At the third attempt this Covid and weather delayed match finally took place at Walton Heath, albeit in truncated form, over 18 holes on the Old Course.

The weather was kind, with sunshine and a light breeze. The course was in excellent condition for early November with fast and true greens but with heather that has been allowed to go to seed before cutting - in places a foot high and thick. The trick is to keep the ball in play, but looking around the course it was clear that some were finding this difficult. 

Brian Collins and Steven Spencer went out first against former German Olympic hockey player Christoph Lampert and Crispian Collins. Despite going two up in the first five holes the LMEGA pair couldn't compete with the accuracy of Lampert's approach shots as he peppered the flags for pars and a birdie and eventually succumbed 3 and 2. The Foxhills pair of John Ambery and Dr Colin Griffiths fared better and managed a tight fought half. The third pair of Rob Draisey and Rakesh Gupta held the LSE to the final green but went down by 1 hole.

The Captain, Martin Abbott, playing with Vice President Colin Griffith, managed a good win by 3 and 2 to drag the LMEGA back into the match but it was not to be. The LMEGA's pair of Ian Taylor and the Vice Captain, David Farrar went down by one hole to leave the trophy with the LSE for another year despite James Proudlock and Bill Shao, the anchor men, romping home in their match by 6 and 5. 

The final score was 3 1/2 to 2 1/2.

​The weather was very kind to us at New Zealand. It had also been very kind to the heather which seemed to have grown thicker and taller than we remembered it from last year…. And it wreaked havoc with some of the field. The average score for the day was barely 28 points but there were some standout performances among the 35 players who turned out.
 
The field struggled bravely, searching diligently in the heather for lost balls and pars but eventually Ming Geng came in in third place, beating Rakesh Gupta on a countback. Brian Collins, playing with Seamus O’Connell in the final group off the first tee carded 35 points to take the runner-up spot.
 
Chris Jones, going out first playing off a WHS handicap of just 2.7 (and getting his excuse in early over the rolls and coffee before play), was the leader in the clubhouse with 36 points and that score wasn’t matched until Seamus O’Connell, coming in last, finished on the same score. A countback over the back nine made Seamus the winner, taking the Gold Cup.
 
The runner up for the guest prize was Philip Beck but the clear winner was Charlie Richardson.
 
Bill Green placed his tee shot within a yard of the hole on the 3rd and sank the putt for a birdie but was pipped to the prize for Nearest the Pin by James Haines, who could only par – oh the irony!
 
Guest Charlie Richardson took the Longest Drive competition with a mammoth 260 yard effort on the 18th.
 
David Hardy, who did not play in the afternoon, recorded all the scores and, as there were several withdrawals from the afternoon round, he volunteered to find a suitable format for the 13 hole competition, which turned out to be Greensomes after all. Steven Smith and Alex Heath came third with 26 points, beaten by Rob Draisey and guest Paul Jupp to second place on a countback but the winners with 28 points were Tanya Epshteyn and Ming Geng.
 
The Johnson Pot – awarded to the best score by a 16+ handicap went to Brian Geddes
 
The Aggregate cup, for the best combined score from the Spring and Autumn meetings went to Brian Collins with 71 points

This fixture having been "bounced" for a third time in the past couple of years, thanks to various clubs' fixture congestion, backlogs, restructuring and incompetence, we finally found a safe haven at Woking GC for an 18-hole singles match.

The day started off with a see saw contest between the Vice Captain, David Farrar, and the Sugar Association captain Howard Jenkins which David won 2 and 1. But in the following match, Tanya Epshteyn, requisitioned by The Sugar - as she works for Czarnikow - beat Seamus O'Connell 5 and 4.

All square as the third game result came in with John Ambery winning 5 and 4 against Neil Beaumont. Bill Green managed a half with Steven Trigg, leaving the match still all square.

The fifth game saw the Hon Sec beat Charles Branch 4 and 2 and the sixth match was halved  between Rakesh Gupta and Emilio Weldon. With two games to go, the Sugar Association needed to win both games to wrest the trophy from the LMEGA...

It was not to be. The seventh game secured the trophy for the LMEGA as Dr Colin Griffiths won 4 and 2 and although we lost the last game, the final result was 5 - 3 in our favour, so the trophy remains with the LMEGA for another year.

Imagine the scene in the car park at West Hill GC on Tuesday morning, following the torrential downpour on Monday night. Your Secretary was confronted by a West Hill staffer who told us that the course was closed. We had at least two people travelling the 2 hours plus from Essex who had already set out, while others were trying to circumvent the A3, which was flooded.
 
Eventually a course inspection was announced for 9.30 am, by which time most of the players had arrived while others, who had been called and told the day was cancelled, had to be recalled and start travelling.
 
Happily, by 10am the course was declared playable, albeit with standing water in places and with the bunkers out of play to be treated as ground under repair.
 
It was decided to play only the four ball better ball 18 holes to decide the match and the teams went out shortly after 10.15 in dazzling sunshine. As they say: “If you don’t like the climate in the British Isles…wait five minutes”.
 
The Bank had one player who could not get to the club, but luckily Seamus O’Connell had mistakenly turned up although he was not in the team. This meant we could lend the Bank Rakesh Gupta, who qualifies in some way as he works for a bank. That made no difference to the scoreline as luckily Rakesh’s pair lost!
 
The day did not however, despite our best efforts, go our way. Steven Spencer and Paul Lillis went down 3 and 2 to Charlotte Barton, the BoE captain and Brian Goode, which sadly set the tone for the rest of the morning.
 
Despite good wins by Bill Shao and Dr Colin Griffiths as well as another by Yang Liu and John Ambery by 6&5, the Vice Captain and Seamus O’Connell lost and the Captain and Steve Smith went down to a dubious 28 handicapper. The LMEGA went down 3-2 and the Salver goes back to the Bank 

​We tried, oh how we tried, but it was not to be. Our team comprised Captain Martin Abbott, Vice Captain David Farrar, Yang liu, Brian Collins, John Ambery, Rakesh Gupta, Steven Smith and your Secretary. On glassy greens and with devilish pin placements, Effingham wasn’t as easy to play as the card would suggest and most players found the putting very difficult. There was talk at lunch of four-putts and even a five-putt!
 
If you like fast greens, as does our Captain, a Roehampton member, then Effingham was for you. Martin did, indeed take the individual prize with an score of 37 points in the morning round.
 
Effingham had stuck firmly to the Covid restrictions and had restricted the party to as close to 30 as possible, thus the four teams were 8 players instead of the traditional ten. This meant that there was no longer the usual option of discarding the two lowest scores – all scores had to count, so the relief of knowing that one’s poor round might not impact the team was denied us. Every point counted and the individual guilt assumed enormous proportions.
 
At lunch, John Ambery, the Captain and Yang had scored the bulk of the LMEGA’s points in a total of 231 and the competition was wide open, with the FOREX leading from LMEGA, the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.
 
The afternoon Greensomes saw Brian Collins and David Farrar win the Greensomes prize with 44 points and it was their effort that lifted the LMEGA to a very competitive score of 141, while the FOREX and the Stock Exchange fell away. That left the LMEGA with 372 points overall, but the Bank of England somehow scrambled to a total of 382 to win the Quadrilateral by a slim ten points.

​The Annual Summer tour in 2020 having been a victim of the Chinese virus, this year saw twelve going to Yorkshire, where we played some of the best courses in England. Anyone who wasn’t on the tour missed an absolute treat and some gems of the golf circuit. Yorkshire in beautiful sunshine is indeed God’s own county.
 
Perhaps for the first time ever, though open to opinion, there was but one player who had ever traded in the Ring. A sign of the times perhaps, as the rest of the party was composed of physical traders and senior management figures. 

​Day One: ALWOODLEY. This stunning course, laid out by Alistair Mackenzie, lived up to its reputation for beauty and challenging holes. A wide range of scores showed that some adapted quickly to conditions unknown in the South, while others floundered. It was quickly apparent who the final leaders would be when the Captain, Martin Abbott, finished with 36 points, still complaining about the speed of the greens, which are seemingly nothing like as fast as those at Roehampton. For those who like to putt on a skating rink, Roehampton would be a good venue. John Ambery, with 34 points was also complaining that he left a dozen putts “out there”. Behind these two came Tanya Epshteyn with 31 and the Vice Captain, David Farrar, and Edward Sawbridge with 29. The average score for the day was 23.5.
 
At the end of the day the party returned to Leeds to check in to the hotel – a Hilton – to find that the car park must have been designed in the ‘60s for Morris Minors, or possibly Austin Sevens for those old enough to have seen one. Suffice to say no James Bond car chase scene could have been filmed in it, requiring as it did several bays to be blocked off to allow three, five or seven point turns to get up and down the ramps.
​

​Day Two ILKELEY: The party moved on to Ilkely. For your correspondent this was the finest of the courses played. 

Another Mackenzie design but with the river Wharfe running through the course and Ilkely Moor towering in the background the setting was magnificent. And OH! the joy of playing on soft turf after the bone hard or soggy fairways of the last two months! In blazing sunshine and with dozens of the local population enjoying the lido that was the river bank, the Captain repeated his stellar performance of day one and finished with another 36 points. Yet again, John Ambery was his main challenger with 33 and Allan Kerr came in with 31, Edward Sawbridge again consistent with 28. The average score was 26.9.
 
  
Day Three GANTON: An hour and a half’s drive brought us to Ganton, close to the North Sea coast near Scarborough. 

​Hard running fairways, slick greens, a stiff breeze and cavernous and plentiful bunkers clipped the wings of the Captain, who could only manage 23 points to John Ambery’s 29, so the lead changed hands for the first time. The day’s winners were John and Edward Sawbridge with Steven Spencer and Seamus O’Connell five points adrift. The average score was 24.33
 
Day Four – MOOR ALLERTON: A complete change of design awaited us on the fourth day as we arrived at Moor Allerton, the home of the late lamented Peter Alliss. Designed by Trent Jones, this was a hilly parkland course with some tricky holes that required thought and a careful choice of club, there being a lot of ditches and streams at inconvenient distances. 

​Once again, John Ambery’s consistency enabled him to consolidate his lead with 30 points to the Captain’s 29, but a careful examination of the rule that the worst round is dropped from the final total showed that John was vulnerable to a reversal, his worst round being 29 while the Captain’s was 23. Coming in behind these two were Steven Spencer with 27 and the Vice Captain and Tanya with 26. The average score was 24.55.

​Day Five MOORTOWN: The final day is always played in reverse order of scores, so that the potential winner is likely to be in the final group. Moortown, another beautiful Mackenzie course and the venue for the first Ryder Cup to be played on British soil in 1929. was a tough proposition for some of the party after four rounds in four days.
 
Tanya, Edward Sawbridge and Jan Rommer, who had played throughout with a shoulder injury, went out first in a threeball, David Littlestone, having struggled throughout the tour, being unable to play. Tanya shot a creditable 29.
 
The second group out was Seamus O’Connell and Allan Kerr, both of whom scored 32 points, playing with Steven Spencer who didn’t score 32 points.
 
The last group, the Captain, the Vice Captain, John Ambery and Tanya’s guest Oksana Ivanyk, were keenly awaited in the clubhouse, where Tanya was the early leader as things stood with a total of 112 points over the four rounds she was able to play. The Captain started on 124 points but would have only 101 points after dropping his worst score of just 23. John Ambery was on 129 points but only 97 points after dropping his worst score of 29. The Vice Captain, David Farrar was on 103 points, but a net 82 after dropping his lowest score. Oksana who, not being a member, could not win the trophy, was on 106 points, net 83.
 
Should the Captain’s last round score score be 4 points less than John’s but with both scoring more than 29, John’s worst score, the Captain would win.
 
David Farrar finished on 31, bringing him to 113, a point higher than Tanya’s total. Oksana scored 33 for a creditable 117 point total.
 
Meanwhile the Captain and John went head to head until John slipped up and registered only 24 points, his new lowest score. This might have helped, as it replaced his previous worst of 29, thus making his best four rounds a total of 126. But the Captain once again steadied his ship and came in with 32 points and a total of 133 to win the 2021 Foster Plate.

Captain's Day and the Spring Meeting combined to launch the golf season in fine style at Walton Heath on Friday 11 June.

The morning dawned with a spitty drizzle that faded away to a cloudy day. 28 players eventually turned out after a spate of injuries had put paid to the aspirations of ten players to win the Silver Challenge Cup. After coffee and bacon rolls, some intrepid players ventured on to the practice green to see what they should expect out on the course and left visibly shocked.

The Old Course is not a friend to high handicappers, of which we had many, and searches for balls lost in the heather stretched the morning round out to about 4 3/4 hours, delaying lunch and the afternoon foursomes.

The early leader in the clubhouse was Yang Liu with 33 points but as the back of the field came in two players had tied for the lead at 36, Brian Collins winning the Silver Challenge Trophy on a countback from Rakesh Gupta, with Steve Ball coming in third. The guest prize was won by Brian Watt, the guest of Rakesh Gupta.

The afternoon round was a foursomes competition and the afternoon grew hot and humid, sapping the energy of players drained by the efforts of the morning’s ball searches. The Charles Davis Salver, over 12 holes of the New Course, was won by Martin Abbott and Yang Liu for Sogemin with 24 points. The runners up were Seamus O'Connell and Colin Griffith for Mocatta. The open foursomes was won by Brian Watt and Phil Beck, both guests for the day, with Brian Collins and his guest David Heath coming in second.

Yang Liu won the Directors' Cup, the Captains' Cup and the Carr Sargant. The King Cup went to Brian Geddes and Steve Ball took the Scratch Prize.
 
The trophies are on display in the gallery at the L.M.E.. 

Left: Steve Ball wins the Scratch Prize. Top right: Brian Watt wins the Guest Prize.
​Bottom right: Rakesh Gupta, second prize in the singles.

​England was struck by Monsoons in the early part of October, which created a sense of foreboding about the LISEGS match, scheduled for the afternoon of October 8th at Denham.
 
Sure enough, the heavens opened during the morning and the ground was well and truly soaked on the one-way walk into the clubhouse. However, Denham was well organised, and after drinks in a large, heated, marquee we entered the clubhouse for a fine lunch. Denham is famous for its car very, which clearly couldn’t t happen in these COVID times, but the three course lunch was an excellent replacement, and we ventured forth feeling truly replete into a now dry afternoon for a squishy 18 hole battle, played as four 4-ball better ball games.
 
It is possible we were a little too replete. The LMEGA pairings of Bill Green and Steven Spencer, Martin Abbott and Allan Kerr, John Ambery and David Farrar, and Edward Sawbridge and Dr Colin Griffiths has a tough time, and eventually lost the match in a whitewash, with our best less being 2 down.
 
This is the LISEGS 100th anniversary year, and more than one LMEGA player noted it would have been rude to spoil LISEGS sense of occasion, but in reality we were soundly outplayed.
 
LISEGS president Richard Barber was gracious in his victory speech (the trophy was delivered to LISEGS by LMEGA vice captain Martin Abbott a week later at Bowood golf club in Wiltshire, but that’s another story).
 
In particular Richard singled out his memories of playing against Derek Raphael in matches past, and noted Derek’s integrity, humour and fine sportsmanship as characteristics he would never forget. He was also kind enough to add that such qualities typified the atmosphere of LMEGA LISEGS matches over the years.
 
We look forward to our rematch next year, and may we carry such a reputation, polished by our finest members, for years to come.

​On what turned out to be a perfect day for Autumn golf, your intrepid combatants assembled to do battle with the Bank of England in this long-standing annual encounter.  We were at West Hill GC: this was a new venue for the match, after being ousted by West Byfleet, which is guarding all available tee times for its members until the New Year.
 
West Hill has adopted a serious approach to COVID precautions, without it becoming intrusive, and all praise is due to its attentive clubhouse staff for making everyone welcome.  We were provided with an excellent lunch, sensibly taken in the marquee erected over the terrace at the back of the 18th green.  The course offered a stern challenge and was presented in first-rate order by the greens staff.  Happily, the day remained dry, but there was a sufficiently brisk wind to keep everyone on their toes.
 
At lunch, the result of the morning fourballs was tied at two and a half points apiece.  Alex and Yang held off one of the Bank’s single figure players and its lady Captain for the half.  Steven Smith and John Ambery, together with Seamus O’Connell and the Hon Sec, were victorious.  The usually reliable dream team of Hardy and Smit were overcome on the 18th by the Bank’s other single figure player and perhaps the very best 16 handicapper on the planet.  David Farrar and Colin Griffiths had a slightly earlier bath (or would have done had the locker rooms not fallen victim to the pandemic).
 
Fully refreshed and with all to play for the afternoon greensomes over holes 3 to 13 (because of the fast diminishing daylight) yielded a series of closely fought results.  Together with Steven Smith, Yang recorded her second halved match of the day while Hardy & Heath and Ambery & Griffiths came out on top of tight games.  David Farrar and Steven Spencer were seen off by two of the Bank’s wilier competitors.
 
Bill and Seamus were defeated by one hole, but this result deserves closer examination and a learning moment.  The bank team, led by the single figure player who had overcome Bill in the morning, announced on the opening tee that they would be giving Bill and Seamus two shots. He had mistakenly used the foursomes handicapping approach of ‘half the combined difference,’ which should anyway have given three shots. But he went further to declare that, as the match was over 11 holes, they should only get two shots and, that as index 1 was the 14th, in effect they should only receive one shot. 
 
This is wrong on several levels: the greensomes rule of a side’s handicap is to take 0.6 times the lower handicap and 0.4 times the higher, at the end of which the difference is taken at the stroke index holes as they fall on the course, regardless of which holes are to be played.  This should have resulted in a difference of 3.6 rounded up to four, in which case Bill and Seamus would have won by one hole rather than losing by one due to accepting the Bank’s incorrect foursomes-based approach.  Even if using the foursomes rule correctly, the result would have been halved. Bill is still firing up his blockchain computer installation to further refine what his result should have been!
 
However, the result was not challenged, and the upshot was another shared session with an overall match result of all square. This fixture was won by LMEGA in 2018 but cancelled because of the heavy rains of Autumn 2019, with LMEGA retaining, and now with this tied match, LMEGA continues to hold the, still strangely unengraved, silver platter.  Given the slight handicapping kerfuffle, this does not seem an unreasonable position at the end of another well humoured encounter with the Bank.
 
The presentation would have been made by our special guest, the President of West Hill GC and World Golf Hall of Fame member, Ken Schofield.  However, as the trophy is locked away in COVID secure conditions at the LME, the presentation was replaced by a few more drinks from West Hill’s well-stocked bar.
 
By unanimous vote, the fixture will return to West Hill next October.  West Byfleet’s members may yet regret the decision arbitrarily to cancel all corporate and society commitments in deference to the tee time demands of all those presently WFH!