NEWS ARCHIVES





News for 2008

12th December 2008
The format for the day was a fun team competition combined with the normal 18 hole indivdual stableford competition. Each team consisted of 3 people. The team scored by taking the Stableford points from a different indivdual in turn. For example, Player A's score on hole 1 would count to the team score, Player B's on 2nd hole, Player C's on the 3rd, and then back to Player A's on the 4th. When a player was playing the hole for the team they had to use the team "Yellow Ball". The Stableford score gained when using this "Yellow Ball" was doubled and added to the team score. When the "Yellow Ball" was lost, the team carried on scoring but the "Yellow Ball score" was not doubled. Hope that's as clear as mud!!!!

The team competition was surprisingly close all the way through the table, with all teams ranging from 61 to 68 points.

The winning team with 68 points was Mark Harris, Bryan Carter and Tony Browne. Congratulations to them, even though it was an eventful round for them. How they won with the start they had God Knows!. On the 1st Mark pulled it miles left into thick trees, but they found it and recovered with a solid blob! On the 2nd Tony decided it was his turn to try and lose the yellow ball, so he sliced it right into the trees. They found it and managed to get it back on the fairway, Tony decided to have another go and pushed it right into trees and very nearly put it into some water. A relieved Tony was happy to pass Bryan the yellow ball with another solid blob. On the 7th the group decided to let through the group behind whilst the scoured the area for their yellow-ball which was plugged a couple of inces down in the ground. After that auspicious start there was some solid play from Bryan, Mark & Tony to come back with 40 pts on back nine-no doubt inspired by several bouts of traditional Bryan Carter club throwing!

In parallel to the team competition the normal hole prizes and individual competition was happening.

First of is the "hole" winners. Nearest the Pin on the 14th was won by Chris Turvill. The Longest Drive was not surprisngly one yet again by Mark Harris. Lastly Nearest the Pin in 2 Shots was taken by Bryan Carter for the second year running.

Finally we get to the individual stableford competition. The conditions were tricky with the greens and fairways being of incosistent solidity, start of the round quite frosty and frozen, although thawing out quick soon. Even with conditions like this, the spread of scores was still very impressive, with a range of 24 to 37 points, with 12 players over 30 points. However, only 2 players equalled or bettered handicap. 2nd place with a handicap equalling score of 36 points, was Darren Anderson. Now to the winner.

On the course all was going well with the Vice Captain's plan to regain the title with 2 birdies in the first 13 holes and lots of points in the bag. Anyway the Vice Captain is in the last group and scores start to filter back to him that 36 points is the mark to beat. Uh oh he thinks "I'm going to get a big cut here'. So Plan B comes into fruition, Operation Handicap Protection is in place. 6 points in the last 6 holes works well and Frazer wins the Xmas event by 1 point and gains the least handicap cut. Not so sure his team mates were overjoyed though, 'Frazer 3 putted the last from 7 feet, cost me a Magners!' said one.

And so the winner, with a-not-so-handicap-sandbagging round of 37 (still got cut 2 shots!) was Frazer Webb - the winner for the second year running.

Well done to all the winners, and thanks for a great event to round off the season.

Thanks to our new Editor-in-Chief, Bryan Carter, for the event write-up.


The entire results can be found on the results page.

Although this event does not count towards the Order of Merit, the scores are eligible for handicap adjustment. The Handicap page has also been updated with the 2009 pre-season adjustments.

12th November 2008
The 2008 AGM was held on the 12th November 2008. The minutes can be found here.

8th October 2008
A bizarrely warm and sunny day welcomed us to The Drift. After a poor turnout for September's event, it was good to see a healthy number of players make the trip to darkest Surrey.

Everyone must have been asleep because the only news from the roving reporters was:
  • The sight of Colin Turvill running back down a fairway to retrieve not just 1, but 3 clubs that he'd left by the side of the previous green!


    • And to the last winners of the season - and a slightly odd situation. The overall winner of the event was Stuart Johnstone with a 5-over handicap round of 76. Well done to Stuart. However, Stuart was a guest and as such could not officially win the trophy for the event. This went to the second place person, Tony Peters - who also had a 5-over handicap round of 76. Well done to Tony and to Stuart.

    Unlike last month, all 3 of the hole prizes had winners. Longest Drive was won by Stuart Johnstone, Nearest The Pin in 2 Shots by Paul Donlevy, and Nearest The Pin won by Jim Samuel. Well done to those who played well and won something.

    As this was the last scoring event of the year, we also had the result of the Order of Merit. For the last few months it has been led by Bryan Carter, and coming into the final event there was only two people who could mathematically beat him. Mark Harris, who unfortunately couldn't play the last event and Frazer Webb who played but should have stayed at home!! So well done to Bryan for a consistent 2008 performance.

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    Next event is the 2008 Christmas Bash at Downshire on 12th December. See you there.!!



    1st September 2008
    A warm blustery day welcomed the Bad Back Golf Society to Flackwell. Recurring back injuries were the order of the day affecting a number of players, and incapcitating Mark Harris before even getting to the course. Best wishes to all for a speedy recovery.

    For some reason the turn-out was poor, but apparently it was no specific reason that caused this, so hopefully we'll be a bit more back to normal numbers next month.

    News from the course:
  • Frazer Webb on the 9th. Stuck his second shot in the green-side bunker. Trouble was couldn't find it in the bunker when he got there, a second examination revealed the ball plugged about 4 inches below the surface!! A very frustrating blob followed!
  • Ian Turvill stuffing a shot on the 3rd hole and ending up on the 4th tee. Dropped of the tee and played the next shot through the trees back onto the 3rd green.
  • Peter Carfrae on the 1st hole, playing his second shot from under a tree. Hit a very nice shot, but unfrotunately it hit his back and ended up back under the same tree.
  • Peter Carfrae's t-shot on the 13th hole ended up 10 feet up a fir tree!
  • Ian Turvill on the 2nd, bent his 2nd shot around the offending tree only to hit his bag.


    • And to the winners. A first for the society with the prize holes. Longest Drive was won by Tony Peters, and Nearest The Pin won by Chris Turvill. However, the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots was won by no-one!! Well done to those who could win something!

    And finally to the overall results: One of the biggest sperads we've had from 11 up to 43 points, with only two players beating handicap. A consistent Bryan Carter bettered his handicap to score 37 points and raise himself to the top of the Order of Merit, but the honours for the day went to a fast improving Josko Bouman with 43 points, and a big handicap cut for next time :-)

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    12th August 2008
    A pissy wet day greeted us at Hartley Wintney, but luck bore out again as the sun came out just after we all started out! A good turn-out again.

    News from the course:
  • Bryan carter hitting a tree with his t-shot and ending up in the middle of the fairway - twice!
  • Ian Turvill managing to drive his ball and bouncing over the only bridge on the fairway!
  • John Waghorn managing to destroy his umbrella by running over it in the car!
  • Tony Browne being heard to say in the club house afterwards "Never ever won a skill prize, does that tell me something!"
    • Sidebar note to this: the first group were standing on the 13th tee when Michael's ball landed! It missed them by 2 feet!

    And to the winners. All the skill prizes went to the same group. Michael Prevost grabbed the Nearest The Pin, Frazer Webb grabbing the Longest Drive and the Nearest The Pin in 2 shots. Well done to them.

    And the overall results, well there was a big spread of scores this time out with a bottom score of 16 ranging to the top score of 37 - a 21 point spread! Only 2 people managed to achieve or better handicap this time out, with 6 others achieving 30 or more points. Well done to Bryan Carter for his winning score of 37 points, and commiserations to Paul Donlevy for his near-run 2nd of 36 points.

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    10th July 2008
    A nice warm sunny day greeted 17 players at Badgemore. A good turn-out again, with 2 first time guests - Darren Cooke and Robert Garrett. Warm welcome to both, and we hope to see you again.

    News from the course:
  • Frazer Webb's t-shot on the 8th sliced so badly it ended up just in front of the group on the 7th. Marvelous recovery shot back onto the 8th green lined up an interesting par!
  • Bryan "Wedge thrower" Carter throwing his wedge further than he hit the ball - 3 times!
  • Robert Garrett on the 11th, with an exocet pitch, which luckily for him hit the pin square on and stopped dead.
  • Darren Anderson on the 1st, teeing off in front of the whole group. Unfortunately Darren did not strike it well, as the ball went one foot forward and 8 foot to the left.
  • Colin Turvill on the 11th trying to decrease the size of the Turvill clan by firing an exocet pitch at his brother and cousin!
  • Josko Bouman somewhere on the course firing a fairway wood straight into the side of Ian Turvill's golf bag, shattering one of the fasteners for the strap and scattering bits of Ian's bag into the wind.
  • Michael Prevost on the 11th sliced his t-shot right. Couldn't find the ball and ended up walking the whole. As Michael stepped onto the 13th tee, he found his ball.
    Sidebar note to this: the first group were standing on the 13th tee when Michael's ball landed! It missed them by 2 feet!


    • And to the winners. Well done to Tim Phllips for breaking the Mark Harris winning the longest Drive habit! Well done to Bryan Carter for the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots, and finally and especially well done was Peter Carfrae who bagged the Nearest The Pin. Well done to those three.

    And the overall results, well there was some good scores this time out, with 5 people playing to or better than handicap, but the top spot went to a top score of 41 points from Ian Turvill. Well done Ian. One last footnote before we move on, and that is to wish Peter Carfrae well as he continues to recover from a dodgy back, which this time out forced him to retire mid way around the course.

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    13th June 2008
    21 players turned up for the Captain's Day at Surbiton bright and early on a crisp morning. In a switch from previous years the Individual competition was held in the morning with the alternative team event in the afternoon.

    News from the course for the morning event included:
  • Chris Turvill's mars incident. Someone (allegedly his brother Matt) had left a mars bar in the bottom of the golf bag. One nice sunny hot day later and Chris had sticky chocolate residue on the grips of all his clubs!
  • Ian Turvill on the 18th, lost his ball in the only greenside shrub for miles around! A pre-longed excavation of the bush found a number of other balls but not Ian's!


    • Also we were able to welcome a number of 1st time guests, including Ken Suzuki, and our first scratch player Chris Hebdon. Welcome to those and our returning guests.

    Passing over to the scorers hut, we see the results. Longest Drive went to guest Ken Suzuki, Nearest the Pin to Paul Donlevy and Nearest the Pin in 2 shots to Tony Peters. Well done to all three players for a timely bit of luck :-). And what of the overall event. A number of players played well but only two bettered their handicap. Bryan Carter with a 1 under handicap 37 points ended up second, but an on-form Matt Turvill pipped Bryan to the top with a 40 point score. Well done Matt, commiserations Bryan. Behind them was a plethora of people over 30 - well done to all those who played reasonably well and commiserations to all those who played crap!


    The afternoon event was a Team competition where each individual played stableford against their full handicap. For the first 6 holes, only the best individual score counted for the team. 7th to 12th required the best 2 scores to count for the team, 13th to 18th though was the toughy as all 3 scores counted for the team. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control the afternoon round was extremely slow - whilst annoying there was very little that could be done.

  • 14th tee saw a frantic Chris Hebdon gesticulating to players on the 16th as Ian Turvill was about to try and play Chris' ball - much to the bemusement (or was that amusement) of some the members!
  • Ian Turvill again, this time on the 18th - good tee shot, scuffed his second, pushed his 3rd right and sunk his 4th to finish off with a par!
    • A couple of hole competitions were played as well, with Chris Turvill (Nearest pin) and Mark Harris (Nearest Pin in 2 shots) taking the honours there.

    No one really knew what to expect from the team competition in terms of the overall scoring, so as each group came in having thought they had played well it was interesting to see the top score gradually rise and rise. In the end the range of scores was between 84 points and 103 points. The winning team was Ian Turvill, Colin Turvill and Michael Prevost. Well done to all those people, and it has to be noted that in the 8 years the society has been running, this is the very first time Colin has ever won anything :-)

    Unfortunately two of the three ball teams reduced in size, as Josko Bouman had to leave a little early, and Peter Carfrae had to retire due to aggravating an old injury in the morning round. Commiserations to Peter, and everyone wishes you good health and a quick recovery.

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    19th May 2008
    A chilly afternoon, but the Windlesham course was in fantastic condition and one of the best courses most had played this year.

    A good turn-out again of 19 players, with one 1st time guest - Nick Rich - welcome Nick.

    There were a few notable excursions:
  • Our Captain, Michael Prevost, for his first shot of the round on the 1st tee, managing to sky a 3 iron, so far left (and short) that he failed to reach the fairway and instead ended up out of bounds in the trees in someone's back garden.
  • Tim Phillips befriending the woodland animals. 9th hole, 2nd shot into the trees .... lost, however, about a minute later the ball was seen to roll back out of the trees!
  • Michael Shepherd found nearly as many balls as he scored points - 20 balls, 22 points!
  • Chris Turvill, winning the nearest the pin in 2 shots, about 4 foot from the hole, and then missed the birdie.


    • And to the winners. Mark Harris grabbed the longest Drive, for the 3rd event running - someone break his driver please! Mark Turvill secured the Nearest the Pin, and Chris Turvill secured the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots (but missed his birdie!). Well done to those 3 players for that.

    But what about the main event? Well, for the first time this year someone actually played under handicap - just the one person, and not surprisingly it was the winning score. Well done to Mark Harris for a 37 point haul. Second was closely fought with 3 players all to handicap, but Tim Phillips won the countback conundrum to finish 2nd. 3rd Paul Donlevy, 4th Steve Dyett. Well done to all the winners and players, and it was finally nice to see some good play this year!

    You can see the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    24th April 2008
    Thunderstorms, lashings of rain, and everyone getting soaking wet ...... well the players who played before the society were. Bright sunshine and clear skies 5 minutes before first tee off! Hah!

    A great turn out saw 21 players, 19 members and 2 guests, at SandMartins for another hotly contested trophy.

    Not a lot of notable events from the course - the highlights being:
  • Frazer Webb trying to play his second shot on the 17th without one foot in the pond! Failing miserable and duffing the 2nd shot into the pond!
  • An amazing performance from Ian Turvill saw him score a monstrous 13 points - but the notable point was that he only used 1 ball for the whole round!! As Ian put it, he was never going to loose the ball, because he just couldn't hit it far enough to get into any trouble :-)
  • Darren Anderson's tee shot to the Nearest the Pin sent Darren of celebrating as he'd got inside the current marker. Unfortunately for Darren, the next person to tee-off, Kevin Gray, got 2 inches inside Darren.


    • And to the winners. Mark Harris grabebd the longest Drive, again! - he won it last month as well. Simon Park secured the Nearest the Pin in 2 shots, and Kevin Gray secured the Nearest the Pin (see how above). Well done to those 3 players for that.

    But what about the main event? Well, unlike last month the winning score was respectable, with Michael Prevost securing the win with 33 poitns. Well done Mike. Second and third places were tight, with Tony Peters securing 2nd on count-back from Chirs Penfold.

    You can see the the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    27th March 2008
    Wow, what a day! In more ways than one. Sleet and snow at the beginning of the week, loads of rain the day before, loads of rain the days straight after the event - but the Sun came out and bathed the day we played in barmy warm sunshine - and no rain!!!! Shame the standard of golf did not match the fine weather :-) More on that later though!

    Another season starts, with what looks like another good set of courses being planned for this year - more details on dates and locations should be distributed very soon. Welcome to a few new members this year - Kevin Gray and Tim Phillips being the two who played this time - it's great to see friends of friends now being introduced to the society - lets keep that going and everyone should be keeping an eye out for potential players whether they end up being guests or members. Let's try and hit the 20 players mark for every remaining event!

    What notable events happened out on the course?
  • As is traditional for us at Mill Ride there was lots of ""Barnes Wallis"ing being done. Peter Carfrae on the 10th, Chris Penfold on the 3rd and the 10th, and probably many more who did not own up to it! Not to mention the many people who failed to master the technique needed to complete the "Dambuster March"!
  • Mark Harris on the 12th getting involved in a bit of betting with his group. The bet was regarding the first to make a par in the group. Mark was desolate - not having even a sniff of a par all round - started the 12th by pulling his drive right and slamming it into a tree. 200 yards to go. Second shot pushed right, thinking it was miles wide of the mark. Only to get to the green and find his ball on the edge. Simple 2 putt and he'd secured his par.
  • Kevin Gray on his debut as a member started his round badly. Blobbing the first, he was just short of the 2nd green in two. A simple lag putt and a hole out would have got his round going well. Unfortunately, his lag putt was about 5 feet from the pin. So 5 feet away after 3 shots. 5 putts later he'd blobbed the hole!
  • Tony Peters digging his escape tunnel on the 2nd by virtue of being deep down in a pot bunker! As far as we know Tony's not quite made it to Australia yet, but he's still trying!
  • Peter Carfrae's invisible ball. Peter's tee-shot ended up in the light rough just off the fairway. 200 yards still to go. Taking out a fairway wood Peter went for the green. Unfortunately after what sounded like a well struck shot his ball was no where to be seen. The onlookers watching were searching the sky in front to see the flight, but his ball had vanished. No hook, no slice! Upon closer inspection the ball was found, 2 inches below where it was at the start of the shot! A topped shot and a bit of very wet ground explained it's disappearance.


    • Enough of the cock-ups - who actually did something right! Well actually no one did - actually that's not true, because we did have winners of the "skill" prizes. How much skill was actually involved is debatable, but Mark Harris stayed on the fairway to grab the Longest Drive, Paul Donlevy hit a simple Pitching Wedge to grab Nearest the Pin, and Chris Turvill came close with his second to grab Nearest the Pin in 2 shots. Well done to those players.

    But what about the main event? Well unfortunately we have a bit of history made. The winning points haul is the lowest ever winning amount ever in the history of the society! Was the course difficult - well yes it is a long course! Were the conditions difficult - although being sunny and dry, the previous days rain had made the ground very soft - so yes there was some difficulty! Were these the reasons for the poor scoring - no idea! Was everyone just crap - probably!!

    It was tight at the top, the top 3 only being separated by 1 point. Jim Samuel and Paul Donlevy both with 27 points, Jim beating Paul to 2nd by virtue of count back. Topping both of those by just one point was Frazer Webb. Frazer pulled off a dazzling score of 28 points, winning only by being less crap on the day than everyone else. Normally an event is won by skillful, good play from the best player on the day; today it was won by someone who managed to be only just a little bit less-crap than everyone else!! You can see the the full set of results on the results page.

    Order of merit is updated, but don't forget the rules this year means the merit does not include guests - only paid up society members are included. Handicap adjustments are also posted.



    5th February 2008
    The minutes from the recent AGM are now available on the Committee page.

    21st January 2008
    Welcome to the Bunkers Web Site for the 2008 Season. The pre-season handicap adjustments have been calculated and are now available in the handicaps section. Very few players have had significant changes, most people moving up or down by less than 0.5 shots. Obviously those that were close to a .0 or .5 threshold are the ones to see a difference. Many people have moved up or down but it has not made a difference to the number of shots they receive once the figure has been rounded up/down as appropriate. Those who did not play more than 5 events in 2007 stay on their 2007 finishing handicap.