RAFGS v Sonning Golf Club at Woodhall Spa - 20/21 May 26

The RAFGS team for this year's 'home' match against Sonning met at Woodhall Spa Golf Club on 20 May, conscious of the fact that we had not won the match since 2019. However, Match Manager Tim Evans was in confident mood, following last year's success in winning the Clyne Trophy at Sonning for the first time since 2012.

Later that evening, at the dinner in our usual venue of the splendid and historic Petwood Hotel - formerly the home of 617 "Dambuster' Squadron and full of RAF memorabilia - Tim's confidence seemed well-placed as he announced that the RAF lead 5-1 after the first round on the Bracken course.

Things looked even better the next morning, as Tim and partner Nigel Dowdall won the first match on the Hotchkin course against the Sonning Captain and Vice-Captain, Claire Randell and Andy Coyles, to increase the overall lead to 6-1 - just half a point required to secure the win. However, a determined Sonning team fought back strongly to win the next four matches, leaving the outcome to be decided by the final match. Both teams watched nervously as the final group putted out on the 18th green, but the outcome was a halved match and the win for RAFGS by 6 1/2 points to 5 1/2, meaning that the RAF win the Malcolm Middlemist Trophy for the first time since it was presented in 2024.

RAFGS team: Tim Evans (Match Manager), David Walton, Garry Ridsdale, Roger Carr, Nigel Dowdall, John Pearce, Mark Morton, Neil Gold, Ollie Whyatt, Peter Bedford, Kevin Huish, Colin Lockwood.