| Date: | 6th October 2009 |
| Venue: | Hankley Common G.C. |
OTGS Autumn Meeting at Hankley Common on 6th October 2009.
Report fromTony Monteuuis
It hadn’t rained for weeks and weeks but sadly we arrived at Hankley Common in a determined drizzle which got steadily worse throughout the morning.
The day was brightened considerably by the sight of Past-President Peter Bathurst beaming hugely, handing out cards and greeting everyone with considerable gusto. This rather surprised the group from the Farnham Chamber of Commerce who were playing in their own event.
Sadly several arrived late offering the usual dismal excuses such as "I got lost", "my Satnav let me down" and "there was an accident on the M25". These things happen but those who left home allowing plenty of time for their journey avoided these problems. Anyway it was disappointing because the late arrivals made the Hon. Secretary’s carefully laid plans rather academic, but we got away reasonably on time and the course was as good and as tough as ever.
The standard of golf itself was pretty poor but it was certainly not an easy day. It was lovely to see Colin Jones playing his first game for a year after a difficult wrist injury that caused him to miss the Hewitt and all other golf. He won the Bertie Flower (scratch) trophy with a 77 some three shots clear of Martin Yates who had played beautifully from the 3rd to the 9th but sadly he left a few shots on the course when it mattered.
The handicap prize for the Ruck Cup was wonderfully well-contested and it ended in a four- way tie. The trophy is shared of course so this will probably cost the Society a fortune in engraving! The 1st Prize (as opposed to the trophy) went to Chris Berkeley whose net 74 shaded Tom Whillier, Toby Phelps and Martin Yates on countback It was tempting to send them all out for a play-off in the downpour!
After a very good if rather short lunch (our fault for taking too long in the morning) we were fortunate that the rain had stopped for the foursomes event and it was really quite pleasant. Toby Phelps (whose game really has improved considerably) and Stephen Stowell played very well to win the Gonda Salvers with 36 points. Martin Yates and perennial foursomes winner Michael Young were second with 34 points just beating Richard Stocks and William Hubbard into third place on countback. Heaven knows how many different Hubbards have won OTGS prizes with Stocks but this was a new pairing and, hopefully, it made William’s drive from Totnes even more worthwhile!
John Crisp won the prize for those with a handicap of 12+ in the Medal and Richard Clay, making a welcome reappearance, won the prize for the Stableford which ran concurrently with the Medal.
The lovely Bathurst Trophy for the best net aggregate in the Spring and Autum Medals was well contested and unusually there were no fewer than five players in close contention at the start of the day. However none of them played at all well and Adrian Cooper and Tony Monteuuis to their considerable disbelief shared the trophy with rather unimpressive net aggregates of 156.
27 members attended and we had a very good day despite the weather. Only Rob Kemp and Max McKerchar could make a valid claim to be young though and it would be great to see more of our younger golfers at these meetings. Midweek may be difficult for many but the younger golfers would have an awful lot of fun if they got their act together and came to meetings with a friend or two. They would be made hugely welcome and would enjoy the company of some very nice people.