| Date: | 15th March 2007 |
| Venue: | Rye G.C. |
Spring Meeting at Rye GC on March 15th and 16th.
Following a small and happy roll-up event on the Wednesday afternoon the party really started at the Fish Cafe in Rye in the evening where a dozen or so of us enjoyed a good dinner before our stay in the newly refurbished George Hotel in Rye. The hotel proved to be a palpable hit and the 20 Tonbridgians staying there enjoyed unusual levels of luxury for a Spring Meeting.
Day 1
The Meeting started with a foursomes Stableford competition for the President's Prize on the Jubilee Course. Many had not played this course before and we all really enjoyed the excellent condition of the course and its wonderful greens. The weather was wonderfukl and, for many, this gentle pipe-opener set the scene for a really successful meeting.
The golf played by the 28 participants was, in the most part, good rather than spectacular. John Spurling and David Hawkins played well to win narrowly with 35 points, and Colin Vokins and Jo Gunnell came second one point behind on countback from Chris Charlton and "Chariots of Fire" Edward Brice.
Leaving the Jubilee, we went in for a good cold lunch (entirely welcome on such a beautiful day) to be joined by some new arrivals including George Hubbard who had come all the way from Devon and Jonathan Jempson who had travelled about three miles from Winchelsea. It was a pleasure to welcome back David Reich in the afternoon for his first competitive round of golf after a year off following a nasty knee injury.
The afternoon Stableford competition for the Captain's Prize was played on the Old Course which, as it is always in Spring, was quite wonderful. Without wishing to gush about it, many people said that there could have been nothing finer than to play golf at Rye with such nice people on a March day such as this. A gentle breeze had sprung up and this became stronger through the afternoon. By the time we finished it was blowing at 20 mph (or was it knots?) and the game was rather tougher. But that's how Rye should be seen!
Tim Jenkins won the event with 33 points on countback from Mike Hall who always plays well at our Spring Meetings. Jonathan Hubbard was third with 32 points just one point clear of Geoff Clay and Nick Kemp on 31. This was encouraging because with all their handicaps being three or less they were all showing early form for the Halford Hewitt at the end of March.
We returned to The George for the AGM. Richard Stocks, who sadly was absent enjoying a golf tour to South Africa, had come to the end of his term as our President and his letter of retirement and nomination of Geoff Clay to succeed him was read out by the Captain. Geoff's appointment was met with the greatest enthusiam and, as befits a man with the unique record of having won over 100 Hewitt matches, expressed his love for the OTGS and, quite worryingly, most of its members too. We then retired for dinner and enjoyed a really excellent meal. The George did us splendidly and it was 2.00am before some of the party animals retired to their elegantly furnished (but wasted on the party animals) rooms.
Day 2.
Now this was the real test. The Medal in the morning was played in a nice breeze from the back tees where the men would be men and most of us would suffer. The Scratch Prize (the Boucher Cup) was shared by our Hewitt Captain, Nick Kemp, and the local hero, George Taggart, with 72s. The trophy was shared but Kemp won 1st prize with his back 9 of 35 shots to Taggart's 36. Geoff Clay was third with a 74 on countback from Colin Jones and Jonathan Hubbard.
The Field Cup for the handicap event was shared by Nick Kemp with his 72-3=69 and our Captain Adrian Cooper, last year's Captain at Rye, with 76-7=69. The 1st prize went to Nick on countback. Richard Proctor was third on countback from Mark Fleming who was making a welcome reappearance in our midst.
Chris Charlton won the prize for the best net score by a player of 12 handicap or more, and William Marle won a prize for the best Stableford score (for those who had not already won prizes in the Medal).
Manor House won the House Cup with Richard Proctor and Mark Fleming both returning net 70s for an aggregate of 140.
The Afternoon Foursomes was won (as so frequently has been the case) by Tim Jenkins and his partner. On this occasion his partner was the reliable Mark Fleming. They finished a point clear of Colin Jones and David Hawkins who won on the narrowest countback margin from Geoff Clay and George Hubbard. Remarkably, their scores were the same over the last 9, the last 6, the last 3 and the last 1 holes. The deciding factor was that Jones and Hawkins were better over the last 2 holes!
It had been a very successful meeting in perfect conditions and we are all very grateful to Rye GC for having us. Sadly the meeting was flawed in just one way. The turnout was disappointing and, though we were delighted to welcome Tom Carr to his first Spring Meeting, he was the only person in attendance under the age of 32. This simply has to be improved upon and we hope that there will be many more young OT golfers at Deal and Sandwich in 2008, when the dates of the Meeting will be Thursday 13th and Friday 14th March.
The following took part :
David Biddle, Edward Brice, Tom Carr, Chris Charlton, Geoff Clay, Patrick Cogan, Adrian Cooper, Gerald Corbett, John Crates, Graham Dudley, David Evans, Mark Fleming, David Golding-Wood, Jo Gunnell, Mike Hall, David Hawkins, David Hubbard, George Hubbard, Jonathan Hubbard, Jonathan Jempson, Tim Jenkins, Colin Jones, Nick Kemp, Richard Lea, Ian Mackintosh, William Marle, Tony Monteuuis, Peter Morris, James Murch, Chris Pettman, Richard Proctor, David Reich, John Spurling, Jonathan Steed, George Taggart, Colin Vokins and Martin Yates.