Littlehampton 2011

1. The weather at Littlehampton was warm, windless and sunny so in such favourable conditions the course had few defences against the BAGS onslaught and the overall scores were higher than anything we’ve ever seen before in the Society’s history.

2. When has a score of 41 not previously produced a prize? When has a 25 point back 9 not given you something to take home? When has someone scoring 36 seen his handicap go UP? When has the CSS in the past been upgraded to 39? When did over half the field score 38 or more? Littlehampton provided all these events in one amazing day and though purists may argue that conditions were benign, those tee shots and final putts have still got to be accurate and consistent.

3. So the field filled its boots and the ‘greediest’ BAGS member of the lot was Alan Spriggs with an inaugural win of 43 points. It’s always good to see a new man on the victory dais and we all congratulate him on this triumph as he reached the highest BAGS points score of the season.

4. A few people have asked how this compared with previous high scores. Sorry Alan but it’s still way behind the 47 by Robin Sewell at Richmond, the 48 by Rod Stafford at Royal Ashdown and the barely credible 50 by the late Graham Hughes at Betchworth Park in July 1995 in the days before we went there for our Charity Event. Incidentally Graham did not win on that day as it was a 36 hole competition and he ‘only’ got 38 in the afternoon, John Moody taking the honours with 90 points!

5. Congratulations also to runner up Steve Little who had the consolation of winning the 150 round trophy and though we do not normally highlight guest performances as this is a members’ newsletter, regular guest Tim Akers did make a bit of history as his 47 points became the highest ever guest score on a BAGS day. We also had an amazing round from guest Louie Paske who has only been playing golf for just over 3 years and has already reached a handicap of 3. He scored 43 points in a 4 under par round which contained 9 birdies, clearly a young man who has a good golf future ahead of him.

6. With so many KO matches due to be played in the next month or two, Ian had a field day with his handicap reductions so please use those new figures with immediate effect.

7. Though he hasn’t formally issued the figures, Ian has confirmed that the Chairman’s Shield competition is being led by John Hawley and Kevin Hawkins with 104 points. Clearly the scoring at Littlehampton has given a boost to many people’s best scores but it’s safe to say that at least 10 more points will be needed to make the final placings, particularly if summer conditions continue as favourable as they were last week.

8. The Golfathon rounds were duly drawn and the biggest smiles were worn by Harry (RAC), Jason (Burhill) and Hedley (West Hill) though with fourballs at £25 each everyone was a winner and the Marsden the biggest of all as it received £1900 from those generous participants.

9. Farnham is now only four weeks away and another great BAGS day is in prospect. Please ensure your money is with me on time and if you’re not on the list but would still like to join us or bring a guest, we have two spaces left.

10.We’re also now on the countdown to Betchworth Park and the flagship event of our Charity Day. The requests for team names and confirmation of players’ details have been sent out so please respond as soon as possible to these. It’s a huge task to coordinate all the details of 112 players as well as producing a programme full of information about the auction lots and timings so please help as much as you can. We’re trying as always to make this the best Charity Day in terms of your enjoyment as well as of course the all important fund raising.

11.The weather looks set fair for Easter and even beyond though I hope it doesn’t sound too churlish to wish for at least some rain at some point to avoid problems later in the summer. Enjoy it while it lasts and I look forward to seeing you at Farnham when the BAGS caravan moves on there.

1st       Alan Sprigs with 43 points
2nd      Steve Little with 42 points
3rd       Brian Wynn with 41 points

The guest prize was won by Tim Akers with 47 points, and second was Gary Langford with 44 points.

A birdie and a couple of pars helped Steve Little to first place in the par 3 scores at Littlehampton. Full results below.