Bigbury Golf Club

Last Saturday saw our juniors hold their AGM and prizegiving writes Rosemary Sharps.

All the trophies they play for during the year were awarded and there was a great atmosphere in the clubhouse, with friends and families supporting the young golfers.

Following an 11-hole stableford for the youngest juniors and an 18-hole stableford for the rest, the prizes were handed out by our ladies’ captain Caroline Hallett and our men’s captain Mick Gates.

Adam Keates won the day’s 18-hole competition, with captain Adam Welton second and our incoming junior captain, Ben Sly, coming third.

In the 11-hole competition seven-year-old George Inch came first, with Matthew Taylor second. George started playing golf with his dad Steve and grand­dad Eddie as a toddler and has joined them both as a member of the club for the last two years. A great day for George and Matthew.

The President’s Tro­phy was presented to Luke Westlake by Mick on behalf of our president Peter Lawrence who, being unwell, was unable to attend the prize giving.

Luke also received the John Bowman Medal Trophy and was awarded the Junior Order of Merit. Captain Adam Welton won the Frank Ferris Salver in a match play knockout, in the final against Luke it should be noted that Adam scored an eagle on the 13th which had been helped by a great 345-yard drive to within 10 feet of the pin.

The three Taylor brothers all featured in the winners’ enclosure, with Philip receiving both the Bigbury Junior Cup and the Joanne Hurley Trophy. Matth­ew claimed the Junior Cup in the club championship and attained both the silver and gold YMG certificates while youngest brother Adam attained his gold certificate and was also awarded a certificate for continuous good etiquette both on and off the course throughout the year, a cheerful and most helpful youngster.

Last year’s captain Adam Keates received both the scratch cup in the club junior championship and the Sharon Germain Bowl. Ben Sly collected the Teenage cup in the Champion­ship and it should be noted that Ben also shot two hole-in-ones this year, quite a collection!

13-year-old Jessica Leach received the Vic Jay Bogey, a tough match play against the course and congratulations also to Jessica for winning the mixed summer knockout with her father Robin.

It is most encouraging to see the improvement and standard of golf that our juniors are now achieving, reported Nigel Blenkarne.

None more so than our junior vice captain Luke Westlake, who in the space of two consecutive weekends has reduced his handicap dramatically from 12 to 5.5.

This is a huge reduction at this level and Luke did it by scoring two 73 gross rounds – well done to him and it will be interesting to see how much lower Luke will go. It was great to welcome back past captain Steven Hurst, who had re­turned from university especially for his last game in the junior section and the prize presentation, thank you for representing the junior section in the team and for adding to this occasion.

Lastly captain Adam Welton gave a short speech and formally handed over the captaincy to Ben Sly. It has been a pleasure seeing Adam as captain for he has been a great ambassador for the juniors.

The ladies’ stableford competition was won by Sue Warren (27) with 35 points, while in second place Amanda Burchell (6) scored 34 points and in third Sally Errett (29) scored 33 points.

The men played both a stableford competition on Saturday and a midweek medal. The stableford was won convincingly by Jason Pheasant (23) with a great 42 points. Mike Edmonds and Luke Westlake both recorded 41 points apiece, which on other days would have been a wining score, likewise for Matt Barlow when he came in with 40 points.

The midweek medal was topped by Paul Jeffery with a net 67 from second-placed Mel Wix with a net 68; Paul Vaggers came third when he scored net 69. Martyn Scarter­field posted 76, which was the lowest gross of the day.