Our seventh event of the year took us to Royal Norwich for the first time in the CBGS calendar. We were treated to a lovely sunny day, perfect for enjoying this impressive venue. The course was in excellent condition, and with plenty of good golf on display, scoring was noticeably higher than usual, with an average Stableford score of 33.5 compared to the society’s norm of around 29.

We had a strong turnout, with 38 members and 9 guests making up a field of 47 players. My team for the day was Fiona Stuart, Dan Stringer and Tom Meeks, and we joined the rest of the field in producing some exciting golf: 33 birdies, 230 pars, 318 bogeys, 245 double bogeys or worse, and just 20 pick-ups.

Commercial Sense kindly sponsored the day, and I’d like to extend a big thank you for their generous support and excellent prizes, which helped make our first visit to Royal Norwich such a memorable success.

On to the prizes:

Skills prizes

Nearest the pin on the 4th – Luke Molyneux
Nearest the pin on the 17th – John Lawes
Nearest the pin in two on the 14th – Paul Dawson

Team prize

In second place, with 129 points, Team Wager with Jeremy Wager, John Lawes, Martin Harvey and Richard Darler.
And in first place, with 130 points, Team Blount with Rich Blount, Mark Chivers, Luke Molyneux, and Vice-Captain Paul French.

Individual guests

Guests are always welcome to CBGS Events, and once they have visited, they can apply for membership next year.
In second place, with 38 points, was Neil Manley.
In first place, with a whopping 43 points, was Zac Virgin.

Individual members

In third place, on count back, with 42 points was Mark Chivers.
In second place, also with 42 points, was Rich Blount.
Congratulations to our first-placed member, Fiona Stuart, with a superb 43 points.

Putting challenge

As an additional event on the day, the event sponsors, Commercial Sense Limited, arranged a Long Putt Challenge, which raised just over £200 for the Captain’s Charity.

In addition to some “Norfolk Goodies” to deserving runners-up, the main prize of 2 tickets for a wine tasting evening at Grape Britannia was won by David Gipp, who told me it was the only putt he made all day!

Wooden spoon

Commiserations to Adam Fernandez, who won the wooden spoon. Normally, the wooden spoon is won by someone scoring 18-20 points, but Adam came last with a score of 27 points!

Cuts and shots back

Kenny Egan – 1-shot cut
Alan Wright and Brian Scally – 2 shot cut
Richard Darler – 3 shot cut
Rich Blount and Mark Chivers – 4 shot cut
Fiona Stuart – 5 shot cut

There were no shots back awarded.

Fines

As always, the day concluded with the much-anticipated round of fines — celebrating the full spectrum of golfing misadventures, questionable decisions, and outright moments of madness that make CBGS events so entertaining. Every penny raised goes towards our chosen charity for the year, Little Miracles, whose team are hugely appreciative of the support. Here are some of the standout fines from the day:

The group behind Team Blount, for driving past Team Blount twice
Greg Butterworth for breaking his club in anger!
Team Blount for slow play
David Clark’s group for slow play
There was a buggy booked without first checking with the Captain (the Captain will grant permission on medical grounds for buggy use)
Whilst I didn’t give a fine, it’s worth mentioning that Zac Virgin managed to bounce his ball three times over the water
Steve Jarvis for throwing his club after two bad shots

Thank you again to Jeremy Wager for taking photos on the day, a selection of which are shown below.

I hope you all enjoyed the day, and I look forward to seeing you at St Ives.

2025 CBGS Captain – Kari Sewell