When your correspondent woke to a temperature of -7C it did not bode well for the annual Xmas Fayre just half an hour down the road at Tandridge. Unsurprisingly we arrived to find that all 18 greens were frozen and were temporary and the ground was in places ringing like a drum.

It was to be expected that scores would be high, given that the course was playing some 1,000 yards short and the temporary greens were unprotected by bunkers, but the winning score was a surprise.

In cold but bearable weather, with luckily no wind to speak of, the 36 entrants were competing for the Winchester Bowl and for the first time this year any players who had worked on, in or behind the Ring were competing for the Harry Scott Memorial Trophy, presented by Triland Metals.

A number of scores in the 40s came in early as Tanya Epshteyn carded a 42 to take the clubhouse lead for the membership, while guest Charlie Richardson led the guests with 43. It was not long before both were eclipsed as Steven Smith came in with 45 and guest Phil Beck with 46. Even those stratospheric scores were not enough, and perhaps because the course conditions improved slightly, the later starters scored more heavily.

Rakesh Gupta, who has now joined as a member, scored 46 and outdid Phil Beck on a countback to win the guest prize while Melanie Wells came in with 47 to take the Harry Scott Memorial Trophy. The very last threeball, however, produced the score of the day with Chris Edwards scoring 50 points to take the Winchester Bowl.

Melanie was presented with her trophy by Sakai-san, Chairman of Triland, who gave a touching tribute to Harry as did Melanie in her acceptance speech. Appropriately enough, for those who knew Harry well, the trophy is a wonderful claret jug!

Sakai-san was also nearest the pin and Bill Green outhit Tanya Epshteyn to take the prize for the longest drive.
​
Due to the very poor course conditions and the lack of facilities for the ladies due to a locker room refurbishment, the club was kind enough to offer a discount. All players who would like to receive their £10 rebate should contact David Ratcliffe with their bank details. Ladies receive £20.

 Almost! Almost!

​On what was possibly one of the nastiest bouts of weather experienced this year and following the LSE's failure to confirm the summer date, we finally managed to come to grips with the London Stock Exchange at Hankley Common. 

A strong northerly breeze driving a mixture of rain and sleet made it difficult to get direction and club selection right, but it did not prevent one of our opponents holing his second shot at the 411 yard first hole for an opening eagle.

Despite that ominous omen, the LMEGA fought out a reformatted match with determination, playing only 18 holes of fourballs.

John Ambery and Derek Raphael won comfortably 5 and 4 although your Secretary and Martin Watkins failed to hold their opponents, one of whom was one over par gross for the first nine, leaving us with little chance, finally going down by a dog licence, 7 and 6.

Meanwhile, the Captain and Tanya Epshteyn were battling it out all square at the 16th when the Captain finally awoke from his hypothermic trance and had net birdies at the 17th and 18th to snatch the match 2 up. 

Everything now came down to the final match where Bill Smit and Neal Avent were one down at the 18th tee, needing only a half to regain a trophy we have not won for many years. Sadly it all came down their opponents holing an 18 foot putt on the final green to leave the LSE winners 1 up.

The LSE thus retain the trophy and we have to wait till 16th July next year for our next chance, but consolation and warmth came in the form of Hankley's outstanding lunch.

​LMEGA v Bank of England at West Byfleet GC on 1 October 2018
 
Buoyed by a victory over the Bank in the Quadrilateral competition in July, your team of ten arrived at West Byfleet under glorious skies reminiscent of the previous day at Golf National de Paris. The course promised much: tight tree-lined fairways; slick greens; and the greenkeeping department’s sadism on full power when it came to some pin positions.
 
The Bank has a formidable record in these matches and its team contained many players from the top echelon of City golf.  Could the plucky underdogs pull off another shock victory? Who would be the Frankie Molinari? Who would be the Bryson de Shambles?
 
At lunch, similar to the result after the Friday Fourballs in Paris, LMEGA found itself 3 ½ - 1 ½ down to a rampant, confident Bank.  Yang Liu and John Ambery pulled off a valuable half against the Bank’s rookie, Charlotte Barton, and their low handicapper, Howard Taylor.  The dream team of Hardy and Smit, often confused for Molinari and Fleetwood, overcame their opponents 3 and 1. Neal Avent could only join the Hon Sec on the 8th tee, having been caught in the aftermath of the M25 closure following a nasty accident.
 
After ample sustenance, courtesy of West Byfleet’s bar and catering staff which earn an honourable mention, and an inspirational team talk from the match manager inspiring the team to replicate the Friday afternoon foursomes whitewash, your team very nearly achieved it!
 
Wins in the singles over 11 holes were recorded by Yang along with Messrs Spencer, Ambery, Farrar, Heath, Avent and Hardy, whilst the Captain and Colin Griffiths halved with their respective opponents.  Our very own Phil Mickelson, aka Bill Smit, was the only member to drop a point but only by the final putt on the 18th. He would be horrified not to be mentioned in despatches!
 
A final score of 9 ½ - 5 ½ was testament to the team’s belief in itself and a commitment to excellence with every player contributing to the score.
 
Our Captain was presented with the trophy, an oddly uninscribed silver salver, by the Bank’s Captain Ian Canning, leaving our team to celebrate and look forward to the return match at West Byfleet in a year’s time.

Eleven past captains returned to Seaford over two days to battle it out for the Past Captains trophy. The weather was stunning, with cloudless skies and balmy temperatures, with just a hint of a breeze to make one think carefully about choice of club.

The greens were especially tricky, recently slitted and with a sharp nap that made putts run fast in one direction and slow the opposite way. No-one seemed able to cope with the greens and the top score over the two days was 31 by this year's Captain, Edward Sawbridge.

Day one saw Edward in front with 31 from Alex Heath (1996-97) on 30 and three players two shots back on 28 - Colin Griffith (1986-87), David Hardy (2005-06) and Bernard Murphy (1994-95). The average score for the first round was 23 points.

After a superb dinner and overnight stay and the second day dawning warm and sunny, the players went out in reverse order of scores. The first threeball of Clem Danin (1989-90), Jan Rommer (1992-93) and Colin Griffith failed to overtake the leaders and the fourball that followed, Martin Prevezer (1998-89), Bill Smit (2006-07), Steven Spencer (2004-05) and Derek Raphael (2008-09) did not fare any better. It was all now down to the last fourball, containing the first day's leaders.

​Neither Alex Heath nor Bernard Murphy could reach the heights of the previous day, making for a head-to-head battle between the Captain and David Hardy, which culminated in a tie on a combined 54 points. The trophy will be shared.

​Denham provided both a stunning course in excellent condition and some sparkling weather for this annual encounter.
 
The morning fourball better ball finished with just a point separating the sides. David Hardy and Brian Woodbridge succumbed 3 and 2 to a strong Sugar pairing in Neill Beaumont and Barry Callingham and Edward Sawbridge and James Proudlock also went down 4 and 2 to Adam Leatham and Francesco Vicenzini. However, Martin Pratt and Steve Smith halved their match with Alex Homer and Pat Heenan while Steven Spencer and Colm Brady put paid to their opponents, Howard Jenkins and Emilio Weldon 2 up.
 
The match was poised Sugar 2 ½ - LMEGA 1 ½ at lunch, and what a lunch! As always, Denham produced a three-course feast of epic quality.
 
This may have adversely affected the Sugar team in the afternoon, your team being notoriously abstemious at luncheon, for things did not go the way of Sugar in the greensomes.
 
Martin Pratt and Captain Edward Sawbridge went down by 2 and 1 in the first match leaving the Sugar side up 3 ½ - 1 ½ but there followed one of those miracle comebacks beloved of Ryder Cups of the past. First Colm Brady and David Hardy beat Adam Leatham and Howard Jenkins at the last, then Steven Spencer and James Proudlock beat Barry Callingham and Alex Homer 3 and 2. The scores were now level with the last pairs out. It was Steven Smith and Brian Woodbridge, driving beautifully straight, who sealed victory and the Commodity Cup by beating Emilio Weldon and Francesco Vicenzini resoundingly 6 and 5.

​It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, The Quad’s coming home!

And it has!
 
After ten long years of trailing behind the Bank of England, the Forex, the Baltic and the Stock Exchange the team did it on Friday at Effingham. No more years of hurt, No more need for dreaming. It’s coming home, it’s coming home!
 
Heroes of the day were Chris Edwards and James Taylor whose 46 points in the afternoon greensomes clinched the trophy. The morning had gone exceptionally well on a warm, cloudy day with fairways dry as tinder and the ball running. Some outstanding morning singles performances from David Farrar with 41, which was jointly the highest singles score of the day, Steven Spencer with 39 and David Hardy with 37 helped the LMEGA to a half time total of 275, a lead of 15 points from their nearest rivals, the Stock Exchange. Behind them came the Old Lady with 255 and the London Forex with 252.
 
It was essential that we maintained an average of at least 36 stableford points in the afternoon greensomes and those 46 points from Chris and James, who had not scored particularly well in the morning but swept the board in the afternoon to take the prize, combined with a 43 from David Farrar and Rob Draisey and 37 from David Hardy and the Captain, saw the boys home to a long-awaited victory, and a victory by a very large margin. The final scores were 434 for the LMEGA, 411 for the Stock Exchange, 408 for the Forex and just 403 from the Bank of England.
 
Well done, the boys, The Captain, David Hardy, Jan Rommer, Chris Edwards, James Taylor, David Farrar, Rob Draisey, Neal Avent, Dr Colin Griffiths and your Hon. Sec.

​Your intrepid contestants headed for The Berkshire on a glorious day for golf last Friday.  However, one of our number sadly did not make it.  Having started off at an early hour and almost at his exit from the dreaded M25, Steven Smith unfortunately became involved in an accident.  He is thankfully alright but the same cannot be said for his car. Amazingly, in all the kerfuffle, Steven still had the presence of mind to call your match manager and express his hope still to turn out, showing he is very much made of the right stuff despite being undoubtedly in shock.
 
Perusal of the trophy confirmed the significant deficit in LMEGA victories in this encounter and this year’s ritual thrashing was no different.  After a number of years at Moor Park, the change of venue was matched by a change of format: eight singles followed by The Berkshire’s renowned lunch.
 
The Captain was adjudged to have excelled himself by losing only 3 and 2 to BSMAGS’ leader, Gary Holloway, who only bothered dropping four shots to par on his way round The Berkshire’s Blue Course.  Even his BSMAGS colleagues were astounded that Martin Pratt’s opponent had somehow managed a half.  John Ambery recorded a commendable 6 and 4 victory whilst your match manager has put out a APB for his swing rhythm lost around the turn leading to a 3 and 2 defeat.  Mind you, upon returning to the car park and finding your opponent loading his clubs into the back of a gleaming Bentley SUV with the registration mark BO11OKS, rather summed it up.
 
Dr Colin and Ashok both succumbed to strong opponents.  A mention in despatches for your Vice Captain.  In Steven Smith’s most unfortunate absence, Allan stepped up to the plate taking on both BSMAGS players in the crucial final match.  The outcome was that he defeated one of them 3 and 1 but lost to the other by the same margin – an outstanding effort.
 
So once again, BSMAGS smuggle the trophy away, with 5 and a half to our 2 and a half, but they do at least keep it up to date on the engraving front.  We must strive to ensure that next year their engraver is not just instructed to copy the previous entry!
 
Lunch was every bit as good as anticipated and the unanimous view was that the venue and format were well worth repeating next year.
 
 
David Hardy
Match Manager

​A HOLE IN ONE!

​The day started a little cloudy and overcast at Porters Park GC with the Captain and Bill Green leading the side out for the morning fourballs; basically a point banked; David Hardy and James Proudlock narrowly lost; Jones Snr and Jones Jnr had a very tight match but secured the point to put LMEGA 2-1 in the clubhouse with Ashok and Dave Farrar to come.  Dave’s trolley unfortunately having to be recovered from the stream at one point which must have been the tipping point of the round making it 2-2 at lunch with all to play for as the sun started to emerge and the course glorious.  
 
The singles went out in rough handicap order with Jones Jnr having to hole in one at the 14th just to secure a half point (his opponent was 3 feet away and virtually guaranteed a birdie so the hole swing was huge).  Bill Green banked a point following a medical withdrawal (to be fair he was 3 up with 5 to play at the time) followed by the Captain, Dave Farrar and James Proudlock all of whom trounced their opponents.  A half from Ashok sealed a 7-5 win for the LMEGA.  Drinks were on Jones Jnr and debate was then had over where on earth the lump of a trophy had gone.
 
The match was played in fantastic spirit and a truly great day.  LISEGS have their centenary next year and are keen to involve a proper dinner for those interested.

​Like a disagreeable house guest who has argued with you all weekend and when you have finally got rid of him, rings the doorbell and shouts in your face “AND ANOTHER THING!”, winter came back and almost washed Captain’s Day away at Foxhills. So much so that a decision was taken not to hold a meeting before much later in May in future.
 
It started raining as the Captain teed off at 8am and did not stop, of course, until the players came in for lunch, when the sun came out. Optimistically, most of the brave souls who had survived the morning – an entire fourball disappeared somewhere and never came in to lunch or even announced their departure – went out again in the afternoon for the Charles Davis Foursomes Salver and a threeball competition.
 
Sorry to say that the courses were not in the best condition. Foxhills suffers very badly from rain and takes a long time to dry out, and it showed, with piles of wet cut grass lying on the rather deep rough and deep marks on the fairways where heavy machinery had been used. We had tried to have the day postponed, but it was not possible.
 
Back to the golf, and a huge drive on the 6th of the Bernard Hunt course saw Paul Lillis take the longest drive prize while Neil Poulter (Ocean Partners), who disappeared in the morning, took the nearest the pin prize on the 11th.
 
Chris Edwards (BLME) was the winner of the Silver Challenge Cup for the morning singles stableford with 35 points from Paul Lillis’ 33, while David Hardy (Man and LCH) came in third on a countback from Martin Pratt (Triland). David also took the Carr Sargant Cup for Cat1 and Cat2 members for Man, and added the Directors’ Cup and the Captains’ Cup to his haul.
 
The Scratch Prize was taken by Ryan Jackson (AMT), while the Guest Prize went to Harinder Sethi with James Taylor the runner up, and the King Cup was won by David Farrar (LCH).
 
Assured by the professional shop at lunch that the lower, Longcross, course was playable, which turned out to be rather economical with the truth, the afternoon competitions included the Charles Davis Foursomes Salver for LME Cat1 and Cat2 current and historical members, which went to your Captain, Edward Sawbridge, playing with Martin Pratt for Natixis.

​Ryan Jackson and Steven Smith were runners up for AMT. The other afternoon competition was a threeball best two scores counting, which went to Chris Edwards, James Taylor and David Farrar, while Bill Green (LME), Phil Beck and Jake Doran came second.
 
Huge appreciation goes to the boys who suffered the M25 from Essex and battled on to the end of the day in a magnificent effort. We would also like to thank the seven Foxhills members who turned out to invite players as their guests, thus lowering the entry fees and last but not least the LME, without whose generosity playing courses like these and enticing working members out to play would not be possible.