A letter from our (past) captain

Words by Tony Smith , Pic by Nic Brook

Dear friends,

Thank you to all of you who made it to the Captain’s Dinner at Brasserie Blanc at the Southbank. The fantastic turnout of 51 members and guests created a wonderful atmosphere for the prize giving and our two fabulous guest speakers.

Former captain and trailblazing member, Liz Kahn, gave a compelling account of how life was for her as a journalist and would-be member of our society. It was uplifting to hear how her dogged determination had got her through so many difficult situations. And we also heard a very funny speech from Royal Liverpool captain and PGS member Alastair Machray.

The warm and friendly evening was a fitting end to my year as custodian of the chain of office. I was pleased to be able to thank so many people for the important part they played in helping me through 12 months littered with highlights.

If I could pick out two events which really helped make it such a joy they would be my Captain’s Day and, of course, the Wryter Cup.

We were fortunate enough to have a warm and sunny day on the South Downs as we battled a hilly and tricky set up at Mannings Heath. I was proud to share with so many friends the place I call my golfing home.

The Wryter Cup at Granville, in Normandy, was a most remarkable few days. The French were excellent hosts, the food, drink and camaraderie were all excellent and so was the course. The weather, not so, with 40mph winds and horizontal driving rain on the Monday. 

The record books will show that we didn’t quite get enough points to bring the trophy home but we did return with our pride in tact after giving them a very close run. I am exceptionally proud of everyone in our team, which was a mixture of experience and three rookies. Well done to Ben Todd, Mike Waker and Neil White for embracing the occasion so well.

As I said in my farewell speech, the PGS isn’t just about winning pots of silver. I hope that, more than that, everyone likes to mingle with men and women from the same profession, who love golf and to tell the inane, sometimes serious, often preposterous but always entertaining stories that attracted us all to this profession. 

I am delighted to pass the baton of captaincy to Jamie Weir. 

I know Jamie will have a wonderful year at the helm and I have the upmost confidence in him and his team to regain the Wryter Cup at Royal Dornoch next autumn.

Thank you all once again,

Tony 

Pics by Nic Brook and selfie from a freezing Taunton Railway station by Jamie Weir.

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Fun & Funds at the scramble!

Words Tim Allan, Pic Nick Toksvig

In a field flooded with single figure players, a team of three 20-plus handicappers took the honours at our Christmas Scramble.

With three teams recording net scores of 59 (yes…59!!), the winners on countback were James Bartholomew and his guests Charles Pender and Tom Dean.

James said: “I can hardly believe it! We were planning to leave early, never thinking we’d have a chance in such an illustrious field, but when word filtered out that we were in with a chance we were very happy to stay. What a lovely day!”

The Scramble was played at Worplesdon for the first time, because our usual venue, The Berkshire, was having work done on the clubhouse and could not provide food – always an essential part of our Scramble day!

Worplesdon proved a superb venue for us, with the course in excellent condition for mid-November. The food was excellent and the bonhomie as convivial as always!

James and his team, playing off 15 per cent of their combined handicaps and receiving 11 shots, pipped the two other teams who scored 59 – Evan Samuel with guests Rob Wall, Tom Wood and Maurice Brett, who played off 10 per cent of combined handicap and received five shots; and James Nursey, with guests James Smith, Chatree Selahom and Nick De Villiers, who played off scratch.

Nev Appleton, Tony Smith, Mike ‘Harry Potter’ Waker and Colin Hancock, playing off seven, were fourth with a net score of 60.

After lunch, Ian McIlgorm stepped up to the auctioneer’s rostrum (well, a large table covered with tat) and led us to raise more than £3,000 for the Journalists’ Charity – a magnificent effort by all concerned.

It’s looking highly likely we’ll be back at Worplesdon for the Scramble next year, because The Berkshire have just told us that they won’t allow four-person team Scrambles any more!

The full, confirmed fixture list will be published on the website (pressgs.co.uk) as soon as it’s nailed down, as well as in the newsletter.

 

 

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Nation’s Cup 2025 – First details

The planning for next year’s Nation’s Cup is already well underway, and Nick Buckley is going to captain our team to The Netherlands for the October golf on the amazing Isle of Texel.

To read the brochure giving dates and details for the trip, click on this link: Brochure_Nations_Cup_2025.

Anyone interested, contact Nick at nickbuckley2012@hotmail.com or Jonny Bramley at jonathanbramley63@gmail.com. An amazing time is guaranteed!

 

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Par–Tee in Portugal!

The official team photo the night before the action started in earnest – Mark Lomas was yet to arrive – what could possibly go wrong…

The sun shone, the courses were spectacular and although the hospitality didn’t quite match the high standard set in Italy last year, the PGS team thoroughly enjoyed their recent trip to Portugal.

The European Press Championships (or EMGJ as it’s officially called – European Masters for Golf playing Journalists) were last week held over 2 courses an hour north of Lisbon: Praia D’el Rey and Royal Óbidos.

This is allegedly the ‘serious’ counterpart to last year’s Nations Cup and with only 75% handicap allowance the scoring was understandably low. We enjoyed practice rounds in warm sunny weather over both courses before getting down to business.

Twelve teams from across Europe were competing: UK, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic and a strong French team stacked with Wryter Cup regulars.

On day 1 at Praia d’El Rey players were randomly grouped together with other nations – it was the luck of the draw whether you had a friendly Austrian woman who sprayed schnapps into your mouth every time someone made a birdie, or a dour German who didn’t speak all round unless someone went close to treading on his line.

Only one of our team – Christian Fraser – got to 30 points but with the ability to discard our worst 2 scores we were in a respectable 7th place after Day 1.

We were all teamed up with mid-table rivals Netherlands, Austria and The Czech Republic on Day 2 and with the wind getting up, Royal Óbidos with its expanse of water became an even tougher challenge. Overtaking the Dutch was within our grasp but we were also looking over our shoulders at the Austrians and Czechs behind.

Despite a below-par performance from Captain Bubbles, Keith Malone’s 28 and consistent scoring from Christian again, Nev Appleton & Sheena Quinn meant that although we were unable to overhaul the Netherlands we at least maintained 7th.

Very impressive though was France’s Guillaume Michel whose 35 pts (2 over gross) helped the APG to a dominant overall victory.

Once again the PGS led the way in the bar, consistently the last ones standing and while the food and ‘entertainment’ were less than impressive we made the most of it and had a lot of fun over the week.

Looking ahead to the Nations Cup next year, it’s being played in the Netherlands on a traditional links course on the island of Texel, a couple of hours drive from Amsterdam. Unfortunately it clashes with the Wryter Cup which will make it harder to put out a team.

The great news though is that Nick Buckley has offered to Captain the side, and will be very keen to find willing team members.

I guarantee that anyone who makes the journey will have a fantastic time courtesy of the Dutch hosts.

Words by Jonny Bramley

Gallery below from all the team!

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