Our first meeting of the year took us to the west coast of Wales where we had the privilege of playing two wonderful and historic old links courses. Only the mighty Royal Porthcawl consistently comes out ahead of these two when discussing the very best in Wales.

Luckily the weather was kind to us, unlike Silloth last May when 30mph winds made scoring extremely difficult.  Not only were we able to get through both days without strong winds, not a single drop of rain fell and the long spells of sunshine were a welcome bonus.

Both courses were in fine shape and a number of good scores came in over the two days with 71 of our members competing for the Scratch Trophies as well as the usual handicap prizes.

In the evening an excellent dinner was served at Royal St David’s where we were joined by Club Captain Edwin Jones and his wife Andrea.  The Captain spoke of the successes of the club juniors as well as his family links with the club.  He then received from GSGB Chairman Robert Hill a cheque for £600 to go towards their Junior Section.

The men’s Scratch Cup was won by Tony Parker from Woodhall Spa with 61 points.  Tony is no stranger to winning the Scratch having won it at the two day meeting at Royal St David’s in 2006 as well as winning in 2009 and 2010. Tony won comfortably in the end but the ladies scores were a little closer with Annie Haylock from Rushmore coming out on top with 46 points.

The Men’s Handicap winner, making a strong defence of his Scratch Cup win in 2022, was Ian Chamberlain from Frinton with 68 points. The Ladies Handicap winner playing in her first GSGB event was Anna Major from Cavendish who scored an excellent 72 points.

Richard Wadkin (Sand Moor) and Linda Carvell (Alwoodley) were the Day 1 winners and Drew Carmichael (Gog Magog) and Angie Frith (Bath) won on Day 2.

A full list of all prize winners can be seen below.

Our next meeting takes place on June 28th/29th at Goswick and Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland. There are still a few places left so contact the office if you find you can now make it.  Guests are also welcome.  There is also an opportunity to visit Hawick, our most recent participating club, who are offering our members golf and a meal for the excellent price of £35 on Friday June 30th.