A round-up of the 2023 Loughburians Golf Season!
The golfing calendar is becoming increasingly busy with alumni taking part in eight different fixtures during 2023. A huge thank you to Dave Barnett (LGS 1977) who continues to be a driving force behind the success of Loughburians Golf – ensuring alumni have fixtures to take part in!
2023 Old Pupils Golf Day at Luffenham Heath Golf Club – 5 May 2023
The golfing year started at Luffenham Heath on 5 May and the Loughburians golf team of Jon Soars (LGS 1980) & Nick Chappell (LGS 1976), Steve Maud (LGS 1979) & Richard Underwood (LGS 1988) and Dave Barnett & Jonathan Carlisle (1989) successfully retained the Old Pupils Golf Trophy for the third year running by 2 points from old, nearby rivals, Ratcliffe.
Grafton Morrish Qualifying at Gog Magog – 14 May 2023
The next event in the increasingly busy Loughburians golfing calendar was the Grafton Morrish qualifying competition at Gog Magog Golf Club near Cambridge where our team of Nick Preedy (capt) & Joe Halfpenny (LGS2016), Dave (LGS 2007) & Phil Saul (LGS 2005) and George Griffiths (LGS 2011) & Scott Hamilton (LGS 2014) qualified as joint top qualifiers for the Grafton Finals with a terrific combined score of 91 stableford points. Special mention has to be made of George and Scott who completed a gross level par round, scoring 36 points in the immensely difficult scratch foursomes format.
Spring Meeting at Stanton-on-the-Wolds Golf Club – 24 May 2023
14 Loughburian Golfers took part in the annual Spring Trophy Event at the immaculately presented Stanton on the Wolds Golf Course on a beautiful spring day with not a cloud in the sky. As ever, the Stanton club were most welcoming and all was set for a day of low scoring from the 14 players. After a gap of some 20 years since he last won the trophy, Dave Barnett pipped Will Scrivins (LGS 1979) and Jon Soars on a back nine count back with Jon Soars second and Will Scrivins third, after all three players tied on 40 points.
Quincentennial Trophy at Rothley Park Golf Club – 1 July 2023
Many Loughburians played in the above event at Rothley on 1 July. This competition is an annual club competition that the Rothley Club allows Loughburians to play in.The winner of the main club competiton with 41 stableford points was Rothley member Michael Ratcliffe. The leading Loughburian was Ian Agar ( LGS 1975) with 40 points.
Autumn Meeting at Charnwood Forest Golf Club – 13 September 2023
The Autumn meeting was held at the very picturesque Charnwood Forest Golf Club, which is a lovely 9 hole course on the Charnwood Forest, next to The Outwoods on Breakback Lane, close to Woodhouse Eaves. It is one of the few courses in the country which has no bunkers, but that does not make it easy to score on. Far from it in fact, as all the holes are challenging with some tricky slopes on some of the greens too. The course played its full length due to the lush conditions brought about by the unseasonably wet July and the recent rain the day before. The day of the meeting was however, dry and sunny and perfect for golf. It was great to welcome along Malcolm Carrington (LGS 1966), Chris Drane (LGS 1976), Ben Keast (LGS 1996) and Ian Anderson (LGS 1973) who had not been to a meeting for some time. We were also pleased to welcome our Life Member, Robert Hallam along with John Weitzel, LGS Archivist, and Laura Woodhouse, the Foundations Alumni Engagement Manager, for the meal and prize presentation after the golf. After play, we all enjoyed drinks on the veranda, followed by a lovely meal in the rather quaint Charnwood clubhouse.
The scores on the day were very good, with several scores of 30 points or better. The podium positions were filled by the following alumni:
1st – with 40 points and our first female winner was Pippa Arkle (née Stephens, LHS 1999)
2nd – with 38 points was Roger Bayes
3rd – with 35 points was Ben Keast
Match V The School at Longcliffe – 26 September 2023
The teams were welcomed on a beautiful autumn afternoon to Longcliffe by the professional, David Mee. The Loughburians team was led by Roger Bayes (FFD 1973; LGS 1980) and the school team was led by the master in charge of golf, Matt Jackson. It was great that Honorary Loughburian’s Life Member Robert Hallam (LGS 1954), was able to get along to meet all the players before they tee’d off. After a closely fought contest, the Loughburians retained the annual trophy by a match score of 3-1 and the trophy was presented to Roger Bayes by John Weitzel.
Grafton Morrish Finals at Hunstanton and Brancaster Golf Courses – 6-8 October 2023
The hugely talented scratch foursomes team of Dave & Phil Saul, Scott Hamilton & George Griffiths and Avraj Ghaly (LGS 2007) & Joe Halfpenny arrived in Norfolk ready and raring to go at 9.45am on the Friday morning at Brancaster (Royal West Norfolk) Golf Club for their first round match against Felstead, a team they had easily out qualified at the regional qualifying competition earlier this year at Gog Magog. Hopes were therefore high and these hopes were being borne out as all three matches started well with our team being up in all three matches. Our top pair of Scott & George overcame their opposition easily, winning their match on the 12th hole, 7 & 6. Unfortunately, the other two pairs found it difficult when they turned back into the very strong wind after the 9th hole and both were pegged back to all square as the closing holes approached. The Saul brothers went down on the 17th hole after a terrific effort against a Felstead team that had been bolstered with several extra low handicap players who did not play in the qualifying competition at Gog Magog, So it was all down to Avraj and Joe to win their match to get us through to the second round. The match swung both ways in the closing holes and it finished all square after 18 holes, with Felstead eventually prevailing with a well-made par 4 on the 2nd extra hole.
It was therefore on to the plate competition at Brancaster again on Saturday morning and the team did brilliantly to finish 4th and secure a place on count back for the Bowl knockout plate competition semi-final at Hunstanton on the Sunday morning against a very strong team from Harrow. This was also a nail-biting affair with Avraj and Joe winning their match fairly comfortably but with both the other matches finishing on the 18th hole. The Saul brothers lost the last, having been one up after making a miraculous par on the notorious 17th hole, so their match was halved. Unfortunately Scott and George lost their match on the 18th Hole after an extremely tough battle where both pairs were round the 18 holes at Hunstanton in or around level par! So this time it was the turn of the Saul brothers to go off down extra holes and after a nervy first hole half by both sides they eventually triumphed on the 2nd extra hole when Phil Saul holed a very tricky 6 foot putt to put Loughborough through to the Bowl final against Repton.
The Bowl final took an unexpected turn in Loughborough’s favour when one of the Repton players had to retire hurt after the first hole and so Loughborough won that match by default so we needed only to win one of the other matches (or halve them both) to win the Bowl for the second time in 3 years. The other two Loughborough pairs were never in much trouble. Despite both matches being very close, Loughborough were always slightly up in both matches and the Bowl was eventually won with both matches arriving at the 17th tee two up, therefore guaranteeing the two half points that were required to win the Bowl.
So despite the disappointment of losing in the first round of the main competition to Felstead, the team did brilliantly to fight back and win the Committee Bowl Trophy for the second time in 3 years. They are now looking forward to next year’s competition with renewed fortitude after another, broadly successful campaign.
Loughburians v Nottinghamians at Hollinwell Golf Club – 18 October
Both teams arrived at lunchtime on the 18th October, nervously hoping that the promised heavy rain would stay away until after the golf had finished and fortunately, it did. Despite this, the Hollinwell course played its full length thanks to rain earlier in the week and a fresh easterly breeze on the day. Hollinwell is a truly wonderful course and is certainly one of the top 10 inland courses in the country. Unfortunately for Nottingham, one of their players couldn’t make the match and so the Loughburian team had 8 players to Nottinghamians 7, which meant that Terry Dilks of the Nottinghamains team had to take on Pippa Arkle and Richard Graham (LGS 1994) on his own, with Pippa and Richard running out comfortable winners to put Loughborough one up in the overall match. However the top match went Nottingham’s way when Dave Barnett and Steve Maud narrowly lost on the last hole when Steve Bryan (Nottingham) holed a six foot putt to thwart a mighty comeback effort from Dave and Steve, who were four holes down with five to play. Loughborough then went 2 – 1 down in the overall match, when Martin Hardwigge, playing with Dave Boultby, the Nottinghamians captain, putted the lights out to defeat Jonathan Carlisle and Richard Underwood.
Although this meant the Nottingham retained the trophies that are played for in this annual match, Loughborough needed to win the last match to salvage a draw in the overall match. Despite a spirited fightback by Iain Hardiker and Geoff Bryan from Nottingham, who were three down with three to play, the Loughborough pair of Phil Scott and Chris Drane eventually prevailed on the 18th to win that match, meaning that the overall match was a draw.
The Loughburians are looking forward to hosting next year’s match at Charnwood Forest Golf Club where they hope to win back the trophies for Loughborough!
Want to know more about the 2024 golf season?
All the upcoming fixtures can be found on our website here!