Hewitt Report 2025
HALFORD HEWITT CUP – 10th April to 13th April 2025
Team dinner the night before
We were drawn against Clifton who have won the Hewitt once in 2010, so not easy. We were once again drawn at Royal Cinque Ports playing at 10:05 on the Thursday morning. The weather had been very dry in the run up to the event albeit quite breezy especially on the practice day, and the course was firm and greens good for the time of year.
Out first was Peter Langrish-Smith (MG 1970) playing with Hewitt debutant Ed Wass (WG 1984). An inauspicious start with both teams finding the ditch short of the green following decent tee shots, hole halved in double bogey 6. After that we struggled losing several holes to be 6 down. We had a little purple patch to get it back to 4 down, but in the end, we succumbed 5&4.
Anuj Anand (HG 1986) and Luke Nokes (KG 2002) partnered again, this time in second spot, and despite two goods shots to start we lost the first to a birdie. They also birdied the par 5 third and we were soon 2 down. We managed to win the 5th with a par, but Clifton came straight back with a birdie on the 6th to regain the 2 up lead. Things then just got worse with Highgate losing several holes in a row to be well and truly beat. This was arguably Clifton’s strongest pair and they were 2 under gross for the 12 holes played.
Captain Micky Tudor (WG 1986) teamed up again with Tom Gladwin (WG 1985) in the middle of the pack. They were two down early through four holes with Captain Micky admitting we were rubbish until at least the 6th. They then kept it at 2 down well into the back nine thanks to a missed tiddler on the 13th from Clifton. Finally the tide turned with the OCs winning the 15th, 16th and 17th with a particularly fine birdie putt from Tom on 16 and an excellent approach from Micky into 17. We then narrowly failed to close out on 18 with a missed 6ft putt for the win. They then headed onto the 19th. Meanwhile behind….
Under Starter’s Orders
Mark Cohen (NG 1994) and Ian Blackman (MG 1977) resurrected an old pairing. Despite neither pair playing the best golf, we had a commanding position at 2 up through 14. With Micky and Tom showing signs of recovery up ahead and knowing the last match was still in play, we somehow started to lose our firm grip on the match. We missed three fairways in a row off the tee proceeding to lose all three, meaning we were now 1 down playing the last. Both teams came up just short of the 18th green to a front pin just over the big step slope at the front edge of the green. Clifton were first to go and putted up to a foot, which was conceded. So Mark had to make his 30ft putt from off the green. It was travelling fast and online but the speed was too much as it clattered into the pin but failed to drop finishing inches away. A narrow one down loss, which ultimately decided the contest. As a result Micky and Tom were able to abandon playing the 19th.
The Mills brothers, Bertie Mills (SH 2014) and Freddie Mackaness-Mills (SH 2012), once again requested to play together, and the Captain put them in the anchor match. There was pressure to deliver or risk being split in future matches, which was ramped up when they realised they were up against a former tour player, who is among the top 20 points winners in the Hewitt. Things started great as the opposition shanked one out of bounds on the 1st. Freddie found the middle of the fairway and this time Bertie avoid a repeat of last year’s chunk into the ditch and we took the lead. We picked up another to be two up through 7 holes. However this was one of Clifton’s strongest pairs and they then started to play really good golf, picking up holes. By the time we got to the 18th tee Clifton were 1 up which shows the Mills brothers played excellent golf considering Clifton shot a 3 under 32 on the back nine. As the lads left the 18th tee they realised that the match was over as the 4th pair lost narrowly on the 18th to end the overall contest. We continued to finish the hole but narrowly missed a long half effort, to lose another match on the last hole.
Clifton were again the stronger team, but we made it very close and nervy for them in the middle of the back nine in the back three games. We are once again suffering as a result of lack of new and younger players. Clifton made a decision a decade ago to improve their chances in this event. They built a golf Driving Range within school grounds and enlisted the assistance of Bristol based European Tour pro Chris Wood to help them develop younger players. Soon they had a few young players down to low single figure handicaps. Unless we find some young keen golfers playing off 1-2 or better we will find ourselves playing Plate golf every year.
PRINCE’S PLATE – 11th April to 13th April 2025
Plate Squad fuelling up for the day
Once again we played in the Plate at Prince's. King Edward’s Birmingham were our first round opponents; we sent the Mills brothers out first following an commendable 1st round showing in the Hewitt. No worries this time as they were swiftly two up through two holes, eventually getting to 3 up midway through the front nine. The match see-sawed a bit back and forth from there, but crucial birdies on the 9th and the 11th for us ensured they never got into it. The birdie on the 11th was particularly enjoyable as Freddie holed from 10ft with the opponents really close about 3-4 feet away. We won the match relatively comfortably on the 16th green.
Next out was Micky Tudor and Tom Gladwin, the only team to come through the 1st round of the Hewitt unscathed. A solid enough start including a lovely birdie on the first short home the 3rd with Micky hitting the tee shot to about 10ft and Tom rolling in the putt, had us take the lead midway through the front nine. We stayed ahead, extending the lead to 2 up early in the back nine and stayed steady to wrap up the win and the overall match.
Last out was Mark Cohen and Luke Nokes, where we had another fast start getting to 3 up through six holes. We then stuttered with both Luke and then Mark finding bunkers, and by the 10th it was all square. It got worse when we lost the 11th to go down for the first time in the match. We were two down with 3 to play, and fortunately while playing the 16th they got news that we won the match and therefore the customary half was declared.
A third year in a row where we won in the first round of the Plate, however on this occasion we had to go back out late on Friday for the second round of the Plate.
Plate First Round – Pair 1
Plate First Round – Pair 2
Victorious Plate team – 1st Round
As mentioned we had a long lunch break heading out again two hours after the first round match was done. Playing against Taunton for the 3rd time in the plate. We were missing the Mills brother who were unable to play in the afternoon, coming off the bench was Anuj Anand and Alex Edwards. Out first was Alex with Luke Nokes; a dream start going 4 up through four holes. However the opposition fought back with a birdie on the par 3 fifth. The 6th was a spectacular half with Alex pulling left to leave Luke up against the wooden fence to the side of the Lodge at Prince’s. Luke pulled of a miraculous rebound shot off the fence to halve the hole. Poor shots led to two more holes lost and by the turn we were only 1 up. Two lost balls off the tee to start the back nine led to further lost holes and after losing the 15th we were dormie 3 down. Then Alex hit his 8 iron very close on the 16th to win there, and then Luke got up and down from 35 yards to the right of the 17th green to win there as well. So there was still hope, and things were looking good with the opposition in a little trouble, but then Alex’s second shot to the green over shot and was a little to the right into some thick rough, never to be seen again. A loss at the last.
Continuing in the middle was Mark Cohen and Anuj Anand, playing against identical twins Henry and Patrick lee. Again we had a great start winning the first two. However we then lost 3 in a row from the 4th to the 6th with Taunton making birdie on the short par three 5th after which we went out of bounds into the Lodge. After the 6th we were 1 down but then won the 7th and 8th with solid play to be 1 up. We were looking strong on the 9th about 25ft away for birdie and the opposition in the greenside bunker, only for Henry to deliver a body blow by holing the bunker shot. So from expecting to start the back nine 2 up, we were all square. The twins then won 10 and 11 to get to 2 up for the first time as we just missed greens and wound up in tough spots. At that stage only 1 hole had been halved, which was the 3rd. We were in good spots on both the 12th and 13th hoping to win them but Taunton then found something on the greens with Patrick holing from over 30ft for par and a half, then on the next Henry holed from almost 40ft for another half. We won the 14th to get back to 1 down, but could not get back to even losing 2&1 in the end.
Last match out was Micky Tudor and Tom Gladwin who came up against the strongest Taunton pair. Taunton got their noses ahead early and never made enough mistakes to let us back into the contest. A comfortable win in the end for the opposition.
The match was closer than the scoreline would show. Once again we stuttered at the second hurdle in the plate. We have reached the second round 8 times yet we cannot seem to get past that point. We have now completed in the Plate three years in a row and won the first round convincingly each time.
