Winner of the Players Trophy - Dale Bromfield (left)
The CGS sixth major was held for the first time at the Menzies Welcombe Golf Course in Stratford,  attendance was high with 38 members and guests with the biggest guest turnout all year with some six of those in attendance being guests.  Former CGS captain Elford Douglas played as a guest, in the UK on holiday from the USA was Tony Hutchinson, up from Bristol was Tennis Russell.  Also in attendance was Chris Powell, Kem Davies and attending a CGS event for the first time in four years after first playing at the Sapey Golf Club in 2012 was Carlton Donald.

With great weather the course was a stern test for all those in attendance the greens were true and slick, fairways firm and running the only negative was the lack of sand in some bunkers.  The course layout provided many blind tee shots which required control rather than just blasting into wide open fairways, many decided to cage the big dog and elected to tee off with the 3 or 5 wood or even an iron, the running fairways would help to provide the necessary length in order to reach the green with less club in hand.

As the members scores started to flow into Handicap Master it was looking like 34 points posted early on the day by Ludlow Stewart was looking like a winning score before yet another 34 points came inform Eric Queely which bumped Ludlow down to running second.  The next card handed in came from Dale Bromfield a 27 handicap golfer, as his medal scores were entered they read; 5, 3, 6 Blob then 3 (a birdie for 5 points) followed by 4 then Blob, Blob and Blob, not a good finish to the first nine, but still 15 points total for the front nine with four Blobs Wow!  The back nine was much better only two Blobs but 20 points Wow! So with a front nine 15 and back 20 it was a winning score of 35 points and with six Blobs Wow!….guys we must try harder, the man win with six Blobs on his card.  Anyway we must congratulate Dale; if you check his score online the holes he did score on were good, it was a well-deserved first win for Dale.  With this post going out late I’ve since had some feedback that after his win Dale struggled to get a good night’s rest his mind still focused  on the result of the day, remember you’re  the first Players Trophy winner.

Other highlight’s of the day;  Ludlow Stewart’s flop shot on the second hole one bounce and in for birdie also on the 18th with his fourth shot just off the green, he  chipped in for yet another birdie.  With some good solid play he would eventually post a score of 34 points to take third place on countback pushing Linton Bell fourth.

Memorable guest points; Chris Powell and Carlton Donald both scored 38 points, Chris Powell’s effort would have been good enough to win on the day by count back from Carlton, but unfortunately guests cannot win the first place prize so maybe both Chris and Carlton will choose to become members in the near future to make those scores count

The extra prizes were once again up for grabs, the long drive was once again the talk amongst the long hitters however on this occasion the hole chosen to host the long drive challenge wasn’t the usual open fairway where total length would be the order of the day, on this occasion the hole chosen had a split fairway with much trouble laying wait between fairways, on this occasion fortune would definitely favour the brave.  Most golfers rather than try to carry the gap in fairways lay up on the shorter side hoping to get as close as possible to the end of the first fairway. The usual suspect and proverbial long driver Ian Higgins wouldn’t feature today due to an arm injury.  He was able to play 18 holes but wasn’t able to create his usual power and control with the big stick.  On this occasion however it was James Sanderford who provided the required power and control, the only difference was he used a five wood.  It was some tee shot and deserved the prize for the longest drive.

The nearest the pin went to Ludlow Stewart knocking it to eight feet, nearest in two was won by Vassel Brown.

This was yet another well attended event put on by the CGS committee, thanks to all in attendance and hope to see you all at the next event at Gaudet Luce which was another course well received by members in last year’s scramble and based on the feedback was added to this year’s fixture.