The first event of the 2023 season was completed last Monday, namely the BEGS Sandwich Tour 2023. 18 brave souls met at Princes, Sandwich, under slightly foggy skies, and were able to enjoy very good conditions on a truly fabulous Open Championship course with fantastic accommodation and hospitality in the Lodge.

Due to some last minute injuries, there was spot space available and we welcomed Phil McDonnell into our ranks for the first time. It was also encouraging that for this second holding of the event we were able to increase numbers from the 12 last year up to 20 players.

All the participants were split into two teams, North and South (of the River Thames), and they went head to head under the respective captaincies of Hon Secretary Penders and 2023 Vice-Captain Trevor. Sufficiently refreshed with a latte and sausage sandwich, both teams contrived to end the Sunday round on the Dunes and Himalayas all square (two wins each and one halved match). There was also individual glory at stake with young Neil Harper the leader in the clubhouse on 36 points. Ben Dudman and Bob Childs followed with 34 and Chris Cox on 33.

Everyone enjoyed an excellent evening meal with copious quantities of London Pride and Jim Stewart’s extra meal enjoyed by one and all.

So all to play for on the Monday.

Having tucked into the traditional Full English, the 2nd round was delayed by early morning fog as we tackled the Himalayas & the Shores, with visibility limited to about 170-200 yards for the first few holes. However, very thoughtfully, Paul Farren’s apricot shell-suit stood out like a beacon for all to see and the match got under way about 45 minutes later than planned. There was some excellent golf played and it was very tight indeed with the overall result going down to the wire. It fell to Hon Treasurer Coxy and the eternally young James Greenly to bring home the match for the South when they won their game 2 and 1 on the 17th against individual leader Harp playing with Mr Simister (who lost the head off his 3-wood during the round). On the final green the putt of the day was by Phil who holed the below whopper to clinch an unexpected win for the South.

The Monday singles went to Peter Hirons with an awesome 41 points! He was followed in by Coxy and Harper - both on 37. This resulted in the overall singles winner being Neil Harper on 73 points. For this he received the magnificent (and newly broken) Sandwich Man trophy (which Neil has expertly repaired and probably hidden away in his garage). Second place was Coxy on 70 points with Peter Hirons & Ben Dudman on 69 points.

Nearest the pin was won by Hon Sec Penders whose 9 iron shot just made it onto the green and ended a few inches short of an ace (just as well he didn’t flush it properly as that would have cleared the green!). David Knights smoked a huge drive to win the coveted Longest Drive.

This event is proving very popular and it’s great for us all to get together early in the year, particularly now that the dinner has moved to the end of the season. The meeting has been re-booked for 4/5 February 2024 and is currently full - we can only hope for a third year of good weather!

The new website has the current list up upcoming matches and meetings. Anybody interested in playing in a specific match or meeting, please go to the website and via the Events page, scroll to the relevant event, open the page and you should see a REGISTER button.