Sandy Lodge is the nearest thing to an inland links course that you will find in England. The fairways were hard and the greens fast, with the kind of thick penalising rough and deep revetted bunkers common to Open venues. As a result, some of the best players on the day found conditions tricky and there were few stableford scores in the 30s. However, even after suffering a 2-point cut in his handicap, Alex Heath ran out the Singles Stableford winner with 39 points and also won the Past Captains' Cup and, with a gross 80, also took the Scratch Prize, before competing with Barry Watson in the afternoon Greensomes and winning that as well on a countback from David Ratcliffe and Allan Kerr. Alex is automatically cut a further two shots for the remainder of this season's meetings!
The runner-up in the morning Singles Stableford was Patrick Birley with 38 points and Edward Sawbridge came in third on 34, beating Conor Sharpe by a point. Allan Kerr took the King Cup for 24 handicappers with 32 points.
The afternoon foursomes, competing for the Charles Davis Salver, was won by Jan Rommer and Bob Stevens for Natixis, with your Captain and Nigel Stern runners-up on a countback from Paul Shuter and Peter Tuesley.
Patrick Birley won the "Nearest the Pin" and Conor Sharpe hit a stupendous shot to win the "Longest Drive" by some 40-50 yards from the nearest competitor.
Michael Farmer generously provided all the prizes for the day and paid for wine and drinks for the whole day. Our grateful thanks go to him.