Wow – unbelievable weather and unbelievable rough!

The pandemic enforced change in timing this year coincided with fabulous September temperatures, verdant fairways and knee-high rough, providing a valid excuse for  those teams  named and shamed for slow play.

Once again we were drawn on the Friday, enabling a valuable practice match against a strong Harrow team on the Thursday at Princes. Our hot shot pairing of Swinney and Suther-Jones (unbeaten in the HH) made interesting progress losing 7 balls!

After a particularly ropey bacon sandwich on Friday we were ready for the 07:50 tee off against Clifton at Deal. With no  success on the first hole by any pair (even par was beaten by a birdie in match 3) we began to find some rhythm. Alas we lost the overall match 3-2 with good wins coming from youngsters Freddie Neden and Hugo Avshu and our stars of 2019, Jonathan Swinney and Felix Suther-Jones.

Refreshed by a magnificent lunch in the dining room at Royal St. Georges we played our Plate match against The Leys on the famed Open championship links. All three encounters were closer than the 3-0 defeat suggested.

Despite the relative lack of success on the golf course the camaraderie was very strong and it was great to see our debutants Mat Flint, Jonny Waugh and Colin Webb committed to the cause both on and off the field. David Rutnam, our non-playing captain, forged a cohesive group and with the goal of playing a greater amount of competitive links golf over the coming months, we hope to be a stronger force come April 2022.  Roger Kelly is  still  able to belt out the school song with harmonic gusto, a clear winner over the eight verse  dirge from the operatic  OMT’s played out at the Lodge on Wednesday evening.

Special thanks must go to Duncan Anderson and David Rutnam for all their organisation.

Dulwich was represented in the HH by:

Roger Kelly, Simon Anthony, Hugo Avshu, Freddie Neden, Ameet Patel, Colin Webb, Mat Flint, Jonny Waugh, Jonathan Swinney and Felix Suther-Jones

Assisted by: David Rutnam (non-playing captain), Nick Donald and Duncan Anderson

With further on course support from: Richard Andrade, Chris and Gillie Litterick, Nick Howe, Nigel Farage and Roger Walker.

As ever thanks to Nick Owen, OA, Secretary of the Public Schools Golf Association who put on the Hewitt. Congratulations to Loretto who were worthy winners of the tournament.

Nick Donald – Old Alleynian Golfing Society, Captain