Ash Valley Golf Club

Thank you so much to everyone who supported our Herts Air Ambulance Charity Day and helped make it such a great success. The Charity has been very much on everyone’s mind after Golf Professional Steve Barker's accident last year.

 

On Saturday July 8th fourteen teams set off, in the warm summer sunshine, to compete for the Charity Trophy which had been kindly donated by Vice-Captain James O’Sullivan. The course looked wonderful and with a hint of just a slight breeze there was every chance that scoring could be low. News from the course soon started to filter back to the clubhouse, tales of an eagle and birdies galore certainly fuelled the sense of optimism that it would be a low scoring day. Indeed as the early returns were recorded nothing suggested otherwise. Captain Graham Jackson and his team put down a very respectable marker of 135 (-7). Alan Best, with his team returned a score of 131 (-11) the same score that Dave Fox and his team posted to sit on top of the leaderboard, thanks to a better back nine. Not many thought that these two scores would be easily beaten until Alec Bayford and “Team Marmite” astonished everyone with their 129 (-13). No one had predicted such a great score even in the favourable conditions. The Valley course is always a stern test but it would appear that on this occasion “the monster had been brought to its knees!” Good scoring continued to be the order of the day and with only a few groups left on the course nobody was betting against the current leaders. There was a wonderful atmosphere in the clubhouse thanks mainly to the hard work of Toby and his staff, who served up a mouth-watering lunch and kept the drinks flowing all day. Back on the course Vice-captain James O’Sullivan had a strong team “Crashbandicoot”, with last year’s Captain Sean McAuley, now living in Lincolnshire, making a welcomed return to the Club. There was also a team of guests “The Outsiders” who were very much the dark horses and last to come home but not forgotten “The Lions” lead by Malcolm Rosborough.

 

At the prize giving ceremony Steve paid tribute to the outstanding scoring before announcing the runners-up first. To everyone’s surprize, with a fantastic score of 128      (-14) the trophies were awarded to the “Outsiders”. It was a bitter blow to “Team Marmite” who, as one would expect, took the disappointment by sportingly applauding their fellow competitors. The final result could not have been closer. By virtue of just one shot, decided on count-back, Vice-Captain James O’Sullivan and his “Crashbandicoot” team won the day. Club Captain Graham Jackson presented the trophy to a delighted James as the applause rang out across the course.

 

Steve concluded the prize ceremony by thanking everyone who had helped and supported him. “I owe so much to so many incredible people, but without the rapid response of the Air Ambulance my future would be much more uncertain. I am determined to keep working on my recovery and to honour those that helped save my life. It costs £2,700 for every mission flown by the Air Ambulance. Our Charity Appeal has raised £2656.80 with some donations still to be counted. This means that we have raised enough money to help save someone else’s life! My heartfelt thanks goes out to you all”