Good afternoon gentlemen and a belated happy New Year to you all,
Apologises for being a bit behind the golf admin power curve this year but I was waiting for final confirmation of a couple of dates. We have 10 meetings at an excellent selection of golf clubs planned for 2025 as follows
- 24 April 2025 – The Spring meeting at Cumberwell Park Golf Club, organised by John Ledgister. Please note that 24 Apr is a Thursday. As in previous years, this will also include a “fun Texas Scramble team warm-up” on the par 3 course.
- 2 June 2025 – Prince of Wales (PoW) Division Golf match at the Whitefields Golf Club at the Draycote Hotel, Rugby, CV23 9LF. Teams of 8 being organised by Arthur Christian.
- 5 – 6 June 2025 – The Annual Summer Meeting (timed to be held before the Hungerford weekend) at Upavon Golf Club.
- The plan this year is to hold the main competition for the Regimental Trophies on Thursday 5 June and then
- Host the Burma Cup on Friday 6 June. However, for reasons beyond my understanding agreeing a date with the Slashers has been challenging. Despite numerous attempts to engage with the Slashers (going back to July last year) the only reply we received was their schedule of events. With the clock ticking, course availability reducing, no comms from the Slashers (but knowing from their schedule of events that they appeared to be available) I made the decision to book Upavon for 6 June. I received an immediate reply stating that due to the PoW Div meeting they were unable to attend.
- I very much hope that the Slashers reconsider and are able to play in the Burma Cup on 6 June. In the event that they are unable to attend please keep this day free – we have 6 tee-times booked.
- Many thanks to Norman for producing the attached list (by no means exclusive as there are many other options) of accommodation options close to Upavon.
- 10 June 2025 – The Bristol ABF Charity Day at Henbury Golf Club. Please note that this is a new course for the event and it is being held a month later than in previous years. Our 7th year of entering and we have entered 2 x 4-ball teams since 2019. Always well organised and it would be good to play on a new course.
- 16 July 2025 – The Devon ABF Charity Day at Dainton Park Golf Club being organised by Trevor Ongley. Always a great event that gets booked up very quickly so I will be sending out the instructions as soon as I receive them from Trevor – lovely course, fantastic carvery and well worth the effort to drive down there.
- 1 August 2025 – The Slashers Annual Meeting at Puckrup Hall Golf Club (Tewkesbury).
- 19 September 2025 – The Dorset ABF Charity Day at Rushmore Golf Club. An excellent event and an addition since 2021 to our calendar. A lovely course half in Wiltshire and half in Dorset. One of the 2 teams that we entered last year won the event so it would be good to keep our name on the trophy this year.
- 2 October 2025 – The Autumn meeting at Upavon Golf Club.
- 6 October 2025 – The Rifles Regimental Golf Meeting at South Winchester GC. We have been entering teams since 2009, won the competition in 2011 and 2015 and came second in 2013, 2014, 2021 and again in 2024 – it is an extremely enjoyable event and I would like to enter a strong Regimental team this year and get our name back on the trophy.
A reminder that I still wish to encourage more “informal and ad hoc gatherings” throughout the year (many thanks to Andy Taylor for getting a 4-ball together for the Cirencester Seniors Individual open last July). The sort of thing I am thinking of is any of you booking, for example, 1, 2 or 3 tee-times at your club and then a quick message out to members on a first come first served basis. If anyone wishes to do this let me know and I can send out the initial email to get the ball rolling.
Please put these dates in your digital and analogue (i.e. paper) diaries now. Also please pass them on to all golf playing Farmers Boys, and advertise them at the other Regimental events that you attend throughout the year.
Many thanks and I look forward to catching up on “Golf Courses Various” in 2025.