My sixth year of having the privilege of looking after the MGS Society Handicaps.  A very strange year due to the Covid 19 pandemic meaning the social side of our golfing events has had to be socially distanced and limited in nature.  Hopefully, some light has appeared at the end of the tunnel with the roll-out of the vaccine commencing in December 2020, so hopefully we can return to a more normal “normal” from the Spring of 2021.

As a golf society we have been lucky in 2020 with just the April & May (lockdown 1) and November (lockdown 2) and December fixture (Waterlogged course) being cancelled/ postponed. We had 36 different people (34 in 2019, 33 in 2018, 38 in 2017 & 39 in 2016) join us this year on our monthly meets – a good number, with some keen new members and some previous members returning to the fold – notably one of the founding fathers of the society Alan Draper.  We can always do with a few more joining the ranks so please do not hesitate to encourage any golfers you know to have a look at the website and get involved if they have the third Friday of each month free and are looking for something to do with it. 16 to 24 for each event is probably the ideal range which we achieved this year with 2 exceptions (10 at Eastbourne Downs in coldest March and early scary times of Covid 19 and 27 at Cooden Beach in sunny August).

The highest scoring event during the year was at Eastbourne Downs where the average stableford score was a good 32.01 (2019: Cooden Beach 35.22; 2018: Seaford 35.48).  The lowest scoring event was at East Brighton with an average score of 27.24 (2019 Hever Castle 28.73 ; 2018: Nevill 26.55;).  The overall average stableford points score for the season was 31.94 (2019: 32.01; 2018: 31.15; 2017: 30.51; 2016: 30.02; 2015: 31.17).

It was again pleasing to see that the silverware for the year was distributed evenly across the membership, this again probably suggest the handicap system is about right.

The highest points score this year was Kelvin Paterson with a massive 44 points at the rapidy re-organised event at Wellshurst having been let down by Hever Castle at the eleventh hour. The best gross score was again by Alan Bigley with a 7 over par 78 at Mannings Heath.

Again, worthy of note was the speed of the rounds this year which were generally conducted at a very good pace – so thank you.

A big thank you to Hon Sec David, Captain James, deputy Mark, Treasurer Tips and Jerry for helping and supporting me throughout the year with the cards etc.  As always worthy of a special mention again is our excellent website orchestrated by Mr. Watkiss which keeps members abreast of events and gives advance notice of tee times and publishes the very latest results.

MGS SILVERWARE WINNERS 2020

Trophy	Winner(s)
Golfer of the Year	Kelvin Paterson
Society Strokeplay Championship	Jerry Watkiss
Society Stableford Competition	Ken Wapling
Captain’s Day Trophy	Brian Day
Anniversary Trophy	Nigel Burnett
Autumn Cup	Not Contested
Spring Cup	Not Played due to Covid restrictions
Mad March Jugs	Not Played (Covid Lockdown 1)
GBH Trophy	Alan Draper & Andy Tippett
Last Chance Trophy	Not Played (waterlogged course)

SOCIETY TOURS 2020

Unfortunately, due to the Covid 19 pandemic no tours were possible in 2020.  Hopefully, we will be able to get away for an event in the Spring of 2020 with the dates for the diary being the 23-25 May 2021.

 

INDIVIDUAL MONTHLY WINNERS 2020

Month	Course			Individual Winner	Score	Runner Up	Score
Jan-20	North Downs			Kevin Leftley	40	Micky Mann	38
Feb-20	East Brighton			Micky Mann	36	Mark Hughes	35
Mar-20	Eastbourne Downs			James Gallifant	38	Micky Mann	35
Apr-20	Dale Hill			Covid 19 No Event (Lockdown 1)
May-20	Copthorne
Jun-20	Wellshurst			Kelvin Paterson	44	Sandi Hoolahan	37
Jul-20	The Darenth (Strokeplay)			Jerry Watkiss	74 (+2)	Micky Mann	77 (+5)
	The Darenth (Stableford)			Ken Wapling	37	Chris Buck	37
Aug-20	Cooden Beach (Freddie Jones Captains Day)			Brian Day	38	Sandi Hoolahan	37
Sep-20	Highwoods (Anniversary Trophy)			Nigel Burnett	39	Kelvin Paterson	37
Oct-20	Mannings Heath (GBH Trophy)			Alan Bigley	38	Andy Tippett	36
Nov-20	Seaford Head			Covid 19 No Event (Lockdown 2)
Dec-20	Dewlands Manor			Cancelled - Waterlogged

At our monthly meets we had a different winner for each event - 9 different winners.

TEAM WINNERS 2020

Month	Course	Team Winners	Score	Team Runners Up	Score
Jan-20	North Downs	Kevin Leftley, Kelvin Patterson & James Gallifant	82	Micky Mann, Tim Gorringe & Ash Head	76
Feb-20	East Brighton	Kevin Leftley, Micky Mann & Tom Bennett	81	Mark Hughes, Rob Montagu, Steve Smith & James Gallifant	73
Mar-20	Eastbourne Downs	No Team Event		No Team Event
Apr-20	Dale Hill	Covid 19 No Event (Lockdown 1)
May-20	Copthorne
Jun-20	Wellshurst	Andrew Burnett, Kevin Leftley, Steve Smith & Andy Williams	117	James Gallifant, Will Lund, Kelvin Paterson & Graham Meadows	115
Jul-20	The Darenth (Strokeplay)	Chris Buck, Tony Coggill & David Howroyd	79	Ken Wapling, Sandi Hoolahan & Tom Bennett	77
	The Darenth (Stableford)
Aug-20	Cooden Beach (Freddie Jones Captains Day)	Andy Tippett, Brian Day & Alan Bigley	86	James Gallifant, Ben Gallifant & Kelvin Paterson	77
Sep-20	Highwoods (Anniversary Trophy)	Nigel Burnett, Chris Buck & Dereck Coppard	82	Kelvin Paterson, Ken Wapling, John Collingwood & Brian Day	82
Oct-20	Mannings Heath (GBH Trophy)	Alan Draper & Andy Tippett	49	James Gallifant & Jerry Watkiss	49
Nov-20	Seaford Head	Covid 19 No Event (Lockdown 2)
Dec-20	Dewlands Manor	Cancelled - Waterlogged

 

The big team player this year was Kevin Leftley winning three events with Andy Tippett and Chris Buck both being on the winning team twice. 17 different members were on a winning team this year which is good to see.  Worthy of note is the “biggest and best loser” prize goes to Captain James who was on one winning team this year but managed to drag his team(s) back from the jaws of victory to come second on four occasions over the year (just joking)!!

MGS 2020 APPERANCES (EXCLUDING DEWLANDS)

Overall attendance has been very good with the average monthly meeting attendance being 17.5 (2019: 16.2). The highest was 27 at Cooden Beach in August with the lowest being a hardcore 10 at Eastbourne Down in March just before lockdown!!

Player	App
MANN. Michael	8
LEFTLEY, Kevin	7
GALLIFANT, James	7
BURNETT, Andrew	7
PATERSON, Kelvin	7
COLLINGWOOD, John	7
HUGHES, Mark	6
BIGLEY, Alan	6
HOOLAHAN, Sandy	6
BUCK, Chris	5
WATKISS, Jerry	5
WILLIAMS, Andy	5
BENNETT, Tom	5
SMITH, Steve	5
MONTAGU, Rob	5
BURNETT, Nigel	4
HOWROYD, David	4
MEADOWS, Graham	4
COGGILL, Tony	4
GORRINGE, Tim	4
DAY,  Brian	3
TIPPETT, Andy	3
WAPLING, Ken	3
HAWKINS, Kevin	3
COPPARD, Dereck	2
GOULDING, Frank	2
LAYEN, Pat	2
CUDMORE, Peter	2
CHRISTIAN, Des	2
HEAD, Ash (guest)	1
BONE. Bernie (guest)	1
DRAPER, Alan	1
GALLIFANT, Ben (guest)	1
HEAD. David (guest)	1
LUNN, Will	1
WAPLING, Greg (guest)	1

MGS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2020 (BEST FOUR ROUNDS)

In a tricky Covid hit year 20 players still managed to get in at least four qualifying rounds for the overall player of the year trophy

Player	App	Av	Points	Scores
PATERSON, Kelvin	7	36.50	146	44-37-35-30
LEFTLEY, Kevin	7	35.75	143	40-35-34-34
MANN. Michael	8	35.75	143	38-36-35-34
BUCK, Chris	5	35.25	141	37-36-34-34
GALLIFANT, James	7	34.50	138	38-34-34-32
HUGHES, Mark	6	34.50	138	36-35-35-32
BURNETT, Andrew	7	33.75	135	36-34-33-32
HOOLAHAN, Sandy	6	33.75	135	37-37-34-27
WATKISS, Jerry	5	33.25	133	36-34-34-29
BIGLEY, Alan	6	32.75	131	38-33-30-30
WILLIAMS, Andy	5	32.00	128
BURNETT, Nigel	4	31.50	126
BENNETT, Tom	5	30.75	123
HOWROYD, David	4	30.75	123
COLLINGWOOD, John	7	30.00	120
SMITH, Steve	5	29.75	119
MEADOWS, Graham	4	28.50	114
MONTAGU, Rob	5	28.50	114
COGGILL, Tony	4	26.00	104
GORRINGE, Tim	4	25.25	101

 

Congratulations go to a very deserving Kelvin Paterson who edged out Kevin Leftley and Micky Mann (the latter being the handicap sec – so Kelvin’s card is marked for 2021 !!).  Kelvin posting one of just two 40+ point rounds this year which helped of course plus being able to perm his 4-best rounds from 7 helps.

MGS OVERALL AVERAGES (TOTAL SCORES DIVIDED BY TOTAL APPEARANCES)

Player	App	Average
BUCK, Chris	5	33.80
DAY,  Brian	3	33.67
MANN. Michael	8	33.50
LEFTLEY, Kevin	7	33.43
HUGHES, Mark	6	32.83
TIPPETT, Andy	3	32.33
GALLIFANT, James	7	32.00
WATKISS, Jerry	5	32.00
HEAD, Ash (guest)	1	32.00
BURNETT, Andrew	7	31.71
BURNETT, Nigel	4	31.50
COPPARD, Dereck	2	31.50
BIGLEY, Alan	6	31.33
WILLIAMS, Andy	5	31.20
WAPLING, Ken	3	31.00
BONE. Bernie (guest)	1	31.00
HOOLAHAN, Sandy	6	30.83
HOWROYD, David	4	30.75
BENNETT, Tom	5	30.20
PATERSON, Kelvin	7	30.00
DRAPER, Alan	1	30.00
GOULDING, Frank	2	29.00
SMITH, Steve	5	28.80
MEADOWS, Graham	4	28.50
LAYEN, Pat	2	27.50
MONTAGU, Rob	5	26.80
COLLINGWOOD, John	7	26.71
HAWKINS, Kevin	3	26.33
COGGILL, Tony	4	26.00
GALLIFANT, Ben (guest)	1	26.00
GORRINGE, Tim	4	25.25
HEAD. David (guest)	1	25.00
CUDMORE, Peter	2	21.50
LUNN, Will	1	20.00
WAPLING, Greg (guest)	1	20.00
CHRISTIAN, Des	2	18.50

Congratulations to Chris Buck who tops the table in terms of consistency. 21 players averaged 30+ (27 in 2019) which is very good indeed.

40 POINT PLUS CLUB 2020

Name	Course	Score
PATERSON, Kelvin	Wellshurst	44
LEFTLEY, Kevin	North Downs	40

As expected with the disruption to the year a much reduced 40+ points club with just 2 players hitting that milestone which is down from 7 last year.  Congratulations to Kelvin and Kevin for achieving these dizzy heights.

SPECIALIST EVENTS 2020

With handling markers problematic in the midst of the Covid 19 Pandemic the specialist events suffered greatly.  The list below is where we were able to play these events safely which was limited this year.

NEAREST THE PIN 2020

Month	Course	Nearest the Pin
Jan-20	North Downs	John Collingwood
Feb-20	East Brighton	Kevin Leftley
Oct-20	Mannings Heath	Jerry Watkiss

LONGEST DRIVE

Month	Course	Longest Drive
Jan-20	North Downs	Andrew Burnett
Feb-20	East Brighton	Andrew Burnett
Oct-20	Mannings Heath	Alan Bigley

5 different winners across the 6 competitions with Andrew Burnett eating the most spinach this year (I think the audience for this will get the Popeye reference!)

2020 EAGLES, BIRDIES AND TWOS!

Again, for something to do in lockdown and as less trains are running to go spotting I have also recorded all the eagles, birdies and two’s achieved during the 2020 season.  The results are below although we did not have an eagle this year (two in 2019): -

Player	Birdies
MANN. Michael	9
BIGLEY, Alan	6
BURNETT, Andrew	5
BUCK, Chris	3
COGGILL, Tony	3
DRAPER, Alan	2
HOOLAHAN, Sandy	2
HUGHES, Mark	2
LEFTLEY, Kevin	2
PATERSON, Kelvin	2
WATKISS, Jerry	2
WILLIAMS, Andy	2
HOWROYD, David	1
MEADOWS, Graham	1
WAPLING, Ken	1

 

Player	Two's
COGGILL, Tony	2
BUCK, Chris	1
PATERSON, Kelvin	1
HOWROYD, David	1

Micky Mann is the birdie king this year with Tony Coggill being the par three expert.

MGS SOCIETY MEMBER HANDICAPS @ DECEMBER 2020

Player	Handicap
BIGLEY, Alan	8
DRAPER, Alan	11
VALENTINE, Carl	11
HAWKINS, Kevin	13
WATKISS, Jerry	15
MANN. Michael	15
STAPLEHURST, Malc	15
LEFTLEY, Kevin	16
BURNETT, Andrew	16
GORRINGE, Tim	17
BOND, Alan	17
WILLIAMS, Andy	18
HUGHES, Mark	18
COPPARD, Dereck	18
BUCK, Chris	19
LAYEN, Pat	20
SMITH, Steve	21
PATERSON, Kelvin	21
HILLMAN, Paul	21
HOOLAHAN, Sandy	21
DAY,  Brian	21
COGGILL, Tony	22
BURNETT, Nigel	23
WAPLING, Ken	24
TIPPETT, Andy	25
HOWROYD, David	24
BATCHELDER, Tony	26
BENNETT, Tom	26
MEADOWS, Graham	26
GALLIFANT, James	27
CUDMORE, Peter	26
GOULDING, Frank	28
CHRISTIAN, Des	28
COLLINGWOOD, John	28
LUNN, Will	28
MONTAGU, Rob	28

Really nice to see the quality of golf played by the membership during 2020 with a good mix and spread of handicaps.