In his inaugural year as Ross Golf Club President, Doug Duncanson was delighted to be host to 99 Club members from all sections of the Club who supported his annual President’s Prize Day event; an 18 holes singles stableford competition.

Eight handicapper Luke Morris found himself in fine form and with a 24 points haul from playing the back nine and more demanding holes on the course, which was representative of an impressive one under gross par score, his 41 points total meant that he was the overall winner of the day.

15-year-old Ted Williams, with an equally impressive round, matched Luke’s 41 points total, but just missed out on count-back so had to be content with the runners-up spot.

Hugh Elliott, the highly consistent Harvey Hancock, David Billington and Michael Williams were all 40 points scorers, followed by Mike Harris, an in form Mike Bradburn, and Richard Brown with 39 points, and David Whitehead and Arthur Reid with 38 points each.

Arguably the most popular prize-winners of the day, and both home produced players, were Sally Fycun and her 12-year-old son, Timmy. It was only some two years ago that they were first introduced to the game. Timmy became dedicated player after the Club’s Head Professional Tim Hall and his ‘School of Golf’ team of Assistant Professionals took the Tri-Golf initiative to Bridstow Primary School, one of 23 local schools targeted to encourage youngsters into playing golf.

The occasion ultimately resulted in Mum, Sally finding her vocation for the game through the ‘Get-Into-Golf’ Gloucester Golf partnership scheme which operates from the Ross Club.

Mother and son have both improved considerably since those days, from being complete novices to Timmy scoring 40 points off a 23 handicap to claim fourth place overall, which made him top Junior player. Sally’s 38 points score, which moved her handicap from 36 to 16 in a short time to make her the best lady performer of the day, reflects so well on all concerned and made for a joyous family occasion.

The most adept ‘closest to the pin’ performers of the day proved to be Martha Norton and Mike Poole.