Reciprocal golf booking form

New reciprocal golf arrangements have been agreed for WHGC Members.
The Club is very pleased to advise all WHGC Members that from 1st September 2008 they are now able to play 10 other golf courses without the need to pay a green fee. The four new Clubs that have joined our scheme are Knighton Heath in Bournemouth, Rowlands Castle in Hampshire, and two Surrey Clubs, Guildford and Purley Downs. Full details including a list of all the clubs in our scheme, and a link to the booking form, may be found by clicking here.

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Lewes GC prove too strong for West Hove in the PAV i.t. Trophy semi-final today.
In the semi-final of the SCGU’s PAV i.t. Trophy, held today at Pyecombe GC, our scratch team were well and truly beaten 10½ to 1½ by Lewes GC. Unfortunately the team were unable to win any of the 12 games although 3 games were halved.
The writing was on the wall after the morning foursomes. We lost 3 games quite heavily but Simon Tiplady and Chris Lind earned a well deserved ‘half’ after being 2 down with three to play. In the afternoon singles the matches were generally closer but Chris’s result is misleading as he had to retire after injuring his hand in the morning. Simon was unlucky to lose 2 down as his opponent, Tom Hilton, birdied the last 2 holes. Steve Nielsen and Tony Humphrey halved their matches with Tony winning the 18th with a birdie. Lewes now go on to play East Sussex National GC in the final – they beat Pyecombe GC 9 – 3 at Lewes today.
The results were as follows:-

Lea Cooper is the new Sussex Professional Golfers Union Champion.
After yesterday’s storms the weather relented a little today for the second round of the SPGU Championship at West Hove. Today’s frequent heavy showers didn’t dampen the spirits of the 30 finalists. Lea Cooper, attached to Foxbridge GC, who led overnight on 72 today shot a level par 70 to win the Bill Watts Trophy and become the new Sussex Professional Champion with a 2 over par total of 142. David Mills (Seaford GC) put up a spirited fight with a 2 under-par 68, following yesterday’s 75, to finish second just one shot back. In third place was Charles Giddins (Beauport Park GC) on 145. For the second year running, the Leading Assistant in Registration (i.e. trainee assistant professional) was Arron Trott (Singing Hills GC) who shot 148 (77 + 71).

Lea Cooper the new champion and some of the other pro’s said that the greens were the best they had ever played on at West Hove – and Cliff Pluck, the SPGU Secretary, correctly pointed out that the scores were displayed on his (mobile) ‘Tournament Office’ and not a caravan as reported yesterday!

The Sussex Professionals blow into West Hove for their annual Championship.

The Sussex Professional Golfers Union (SPGU) held the first day of their 36 hole strokeplay Championship today in the most appalling conditions. Unseasonal winds gusting to over 50mph meant that the course was barely playable. There were reports of balls being replaced on greens only for them to be blown over 10 feet away. The wind was so strong that it even affected the administration of the event with Cliff Pluck, the SPGU’s secretary, having to remove the scoreboard from the outside of his caravan!

The conditions meant that nobody was able to beat par and unusually there were 9 nil returns. The best score was 72 and the cut for the top 30 players, who compete in round 2 tomorrow, was made at 86, some 16 over par! Our professionals Darren Cook (83) and Russell Cronin (81) both made the cut but Ronnie Clark unfortunately failed. The leading contenders for the Championship (and the Bill Watts Trophy) at the halfway stage were:-
Lea Cooper (Foxbridge) 72, Charles Giddins (Beauport Park) 73 and Sam Gayler (Dyke) 74.

More results from the Seniors – and bad weather postponements in July!
Our Seniors’ Captain, Brian Port, reports a mixed bag of results for July.
The results were as follows:

The two away matches against Mid Sussex GC and Cottesmore GC were postponed because of bad weather and have been re-scheduled for October.

Lewis Jackson, the Juniors’ Captain, wins the West Hove Junior Club Championship. Today, in wet and windy conditions he beat Tom Coppard and Dan Milligan into 2nd and 3rd place respectively. In the nett competition Luke Giles retained the trophy he won last year. Further details and scores are shown on the Juniors’ page – please click here.

In the Mid Week Open Stableford where all categories of golfers are allowed to play, Stacey Rodger scored an incredible 44 pts playing off of a handicap of 3. This gives her a new course record for the ladies of 65.

click here for photo of Megan

The B&DGS Captains' Putter, Secretaries Cup, Presidents' Cup and Professional Cup, took place at Brighton & Hove GC today.
In the Captain's Putter, West Hove was unfortunately not able to put out a full team of 6 Captains and ended up in 4th place with only 5 scores counting. The dependable Captains that made up the team were Dennis Baker, Maurice Grange, Norman Milburn, Don Thatcher, Kevin Heanen and our Vice-Captain Andy Macgregor-Boyle whose score was not allowed to be counted.

For the second year running, Megan Bibby won the Secretaries Cup with 36 pts.
Michael Phillpot came 2nd in the Presidents' Cup with an extremely hard worked for 21 pts.
Russell Cronin came joint 3rd in the Professionals' Cup with a gross 70.

News Year's Eve Dinner & Dance at West Hove GC.
Once again we have arranged a New Year's Eve party which will include complimentary champagne or wine on arrival, a gourmet 4-course dinner and live entertainment from a male vocalist.
Arrangements are being made for transport to and from the club which will be available at a substantially lower cost than taxis (subject to numbers wishing to utilise this facility). Further details and price of the transport will follow.   Please see the details on our Notice Board page.

The 2008 West Hove GC Junior Open today attracted 41 competitors in windy conditions.
All players who compete in our Open are automatically playing for an entry into the Daily Telegraph National Competition where the boy and girl with the 'best gross' go forward. This year, Dan Milligan (West Hove) and Tiffany Hewetson (East Brighton) were the two qualifiers.
The results of the West Hove Junior Open are as follows:

For other prize results in the West Hove Junior Open competition please see our Juniors page.

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Twenty teams participated in the Pro-Am competition in dry conditions today.
The Team event saw our Chairman, Richard Simmons of UHY Hacker Young, win, with Carl Rota from Brooklands Golf Course as his professional. The team managed a remarkable score of -22.

The Club Captain raised approximately £2000 for his charities, the Martlets Hospice and Hillside Special Needs School. Out of the money raised he also very kindly donated £250 to the Junior Development Fund.
The results for the day were as follows:

Nominations for our Centenary Year Club Captain - Final notice to West Hove Members.
Members are reminded that they now have less than 2 weeks to submit nominations for our Centenary Year Club Captain. The full procedures are on display in the Clubhouse.

click here for photos of winners

click here
for photo of Jonny Ingram

Tom Coulson wins the Club Championship for the fourth time.
Reigning champion Tom Coulson (+1) retained the Club Championship title today with a two-round total of 135 (5 under par). In the morning he shot a 4 under par 66 to lead from the Club’s 16-year-old Juniors’ Vice-Captain, Jonny Ingram, on 70. In third place on 71 was veteran Nick O’Byrne who made his annual pilgrimage to West Hove. Nick no longer lives in Sussex but was Club Captain in 1985/86 and 5 times the Club Champion on our old course in the 1970’s & 80’s.
Conditions were not so easy in the afternoon but both Tom and Jonny maintained their form to win the Club Championship and Nick O’Byrne Trophy respectively. The top five players from each competition are shown below:

click here for photo

The Carl Haydon Shield is won for the third time by Mike Gleeson.
Every year the past Club Captains play an 18-hole Stableford competition for the Carl Haydon Shield. Carl is our longest serving past captain having ‘reigned’ in 1965/6. In today’s event 16 past Captains competed and Mike Gleeson (Captain 1994/5) won with 38 points on count-back from David Nealer (2003/4) with Jim Winson (2000/1) in 3rd place with 36 points. Mike has previously won this event in 2001 and 2003.

The Sussex Schools’ Golf Association Championship was held today at West Hove GC.
The 34th annual championship of the Sussex Schools’ Golf Association was contested today by 68 competitors (aged between 11 & 18) from eleven schools.   See the Juniors' page.

West Hove are beaten by Brighton & Hove GC in the third round of the Cyril Blake Cup.
Our over 55’s found it tough going today over the 9-hole Brighton & Hove course in the 3rd round of the Cyril Blake Cup. Team Captain, Terry Pinker and his partner Don Shepherd did well to earn a half point having been 3 down with 3 to play. Local knowledge was too much for our other pairings with Eddie Allen & Martin Emery losing 5 and 4 to tough opponents, whilst Maurice Grange & Dave Nealer and the final pair of John James & Adrian Drake both lost on the last hole. John and Adrian did particularly well having had to give their opponents 9 shots.
Brighton & Hove won 3 ½ - ½. In the quarter-finals they have been drawn to play at home against either Ifield GC or Crowborough GC – we wish them well.

A note for your diary - one of our cup competitions is to be brought forward by 2 weeks.
Would Members please note that to avoid clashing with the PAV it Trophy semi-final match against Lewes GC at Pyecombe on Saturday 16th August, THE ADASTRA CUP WILL NOW BE PLAYED ON SATURDAY 2nd AUGUST 2008.

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It had to happen! – our Seniors are beaten for the first time this year.
Only 3 matches were played by our Seniors this month and the Seniors’ Captain, Brian Port, reports that they lost their first game of the season playing away at Worthing GC. Today, however, they sprang back to winning ways with their biggest win of the season, 7-1 against West Chiltington GC. The results of the matches in June were as follows:

In the year to date, the squad has won 11 of the 12 matches played, winning 60 games and losing 34 in the process.

click here for photo of
Stacy Rodger
receiving her awards

Stacey Rodger excels at the Brighton & District Golfing Society’s Championship at the Dyke GC.

Recently back from America, Stacey won the B&DGS Ladies’ Championship by 8 shots from Deborah James of the home club with a splendid two round total of 155. In the Juniors’ Championship Dan Milligan came second with 167 to the champion Jamie Chapman of The Dyke GC. Our Men’s team of Steve Nielsen, Neville Hudson, Chris Lind and Don Shepherd Jnr. did not do so well in the tough conditions. B&DGS Secretary, Don Weston, reported that the CSS went out to 75 in both rounds, the SSS being 72.

The winning scores are shown below:

“TakePART Day” kicked off the Brighton & Hove International Festival of Sport

The inaugural Brighton & Hove International Festival of Sport started today with a spectacular opening event in Preston Park, when thousands of visitors attended the largest exhibition of sports and physical activities ever seen in the city. The festival, which runs until 13 July, was set up by the Brighton & Hove School Sport Partnership, the City Council and the local NHS Teaching Primary Care Trust with the simple aim of getting people “to be more active, more often”.

West Hove GC has played a significant part by providing free golf lessons today to both adults and hundreds of children in 2 inflatable driving ranges and on 2 small putting holes. These proved extremely popular with queues of children all day! Between 1^st and 9^th July the Club will be hosting a dozen “one-hour taster sessions” at our driving range for adults, ladies, girls and juniors (aged 10 and above). There is a registration fee of £1 but thereafter everything is free, including the use of golf equipment and balls. Most of these sessions have now been fully subscribed but if any non-member is interested please ‘phone our Professional Shop (01273 413494) to check availability. Those attending the taster sessions will also be invited to participate in a “Texas Scramble” competition on our course on 11 July.

The Club would like to extend a very big thank-you to the English Golf Union and Huxley Golf for their considerable help with the inflatable driving ranges and the modular putting greens.
Please click here to view today’s photos.

The West Hove Ladies Open attracted 54 competitors today.
In very blustery conditions 27 pairs competed in our Ladies Open and the winners were inevitably from another ‘downland’ course where the wind is a feature. Congratulations go to Ann McNamara and Biddy Guildford from East Brighton GC who amassed 39 points.  

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West Hove were the ‘runners-up’ yet again in the Dyke Challenge Bowl.
The Dyke GC hosts the Dyke Challenge Bowl which is played annually between many of the Sussex golf clubs. They are represented by their current officials and this year our team comprised our Club Professional Darren Cook, our Vice-Captain Andrew Macgregor-Boyle, the immediate past Ladies’ Captain Roseanne Rees and our General Manager/Secretary Megan Bibby. The competition is a four-ball better-ball with the best 2 scores on each hole counting. In very windy conditions our team scored a creditable 79 points to come second for the third year running!
The first 3 places were: Worthing GC 80 points, West Hove GC 79 and The Dyke GC 76.

Members are reminded that two significant events are now less than a month away.
The Club Championship is to be held on Sunday 13th July 2008 over 36 holes and the entry sheet has been on the notice-board in the foyer for some time. All single figure handicap players may enter so don’t miss your chance as the field is limited.
On Friday 18th July 2008 the Club holds its annual Pro-Am with a shot-gun start at 12 noon. Eighteen teams have already registered but we can accommodate a few more if necessary. If you or your company would like to raise a team of 3, to partner a pro’ golfer, please contact either Dennis Baker or Andrew MacGregor-Boyle. The cost for the team is £250.

Latest news from the Sussex County Golf Union (SCGU)
The SCGU has announced the venues for the semi-finals of the PAV i.t. Trophy to be held on Saturday 16^th August 2008.
Our scratch team will be playing at Pyecombe against Lewes GC whilst the other semi-final between East Sussex National GC and Pyecombe GC will be held at Lewes. Copthorne GC has apparently agreed to host the final which will be on Saturday 13^th September 2008.

The 2008 Sussex County Amateur Championship was played from 13^th to 15^th June at Eastbourne Downs Golf Club. On Friday, 72 of the best Sussex amateur golfers competed over 2 rounds to qualify to play in the KO stages at the weekend. Our two entrants just failed with Tom Coulson shooting 152 (76+76) and Dan Milligan scoring 155 (77+78). The worthy 2008 champion was Joe Doherty from Worthing GC.

New dates for your social diary are announced.
Would Members please note that to avoid a clash with another golfing function our annual Men’s Dinner will now be held on Friday 24th October 2008 (instead of 17th October). Further details will be published on the ‘Notice Board’ page of this website in due course.
In addition, it is proposed to hold an inaugural “Captains’ Autumn Ball” on 26 September at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton – the host clubs will be West Hove, The Dyke, Brighton & Hove and East Brighton. Again, further details will be published later.

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Our Seniors’ section continues their amazing unbeaten run against other Sussex clubs.
On 24th April we reported that our Seniors had won their first 5 matches. We can now report that this remarkable run has continued during May when all 4 matches were won! The results of the matches in May were as follows:

click here for photo

The Brighton & District Golfing Society’s “Wentworth Smith Trophy” was held at West Hove today.
This BDGS competition, between teams from West Hove, The Dyke, Brighton & Hove and East Brighton Golf Clubs, comprised teams of 22 players with the Trophy being awarded to the Club with the best Stableford points total from their top 5 scorers. Home advantage helped West Hove win with a total of 188 points to The Dyke’s 183, Brighton & Hove’s 176 and East Brighton’s 171. Our best 5 scorers were;
Mark Pollington 40 pts., John Mercer 38 pts., Terry Pinker 37 pts., Steve Nielsen 37 pts. and Tony Humphrey 36 pts.
The ‘individual’ winners on the day were: Bruce Anderson (The Dyke) 40 points and with the best gross score, Steve Nielsen (West Hove) 71.

West Hove beat Waterhall GC 3 - 1 in the second round of the Cyril Blake Cup.
West Hove were drawn away to Waterhall and the match was played in dry, blustery conditions.
Our practice round the previous Friday proved beneficial as the greens were considerably slower than West Hove and being foursome play several tee shots required accurate placement to avoid placing a team partner in serious trouble.
Our first pairing of Terry Pinker & Don Shepherd (Snr) had an emphatic win 7/6 starting with a birdie win on the 1st hole and then only requiring a single putt on each of the next 9 holes!
This was followed by a surprise 4/3 loss by Brian Hazelgrove and Tony Tilbury who had both been on sparkling form in the practice round.
Adrian Drake and John James produced a solid performance to win 2/1 but then it was a long wait before our last pairing of Eddie Allan and Martin Emery reached the 18th tee. An earlier report had them 2 down after 9. However on meeting them half way down the 18th we were very pleased to hear that they had ground it out and were now 1 up and that was how they finished.
The result was a good win to West Hove 3-1.
Our team is now through to the last 16 with the 3rd round to be played by 11 July 2008 (draw to be announced).

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Amy Lovelidge and Sophie Kennard, two West Hove Juniors, excel in very difficult conditions at Bramshaw GC.
A team of 4 juniors (Jonny Ingram, Greg Andrew, Sophie Kennard and Amy Lovelidge) enjoyed some success today by being the runners-up in Bramshaw Golf Club's Reciprocal Junior Team competition. Six clubs competed and the best two stableford scores on each hole counted towards the team total. West Wiltshire GC won convincingly with 87 points and West Hove were runner-up, on count-back from the host club, with a creditable 74 points. The event was played in testing conditions, being very windy with fast greens, and this was borne out by most of the scores. So the girls did particularly well to both score in the 30's – Sophie with 30 points and Amy with 32 points to win the girl’s individual prize. Very well done to the whole team.

West Hove GC failed to perform in the Brighton & District Golfing Society’s Senior Cup today at The Dyke GC.
The B&DGS's Senior Cup was played today and 3 key players, Tom Coulson, Simon Tiplady and Mark Gully were unable to play. In the morning round we played Brighton & Hove GC and lost 3-2, whilst East Brighton beat The Dyke. In the afternoon Plate competition we played The Dyke and lost 4-1, whilst Brighton & Hove beat East Brighton to win the BDGS Senior Cup.
Our foursomes teams were as follows:

West Hove beat Haywards Heath GC in the quarter finals of the PAV i.t. Trophy today.
In their 4^th and toughest round of the competition so far, the West Hove GC scratch team narrowly beat Haywards Heath GC to reach the semi-finals. After the morning foursomes we led by 2½ to 1½ but then we lost the afternoon singles 3½ to 4½ to tie the match at 6-6. However, three big wins (Dan Milligan & Lewis Jackson by 7 & 5 in the pairs, together with Mark Gully and Tom Coulson both winning by 7 & 6 in the singles) saw us comfortably win on count-back by 27 holes to Hayward Heath’s 16. Today’s scores were as follows:

In the draw for the semi-finals we will play Lewes GC, whilst the other semi-final will be played between East Sussex National GC and Pyecombe GC. Both matches will be played on a neutral course on 16 August 2008, but the venues have yet to be announced.  

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Lewis Jackson, our Juniors’ Captain, nearly ‘holes-in-one’ on the 17^th at TPC Sawgrass.
It has just been brought to our attention that on 13^th April (unlucky for some!) the Jackson family had a remarkable experience whilst on holiday in Florida. Father Steven, and his son Lewis, played at TPC Sawgrass and on one of the most famous holes in the world, the 17^th island green which has ruined many professional golfers’ cards, Lewis nearly achieved a hole-in-one. He chose a 9 iron for the 138 yards from the championship tee and saw his tee shot lip-out of the hole – he duly got his birdie. Younger sister Annabel, also a West Hove junior, watched whilst mum Lindsey filmed the proceedings.
Click here to see a video of the reactions on the tee – and click here to see photos of Lewis on the 17^th and 18^th tees, perhaps the toughest finishing holes on any championship course.
(Warning: the video clip is a large file so please be patient whilst it loads!)

New scorecards expected from Sunday 1st June 2008.
Members are advised that, subject to delivery, new scorecards will be in use from Sunday 1st June 2008. For the first time they will reflect the increased yardage from the white tee on the 7th hole AND, in particular, they will introduce changes to the stroke indices on 6 of the holes. Members are advised to watch the notice-boards carefully to see when these new stroke indices are introduced, especially if they are to participate in any matchplay competitions over the coming weeks.

West Hove finished as runners-up in the BDGS Intermediate Cup today.
The Brighton & District Golfing Society's Intermediate Cup was played today at Brighton & Hove GC. In the morning we played East Brighton GC and won 3 - 2. In the afternoon final we were drawn against the hosts Brighton & Hove who took full advantage of local knowledge to record a magnificent 5-0 win. Our foursomes teams were as follows:

click here for photo

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West Hove comfortably won the Jubilee Cup today over their own course.
Nine clubs from around Sussex competed today in West Hove’s Jubilee Cup. The format for this team competition is particularly tough as every one of the 6-man teams’ net medal scores count towards the team total – so everybody has to play-out every hole.
The team scores were:

Congratulations also go to Steve Stark (Brighton & Hove) for the lowest gross score of 70 and to Kevin Woolley (West Hove) for the lowest net score of 68.

The inaugural West Hove President’s Dinner was held this evening in the clubhouse.
In celebration of over 15 years as the Club’s President, Don Thatcher was this evening presented with a new president’s jacket by Club Captain Dennis Baker. The dinner was attended by 21 past Club Captains from West Hove including Les Gibbs who was installed way back in 1964. Guests for the evening were Roy Bowerman (President of the Brighton & District Golfing Society), Tom Grogan (President of Brighton & Hove GC), Niall McCabe (President of The Dyke GC) and Richard Simmons (West Hove GC’s Chairman).
Organiser Norman Milburn, Club Captain 1997/98, hopes this will become an annual event.

West Hove have been drawn to play Haywards Heath GC in the quarter-finals of the PAV i.t. Trophy on 10 May 2008.
The draw for the quarter-finals of this prestigious Sussex County Golf Union competition was brought forward to today and conducted by the County Secretary, Anup Vasant at the Dyke GC. West Hove have been drawn to play Haywards Heath GC at home on Saturday 10 May 2008. Further details, including some shock results yesterday, may be found on the SCGU’s website. Please click here for the details.

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West Hove beat Mid Sussex GC 8½ - 3½ in the 3rd round of the PAV i.t. Trophy today.
West Hove GC now go forward to the quarter finals.
In the morning foursomes our fancied pairs of Tom Coulson & Tony Humphrey and Mark Gully & Steve Nielsen both lost but Lewis Jackson & Dan Milligan won 3 & 2 and Chris Lind & Simon Tiplady won handsomely 5 & 3.
The afternoon singles were much closer than the final score suggests with half of the matches going to the 18^th. Simon Tiplady did well to earn a half having been 2 down with three to play and Steve Nielsen, Tony Humphrey and Dan Milligan all came from behind to win at the last hole. There were more comfortable wins for Tom Coulson, Mark Gully and Lewis Jackson. Today’s scores were as follows:

The 10th AGM of the Company and an EGM were held this evening.
At the 10th AGM of the Company, the report of the directors and the accounts for the year ended 31 August 2007, the reappointment of Parkers as the company's independent accountants and the reappointment of Brian Hazelgrove and John Lane as directors were unanimously agreed by those present. At the EGM that followed, an equitable procedure to select the Club Captain for the Club's Special Centenary Year in 2010 was unanimously agreed. Full details are included in the Club's Procedures Manual which is on display in the Clubhouse lounge.

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West Hove Seniors start their season on a high.
Our senior golfers hold matches against other Sussex clubs throughout the summer months. The format for these matches is four-ball better-ball with each side represented by 16 players. In the first match away to Lewes GC on 11 March we were leading 2-0 before heavy rain brought an end to the proceedings. Brian Port, the Seniors’ Captain, reports that since then they have won every match, a remarkable achievement. The results of the matches to date are as follows:-