The 2022 KCS Old Boys scratch team will soon head up to the Norfolk-based Grafton Finals for the 39th time since 1975. 48 teams play (having qualified from over 100 school entries) in the knock-out finals over the weekend.

A tough Grafton Morrish draw awaits, against Loughborough, then Canford or Malvern (2021 runners-up, winners 2005-2006) in the ‘round of 32’, at Hunstanton GC on Friday 7th October.

The ‘Oxbridge’ Blue-based OKC team is Alex Gems (OK 2009) Captain, Matt Reynolds (OK 2010), Tim Jukes (OK 2016), Alex Nielsen (OK 2018), Mike Choong (2004), Ajay Patel (OK 1996) and Peter Crowther (OK 1972). The average KCS player’s handicap is two, and our thanks go to the OKC for their support.

We have 205 KCSOB games between five of us (won 123, halved 21) in Norfolk, with Alex Nielsen and Tim Jukes making 2022 debuts. The OKC team had 4 finals (winners 2001 & 04) in the Noughties decade but sadly none since.

Uppingham (winners 2012), Millfield (2021 – Holders) and Sedbergh (1984) are in our quarter. Any Sunday morning semi-final might optimistically involve Charterhouse (winners 2015), Epsom College (winners 2017) or maybe Dollar Academy from over the Border.

The full draw can be seen at the new GMGA website: graftonmorrish.org.uk

The 32 losing Friday teams play in the Plate on Saturday morning, at which point the four best qualifiers play in Sunday’s Plate knockout, alongside the main event.

/ Peter Crowther

The Grafton Morrish competition (KCS winners 2001; 2004) held on 5/6/7 October 2018 involved a re-draw following Loretto’s absence.  KCS Wimbledon were selected, by lot, to re-balance the draw, playing against Canford at Brancaster, instead of Seaford College.   

KCS top foursome of Alex Gems and Matt Reynolds endured a tough Friday, a 2&1 loss against Canford, played in a light breeze.   Then a splendid 3,4,4 finish by Peter Crowther and Mike Choong enabled a win by two holes. Fate dealt the third pair of Rory Codd and Paul Mortlock a cruel finish. Two up with two holes to play, having eagled both the 7^th(490 yards) and the 14^th(430 yards) holes, the latter with a Codd three-wood, the Canford duo cruelly holed a 55-foot putt from the very front of the 17^th, with KCS well-placed 30 feet from the hole.   A KCS-car-crash followed down the 18^th– despite a fine drive.   The deciding 19^thhole was not well-contested.   This lost KCS the match and placed us into the Plate competition. Four leading Saturday qualifiers would contest the Committee Bowl (KCS winners 1984; 2006) at 6,900-yards long Hunstanton on Sunday. Whitgift lead the way on Saturday, with just 70 scratch points (i.e. 23 points each).

Qualifying on Saturday morning, enduring continuous Brancaster northerly force-7 rain squalls (e.g. the 129-yard 4^thhole played a firm 5-iron) that had many schools withdrawing, the Matt Reynolds (2010)/Alex Gems (2008) ex-Oxford Univ. vanguard pair thereafter came out swinging.  In Sunday’s Whitgift semi-final, and the Committee Bowl final, they had two victories on the 16^thhole. The sunny morning saw a solid 4&2 victory off the Blue ‘tiger’ tees (two birdies, 4 bogies, 10 pars).

Peter Crowther (1972)/Mike Choong (2004) turned back the clock in their Whitgift semi-final, against a foursome pair including a two-time English Mid-Amateur Champion. Crowther played his 114^thKCS match in Norfolk, and Choong was competing in his 4th final in 5 years’ appearances. A Hunstanton back-nine of 4,5,4,4,2,4,3,4,4 in light winds brought a 2-up semi-final victory, winning the 14^th, 15^th, 17^thand 18^th, and 2-1 match win overall.

Rear-gunners Rory Codd (1997)/Paul Mortlock (1996) had lost their semi-final anchor match 4&3 to two Old Whitgiftian Royal St. George’s members. They fell behind, early, and failed to hole any putts at crucial times.

In the final, after lunch against 2017 Committee Bowl holders Loughborough, the Reynolds/Gems top pair reeled off 3 birdies and 7 pars in the first 10 holes, for a 4-up lead against a 1 and +1 handicap combination. They held on, after that, for a fine 4&2 win.

Codd and Mortlock, again at the rear, turned on the gas for the final, thrashing the Loughborough captain & his partner by 7&5, grinding out 10 pars in their 13 holes.  This victory made up for their rather sad Friday!  Crowther and Choong finished in some style 444434264, but lost to Loughborough by one hole in the dead rubber.  This capped a very pleasing week, with everyone playing well, all contributing points in a KCS team including two debutants.

I’m pleased to report that we managed to retain the Old King’s Club v. Old Kingstonians trophy on 18 September by a score of 3-2. Quite an exciting day, as we were level until the end of the last match.

As the OKs remarked, this was the closest they have come to winning the trophy. It now has OKC as the winner for every year we have played for it since ints inception in 2013. In fact we have won the match with/without the trophy since we first met in 2010.

Individual results were:

Druckman and Phillips – Won 4 and 3

Taylor and Gregory – Lost 6 and 5 to a very fine performance by their captain, Richard Wickerson – no shame here!

Gems and Damon – Lost 2 and 1

Grover and Messent – Won by 2 holes

McGinn and Lovett – Won 4 and 2

/ Peter Taylor (OK 1961)

This year’s competition was played at Bramley GC with a shot-gun start for the 72 players. The weather was beautiful being hot with a light breeze and the course was in fine condition despite not having seen any rain for ages. The star of our team was Lance Condon with 37 points, which made him runner up to the best score on the day of 42 – well played Lance. Jonathan Poole had a good round scoring 32 points but the other three, myself included, failed to get into the thirties.

The winning team was from the Old Tiffinians with 175 points from five players, which is a remarkable average of 35 points. Bramley provided an excellent lunch for us all and one of the organising team, Brian Collison, set up a bar tab for every player’s first drink -thank you very much Brian and Martin. The competition will be organised by the O T’s next year and the year after at a venue to be decided by them.

Graham Cox   July 2018

The Triangular Match between OKC, Kingston Grammar School OB’s and Raynes Park OB’s was played at Surrey Downs GC on 24^th April. The course is relatively new and was the venue for last year’s match, receiving good reports from the players. The weather was excellent for golf but we were outplayed by the KGS team. For the 18-hole stableford match we scored myself 36, Graham Morris 34, Lance Condon 30 and Micky King and Andrew Copeman both 29 – total 158. The winners were the KGS team with 38, 36, 34, 33 and 30 – total 171. The star on the day was Brian Vennard of the Raynes Park OB team with a magnificent 42 points and he walked away with the Martin Fielding cup. Oddly enough he happened to have with him his handicap certificate – I wonder why?

The Spring Meeting was at Malden GC on 24^th May with 15 OB’s teeing off. I played with Michael Choong whose handicap is 3. Playing with someone of this level of skill is a new experience for me and it was rather humbling, since I have played quite well recently with mid 30 scores on several occasions off my 18 handicap. Michael’s saw every stroke of less then 200 yds as a possibility to get close to the pin for a birdie. This he achieved four times in the first nine holes but he also got three bogeys thus scoring one under par for his round with 70. Naturally he won the Blades Cup.

The stableford Bill Cox Cup was a very closely fought matter. M. C. got 40 points but was not eligible, since he had already won a cup. The scores were very close with Peter Messent 36, Neil Price and Lance Condon both on 35, Graham Morris and Peter Taylor both on 34 and John Oliver on 33. Next came Chris Diacon on 32 and Fred Grover and David Cross were both on 31.

The Blades Cup was initiated by George Rowland Blades (1868-1953), who lived in Sydenham, Kent and was a pupil at KCS (in the Strand at that time) leaving in 1886 to join his family printing business, rising to become its chairman. In 1913 he was elected to the Corporation of London, he served as Sheriff of London from 1917-1918 and was Knighted during his term of office. In 1918 he was elected to Parliament for Epsom until 1928, he was created Baronet of Ebbisham, which is the old name of Epsom, in 1922. He was Lord Mayor of London from 1926 to 1927 and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1927.

The Blades Cup is actually ‘The Old Kings Golf Society Challenge Cup Presented by G R Blades Esq. 1910’ and has a Birmingham hallmark made in in 1910. He won the cup in 1911. George R. Blades was a founder member of the KCS Lodge in 1921 and presented the Lodge with a Bible dated 1622. The first “King James” Bible was published in 1611. The first Bible in modern English was published in the reign of Henry VIII (1509-1547).

Graham Cox May 2018

The Old King’s Club won its annual friendly golf match on 19 September by 3 1/2 to 1 1/2 on a cool but sunny day, with the greens and fairways looking as ever in excellent condition at Royal Wimbledon GC. This means the OKC has won this match every year since the fixture was inaugurated and our name appears on the Claret jug for every year since 2013, when the trophy was first presented.

Individual results were as follows:

Peter Taylor and Giles Fallowfield v Richard Major and Adrian Koertzen – Won by 1 hole
– after 14 holes we were 3 down, but an excellent last four holes by Giles saw us nick the result on the 18th.

Ian Hay and Lance Condon v Andrew Lodge and Richard Wickerson – Won 4 and 3.

Jonathan Howitt and Jonathan Poole v Gordon House and AN Other – Lost 4 and 3.

Andrew Copeman and Peter Messent v Paul Healey and John Elvidge – Halved.

Fred Grover and Will Starrit v Roy Bray and Graham Cox (KGS, not KCS!) – Won 2 and 1.

Captain Richard Major duly presented us with the trophy, and Peter Taylor will engrave it for next year. We also invited OKs to be our guests at a similar time in 2018.

A moment’s silence was held for for Roy Haslehurst, the previous Old Kingstonians captain, who sadly died from a heart attack last week.

A close fought match, with all of the matches going to the 18^th hole, between KCS Old Boys and Old Cranleighan golfers resulted in a win for KCS Old Boys by 2 and half matches to one and half. The match was four ball better ball format, the OKC winning pairs were Giles Fallowfield and David Cross, Scott Lloyd and Jonathan Poole. This annual match was played on Wednesday 26^th August at the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club with excellent sandwiches to follow. The next match is on Thursday 24^th August against Old Tiffinians. Chris Diacon chris@diacon.co.uk would be pleased to hear from former pupils who would like to play in future matches.

This year’s competition was played at Bramley Golf Club and for the first time it had a Shot-gun start, which worked very well indeed. There were 60 players playing in 20 three balls so there were two groups at each of the two par five holes. One group started five minutes before the Klaxon (Shot Gun) so that they had played their second shots as the Klaxon sounded and the other group could drive off without delay. At no time during the round did we have to wait for the group in front of us nor did the group behind us have to wait for us.

For several of our team, this was the first time that we had played at this course, which was our excuse for not scoring terribly well. We could not actually blame the course because it was in fine condition with excellent greens, good lies on the fairways but quite a lot of bunkers, which was, in part, my personal downfall.

At the end of the round there were naturally a lot of golfers heading for the clubhouse and changing rooms. As luck would have it we were fairly close by and quickly dived into the showers then got out of the way for the others. On arrival in the bar we were greeted with the news that the first drink was already paid for by one of the organising team, who is a member at the club, and there was wine already on each table. Thank you very much indeed.

The winning team were the Old Reedonians, who were making their first appearance at the competition, and scored 165 points from their best five players. This is of course equivalent to 33 points from each, which is a very good and consistent score. The runners up were the Old Hinchleyans just one point behind on 164. Our best score was David Cross with 32points, Philip Gregory got 31 points and Micky King came in with 29. The rest of us, Jonathan Howitt, Richard Burgess and myself, all managed a disappointing 26 points and Neil Lovett had a game to forget.

Graham Cox

The annual Old King’s Club Golf Society meeting with Old Paulines took place on Tuesday 13th June at Kingswood Golf and Country Club in glorious weather, with the course in great condition.

Unfortunately, the OKC could not match the conditions with a win, losing eventually by 1.5 to 3.5.

Individual results were as follows:

Paul Druckman and John Tiller – Lost 4 and 2
Jonathon Howitt and John Oliver – Lost 5 and 4
Philip Gregory and Micky King – Lost 3 and 2
Giles Fallowfield and Richard Burgess – Halved
Peter Taylor and Fred Grover – Won 5 and 3

Despite the loss the match was played in excellent spirit, and a very sociable hour spent in the clubhouse with post match refreshments.  As an aside, Giles Fallowfield had  attended a Champagne tasting event prior to his arrival on the first tee.   However, despite having taken several sips and then admitting to swallowing the sips, he and Richard  nevertheless managed a creditable half.

It was most welcoming to see John Tiller, Jonathan Howitt, John Oliver and Philip Gregory playing in a friendly match for the first time, and we look forward to many more appearances from them.

Appropriate post match speeches were made by both captains, and an invitation extended to Old Paulines for the next match at Royal Wimbledon GC in June 2018.  The opposing captain, Robert Silverstone, was thanked for his organisation on the day, as the host member at Kingswood, and the subject of a suitable trophy for the annual event was agreed on.  Robert kindly agreed to do the research.

We now look forward to the next friendly match against Old Whitgiftians at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club on Monday 3rd July.

The search for a new source of playing shirts continues.

Peter Taylor

The Old King’s Club team was able to complete its successful season by beating the KGS Golf Society at Royal Wimbledon GC on 20th September by 4 -1. Chris Gems and Neil Price found that they were 3 down with 6 to play. By pulling themselves together, they managed to play some determined golf over the closing holes and halved the match. Nick Smith and Lars McBride also halved their match.

Ian Hay and Scott Lloyd won their match by 3 & 2 – Ian was heard to say that ‘Scott played to 1 over gross, I had a nice walk and the weather was nice’. Gordon McGinn and Will Starritt had a very close game going onto the last all hole all square.

They won with Gordon’s putt on the 18th. I played with Howard Lickens, who doesn’t bother with any woods, but when you can hit a 3 iron with a bit of draw 230 yds. who needs a driver. The first 9 holes were very even with us 1 up then Howard, with a small amount of help from me, won the next 4 holes to be dormy 5. We halved the14th to complete the win 5 & 4.

As usual, the games were played in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere but also with a determination to win.

Graham Cox

KCSOB continued their winning run of friendly golf matches, with a 4-1 home win against Old Paulines at Royal Wimbledon GC on Tuesday 7th June.

The 3pm first tee time was delayed until 3.30 pm, due to the thunderstorms in the London area. Management at RWGC were reluctant even then to get us started, but, as it turned out, the weather slowly cleared during the late afternoon, allowing us to play in warm and humid conditions with a rather late finish. However, the playing company was good, and the usual post match social in the Royal Wimbledon clubhouse was much appreciated by everybody. The course was in the usual excellent condition, and the OKC members hosting us all should be thanked for their hospitality.

Individual match results went as follows (KCS team listed first):

Scott Lloyd and Ian Hay vs. Chris Vallender and Dick Vollmer – Won 8 and 7
Gordon McGinn and Neil Lovett vs. John Woodcock and Toby Bain – Won 4 and 3
Peter Taylor (Captain) and Alan Copeman vs. Rob Smith and Robert Silverstone (OP Captain) – Won 2 and 1
Fred Grover and David Cross vs. Laurence Harris and Ian Starr – Won 2 and 1
Micky King and Will Starritt vs. Brian Lowe and John Cooper – Lost 4 and 3

Andrew Copeman and Will Starritt were playing in their first fixture for the KCS team, and are welcome additions to our membership.. Hopefully they be playing more regularly in these friendly fixtures. These events are great fun, played in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, at a superb golf club.

The OKC Golf Society welcomes new members of all capabilities. For details of future events and fixtures contact Graham Cox at grahamcox@ntlworld.com<mailto:grahamcox@ntlworld.com> or Chris Diacon at chris@diacon.co.uk<mailto:chris@diacon.co.uk> or Peter Taylor at prtaylor@sky.com<mailto:prtaylor@sky.com>.

The next friendly fixture is at 3 pm on Monday July 4th against Old Whitgiftians at Royal Wimbledon GC”

In this year of mixed weather, it was great to have beautiful conditions for our Spring Meeting on 13th May at Malden Golf Club. When I was at KCS in the 1960’s, Malden G C was the venue for the Old King’s Club members’ match against the school so it is always a trip back in time for chaps of my generation when we play there.

The winner of the Bill Cox Stableford Cup was David Cross with 38 points followed up by Ian Hay and myself with 35 and Rob Bannister with 32 (my father would have been very proud to have his name still remembered). The Blades Scratch Cup was won by Michael Wale with 25 points closely followed by Michael Choong with 23 – he also won the longest drive prize. Tim Parrack won the nearest-the-pin prize. Well played everyone – the next event is the friendly match against the Old Paulines at RWGC on 7th June and the Surrey Schools Golf Societies Festival at Clandon on the 23rd June, for which I still have a couple of team vacancies.

The first event of 2016 was the Triangular match against Kingston Grammar School OB’s and Raynes Park Former Pupils played at Wimbledon Park Golf Club on 19th April. The weather was perfect for golf, the course had suffered during the winter rain but sterling work by the ground staff had it in very decent shape.
We had only seven players against the fifteen KGS players so with the best six scores counting for the Raynes Park Cup we were always going to be hard pressed to win. The reality was that we did not have sufficient skill in depth on the day and were beaten into second place. The individual scores were very close with the best stableford score being 32 points by Roy Haslehurst of KGS and both Lance Condon and myself managed a very respectable 31 points closely followed by Neil Lovett with 29.
The result meant that KGS have the cup for a year and Roy H. took home the Martin Fielding cup for the best score. It was good to take a few moments to explain that Martin Fielding had been a stalwart of the OKC Golf society for many years and he sadly died just over two years ago. When the cup was first presented in 2014, his widow Jill came to the club and presented the cup to the first winner, which was quite a moving occasion.
OKs interested in taking part in fixtures can contact Graham at grahamcox@ntlworld.com

A squad of 9 players went to Norfolk to represent the Old King’s Club in the final rounds of the Graftom Morrish competition. All had a handicap of 4 or below.

The first round was against Brighton, which produced a comfortable win of 2.5-0.5

1.Rea/Fordyce – halved
2. Crowther/Gems – won 3/2
3. Patel/Brown – won 4/3

The next round was against Charterhouse, which had won against Eton in the first round. Chartreuse won 2.5-0.5 and went on to win the trophy.

1. Patel/Brown – lost 5/4
2. Crowther/Gems – halved
3. Rea/Clark – lost 4/3

A strong Old King’s Club team should produce some good results in coming years.

The Grafton Morrish is a wider and more recent competition than the Halford Hewitt, involving more schools. Teams of six play a qualifying round of foursomes stapleford off scratch at one of seven courses across the country. The leading 48 schools qualify for the final stages of the competition held at Hunstanton and also Royal West Norfolk (Brancaster) courses in the early autumn. The format is foursomes knockout off scratch. The first two rounds are shared between the two courses, with the final rounds at Hunstanton.
The Old King’s Club played the qualifying on The 10th of May at Royal Wimbledon GC. Three pairs play scratch stableford foursomes. The course was in excellent condition and some tricky pin placements helped the mind to focus. The team consisted of Ajay Patel, Elliot Brown, Rupert Rea and Andy Fordyce, Alex Gems and Mett Reynolds. All pairs played well and we combined for a total of 88 points, enough to win the qualifying ahead of Epsom (85), Harrow (82) and Charterhouse (80). The Club received a bye in the first round and will play Brighton at 11.am on 25 September at Hunstanton in the second round.

The annual friendly golf match vs the Old Whitgiftians was played at Royal Wimbledon on 14th July with teams of 10 playing in four balls. We won with a score of 3 ½ – 1 ½

Micky King and Ralph Cake won 3 & 2
Scott Lloyd and Neil Lovett won 4 & 3
Paul Druckman and Ian Hay won 4 & 2
Chris Gems and Tony Damon halved
Graham Cox and Lance Condon lost 4 & 2

Micky and Ralph played Chris and Russell. Ralph and Micky combined well so when one was off the other was able to ensure that the opponents were always under some pressure. Ralph clinched the 3 and 2 win with a fine 4 on the 16th after Russell (whose driving was very good all match) had driven into a fairway bunker over 280 yds down the fairway. Ralph’s winning putt was one of three outrageously long putts that between us we holed in the match.

Neil has written that Scott played the pivotal role, whilst he played a good support role. The highlight was that both Scott and he had 4-foot putts for Eagles on par 5 11th hole, but both only managed birdies. Neil and Scott won 4 and 3.

Paul and Ian had a very nice game with 2 chaps, who enjoyed their golf, but soon realised that it was not going to possible to beat Ian Hay on that form. Ian was simply immense and won the match single-handed. At one stage soon after the front 9 we (Ian) were 4 up and then we (Ian) really cruised through to win 4 &2. Let me add that I play regularly with Ian, in fact only a couple weeks ago, and he has never played that well – a sign of things to come.
Ian’s comments are that it was definitely a team affair with Paul calculating when he was required to come in and doing so to deadly effect and so in his opinion the opponents were somewhat up against it despite playing well themselves.

Chris and Tony had a hard fought and enjoyable match against Don Anderson and Bharat Bhagat of Whitgift, which finished with “honours even” as a halved match.

Graham and Lance played two 15 handicappers who were very much on form. They parred the first three holes to go three up and we never recovered. We played some good golf to each get a few pars but over all we won a few then we lost a few and so were 3 down after 14 holes. We then lost the 15th to finish 4 down with 3 to play. Graham Cox 22/1/15

The Grafton Morrish is a wider and more recent competition than the Halford Hewitt, involving more schools. Teams of six play a qualifying round of foursomes stapleford off scratch at one of seven courses across the country. The leading 48 schools qualify for the final stages of the competition held at Hunstanton and also Royal West Norfolk (Brancaster) courses in the early autumn. The format is foursomes knockout off scratch. The first two rounds are shared between the two courses, with the final rounds at Hunstanton. We played the qualifying on The 10th of May at Royal Wimbledon GC. Three pairs play scratch stableford foursomes. The course was in excellent condition and some tricky pin placements helped the mind to focus. The team consisted of Ajay Patel (OK 1995, Captain), Elliot Brown (OK 1998), Rupert Rea (OK 1996), Andy Fordyce (OK 1990), Alex Gems (OK 2009) and Mett Reynolds (OK 2011). All pairs played well and we combined for a total of 88 points, enough to win the qualifying ahead of Epsom (85), Harrow (82) and Charterhouse (80). The finals are to held on the 25th to the 27th of September. We received a bye in the first round and will play Brighton at 11.am at Hunstanton in the second round.

Ajay Patel (OK 1995), Captain of the Old King’s Club Grafton Morrish team has just completed a remarkable Marathon.

To celebrate the origins of the Royal Wimbledon Golf Club 150 years ago Ajay (handicap +1) with his fellow RWGC member, Mark Booker (handicap + 2) played 150 holes of a golf in a single day, starting at 4.06 am and finishing seventeen and a half hours later.

In playing their eight rounds and six holes they walked 60 kilometres, playing a truly remarkable standard of golf. Ajay did not lose a ball whilst Mark lost two! Between them they birdied 15 holes and eagled one. Ajay’s gross score for the 150 holes was 619 shots, whilst Mark took 2 shots fewer. With the standard scratch score for Royal Wimbledon being 71, between them they managed 6 rounds of 71 or better!

As they completed their epic journey two facts shone out: 1). the pace at which they were playing , with even their last round taking little more than two hours; 2). the quality of their ball striking and the lovely slow tempo of their swings which they maintained throughout the day – truly a lesson to all golfers.

Micky King (OK 1959), President

Some days were just made for a game of golf and 4^th June was one such day with bright sunshine, a perfect blue sky and a light breeze. Coincidentally that was the day for our match against the St. Pauls Old Boys (known to everyone as the Old Paulines). The plan was for two teams of ten players but we all know what happens to the ‘best-laid plans of mice and men…’

On the day we had seven players and the OP’s had nine so one of theirs played for us – not ideal but a decent compromise. The venue was Kingswood GC where the changing rooms are like a five star hotel (not that I frequent such places you understand) and the course was in excellent condition.

Phil Wilkins and Howard Lickens felt that they enjoyed their match a little more than their opponents, or at least one of them, who started muttering after about 12 holes and his mood got darker as the match went on. Phil admits that striking him on the back of the leg with a rather over enthusiastic chip out of the trees did nothing to improve his mood. Phil would have shouted ‘fore’ if he had thought his ball would get anywhere near to reaching him! He and Howard won their match.

Neil Price and Peter Taylor had a most enjoyable afternoon but lost 4 and 2 to a couple who dovetailed well as partners. One of them complained that he had played only a few times in the last year due to injury but he managed to make up for any mistakes by his partner. Although Neil and Peter occasionally played well they were unable to match their opponents’ consistency.

Chris Diacon and his OP partner also had a most enjoyable afternoon but came up against one of their opponents, who was on fire and scored 16 stableford points on the first six holes. Chris and partner did extremely well to be only one down at the turn. On the back nine the other opponent came more into the game and they ended up beating Chris by 3 & 2.

I played with Peter Grant against a retired surgeon and a retired accountant. Our game was played in very good spirit, particularly on our side, since Peter played the early holes well and got us 2 up. Our lead fluctuated a little but we managed to stay ahead and were still 2 up at the turn. Whenever one of us played a poor tee shot the other played a good one so we both felt that we had contributed. A birdie at the 14^th put us 3 up and the final result was a win for us by 3 & 2.

A 2 – 2 tie seemed a fair result on the day and we shall all look forward to our match against the OP’s next year. The Surrey Schools’ Golf Societies’ Festival is on 19^th June at Clandon Regis, where we have a team of six competing for the shield.

Graham Cox 12^th June 2015

Gentlemen – the first match of 2015 was the annual Triangular Match against our old adversaries the Kingston Grammar School Golf Society and the Raynes Park Former Pupils. This year we were the organisers and played at Leatherhead GC on 21st April.

One of the most important aspects of any golf fixture is the weather, over which, of course, we have absolutely no control whatsoever. The golfing gods were on our side and the day was blessed with stunning clear blue sky and precisely the right temperature to enjoy 18 holes – not too chilly and not too hot – in fact just right with a light breeze.

Our team had 7 players, the RPFP team also had 7 players and the KGS GS team had 11. The scoring was based on the best 6 stableford scores from each team counting so we all had to play well or risk letting the side down. Without wishing to be overly big-headed, our team simply out-played the opposition. The combined score by out chaps was 178 points (average just below a very respectable 30 points) with the other teams scoring 160 and 154 – I shall save their blushes by not saying which team got which score.

Our best players were Richard Burgess with 34 points, David Cross 32 points (off his very recently reduced 17 handicap) and James Mitchell 30 points. Jon Wedge, Neil Lovett, Neil Price and yours truly were all very close behind in the high 20’s. The result was that we retained the Raynes Park Cup and Richard Burgess had the best score on the day and received the Martin Fielding Cup (see photo). Would that life was always this good!

Next year’s event will be organised by the KGS GS and played at Wimbledon Park GC in April 2016. There is still time to put your name down to play at Royal Wimbledon on 6th May but please be quick.

Graham Cox

KCS Old Boys fielded two teams of three for this event, the first comprising David Cross, Micky King and Phil Wilkins, and the second made up of Peter Taylor, Paul Brooks and Peter Grant.

The event at Hoebridge was played in extreme weather conditions, with 60 mph winds, blessedly without rain, howling across a fairly hilly course, the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo.  Crampons were almost needed on hole 17, which was more akin to a climb up Box Hill than playing a golf course.  An additional hazard were the flying leaves, twigs and acorns, which often deterred accurate putting and finding balls.

Readers of this report will no doubt be thinking that these comments were made after abject failure in the competition, and their suspicions are partially correct.  Team One managed a very creditable score of 76, or four over gross, considering the conditions.  They were unlucky not to feature in the prizes.  David Cross was expected to win a Nearest the Pin prize on hole 12, but was edged out by a later group, much to everyone’s surprise.  Team Two got off to a great start with a birdie on the hole 1, but could not repeat the success later, and failed miserably with their chipping and putting, finishing with gross 84.

A fun competition played in arduous conditions.  Our thanks to Old Kingstonians for their organisation and hospitality.

We now look forward to the 2015 season, with an increased number of fixtures at Royal Wimbledon GC, including our Spring Meeting on May 6^th, and a new fixture against Old Cranleighans on August 5^th.  We also play away at Kingswood GC on June 4^th against Old Paulines.  A full fixture list will be circulated shortly

The result of the match against the Old Kingstonians on Tuesday was a win for us with a score of 4 – 1. I did not play and have not had any feedback apart from a comment the “Ian Hay played a blinder” – enough said!

Graham Cox

15th July was another great day at Royal Wimbledon, with the course, and especially the greens, in immaculate condition. Putting was especially difficult with slick greens and borrows difficult to read, but as always this is part of the pleasure of playing this course. Beautiful weather conditions and lovely late afternoon sun.

Overall result – we won 3 – 2, and retained the Chris Edge Trophy for the fifth year running. OWs have only won it once, in the inaugural year in 2009.

Individual matches went as follows:

Phil Wilkins and Ian Hay – Won 2 & 1 – comfortable winners against the opposing captain’s pair

Graham Morris and Peter Taylor – Lost 3 & 2 – difficult to compete against a pair containing a 13 handicapper playing close to par golf. Initially ahead after hole 6, but a collapse from hole 9 through to hole 13 saw us 4 down. A brief recovery on 14, but a half on holes 14, 15 and 16 saw the match drift away from us. We were under pressure throughout the round, but it was played in good spirit and with some quality golf.

Ralph Cake and Graham Cox – Won 3 & 2 – Ralph played a good steady game, ably supported by the secretary, to win comfortably

Chris Gems and Tony Damon – Lost by 1 hole – a close game, evenly contested until hole 16, when the KCS boys went one down, which they couldn’t recover.

Micky King and Howard Lickens – Won 4 & 3 – a comfortable win, with Micky King admitting that his golf is improving rapidly after his retirement as Old King’s Club chairman!

Report by Peter Taylor

Golfers are a pretty hardy lot but the one thing that we don’t like is rain, especially if it is accompanied by thunder and lightning. The forecast for the Surrey Schools Old Boys Golf Competition on the 27th June at Clandon Regis GC was for heavy showers. 72 players arrived with waterproofs and umbrellas ready for a soaking but were greeted with bright sunshine with only a few small clouds and enough sun to risk sun burnt knees in shorts.

The players were from 10 schools with teams of 7 players with the best 5 stableford scores counting for the prizes. The weather stayed fine and two of our team played very well indeed. Ralph Cake got 38 points and David Cross was just behind with 37. The rest of or team were all in the mid to high 20’s so we were expecting to be around the middle of the final scores.

After dinner the scores were announced and there was a tie for the second place. The team with the highest individual score was placed second, which put the Old Tiffinians into third place. The runners up were announced as the KCS team. We just sat there in disbelief as it dawned on us that we had been placed second. Eventually as it sunk in, the team members went up to the top table to get their prize bottles of wine.

The overall winners were then announced as the Old Hinchleyans, who were also on our table for dinner. The look on their faces was one of confusion mixed with amazement as they took in the news however they eventually pulled themselves together and got up to collect their wine and the winner’s shield. Their score was in fact only 3 points better than ours – just 3 points – a couple of poor putts or a fluffed chip was all it would have taken to win – still there is always next year.

Our team was:- Ralph Cake, David Cross, Neil Lovett, Micky King, Graham Morris, Jonathan Poole and Anthony Clark – well played gentlemen.

On Thursday 19th June the Old King’s Club Golf Society had a convincing win (4-1) over the Old Paulines at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club. The course was in excellent condition and the match was enjoyed by all the participants. The OKs welcomed two new players Graham Morris (OK 1965) and Richard Burgess (also 1965). Other new players would be most welcome, please contact Graham Cox. The next OKC Golf event is the Surrey Schools Old Boys Competition on the 27th June at Clandon Regis.