Well I should have kept my mouth shut about the weather… Despite a bit of a rubbish forecast, I think we managed to largely get away with it and despite the odd showers, it was never particularly terrible and even really quite pleasant at some points. It made for difficult conditions on the day, which was reflected in some very modest scoring however, the course itself was in good condition and remains a good challenge of golf. The team at East Herts certainly looked after us well with an outstanding meal put together that was absolutely delicious.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of last-minute dropouts, however the event was still well represented with 43 golfers in total, made up of 39 members and 4 guests. Our guests for this event were Simon Iron, Herman Engelbrecht, Sam Morris and James Howard. Guests are always welcome at CBGS events, and once a guest has played one event, they’re eligible to apply for membership the following year if they are so interested.

As said earlier, the course certainly showed some teeth on the day, resulting in an average score on the day of just 28.6. This was made up of 7 birdies, 123 pars, 289 bogeys, 311 doubles or worse and 44 pickups. An average of less than 3 pars per golfer speaks volumes…

Rathbone’s were the sponsors for this event and Simon Whitmore, our eminent Vice-Captain, very generously provided some fantastic prizes for those of us who didn’t have the worst of days.

On to the prizes;

Skills Prizes

Nearest the pin in two on hole 5 – Hugh Blake.
Nearest the pin on hole 15 – Steve Murray.
Nearest the pin on hole 18 – Richard Pilsworth.

Team Event

3rd place (however no prize) – Team Hanson with 110 points.
2nd place – Team Gipp with 113 points who lost out on back 9 countback to…
1st place – Team Captain! An amazing result and great work from my team of Rich Blount, Richard Darler and Simon Iron.

Individual Guests

In second place, with 27 points was James Howard
Taking first place, with 29 points was my guest Simon Iron who battled valiantly in the conditions. Congratulations.

Individual Members

A tough day out, as mentioned previously, reflected in the scores below.

4th place, all tied on 34 points were Karl Gjertsen, Andrew Abbott and myself.
3rd place, with 36 points was Jeremy Farrant.
2nd place, on back 3 countback was John Auckland.
1st place, and narrowly beating John was Richard Pilsworth. An excellent day on the course and he takes home the Anthony Barnes Order of Merit Trophy, congratulations.

Wooden Spoon

Our wooden spoon winner at East Herts, having a torrid time of it, was Graham Andrade with 18 points playing from a handicap of 19.

Cuts and Shots Back

Slim pickings again this time, however, Richard Pilsworth and John Auckland will have one less shot next time out and Graham Andrade will find some small consolation with one extra shot for him.

Fines and Misdemeanours

In what is rapidly becoming one of my favourite things to do, we have the obligatory fines for silly behaviour. I’m very pleased to say that yet again a startling lack of camaraderie was on display with people shopping their teammates in left, right and centre. All in good humour and well received for a great cause. Every penny raised supports CPSL Mind, who do fantastic work and are hugely appreciative of our support. Here are a few of the standout fines from this round:

• Teams Hanson and Newsome for getting, and more importantly, eating their food before the Captain’s Table. Unforgivable, and quite daft.
• Richard Blount for being the last by a long way to sit for dinner. The Captain get’s hangry.
• Chris Newsome for dobbing in his own guest, Sam Morris, for playing the wrong ball whilst being blissfully unaware he is responsible for his guest’s fines…
• Rob Smith whose mobile went off during my presentation as a reminder to take his medication.
• Rob Smith again who failed to then turn his mobile to silent as it went off AGAIN with his reminder for his reminder. Brilliant!

Also, a special mention to Jeremy Wager for very kindly photographing the prize-giving and providing an excellent selection of photos from the day.

2026 Summer Ball

Finally, I must mention the annual Summer Ball which was held at The Graduate in Cambridge and was again an outstanding night’s entertainment arranged by Rich Blount, Steve Gray and Tom Williams who also excelled himself as MC for the evening. Outstanding work gentlemen. It was amazing and we managed to raise a total of £12,500 for Mind, including a £5,000 on the night pledge from those attending, made possible by the overwhelming generosity of a mystery attendee who pledged to double any amount raised if we got to over £2,000. CPSL Mind and I were absolutely blown away by this generosity and we cannot thank you, whoever you are, enough. Dion Dublin was an outstanding guest speaker and was very entertaining with some great stories and anecdotes as well as helping us get through an enormous amount of Guinness afterwards.

Once again, thank you all so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you at the next event at John O’Gaunt on the 3rd of June. Please note, as an initial response to the survey, this event will be a smart casual dress code so please dress in accordance with the normal standards expected within a golf clubhouse. Other events of note are Kari’s Tour on 12th June for the plucky 24 attending, Essendon Old Course on 1st July and Felixstowe Ferry and the Mini-Tour on 15th-16th July. Tickets for this should be on sale now.

2026 CBGS Captain – Paul French