinchcliffe with 30 points. The aggregate handicap prizes were won by Alan Golbourn with 67 points and Kathryn Archibald with 63.
David Archibald had the honour of being crowned this year's Men's Scratch Cup winner fending off challenges from Alan Golbourn, Lorne Smith and last year's winner Tim Russell. David adds his name to the Cup for the fifth time. Gillian Curley won the Ladies Scratch Cup by one shot over Pat Bennett with Kathryn Archibald a further two shots back.
A full list of prize winners can be seen below. The next meeting will be held at Middlesbrough and Cleveland on June 20th - 21st.
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South Africa Tour March 2019
 Day two found us at Dainfern Golf Club, on the outskirts of J’burg, only to be told the course was closed – fortunately this was an administrative error, as all courses are closed on Monday’s for maintenance, but we had the course to ourselves and the Proshop had an excellent Sale that kept the Ladies and some Gents happy. A toughie with six crossings of the flooded river to contend with. The next day was a rest day, but our driver Norman took thirteen of us on a tour of Johannesburg visiting the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Presidents House and the Apartheid Museum. Lunch followed in a nice suburb followed by retail therapy at a nearby African Crafts Centre. Glendower Golf Club, home of the SA African Open in 2018 greeted us the next day for the 1st Round of the Individual Stableford. Some good scores were returned, but the highlight was Alan Golbourn getting a Hole in One on the 3rd Hole – both the Golf Course and the Hotel were suitably impressed.  Our final day in Pretoria was spent on the delightful Pecanwood Golf Course after a pleasant hour + drive to get there. Despite threatening skies and a sharp downfall, we all enjoyed playing an easier course against each other in the Couples Swapsie.....even those who were not couples! We elected to have a Bar-B-Q that evening at the nearby lakeside which did not quite work, but it was a lovely venue and we returned late to pack up ready for an early start the following morning to Kruger. Leaving before 8.00am we drove through fairly flat landscape for two hours before coming into some beautiful countryside with steep gorges and rolling hills. We finally stopped for lunch at HazyView where a much needed break was enjoyed. Another few hours we arrived at the Hans Merensky Resort stepping out into a different climate entirely – very hot and humid. After such a long day the first impressions of the hotel were not great, with air conditioning issues, changes of rooms etc. However, waking to see impala grazing and monkeys playing outside our rooms soon lightened the mood.  We stayed at Hans Merensky for the remaining week interspersing four golf days with a 5.00am Game Drive followed with an afternoon river cruise. On another day we drove into the Drakensburg Mountains on the Panorama Route visiting Blythe River Canyon and Bourkes Luck Potholes with pancakes for lunch at Harries in Graskop. Our final rest day, most played golf again followed by an evening Game Drive where some of us were lucky enough to get really close to a pride of lionesses with one cub – quite magical.  Our final golf day was interesting as we were mixed up with a large Am-Am, but managed to play the final round of the Stableford. The Tour Winners were Gillian Curley with rounds of 29 and 34, and Terry Jones with 38 and 34 with the respective Runners Up being Paul and Yogi Jackson – the Rookies! Our final evening was very jolly with the Prize Giving and an impromptu African display by the chef on drum, and the waitresses and kitchen staff all singing, and Michael Pring doing an impressive African dance! We set off early on the last day driving back to J’Burg this time taking in more lovely scenery through the Highland Way stopping at Dullstrom for a lovely lunch at Critchley Lodges, and arriving at the Airport in good time. This Tour was certainly a full itinerary, but in true GSGB style everyone took it in their stride and despite the heat and malaria pills, we all coped !
Liz Clark
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East Sussex National T's and C's
Here's a screen grab of the T's and C's for the AGM at East Sussex National July23rd and 24th 2019.  |
Moortown and Bradford Report
 The Fifty four members who participated enjoyed light winds and plenty of sunshine, particularly at Bradford, but more importantly two days of dry weather to round off another enjoyable season for the Society. After Dinner we were joined by the Moortown Captain Malcolm Slinger ,who spoke of the club's junior programme before GSGB Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe presented him with a £500 donation towards the club junior section. The Bradford golf course is an undulating Harry Colt parkland design with tree lined fairways, excellent greens and some fine views. Improvements to the clubhouse were very noticeable since our previous visit and Bradford now makes an excellent venue both on and off the golf course. The men’s Barlow Seniors Trophy was won by Alan Percival from Astbury with 73 points and the runner-up was Ian Chamberlain from Frinton with 68points. The Ladies Trophy was won by Gillian Curley from Northamptonshire County who scored 61 points and the runner-up was Yogi Jackson with 65 points who had to settle for 2nd place as she is too young to take home the Senior Trophy. A full list of all prize winners can be seen below. Photos of the prizewinners and a group photo can be viewed here. The next GSGB event is the February tour to South Africa and the 2019 fixtures can be found on the home page of the website. Brian
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Camberley Heath/ Army Report
Camberley Heath / Army Report August 28 th – 29 th 2018 The GSGB August Meeting straddled the Surrey, Hampshire border when we visited Camberley Heath GC (Surrey) and Army GC (Hampshire), two lovely wooded heathland courses. Good weather was enjoyed on both days by the 59 members who attended, the temperatures being much more manageable than those experienced at the Belfry during the July heat wave. Camberley Heath is a fine course containing all of the characteristics of Britain's finest heathland layouts. With heather, bunkers and pine trees in abundance, Harry Colt must have been delighted to be offered such an attractive free draining piece of land on which to build a golf course. Unfortunately the greens were not at their best following the annual maintenance programme but the rest of the course was magnificent with some particularly attractive (some might say penal!) bunkering on show. This however didn't stop some excellent scores being registered, particularly by the men. The course also boasts a challenging and memorable quartet of par-3's and it's easy to see why it's consistently ranked in the list of England's top 100 courses. At Dinner we were joined by the husband and wife team of Kevin and Debbie Warner who are fulfilling the roles of club Captain and Ladies Captain in the same year. Kevin accepted the £500 Society cheque from GSGB Chairman Giles Hinchcliffe before speaking about Camberley's very strong junior section. You can view the photos from the prize giving here. Perfect playing conditions greeted everyone on Day 2 at the Army and although the course is not as heavily bunkered as Camberley, the tree lined fairways, ditches and fast greens provided more than enough of a challenge. That however didn't stop Martyn Pellew from scoring a very impressive 43 points to add to the 36 he registered on the first day which comfortably brought home The King of Morocco Cup by 5 points over Ian Edwards who is also a Woburn member. Ian's total of 74 points would have comfortably won the cup in any of the previous five years. The Society Salver was narrowly won by Gillian Curley from Northants County with 69 points over Vanessa Adams from the Warren with 68 points. Congratulations to all prize winners. A full list can be seen below. The next event will be at Moortown / Bradford on September 26th – 27th.
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2018 AGM - The Belfry
 The accommodation and facilities of the Hotel are of the highest order, the Pro shop being one of the biggest in Europe with enough stock to interest everyone. The food was also excellent throughout our stay. At the AGM our outgoing Chairman, Mr Robin Moser, was presented with two engraved GSGB tankards in recognition of his three year term as Chairman. The Handicap Cups for the best two day aggregate scores were won by Giles Hinchcliffe (Sand Moor) retaining the trophy with 55 points and Liz Clark (Effingham) 53 points. Ian and Celia Edwards with 104 points, claimed the "Enjoy Golf Together Trophy" by having the best husband and wife aggregate score over the two days. We were joined at Dinner by Alastair Cochran who along with John Stobbs wrote "The Search for the Perfect Swing", the book being commissioned by GSGB founder Sir Aynsley Bridgland 50 years ago in 1968. Alastair spoke about the beginnings of the book and his life in golf thereafter before being presented with an engraved whisky glass. Our new Chairman, Mr Giles Hinchcliffe presented the prizes and the full list of winners can be found below. Our next Meeting will take place at Camberley Heath GC & Army GC on August 28th/29th. The 2019 AGM will be held at East Sussex National. Here are the photos from the AGM.
RESULTS SHEET – Belfry AGM MEETING 26 – 27 July 2018
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