We gathered at the prestigious Woburn Golf Course, ranked among the top 100, for the first Order of Merit event of 2025.

After last week’s warmth, we were met with much cooler temperatures and even a touch of hail, though overall, we were fortunate with the weather.

A huge thanks to the 33 members and 11 guests who attended the day. The hospitality at the club was superb—from the event organisation and warm welcome to the excellent course, staff around the clubhouse and the delicious carvery that followed.

The average point score on the day was 30 points, with 13 birdies, 156 pars, 288 bogies and 335 doubles or worse.

Michelle from my chosen charity, Little Miracles, gave a heartfelt account of their work supporting children and families facing long-term medical challenges and bereavement in Cambridgeshire and the surrounding counties. Thank you to everyone for supporting the charity this year and for generating a good quantity of fines.

On to the winners:

Skills prizes

Nearest the pin on the 3rd – Karl Muir
Nearest the pin on the 12th – Tom Meeks
Nearest the pin in two on the 18th – Andrew Coury

Team prize

A valiant effort by Team Luke—featuring Gareth Evans, Luke Molyneux, Richard New, and Adam Fernandes—who scored 123 points.

But they were blown out of the water by Team Past Captain, with a huge 132 points. Well done to David Clark, Craig Salisbury, Simon Vowles and Stephen Gray.

Individual guests

Mathew Bate was our second-placed guest, with 36 points.
Richard New won our best guest prize, with 37 points.

Individual member

The individual member prizes were dominated by Team Past Captain, with the top three all scoring 40 points and the order decided on countback.
Third place: David Clark
Second place: Simon Vowles
First place: Craig Salisbury
Congratulations to Craig on your win!
Sadly I conspired to win the wooden spoon at my first event with a paltry 18 points.

Cuts

Craig Salisbury: 4-shot cut
Simon Vowles: 3-shot cut
David Clark: 2-shot cut
Richard Pilsworth had a 1 shot cut for scoring 37 points.
John Altomonte and Graham Barbour earned a shot back for their scores of 21.

Fines

It was a good day for fines. My favourites were

• Past Captain and ex-member Gary Miller was fined for wearing a society tie despite no longer being a member—plus a separate fine for nearly hitting one of my teammates on the 6th without a call of ‘fore’.
• Luke’s runaway electric trolley almost crossing the green.
• A ball from Team Pilsworth going so far off target that it entered the halfway house!

A big thanks to Tom Meeks and Price Bailey for sponsoring the day and providing some fantastic prizes. The support of the sponsors is such an important part of the society.

As my first event as captain, I also want to thank everyone for your support and encouragement on the day. In particular, I’d like to thank Karl, Steve and Chris Carey for your words of advice and for answering my questions before and during the event.

I’m off for some intensive golf coaching and practice in an attempt to regain some level of golfing skill! I look forward to seeing you all at Thetford.

Kari Sewell