Return to Home Page

Welcome to the Golf Club's 2007 review.Again the golfing year has just flown by. Although the summer's weather in the UK has been rather inclement, to say the least the outings generally enjoyed reasonable weather.

The first outing of the year was early at the end of April in fact at Queens Park in Bournemouth. Geoff Dear drove in as is the custom and this time the recipient of ball was Gordon Brading. On a very pleasant spring day Steve Smith, who had returned to the club after a year's absence carded a gross 82 on a difficult course to win the London Road Shield. Second was Bob Bailey with Gordon Brading third. Pete Williams won the Chessington cup with a net 73 with Cliff Garvey and Gordon Brading second and third respectively. The PM stableford was won by Gordon Brading with 35pts.

The next event on the calendar at the end of May was the Club Championship held at the Municipal golf Club. With no Bob Bailey this year in the field Steve Smith carried on with his good form. Steve carded a gross 77 in the morning and 78 in the afternoon for a total of 155 to win by 8 shots. Mike Purvis was second with Geoff Dear third. Steve also claimed the double of the TM baker Trophy with a net 141. Kevin Jones was second with Stefan Wells Third.

The June venue was Erlestoke Sands Golf Club. This was last visited in 1998. On a day when rain threatened Cliff Garvey shot a net 66 to win the Topo Trophy for the third time. This is an OS record. Keith Davies was second with Simon Bevan third. The afternoon competition traditionally is the Stableford Decanter. A new kid on the block Mark Hunt carded 39pts to carry off this prize with Stefan Wells second and Bob Bailey third

In July we visited the Captain's own course Hamptworth, a course not visited before on an outing, The morning weather was rather inclement and with all the rain we had the previous week the bunkers on the course were ruled "ground under repair". Another newish member Craig Dyson carried off the main prize the "Roger Martin" Memorial Cup with a net 70 with Mike Purvis second and Chris Dunn third. The afternoon competition the Captains Scramble shield was a team scramble with the team of Phil Hill, Don Davies and Gordon Brading being the victors on this occasion.

The September outing is normally Captains Day and is the highlight of the Captains Calendar. This year Salisbury & South Wilts was chosen , a venue last visited in 2000 when Cliff Garvey had a hole in one. This year Kevin Jones retained the Captains Prize after winning it last year at Bramshaw with scores of net 70 in the morning and 32 pts in the afternoon. The runner up was Steve Richards with Don Hobbs third.

The last event of the year traditionally is the Autumn Flag, and for those over 55, the Veteran's Cup. This was held at Dibden Golf Course where the weather was quite pleasant for the time of year. This year's winner, just short of the 19th Hole was Alan Bush with Geoff Dear second and Keith Davies third. Alan carded a net 65 to win the Veterans Cup. This is the tenth time this double has been achieved and Alan is the first time winner of either event.

The Match Play events ran throughout the year as usual and of the 4 events there were 6 different winners. Geoff Dear won his first Bentley Cup by defeating Kris Drudge 4&3. In the Summer Singles Keith Davies defeated Don Hobbs 2 up at Romsey in the Match Play Cup. In the Bob Sevage Trophy Mike Purvis and Don Davies stormed to a 4 &3 victory at the Municipal over Chris Dunn and Don Hobbs, and in the Sumner Cup Chris Dunn and Dave Case defeated Don Hobbs and Avtar Bahra 4 & 3, also at the Municipal. Spare a thought for Don Hobbs who played in all the summer KO finals and each time ended up on the losing side!

The social matches were a mixed bag this year. The season started with a 2-2 draw against the Solicitors and a win over the AA in June. In July we suffered a 4-0 heavy defeat to the Southampton Golf Club in the Survey Cup. In August the socials continued with a win for the In-House team over the Retired team at Leckford and also a win over the ESRI team at Hoebridge. Unfortunately the Bowdrey Cup match in September against MOGS and Southampton Golf Club was cancelled at the very last moment. The other social matches witnessed Adrian Jurd as winner of the 5th Past Captains Cup at Leckford with the Captain beating the Vice Captain by just 1 point at the Captain versus Vice Captain match at Leckford bring the season to a close in October.

This year's OS Triangular match came back to the main land Britain and was held at Hamptworth. After playing a warm up round at Paultons, 24 players ( 10 from OSGB, 8 from OSI and 6 from OSNI) played at Hamptworth with the agreement that the 4 best Stableford scores would count towards the team score. A couple of good early scores were recorded by OSNI but they were unable to keep the momentum going and the OSGB team put together 4 well grouped scores to finally run out the winners. Scores were OSGB 136, OSNI 126 OSI 118. The individual winner after count back was Paul Chuter.

Other winners to mention in 2007: Chris Dunn retained the Order of Merit. This was only due to him playing all 20 events in the OS Calendar over the golfing year. Mike Purvis was second with Geoff Dear third. Cliff Garvey recorded a net 213 for the best 3 scores from the 4 outings. Don Davies won the Stoke Play Cup and Phil Hill the Eclectic. Keith Davies also won the prize for the most improved player.

On a sad note, 2007 saw the passing away of our 1995 Captain Gerry Henderson after a long fight against cancer. Gerry or Gerald to his family had worked at Ordnance Survey for many years and had been a great support to the Golf Club. He will be sadly missed by all.

We would like welcome onto the committee, Don Hobbs who has been an associate member for 28 years. I am sure Don will be a great asset to the team.

OSGC Committee 2007

Veteran's Cup