The RAFGS has a long tradition of this fixture against Sonning Golf Club, spanning fifty plus years. This is a biannual fixture with the RAFGS ‘home’ match played at Woodhall Spa and the return fixture at Sonning Golf Club in mid-September.

At Woodhall Spa, teams of 12 players play 36 holes of 4BBB competing for the Middlemist Comet Trophy, donated by Malcolm Middlemist’s family. As well as being a former Chairman of the RAFGS, Malcolm was also a past Captain at Sonning Golf Club and has over the years been pivotal in the organisation of this fixture.

Day 1 – Bracken course

The first afternoon’s play on the Bracken course proved to be a good session for the RAFGS, with wins for Garry Ridsdale and Graham Pearson, Jeff Glover and Rick Lipscomb and Gary Cook and Robby Boyce. The pairings of Dave Walton and Kevin Huish and Tim Evans and Neil Roberts halved their matches, to leave the score RAFGS 4 – 2 Sonning Golf Club at the halfway point in the match.

Following the afternoon matches it was a quick turn around to get to the Petwood Hotel (known as the home of 617 'Dambuster' Sqn) and a fine meal and wine to finish off the day.

Day 2 – Hotchkin Course, commonly rated as England's finest inland course.  

The Sonning players made a quick start on Day 2, with wins for their first two pairs, bringing the score to 4 – 4. This was then followed by excellent wins for Neil Roberts and Roger Carr and Graham Pearson and Jeff Glover, giving the RAFGS a 6 – 4 lead and hopes of regaining the trophy. Sadly this was not to be, as although the last two 4-Balls on the course were both close games, the Sonning pairings were the winners in both matches to leave the final score RAFGS 6 - 6 Sonning Golf Club.  Perhaps the most notable highlight of the match was a hole in one on the 12th hole of the Hotchkin Course, for Sonning Member Peter Hodges.

However, with the overall result being a halved match, Sonning Golf Club retained the Middlemist Comet Trophy. Our congratulations to the players from Sonning Golf Club.

RAFGS team: Peter Bedford, Robby Boyce, Roger Carr (Day 2 only), Gary Cook (Day 1 only), Tim Evans, Jeff Glover, Kevin Huish, Rick Lipscomb, Graham Pearson, Gary Ridsdale, Neil Roberts, David Walton, Brett Wooldridge.

This is a significant charity day for both Rothbury Golf Club and The Royal British Legion. Entries from the armed forces and veterans would be particularly welcome.

This year's match against Royal Cinque Ports had to be brought forward this year, due to the club's commitments around our usual date in June including the Amateur Championship and Final Open Qualifying events. With the match being squeezed in between the Scottish Tour and the match against Sonning at Woodhall Spa, we were one player short of being able to field a full team of 12. It was therefore agreed to reduce the match to 10-a-side.

The RAFGS flag was raised at the club on a beautiful late spring day, with blue skies and a moderate breeze - confusingly for those used to playing the course into the prevailing wind on the back nine, we battled into the wind on the outward nine but had the benefit of the wind at our backs on the way home. Having met our opposition over coffee/tea and bacon rolls, we set out to play the morning round of foursomes for the match over this great links course.

Most of the matches were close, going to the 17th or 18th green, though Ian and Charlie found it tough going against the local knowledge and excellent short game of Mark Winter and Mike Logan. Following an excellent two-course lunch, the Club Captain announced the result of the match, which was a 3-2 win for the RAFGS. After lunch, 8 of our players took advantage of the offer of courtesy of the course to play an additional 18 holes.

We look forward to renewing old friendships and making new ones at next year's fixture, which will hopefully be arranged for a date which fits in better with the Society's calendar.

RAFGS team: Nigel Dowdall (Match Organiser), Matt Branowsky, Kevin Conquergood, Andrew Curtis, Alastair Maxwell, Ian Robinson, Si Stevens, Ollie Whyatt, Charlie Hudson, Steven Parry

Plans for the 2025 Scottish Tour were somewhat disrupted by the news in March that, due to the demands of accommodating a large number of visiting military personnel, they were not able to offer us accommodation at Kinloss Barracks. Following a rapid re-think, we decided to base ourselves in Lossiemouth, with it's variety of hotel and other accommodation, range of restaurants within walking distance and the location of Moray Golf Club. The weather over the week was sunny and quite warm and the post-golf gatherings taking place in the bar or on the balcony at Moray Golf Club, with its superb views over the 18th green, the golf courses and beyond to the Burghead lighthouse and the Moray Firth.

The change in accommodation arrangements undoubtedly had an impact on the numbers attending, but 21 members and guests took part. Most took the opportunity of a warm-up round at Hopeman Golf Club, which itself attracted many positive comments as a venue despite the haar (sea mist) which rolled in towards the end of the morning rounds and, just as quickly, disappeared for those playing in the afternoon.

The competition proper started at Nairn Dunbar on Tuesday. On a day of good scoring, with most players managing 30+ points, Dennis Virgo and Ray Bull set the early pace on 40 points, closely followed on 39 points by Kevin Knight, Graham Hughes and Tim Evans. On Wednesday, Elgin proved to be a much tougher proposition with only 10 players managing 30 points or better. Roger Carr led the way on 34 points, with Joe Bains on 33, while both Graham Hughes and Tim Evans had 32 points despite their one shot 'penalty' from the first round. Thursday proved to be 'mover's day' on a sunny but breezy day on the Old Course at Moray. New member and first time tourist Chris Roberts came in with an excellent 36 points, John Pearce continued his steady progress with 34 points, but the outstanding round of the day came from Farrukh Bajwa with 42 points.

The final day of competition took place as usual at Forres, with players going out in (more or less) reverse leaderboard order. The final group consisted of Graham Hughes, Ian Robinson and Farrukh Bajwa. Despite Farrukh's 6 point lead, there was some speculation that his golf swing might suffer with the pressure. Tim Evans and John Pearce put in a strong challenge, with 36 points from Tim putting him on a total of 135, while John's excellent 37 points gave him a total of 136. However, there was no stopping Farrukh, whose 41 points gave him an unbeatable total of 149.

The Tour finished with an excellent dinner at Moray Golf Club, followed by the prize-giving. As an Associate Member, Farrukh was unable to win the Scottish Cup, but did take home the Guest Tankard as well as the first prize. John Pearce was awarded the Scottish Cup as the leading RAFGS member, with Joe Bains winning the Veteran's Quaich. Finally, the Harry Griffiths Trophy for the person who has made the most significant contribution to the Tour was deservedly awarded to Roger Carr.

Particular thanks are also due to Ian Robinson, who used his expertise with Golf Genius to prepare the start sheets and enter the scores over the week. Despite this onerous task, Ian still managed to achieve a very credible 5th place and, with Farrukh, was the only player to achieve a score of 31 points or better for each of the four rounds.

Please click on the link to see the best scores for each of the morning and afternoon rounds, as well as a summary of the winners and contenders for each of the trophies.