The Hampshire Golf Club’s Seniors Championship took place recently and the extreme conditions made good scoring difficult indeed. There was a very good entry of 32 taking and in addition there were prizes for nearest the pin and the longest drive. John Dawson (11) played by far the best golf with a superb net score of 71, which meant he won the event by the clear margin of three strokes. Vince Klass (10) also performed well in the conditions and his net 74 gained him the runner-up spot. Bob Kidgell (17), Bob Houghton (20) and Peter Macaloon (16) also played well on a difficult day to return net 74s but they missed out on prizes based on the back nine scores. Dawson also won the prize for nearest the pin on the fourth hole and Guy Davis took the longest drive prize, which was on hole 15. The participants were also competing to win the John Smith Putter, which is presented to the player with the lowest number of putts on the greens, and this went to Davis for the second year running with 28 putts. Rob Wood collected the prize for the highest number of putts with 40!

The seniors travelled to New Forest Golf Club for a new friendly fixture on May 19 with four pairs. Vice-captain Alan Dixon once again captained the team in the absence of captain Ray Neath and he partnered Phil Jones. Both found the tight lies on the course and the lack of grass difficult. They never really got going and found themselves four down before they had even halved a hole!

Alan was giving away 12 shots, which was a tall order when the opposition was playing so well. They fought hard but in the end lost 5 and 4. Ted Richards and John Rogers had a close match all the way round and in the end were happy to come away with a half.

John Dawson and Norman French’s match was up and down on both sides but again both sides were happy with a half in the end. The final pair was regulars Richard Hale and Barrie Thompson and once again they did not fail and continued their winning partnership, winning on the last hole one up. Overall the result was a draw. However, as the New Forest GC fielded six pairs with the Hampshire only having four, these two pairs also played with one pair representing the Hampshire. Unfortunately they lost so the overall result was a 3-2 loss for the Hampshire.