Captain's Blog
September 2025
The change in the weather since September started has come as a bit of a surprise for many of us. Grateful though I am that this summer has been the warmest on record according to the Met Office, the rain hasn't come too soon to save our parched fairways and, of course, to bring a smile to the faces of all gardeners out there. My own lawn is already showing signs of requiring attention, even after just a few days of wetter weather. Speaking of which, on Monday September 1 Trish and I were invited to play at Littlestone in a pairs better ball stableford competition - against other captains and their lady counterparts. We were well aware that the wind at such an exposed course is often (almost always) a factor and this was no different. The added problem was that showers were predicted to "blow through" on the hurrying breeze. Needless to say, they didn't blow through anywhere near quickly enough for us and from about the 4th hole to the turn we were subjected to the sort of stinging horizontal rain that reminds me of an occasion years ago when my old pal Colin Grant staggered into the locker room at one of the downland courses along the coast and muttered that even his pants were wet! I have recently treated myself to a waterproof bag and am very pleased indeed to announce that it lived up to its name. Somehow, even in that sort of horror show, the pair from Rye managed to score 43 points and were worthy winners. Our 32, while not disgraceful, wasn't much to write home about, so I'll stop writing about it now. We did beat Cooden Beach though.......
The scratch team has done Highwoods proud this summer and their narrow defeat in their final to the Dyke GC, although heart-breaking in its own way, showed a genuinely high level of golf and bodes well for future seasons. The Highwoods supporters who went along have spoken very highly of the awesome golf played by those present. Well played Ben and his boys! At the same time as that match was going on, the men's friendly team was taking on Lamberhurst away, playing for the right to hold the PG Tips Trophy. As Highwoods were the current holders and we had beaten the Lamberhurst gents 5-1 at home earlier in the season, they needed a 6-0 win to take the trophy from us on aggregate. They very nearly managed it too, but we just about kept them to the same 5-1 result, meaning that we retained the trophy for another year. Quite pleasing, if a bit of a close shave.
In an earlier BLOG I made a few suggestions as to how to speed up play. This is still a bit of a problem for some and I would like to think that if you fall behind the group in front you won't just make the assumption that they are playing too quickly(?!) but look to your own time taken. It does seem to me that some of our 'careful' golfers take an inordinately long time on the greens. I also know that if I play with someone who plays slowly, I often try to speed things up myself and my own rhythm (such as it is) disappears. Perhaps you could just give it a thought - for the sake of your fellow golfers.
Another small gripe which I've avoided mentioning before but which often occurs to me when I'm on the course, is the important etiquette of shouting "fore" when you've hit a ball and you're unsure of its eventual landing place, especially when it's obviously headed towards another fairway. If you can't see it land, you can't be sure there's no-one there. Also, the call itself needs to be heard. An almost conversational level, weedy "foreright" or "foreleft" will warn no-one at all apart from the members of your own group who should be safe in any case. The 'right' or 'left' part is irrelevant to people on another hole anyway - a loud cry of "fore" will, though, do the trick as it will be reasonably clear where the sound has come from and people can turn away and cover their heads rather than looking around to see where the cry came from (if they've heard it at all) with obvious potential for disaster. Also, the pointing of your club vaguely in the direction your ball has gone might work for the pros with their armies of ball watchers and marshalls but there's no-one watching your match (usually) which renders it a pointless affectation picked up from the TV. These are my views rather than club requirements but I thought would I mention them anyway.
As our year's end hoves into view, Trish and I will be keen to try to raise a bit more for our charity - Cancer Research UK - and there will be the chance to win a fabulous 4 ball voucher for The Addington in Surrey (worth over £600) in another of our draws during the next few weeks. At a fiver a go, I'll certainly be buying a couple of numbers. As for all the other generous responses to our charity efforts, we couldn't be more grateful to you. Many thanks.
Denis D
The scratch team has done Highwoods proud this summer and their narrow defeat in their final to the Dyke GC, although heart-breaking in its own way, showed a genuinely high level of golf and bodes well for future seasons. The Highwoods supporters who went along have spoken very highly of the awesome golf played by those present. Well played Ben and his boys! At the same time as that match was going on, the men's friendly team was taking on Lamberhurst away, playing for the right to hold the PG Tips Trophy. As Highwoods were the current holders and we had beaten the Lamberhurst gents 5-1 at home earlier in the season, they needed a 6-0 win to take the trophy from us on aggregate. They very nearly managed it too, but we just about kept them to the same 5-1 result, meaning that we retained the trophy for another year. Quite pleasing, if a bit of a close shave.
In an earlier BLOG I made a few suggestions as to how to speed up play. This is still a bit of a problem for some and I would like to think that if you fall behind the group in front you won't just make the assumption that they are playing too quickly(?!) but look to your own time taken. It does seem to me that some of our 'careful' golfers take an inordinately long time on the greens. I also know that if I play with someone who plays slowly, I often try to speed things up myself and my own rhythm (such as it is) disappears. Perhaps you could just give it a thought - for the sake of your fellow golfers.
Another small gripe which I've avoided mentioning before but which often occurs to me when I'm on the course, is the important etiquette of shouting "fore" when you've hit a ball and you're unsure of its eventual landing place, especially when it's obviously headed towards another fairway. If you can't see it land, you can't be sure there's no-one there. Also, the call itself needs to be heard. An almost conversational level, weedy "foreright" or "foreleft" will warn no-one at all apart from the members of your own group who should be safe in any case. The 'right' or 'left' part is irrelevant to people on another hole anyway - a loud cry of "fore" will, though, do the trick as it will be reasonably clear where the sound has come from and people can turn away and cover their heads rather than looking around to see where the cry came from (if they've heard it at all) with obvious potential for disaster. Also, the pointing of your club vaguely in the direction your ball has gone might work for the pros with their armies of ball watchers and marshalls but there's no-one watching your match (usually) which renders it a pointless affectation picked up from the TV. These are my views rather than club requirements but I thought would I mention them anyway.
As our year's end hoves into view, Trish and I will be keen to try to raise a bit more for our charity - Cancer Research UK - and there will be the chance to win a fabulous 4 ball voucher for The Addington in Surrey (worth over £600) in another of our draws during the next few weeks. At a fiver a go, I'll certainly be buying a couple of numbers. As for all the other generous responses to our charity efforts, we couldn't be more grateful to you. Many thanks.
Denis D