The final week of September saw a welcome return to play against a number of the Society's much-loved opponents. On Monday 21st and Tuesday 22nd September, Royal Porthcawl was the venue for a two day visit in the most glorious weather. As always the welcome was wonderful and the course near-perfect, The sun shone for two days, old friendships were renewed and after a losing first day, the Society came back strongly to win the match 6.5 to 3.5 - a fantastic turnaround after being 3 - 2 down at the end of Day 1. It was great to see Tony Lewis in such great form. Our team was Bryan Richardson, Nigel Cowley, Roy Dexter, Tim Wren, Nigel Ross, Trevor Tunnicliffe, Richard Baker, Bill Merry, Neil Burns and, last but by no means least, Wayne Osman.
Thursday 24th September saw an 8 man side travel down to Royal Ashdown Forest to take on the Ladies. After heavy early morning rain, the sun was out by the time we took to the course and some excellent Greensomes golf was played in the best possible spirit. A convivial socially distanced lunch was then provided but before we could venture out to the West Course for some more golf, the heavens opened and common sense prevailed. The result was a 2.5 to 1.5 win to the Ladies, who as always were marvellous hosts.. Our team was Chris Goldie, Richard Baker, Neil Burns, Tim Tremlett, Jon Hardy, Craig Jones, Society debutant Adam London and last-minute guest Sean Darlington.
Friday 25th September and a team of 6 featuring Frank Collyer, John Lever, Bill Merry, Neil Burns, Andy Needham and Tim Smith were triumphant by 2 matches to 1. As always, and despite the restrictions, the welcome from the members of Brookmans was fantastic. The weather wasn't brilliant but the course was in fine nick and a good day was had by all.
On Sunday 27th September, the Society was able to enjoy the splendours of the Berkshire and so maintain our record of 74 consecutive visits to this fabulous club for a match that had been cancelled in April. With possibly the youngest CCGS side for many a year, featuring 4 current players, we took to the courses with high hopes and, all in all, there was some great golf played in both the morning and the afternoon. Sadly we were unable to win - the hosts taking the match 7.5 to 4.5 - but everyone involved had a memorable day. The Society's side was Bryan Richardson, John Simpson, Will Jacks, Laurie Evans, Harry Came, Nigel Ross, Chris Goldie, Ian Hodgson, Stuart Waterton, Jonathan Wileman, Neil Burns and Craig Jones.
So, all in all, 26 members of the CCGS (plus one guest) have turned out for us in the last week and there is more to come as we head into October. Fingers crossed that we can survive any further restrictions and continue to catch up with old adversaries and team mates for another month at least.
