OC Golf Weekly Report - 10th and 12th July

Match v Old Salopians & Old Haileyburians – Thursday 10th July 2025 at Hadley Wood GC 

It was a roaster at Hadley Wood probably reaching 34 degrees at the hottest point in the day. Both the OCs and the Old Haileyburians had a pair in their mid 30s, which is great to see. Omer Tiroche (QG 2010) and Mitch Pinder (MG 2011) were the younger OC pair, and they were sent out with the younger OH pair as the opening grouping. Once again it was decided that we will count only three of the four scores per school which we did last year. There were no standout individual scores this year, 41 points was the best score, which was achieved by six pairs on the day, exactly two 41s per team. As a result it all came down to the third best score for each team, with Haileybury coming out as winners as their third best score was a 38, whereas the Old Salopians had a 37 to lose by one. Unfortunately, the OCs took home the wooden spoon. 

Match v Old Aldenhamians – Saturday 12th July 2025 at Ashridge Golf Club 

We always get a warm welcome at Ashridge and the atmosphere with the OAs is always very friendly. Out first was Anuj Anand (HG 1986) and Akash Saha (NG 2009) playing against Mike Beavis and Shon Williams, both Ashridge members. An even match on paper with no shots given, both teams started well with the OCs 1 under gross through 5 and the OAs level par. By the 8th hole we were all even but then the opposition won two holes in a row to give them a buffer. We fought back a little but were thwarted by courter punches including a 4 iron from 190 yards on the 14th by Mike Beavis to 3ft to win that hole with a birdie. They closed it out the match on the 16th.  

Howard Olivere (NG 1966) was next with regular partner Mark Walton (FG 1971). They got ahead early and maintained a gap; into the back nine they got to 3 up through 14, however using their 9 shots the OAs of Ian Eggleden and Dick Hall fought back to take it down the last, but the OCs held on to win it there.  

Out third was Golf Society Captain for the year Chris Harris (MG 1978) playing with Gerald Wingrove (NG 1967). They were up against a very steady Aldenham pair of John Yule and Lawson Shepherd. Both teams played under their handicaps which resulted in a close match, and it was in fact all square at the turn. In the second half Highgate started to take charge winning key holes to come home with a 2&1 win.  

Last off in the morning was Robin Goodfellow (TL 1960) with Marc Thomas (SH 1970). Robin pulled a muscle in his leg during the game, and we struggled to a 4&3 loss. 

Captain Chris teamed up with Marc Thomas in match one against Steve Lewis, who only joined in the afternoon with Shon Williams. The OCs dominated this game with good golf reaching 6 up at the turn only to lose two in a row. We recovered to win the 12th and ended up winning 6&4. Second pair was Gerald and Akash up against members Mike Beavis and John Yule. This was just one way traffic, a dominant performance with the OC pair on fire, parring most holes. Not only did we get 5 shots in the match, Aldenham missed some key putts leading to us being 7 up after 9 holes. The match ended shortly afterwards with Highgate winning 7&6. 

In third on his own was Anuj giving 8 shots in a 12 hole match, basically every hole which was not a par 3. Anuj did very well to hold them to all square despite a couple of pars on shot holes from the OAs. Then just at the business end the OAs delivered a couple of killer blows, with a shot on the 9th Lawson hit his approach to 2.5ft; there in net 1. Then similarly, on the par four 10th Jack hit his approach to 6ft again for nett 1. That was dormie two and the OAs halved the next for a 2&1 win. The last match was the 9 hole match with Howard and Wally up against both Ians for the OAs. Again, a challenge to give 5 shots over 9 holes, however Howard and Mark maintained their good golf from the morning and despite the OAs being very steady it was a 2&1 win for us. All square at lunch; it could have gone anyway, but two resounding victories in the first two matches and with our strongest pair last we held on the take back the cup.