Luffenham Heath GC and The George Hotel

Report by Nick Copestick (Ldr ’69)

 

Altogether 43 members took part in the weekend including eight ‘young’ members. Three Oundle pupils were able to play in the Friday afternoon foursomes and 29 of us sat down to the usual excellent dinner in the London Room at The George Hotel.

 

We were lucky with the weather again for both days, with mainly sunny conditions, but the occasional squally shower on the Saturday didn’t spoil any golf. The difficulty of Luffenham is reflected in the slope-rating, so most of us received a generous playing handicap: just four gross scores in the 70s shows how tough it now is.

 

Many congratulations to James Simpson-Dent, playing Luffenham for the first time, who carded a very impressive 75 to win the Scratch Cup, while another first-timer and young player, Rory Potter (St A ’24), picked up the Dove Stableford Cup with 38 points (77 gross). Other youngsters to feature on the podium were Thomas Kemp (L ’24), James Wass (F ’24), Tanveer Sira (L ’21) and Freddie Shaw, a pupil.

 

There are nine trophies to be competed for altogether over the weekend, some specifically for us older combatants – great to see Nigel Hetherington, Ian Barlow and Bob Ellis among the winners too – while Nick Whalley (not an oldster!) shot 77 gross which landed him the Handicap Cup.

 

Here, we should thank Alastair Gordon-Stewart for taking on the restoration of a couple of our cups, which needed repair. This year, a ‘ball-sweep’ was introduced, allowing good quality golf balls to be awarded to the first three places in each individual competition.

 

Once again, our thanks go to Steve Carr for liaising with the club and Shane Dodd for organising our accommodation and dinner at the hotel and to President Peter Pentecost for collating the scores and presenting the prizes.

 

 

Results of the OOGS 2025 Annual Weekend Competitions:

 

Friday September 12th

 

The Grocers’ Handicap Foursomes:

  1. John Crawley & Nigel Hetherington (37 points)
  2. Richard Matthews & Freddie Shaw* (36 points, on back 9)
  3. Steve Carr & James Wass (36 points)

 

Hughes Salvers (best net scores on the Par 3s):

  1. Ian Barlow & Thomas Kemp (9 points, on back 9)
  2. Alastair Gordon-Stewart & Tanveer Sira (9 points)

 

*pupil at Oundle School

 

Saturday September 13th

 

Scratch Cup:

  1. James Simpson-Dent (75)
  2. Rory Potter (77, on back 9)
  3. Nick Whalley (77)

 

Handicap Cup (gross score minus ‘playing’ handicap):

  1. Nick Whalley (net 67)
  2. Rory Potter (net 68)
  3. Nick Copestick (net 69)

 

Dove Stableford Trophy:

  1. Rory Potter (38 points)
  2. Nick Copestick (37 points)
  3. Nigel Hetherington, Bob Ellis (35 points)

 

The Shaw/Boddington Trophy – Old Boys Cup (Over 55’s):

  1. Nick Copestick (net 69)
  2. Nigel Hetherington (net 71)
  3. Barry Peak (net 72, on back 9)

 

The J Pounder Trophy (Over 65’s):

  1. Bob Ellis (35 points, on back 9)
  2. Nigel Hetherington (35 points)
  3. Mike Williams (34 points)

 

The Boddington Trophy (Under 25’s)

  1. Rory Potter (38 points)
  2. Thomas Kemp (35 points, on back 9)
  3. James Simpson-Dent (35 points)

 

The Copestick House Claret Jug for the 3 best combined stableford scores:

  1. Crosby: Duncan Smith (31), Cavan Browne (34) & Nick Whalley (39), total 104 points
  2. Anthony: Rory Potter (38), Robert Barrell (30) & Peter Pentecost (30). total 98 points
  3. Laxton: Michael Outar (27), Will Butler (34), Thomas Kemp (35), total 96 points