The OTGS were back to Kent for this annual event which normally takes place at the beginning of April. Last year the tournament was played in September due to Covid disruption so it seems only yesterday when we last played this competition. As you can imagine the weather conditions can vary between September and April and we weren’t let down. Only the week before the HH we were enjoying high temperatures and benign conditions followed by snow in Kent the weekend before the Hewitt and 10ºC drop in temperature. So anything could happen.

The draw this year was tough with Ampleforth (three times finalist in 2017/18 and 19), followed by either Malvern or Canford (both formidable teams with good track records). Taunton had 12 players in their team of which 4 were under 30 and 2 over 50, so a relatively young team! As predicted the weather was abysmal with 50mph winds interspersed with wintery showers, however, the weather is a great leveller of the game. After much debate the evening of the first match 10 of the available players were chosen to battle against Ampleforth. Taunton’s 1st Pair, Gary Hector & Phil Stickler, gained Taunton’s first point on the 2nd extra hole (i.e. the 20th). Greg Whalley & Jan Becker overcame their opponents on the 17th with a 2-1 win. Taunton’s 2nd pair (Mark Jenkins & Andy Ford) and 4th pair (Pete Whalley & Dave Higginson) unfortunately lost to their opponents. The match overall was now a tie on 2 each so it was down to the veterans Westwater & Willacy to produce the winning point and this they did on the final hole 1 Up! Taunton win 3-2 beating 3 times finalist Ampleforth in the shock result of the day/week! Extracts from the HH reporter were….“……….I am sure Taunton won’t mind me saying that the shock result of the day was their win over three-time finalists Ampleforth. I am told that this included a 5-putt at one stage – the final putt holed being easily missable. The result surprised the scorers at Deal so much that it initially went down on the website as an away win, (“Taunton 2 – 3?).” Taunton now faced Malvern on day two, again as mentioned by the HH reporter, “……Malvern play giant-killers Taunton in the second round today. The two have only met once before and Taunton were victorious….”. Sadly Taunton lost to Malvern 4-1, although the score doesn’t reflect the fact that one game lost 2/1 on the 17th and two games were halved on the 17th and 18th, so near misses.

As captain of this side for many years I was proud of how the team played and so in awe at how many teams came up to us and congratulated us on our remarkable win. However, let us not forget this is now the second time in a row that Taunton have been successful in the first round, last year we beat Bishop’s Stortford and lost to Bradfield in the 2nd round. This is a wonderful competition and I encourage all Taunton School pupils past and present who enjoy competitive golf to get in touch.

The Taunton team was:-
Richard Willacy (Captain), Iain Westwater, Pete Whalley, Greg Whalley, Gary Hector, Jan Becker, Mark Jenkins, Phil Stickler, Dave Higginson, Andy Ford, Ed Bradnock and Jack Malden.

What a fantastic weekend.  The weather was the best, the wind not too strong and we had a good team.

Back L-R: Pete Whalley, Jan Becker, Mark Banham, Phil Stickler
Front L-R: Gary Hector, Greg Whalley
Spare: Richard Willacy, David Higginson

1st Round against Old Marlburians won 2-1,
2nd Round against Warwickshire Bears 3-0

Sunday Stableford – team scored 78 Points

We welcomed back Jan, who seems to be playing more golf again, and Mark (new recruit) whom I (Willacy) had the pleasure of playing with on Sunday scoring 29 Points, good effort.  Like the Halford Hewitt the standard gets better and better every year and this year was no exception, most of the Warwickshire Bears were scratch or better, so well done team.

A believed all time record of 46  players (26 Old Tauntonians and 20 guests) played in 2022 at Swinley Forest Golf Club on the usual second Tuesday of March. This annual fixture has been running for some 70 years at the legendary very beautiful members club in Berkshire.

It is believed to have originated because an Old Tauntonian, who lived in Ascot, became an elected  member of Swinley and asked the Secretary whether he minded having a few of his old school chums to a guest day at the Club early in the Season in March.

Numbers were about 30 several years ago, and sometimes below, but have now steadily increased in recent years.

The morning singles was won by an Old Tauntonian with Richard Willacy scoring 36 points beating Iain Westwater by one point.

The afternoon greensomes pairs competition was won by Neil Robertson and his guest with 41 points.

For the second year in a row the annual visit to the top class Swinley Forest Golf Club event, usually on the second Tuesday in March, was postponed until the Autumn .  As the daylight hours  were more restricted than March, it was only possible to play 18 holes compared to the usual 36.  However the day was much enjoyed at an eceptional quality venue.

32 players played with marginally more Old Tauntonians attending than guests.

Mark Banham won the Old Tauntonians section with 34 stableford points and Richard Parsons won the guest’s competition with 38 points.

Next year’s event is reverting to the usual date of Tuesday 8 March 2022 and an all time high number of 48 are already registered for this 36 hole singles/greensomes event.

Due to Covid the HH was postponed from the usual April date to beginning of September.  The course conditions were expected to be very different, as was the weather.  Unfortunately Royal St George’s GC was not available for the 1st round of the competition so Prince’s  stepped in.

Taunton were drawn against Bishop’s Stortford in the 1st round and our expectations were we had a good chance of winning, however, our eventual win was not as expected.  Dave Higginson and Pete Whalley won their match as did Gary Hector and Phil Stickler, Richard Willacy and Andy Ford lost their match.  On the 13th hole Matthew Pyke, unfortunately, hit our opponents (not intentionally!) who had to be taken to hospital for a check-up and that match was declared halved (although at the time our pair were 3up with five holes to play).  So the score now stood at 2.5 – 1.5 and it was down to Iain Westwater and Ed Bradnock who were 1 up going down the 18th, however, play was stopped as the light had faded so much it was impossible to continue.  In the end it was decided to continue the final game in the morning and if Bishop’s Stortford won then the Captains could choose one of the existing pairings to battle out a sudden death.  In the end, later that evening, the Captain of Bishop’s Stortford conceded the match given that even if they won overall they were not able to produce a team for the second round.  Well…….given how long it’s been since Taunton succeeded in the first round Ramsgate certainly knew about it that evening!!

Unfortunately Taunton faced a very strong Bradfield in the next round and lost 4-1.

Team: Richard Willacy (C), Iain Westwater, Gary Hector, Phil Stickler, Greg Whalley, Pete Whalley, Andy Ford, Ed Bradnock, Matthew Pyke, Mark Jenkins, Dave Higginson

Despite being a bank holiday weekend and with travel restrictions relaxed, numbers dwindled.   However, in the end we had 9 players for this meeting (8 OTs and 1 guest).

The afternoon was kicked off with our AGM followed by lunch and 18 holes.  There was a lot to play for, Fairwater Cup(Stableford)/Vets Cup (Over 60, stableford)/Scratch Cup(played as scratch stableford)/Longest Drive/Nearest to the Pin & Team prize (best 2 of 3 scores per hole, aggregated).  It looked like a day when everybody was a winner!

During lock-down and golf courses were closed, Reigate Heath GC was saturated with walkers, being common land, and with some bad weather the course was in a dreadful state.  It looked like the course would not recover by the summer.  However, it was fantastic the fairways were green again and the greens lightning fast like they normally are AND we were blessed with perfect weather!

A good day was had by all and nearly everybody was a winner!

Results (OT’s):
Fairwater Cup – Iain Westwater (34 points, back 9 win)
Scratch Cup – Richard Willacy (29 points)
Vets Cup – David Morgan (34 points)
Longest Drive – Richard Willacy
Nearest to the Pin – David Murrell
Team Win – Mark Welsh/Richard Norris/Richard willacy

It must be added that the overall winner was Mark Welsh with 35 points but as a non OT and guest a separate prize was awarded.