Message from the County President – Iain MacCaskill

The 2010 golf season is now underway and we have our first Champion in Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath), who won the Junior Championship at West Berkshire on 8^th April. This event was the first that counted towards the Junior Order of Merit that was won by Joe Richardson, also from Frilford Heath, last year. David Lane (Goring & Streatley) continues his winning ways with yet another International Seniors title – this time the Portuguese Seniors – with a 10 shot margin. We have had a couple of friendly matches which have given our County Captain, Malcolm Reid, a good insight into his probable 1^st Team. We are looking forward to a successful season at all levels and hope that the effort put into winter coaching will pay dividends this year and that we get to at least one National Final.

Our Golf Partnership continues to thrive and my thanks to all those involved for their unbelievable commitment to ensuring that we introduce as many people to our great game and encourage players to take up club membership. The County Card scheme continues to prosper and we now have over 1,000 Clubs participating all over England. Soon we soon hope to announce that the scheme will encompass most of England with Yorkshire and Lancashire joining at the back end of the year. At just £15 for 2010 it represents a real bargain and most participating clubs welcome Card Holders at the Members’ introduced green fee rate. All the money from this scheme is channelled into the Golf Partnership. Details are available from your Club Secretary or from our website.

Best wishes for good golfing in 2010.

BB & O County Matches

We played Surrey on 3^rd April after an ‘exciting morning’ changing venues. We were supposed to be playing at Sonning but due to extremely heavy overnight rain, the course had too many temporary greens to ensure a quality match and we left in convoy for Royal Ascot. We had a great morning and were leading 4-1 after the foursomes. A much tighter series of singles games saw the afternoon points shared and we achieved a 9-6 win, our first against Surrey since 2002.

Team at Royal Ascot: Steve Barwick (Stoke Park), Sandy Bolton (Goring & Streatley), James Brockington (Henley), Carl Corbin (Wokefield Park), Kevin Freeman (Stoke Park), Tyrrell Hatton (Harleyford), Liam Robinson (Tadmarton Heath), Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath), Tom Wilde (Castle Royle), Adam Wootton (Oxford City).

The Team at Royal Ascot 

BB & O Juniors Matches

The Juniors had a friendly match against Wellington College on 27^th February. On this lovely 9 hole layout at the College the boys had a great day and did well to halve the match against a strong school side.

Team at Wellington College: Adam Batty (Hazlemere), Jake Canning (Stoke Park), Will Cooper (Woburn), Luke Fitzpatrick (Stoke Park), Jordan Garnish (The Oxfordshire), Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath), Josh Stanners (Hazlemere), Sam Westmancoat (Reading).

We had a new fixture this year with a match against the Oxford Blues at Witney Lakes on 13^th March. Against a very good Varsity side we were pleased to hold them to a 6–6 halved match.

Team at Witney Lakes: George Abbott (The Oxfordshire), Adam Batty (Hazlemere), James Butterworth (Harewood Downs), Ben Conway (Reading), Jordan Garnish (The Oxfordshire), Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath), Rob Pennel (Beaconsfield), Donovan Henderson-Sowerby (Burford), Josh Stanners (Hazlemere), Alex Stubbs (The Oxfordshire), Sam Westmancoat (Reading), Michael Younie (Reading).

A good day at Weybrook Park on 5^th April resulted in a win for the Juniors against Hampshire and Wiltshire. For the second year running we got the better of Hampshire in a close match as we gained 3 points out of 4 at the end to edge home. Against Wiltshire we had things a bit easier and took the match 7½ - 2½

Team at Weybrook Park: Adam Batty (Hazlemere), Alistair Cameron (Beaconsfield), Jake Canning (Stoke Park), Will Cooper (Woburn), Jordan Garnish (The Oxfordshire), Jordan Mann (Sand Martins), Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath), Josh Stanners (Hazlemere), Alex Stubbs (The Oxfordshire), Sam Westmancoat (Reading).

BB & O Championship & Trophy Meetings

Junior Championship

The BB & O Junior Championship was played at West Berkshire Golf Club on Thursday 8^th April 2010. 60 Boys aged 18 and under contested the Championship on this testing layout playing over 7,000 yards. Weather conditions were excellent after all the snow and rain but many of the players found the going very tough on a long and tree lined course.

Leading the way with a score of 74 (1 over par) was David Langley (Castle Royle) who was 1 ahead of Alex Stubbs (The Oxfordshire) and 2 ahead of Josh Stanners (Hazlemere); with George Stirrat (Buckingham) in 4^th place. Another 8 players had broken 80 but overall the scoring was poor with many low handicappers posting scores in the mid to high 80s.

The scoring in the afternoon improved a little as the players got to grips with things and improved their course management. After 9 holes Alex Stubbs had gone ahead after a level par front nine with Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath) also making a move after a very solid start. Langley had dropped back to 3^rd after a few errors with the par 3 17^th catching him out as it did to many in the field.. As the afternoon progressed it was a question of who would hold their nerve and in the end it was Dean Newbold who came home in 1 under par to take the Title from Alex Stubbs who lost his chance at the difficult 17^th. David Langley also had a good back nine but the damage had been done earlier and he finished 3^rd however he had the consolation of winning the Under 16 Title.

Adam Dewji (Woburn) won the Handicap Trophy with net 141 on countback from Charlie George (Shrivenham Park) another who fell foul of the 17^th to miss his chance. Our thanks to West Berkshire Golf Club for allowing the Boys to play on such a challenging layout.

Dean Newbold (Frilford Heath)  Junior Champion receives the Trophy from Iain MacCaskill

David Langley (Castle) Winner U16s Trophy

Adam Dewji (Woburn) Winner Handicap Trophy

BB & O County Union Annual Dinner

BB & O County Union Annual Dinner

The 48^th Annual Dinner of the County Union was held at the Blue Mountain Golf Centre on Monday 1^st March Some 290 people had an excellent evening listening to our three Guest Speakers. Elwyn Ellis, President of the EGU and Colin Brown, Captain of the R&A were the Principle Guests and Jimmy Quinn was our final - and very amusing - speaker.

L to R - Jimmy Quinn, Elwyn Ellis (President EGU), Iain MacCaskill (President), Colin Brown (Captain R&A)

Elwyn Ellis was also delighted to present a Commemorative Plate to the Club Captains of Denham and Reading Golf Clubs who were celebrating their Centenaries in 2010

David Batts – Denham GC

David Olive – Reading GC 

Luke Fitzpatrick (Beaconsfield) won the Boddington Trophy in 2009. This award, given by the Honourable Company of Oxfordshire golfers is to the most improved Junior in BB&O. Steve Barwick (Stoke Park) was the Captain’s choice to receive the Player of the Year award and Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath) won the Order of Merit Trophy – again!.

Luke Fitzpatrick (Beaconsfield)

Ashley Walton (Frilford Heath) 

BB & O County Union Annual Council Meeting

A turnout of over 50 attended the Annual Council Meeting on 25^th March. Iain MacCaskill highlighted the achievements of the year and the County Secretary/Treasurer presented the Annual Accounts which were approved. Nomination of Officers for 2010 had been announced at the October 2009 Half Year Council Meeting, they were agreed as follows:

i)          President:                                      I A MacCaskill (Denham)

ii)         President-Elect:                             J M Kaye (East Berkshire)

iii)       Captain:                                         M Reid (Royal Ascot)

iv)       Vice Captain:                                 G Wilson (Calcot Park)

v)        Junior Manager:                             J Hubrecht (Gerrards Cross)

vi)       Seniors Manager:                           D B Shaw (Goring & Streatley)

In accordance with the Notice sent to all affiliated clubs in November 2009 - D B Shaw (Goring & Streatley), R A Clift (Harewood Downs), D Cowap (East Berkshire), M R Partridge (Frilford Heath) and D J Wilson (Denham) were unanimously elected to the Executive Committee.

Steve Myers & Paul Wyatt were the worthy winners of the first 'major' of the year as they took the afternoon Greensomes by just one point from the chasing pack.

Steve Myers & Paul Wyatt