RAFGS Championship Meeting - Moor Park Golf Club 23 July 25
Everyone clearly took the message to play quickly to heart, with all groups completing their rounds in under 4 hours despite the medal format, meaning that there was plenty of time for a relaxed lunch in the Arnhem room. The afternoon round was played over the West Course and, although nominally the easier of the two courses, many players found it equally, if not more, challenging than the High Course.
The players met together after the golf for tea/coffee and cake and to wait for the results and prize presentation. The outcomes of all four trophies were quickly decided once the results were entered on Golf Genius. New Secretary Nigel Dowdall took somewhat longer to work out who got what prize, due to the complications introduced by the 'one prize' rule, but eventually the results were announced and trophies awarded:
Challenge Cup. After the first round over the High Course, the leader was Aaron Ashberry, with his gross 79 (the only score under 80), giving him a 1-shot lead from Dave Holmes. Aaron maintained his fine form in the afternoon, with his gross 77 (the lowest of only 4 scores under 80 on the West Course) giving him a total of 156 and a win by 5 shots from Charlie Hudson on 161, with Mick Roche on 162 and Dave Holmes a further shot back on 163.
Handicap Cup. It was a different story in the handicap competition, where Nigel Dowdall led by 4 shots at the halfway stage after the only sub-par round, net 68, on the High Course. Unfortunately for him, Nigel fell away in the afternoon, with a 10 on the 3rd hole of the West Course proving particularly costly. Farrukh Bajwa followed up a fine level par 72 on the High Course with a 76 on the West Course for a total of 148, but was beaten by Mick Roche and Chris Roberts on countback. Joe Bains was one shot better, on a total of 147, but Gordon Varley's rounds of 74 and 71 left him as the winner on a total of 145.
Veterans Cup. After his gross 80 in the morning, Dave Holmes led by 3 shots from Mick Roche on 83. However it was Mick who emerged victorious after a gross 79 (the only score under 80 in the veterans category) gave him a total of 162, one shot better than Dave on 163.
Veterans Handicap Cup. With four of the top five in the overall Handicap Cup being over 60, there was a familiar feel to the leaderboard in the Veterans Handicap Cup. Mick Roche took third place on countback from Farrukh Bajwa, with both players on 148, Joe Bains was second on 147 and Gordon Varley picked up his second trophy of the day following his winning total of 145.
India Trophy (Senior Veterans). This year the age limit for the India Trophy was reduced from 75 to 70, with the aim of opening up this competition to more players. Seven players met the criteria and after the first round Joe Bains, Mick Roche and Dennis Virgo were all in contention following net scores of 75. In the afternoon Joe and Mick pulled away, with Joe deservedly winning the trophy after 2nd places in both the overall and veterans handicap competitions.
Mention should go to Chris Roberts, who undoubtedly had the shot of the day when he holed a long putt across the practice putting green to win a PXG Zero Torque putter in a competition sponsored by PXG. Commiserations to Kevin Huish, who also holed a putt but lost out to Chris in a draw for the prize. PXG also sponsored the prizes for the Society trophies as part of their efforts to raise awareness of their 'Heroes Scheme', which offers substantial discounts on their products to both serving and retired military golfers.
Moor Park is a great venue for our Championship and will again be the venue for this event on 22 July 26.
Please click the link if you would like to see the full results.
RAFGS v Brokenhurst Manor Golf Club 17 Jul 25
Yet another fine day in the heart of the New Forest greeted the RAF GS team. Brokenhurst Manor GC, like most other golf courses in the South of England has been suffering from a lack of water and green has turned to brown. Nevertheless, this did not detract too much from the course which is always a delight to play.
Unfortunately, the RAF GS team was unable to overcome the large number of shots being conceded to the locals; shots were taken by the home team in every single match. This led to a second, consecutive, 5-1 defeat! Club Captain Aileen Simpson was delighted to present the Adastral Trophy to Rob Hunt, the Captain of the winning home team. 
However, this did not detract from the enjoyment of the day with the home team proving to be excellent hosts. Hopefully next year will see a different result!
RAFGS team: Phil Sperring (Match Manager), Tim Evans, Si Stevens, Rick Lipscomb, Ollie Whyatt, Stewie Fryatt, Stu Butler, Andrew Curtis, Joe Bains, Rod Powell, Martin Crocker and Denis Virgo.
2025 RAFGS Summer Meeting - Newark Golf Club 2 July
Fortified by bacon rolls, the players set out for the morning Stableford over the 'new' layout - the club having reverted to a previous layout with what had been the 10th hole now the 1st hole and the back 9 starting from what had previously been the 1st hole. As might be expected following the prolonged dry spell, some of the fairways were showing the effects of the lack of water with some areas very dry and dusty. However, the course was still very playable, with excellent greens. The scoring reflected the benign conditions, with 10 players scoring 36 points or better and 29 achieving 30 points or better.
Following the usual sandwiches and chips lunch, 17 pairs competed in the afternoon Greensomes. The pattern of excellent scoring was continued from the morning round, with 9 pairs returning scores of 36 points or better and all but one scoring more than 30 points. Once all of the cards had been returned, the benefits of using Golf Genius were again demonstrated as the system created the leaderboards for all of the trophies as the scores were entered.
Gary Ridsdale was a convincing winner of the Denys Field Scratch Cup, with his scratch score of 35 points five points clear of Stu Butler and Paddy Mournian on 30 points. The competition for the National Playing Fields Handicap Cup was much closer, with three players - Sion Lewis, Farrukh Bajwa and Stu Butler - on 39 points, Andrew Francis on 40 points and a delighted Bernie Vickers the winner on 41 points.
Four ladies were also competing for the Ladies Cup and the Pru Riddiford Bowl. In a very tight competition, Jackie Francis repeated her 2024 success in both trophies, winning on countback from Alex Mournian after both players returned a score of 32 points. Finally, the Greensomes competition in the afternoon saw Paddy and Alex Mournian in second on 40 points, just pipping Farrukh Bajwa and Sion Lewis on countback, but the runaway winners of the Sassoon Cups were Peter and Pauline Dignan with 47 points.
The full results can be be viewed by clicking on the links to the Individual Stableford scores and the afternoon Greensomes scores.
RAFGS v RAFGA - Peterborough Milton GC 26 Jun 25
The annual match with the RAFGA was played on a breezy but sunny day at Peterborough Milton for the 2nd year in succession. It yet again proved a very worthwhile venue with fast running fairways, true and quick greens and enough off-line trouble to punish the errant shots.
A slightly modified format was used this year, 4BBB with the 4 of the 5 top scores counting to the team total over each 18 holes.
A superb 42pts in the morning round by Ollie Whyatt and Paddy Mournian, backed up by the other strong team scores, meant the RAFGS held the lead at lunch, albeit only by a single point. The afternoon proved equally close, but with a further fantastic 45pts from Ollie and Paddy, the RAFGS extended their lead to 6 overall, meaning we regained the Cecil Beamish Cup.
RAFGS Team: Ian Robinson (Capt), Roger Carr, Nigel Dowdall, Dave Holmes, Graham Pearson, Trevor Grant, Ollie Whyatt, Paddy Mournian, Stu Butler, Colin Basnett
RAFGS v Royal Navy Golfing Society - West Sussex Golf Club 18 June 25
Good weather was the order of the day, with some excellent golf to match the elements.
This year we tried a different format from the usual two rounds of foursomes, with the match played as one round of singles. This meant that there were 10 singles matches out on the course and, of these, half were only decided on the 18th.
The result did not reflect the closeness of the individual matches but, whilst the trophy was easily retained by the RAF, everyone enjoyed the opportunity to play their own ball. As always, the matches were competitive but played in the best of spirits. Lunch was as delicious as we've come to expect at West Sussex, with all agreeing to the same format for next year's contest on Weds 17th June 2026. Make sure that you put the date in your diary!
RAFGS team: Andrew Curtis, Rob Last, Ian Robinson, Andy Setterfield, Kevin Burston, Neil Roberts, Les Bruckner, Neil Gold, Nigel Dowdall, Phil Sperring