Men’s Golf Captain’s Blog
This last weekend it was delightful to see long-serving Club professional Alan Scott at the Club. Alan was in attendance for the presentation of the Alan Scott Trophy, a Stableford competition open to women, men and juniors. The course was on full greens and the trophy was hotly contested – the top five places being separated by only two points.
In second place was Mike Kappler (on countback from Russell Gooding, both scoring 39 points) while the champion was Stephen Jones who scored an excellent 40 points from 11 handicap. Having played with Stephen recently, I can confirm he gives the ball an almighty ‘whack’ and is a very worthy winner.
Alan presented the trophy and later regaled us with stories of bygone years at Roehampton Club – when the professionals were not welcome in the Clubhouse and juniors were barely tolerated on the course!
In a lovely symmetry we welcomed Junior Members Harriet Prince, Archie Angood and Zaal Owen to the event. To my delight, Alan also remembered Jack Hughes, the Professional at ‘alma mater’ Newbury and Crookham. Jack had been a friend and playing companion of Syd Scott (former Roehampton Club Professional and Alan’s father) in those days when the ‘Tournament Professional’ was also a Club Professional and spent the week servicing Members before playing an event on the Thursday, Friday and 36 holes on the Saturday.
The Men’s Winter Foursomes has reached the quarter final stage with matches due to be played by 12th March. Good luck to those players who remain in contention. With match play in mind, mention must be made that the sign up is now open for the Summer Knock-out competitions. We currently have 86 players in the Lockwood Foster (handicap) , 32 players in the scratch , and 58 pairs in the Fourball Knock out. The entry deadline for all three events is early March.
Also currently open is the Mixed Foursomes knockout – current holders of which are a handsome young couple … namely your current Ladies and Men’s Captains!
The draw has been made for the Surrey 5’s events. Roehampton Club enter two teams which this year are captained by Peter McGovern and Justin Thesiger. You can signup for the teams’ squads via the ‘competitions / matches / Surrey 5s 2023’ within the IG golf menus.
Upcoming events include the Men’s Pairs Scramble (4th March) , Masters Mayhem (8th April ) which will be an afternoon of golf followed by sustenance and viewing of the Masters coverage in the Members Bar until completion of play.
New for 2023 and a future date for your diary (27th May) is an international match with teams from England, Scotland, Ireland, Rest of the World and Wales (strike action permitting). We are planning on 12 players per team in a competitive golf challenge.
This weekend we have a Club Stableford. As a reminder these are a great way of meeting other golf members, marking handicap cards and simply getting out to enjoy the course!