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It's frightening how the year flies by. Although the British summer again was not great this year the outings generally enjoyed reasonable weather.

The first outing of the year was at the beginning of May at Witney Lakes in Oxfordshire. A course not visited before by Ordnance Survey. Kevin Jones drove in as is the Custom and this time scored a bull eye by hitting Don Davies who recovered and became the recipient of ball. On a very pleasant day Don Davies, who carded a gross 80 on a course with very slow greens to win the London Road Shield. Second was Phil Blakeman with Chris Dunn third. Phil Blakeman won the Chessington cup with a net 70 with Don Davies and Keith Davies second and third respectively. The PM stableford was won by Paul Chuter with an excellent 44pts.

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 again this year in the field Mike Purvis stepped into the limelight to win his first Club Championship. Mike carded a gross 78 in the morning and 86 in the afternoon for a total of 164 to win by 2 shots. Kevin Jones was second with Gordon Brading third. Kevin Jones claimed the TM Baker Trophy with a net 142. Gordon Brading was second with Mike Purvis Third.

The June venue "Isle of Wedmore" was cancelled due to lack of support. Therefore the committee had to reshuffle the competitions in the later outings so we could play for the traditional cups and trophies.

The July venue this year was Moors Valley Golf Club. This was last visited in 1998.This outing was significant as it signalled the re-introduction of 18hole outings once a common place back in the history of Ordnance Survey Golf Club. On a very pleasant day with a great turn out by 27 members Phil Blakeman shot a net 66 to win the Roger Martin Memorial trophy for the second time. Gordon Brading was second with Steve Richards Third.

In August another 18 hole outing was on the itinerary. This time 22 member journeyed north to Upavon Golf Club. On a very windy day Don Hobbs carried off the main prize the "Topo Trophy" with a net 69, with Gordon Cutler second and Cliff Garvey third. We also played for the Captain's Scramble Shield during this round the team of Mike Purvis, Gordon Cutler and Alan Bush were victors on this occasion.

The September outing is Captains Day and is the highlight of the Captains Calendar. We also were playing for the Afternoon Decanter which was running as a tandem event as a PM Stableford. This year 18 members travelled west to Came Down Golf Course near Dorchester a venue regularly visited in the past This year on a particularly windy day when scoring was difficult Don Hobbs claimed the Captains Prize with scores of net 73 in the morning and 32 pts in the afternoon. The runner up was Cliff Garvey with Chris Dunn third. Don also claimed the Afternoon Decanter with 32 pts with John Clift second.

The last event of the year traditionally is the Autumn Flag, and for those at the tender age of 55 or over, 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 18th Hole was Don Davies with Keith Davies second and Don Hobbs third. Why Don did not win the Veterans Cup is a mystery to his companions as he had a putting nightmare around the 18th Hole. Thus handing the trophy to Don Hobbs who carded a net 71 with Gordon Brading second and Keith Davies third. Gordon Brading was making is debut in the Veterans Cup.

The Match Play events ran throughout the year as usual. Phil Blakeman won his seventh Bentley Cup by defeating Don Hobbs 1 up. Phil also won the Match Play Cup defeated Paul Spicer 2&1 at Dunwood . This is the third time Phil has carried off the winter/summer double. In the Bob Sevage Trophy Don Hobbs and Chris Dunn stormed to a 6 &5 victory at Romsey over Phil Blakeman & Geoff Dear, and in the Sumner cup Geoff Dear and Avtar Bahra defeated Don Hobbs and Don Davies 1 up, at the Municipal. Just a thought about Don Hobbs! Don played in 7 KO finals over the last two year and at last won a trophy this year.

The golf club generally had a good season of social matches in 2008 which were all organised by the vice captain Keith Davies. The season started with a 3 ½ - ½ win against the Solicitors and a 2-2 draw over the AA in June. In July OS beat an G4S security team 4-0 in an inaugural match and in August the socials continued with a win for the Retired Team over the In-House team at Leckford. The only set back was a loss against the ESRI team at Hoebridge. Unfortunately the Bowdrey Cup match and Survey Cup were cancelled for the second year running. The other social matches witnessed Cliff Garvey as winner of the 6th 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 was played in Northern Ireland at Bangor Golf Club. The match was a very close affair with OS mainland coming 3rd.

Other winners to mention in 2008: 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 Don Hobbs third. Don Hobbs recorded a net 214 for the best 3 scores from the 4 outings edging out Phil Blakeman with 215. Mike Purvis won the Stoke Play Cup and Paul Spicer the Eclectic. Paul Chuter also won the prize for the most improved player.

The 18 hole venue re introduced in 2008 was a tremendous success as far as the visits to Moors Valley and Upavon is anything to go by. The popularity will remain as long as the costs are reasonable and the distance is kept to a minimum for each outing.

Veteran's Cup