TPGC Blog

Saturday 18th November was the date of the Junior Prize Giving and we had a great turnout of this season’s winners, along with their families. Some Juniors won more than 1 award with Ben Newman scooping 4, Alfie Sully 2 and Chloe Brandhuber also 2. Well done to all the winners including Finley Pyke, George Geddes and Cooper Baker who could not attend on the night. Many thanks to Kevin Jackson, Club Captain, for presenting the awards and for organising the official photos on the night.

It was noted what a successful season the Junior Section has had in 2023 and this year’s Junior Captain, Ben, was presented with the Somerset Junior Golf League Shield, West Division, on behalf of the section.

In line with tradition, the names of the 2024 Junior Captain and Vice Captain were announced and we are delighted that Alfie Sully has accepted the post of Junior Captain with Corey Rawle assisting him as Vice Captain. Here are Alfie and Corey being presented with their 2023 awards

The sponsors of the Junior Section, Taunton School, Terry Davidge and the T&P Senior Section, were thanked for their ongoing generosity and a special mention was given to the families of the Juniors for supporting their child/children and the section throughout 2023.

 

The weekend of 22/23rd October was a busy one for T&P Junior Section. Not only did we have the Somerset League Final on the Sunday, but also the England Final of the Junior Team Golf Home Nations Inter Club Championships the day after. As South West regional winners we qualified to play in the final against other regional winners from the north west, north east, midlands and south east England. There were 8 teams altogether and conditions on the day were very challenging at the venue – The Players Club, Bristol. The 8 team scores ranged from 373 to 414, with Enfield Juniors becoming England Champions with the lowest score of 373. T&P Juniors came a very respectable 4th with a score of 389. It is a fantastic achievement to have got this far and a big thank you must go to all the players who contributed to our success in the run up to the final, as well as on the day. Below are the team who represented T&P at The Players Club. Back row L-R are Alfie Sully, Theo Lamey and Ben Newman( Match Captain). Front row L-R are Morgan Couch, Peter McGivern and Finley Pyke.

Our last match of the Somerset Juniors Golf west division league was on Sun 10th Sept at Burnham & Berrow GC. We played against teams from Worlebury, Burnham & Berrow and Oake Manor in an individual stableford format. Going into the match we were sitting at the top of the table with 26 points and although Burnham scored highest on the day, we gained enough points to maintain our lead and win the West Division Shield for 2023.

As West Division winners we then had a play off match against the East Division winners, Wells Juniors, at Long Sutton GC on Sunday 22nd Oct. On this occasion we came Runners Up to Wells who were crowned overall Somerset Junior League Champions 2023. Well done to them!

A big thank you to our squad of Juniors who volunteered for all the matches this season and well done on your success. Here is a photo of the team who played against Wells on 22nd Oct. L-R are Corey, Ben(match Captain), Peter, Tate and Lewis.

Following on from the Somerset Golf Union Under 14 Assessment Day at Mendip Spring on 8th Oct we are delighted to announce that some of our T&P Juniors have been selected for Winter coaching in the U12 and U14 squads.
Well done to:
Jack Legg & Seb Childs on getting into the U12 Futures Squad
Lewis Walters and George Hutchings on getting into the U14 Development Squad
Tate Sinfield-Day on being selected again for the U14 Squad.
These squads will form the basis of the teams playing in county matches in 2024. Well done to you boys.

Also, on Sunday 1st October at the 2023 Presentation day for U12’s and U14’s Tate Sinfield-Day won the U14’s Player’s Player of the year award and Finley Pyke won the U14’s Coach’s Player of the year award.

Club night on Mondays continued to be well supported and we got all the season’s trophy competitions played by the end of July, which is just as well with the weather dipping in August!

Alfie Sully won The President’s Cup on 31st July and on 7th August the reinstated Walker Cup was played between the Junior Section and the Senior Section. This was a Betterball matchplay format with 5 pairs from each section in action and the Juniors were victorious on the day winning by 3 games to 2.

The Senior section once again supported the Juniors with a donation of money to fund the trophy competitions this season and we are very grateful to them. Here is Frank Kirkham, Senior’s Captain, presenting Ben, Junior’s Captain, with his voucher for winning The Kaygwyn Trophy earlier in the season.

Sunday 13th August was The T&P Junior Open and it was a great day with everyone enjoying their golf and many compliments from visitors about the course, clubhouse and the welcome they received.

The winner of the 18 hole Gross medal was Joshua Murphy from Exeter Golf & Country Club with a round of 74. Ben Newman won The Andrew Hayes Trophy for the best T&P player Gross score with 79 and Lewis Walters once again won the best net score with 65. In the 9 hole stableford competition Chloe Brandhuber from T&P was first with 20 points. Full results are displayed by clicking on Junior Open in the drop down menu on the Home page.

Pictured below are Ben, Lewis & Chloe receiving their awards from Georgia Richards, Ladies’ Captain 2023.

Club Nights from 14th Aug to 11th Sept were either a  9 or 18 hole qualifying competition for those who wished or casual golf and both Seb Childs and Joe Tutcher featured prominently in the prizes. All monday night prize money should now have been credited to Juniors’ Pro Shop accounts so if you think you are missing a prize please get in touch with Jan Hill, one of the Junior Organisers, and it can be checked.

The rescheduled Pro Am took place on Friday 25th August and this time the sun was shining. Here is a photo of Morgan, Alfie and Jack with their Professional for the day.

The Club Championships were held on Sat 26/Sun 27th August and The Earlam Cup for best Junior Gross score was won by Ben Newman – 149. Best Net score was won by Finley Pyke – 139. Here are Ben and Finley being presented with their trophies by 2023 Club Captain, Kevin Jackson.

The Junior Organisers decided once again this year to enter a team for The Junior Team Golf Home Nations Inter Club Championships and the South West Regional qualifier we took part in was on 10th Sept against Long Ashton at Weston Super Mare GC. T&P were the winners on the day and go forward now to the Regional Semi Finals at Launceston GC on Sat 30th Sept. If we win at Launceston we will then play in the England Finals at The Players Club in Bristol. Watch this space………

Here are the victorious team in the qualifier at Weston

There is still one match to play in The Somerset Junior League West Division and it is on 1st Oct at Burnham & Berrow. At the moment we are top of the table and good results on Sunday will mean we play off against Wells, the East Division winners this season, to determine who wins the shield. Watch this space once more………

 

 

 

The Junior Open took place on Sunday 13th August at T&P and it stayed dry!! More or less. It was a good day with everyone seeming to enjoy the course and their golf. Huge thanks go to the Junior Team of Berni, Jan, Jacky and John who organised the day and to Georgia Richards, Ladies’ Captain, who presented the prizes and Martin Hill who acted as Starter for the day. The kitchen and Bar staff deserve a mention too, with all the players enjoying their meal afterwards. Full results can be found on the website by clicking on Junior Open in the drop down menu.

 

The 8th hole was a Nearest The Pin in the 18 hole medal and was won by Tate Sinfield-Day and the other image is of the last group coming up the 18th fairway.

 

The Junior Section had a busy start to June with 2 Somerset Junior League matches. On 4th June T&P hosted the first match of the West Division league and 5 of our juniors played that day against teams from Worlebury, Enmore Park, Oake Manor, Burnham & Berrow and Mendip Spring. The weather was amazing and the course looked beautiful. We scored 16 points to put us at the top of the table after 1 match. Here is George Hutchings from T&P being presented with the winner’s memento for coming 1st in the category 2 section, players with a HI of 18.5 – 36.4

 

The next match was the following weekend at Oake Manor. This time we came away with 2 x 2nd places and a 4th place to earn us a valuable 10 points. The 3rd and final match is not until 1st Oct but we are still sitting at the top of the table and hope to be victorious then and go into the final against the winners of the Somerset East Division. Here are Charlie Jones and Morgan Couch who played for T&P that day.

 

The lovely weather throughout June and early July meant that 4 of our Junior trophy competitions were successfully played for on Monday Club nights. The George Small Cup was won by Ben Newman, The Somerset Cars Shield was won by Charlie Jones, The Trendle Cup was won by Corey Rawle and The Tony Churchill Memorial Shield was won by George Geddes. On Mon 24th July we held the Matthew Trott Trophy which is a Junior/Adult pairs stableford competition and this year was won by George Hutchings and his Dad, Mike Hutchings.

As everyone will be aware, the Pro Am and Club Championships had to be postponed due to bad weather on the weekend of 14-16th July. These are now taking place around the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August. We will have Ben, our Junior Captain, and a team of 3 Juniors – Alfie Sully, Morgan Couch and Jack Legg – taking part in the Pro Am and hope that lots of our Junior Section will play in the championships.

 

Lastly, a plug for our Junior Open taking place on Sunday 13th August. There are some great money prizes to be won and a chance to qualify for the Daily Telegraph Justin Rose championships. Entries are accepted until 10th August. See poster below and come along for a great day of golf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the highlights from April and May in the T&P Junior Section.

29th April was The Junior Captain’s Texas Scramble, which raises funds for the Junior Section. The event was well supported again this year and received some positive feedback. We had power play greens on 4 holes and 2 nearest the pin prizes. £270 was raised for Junior funds and a team with 2 Juniors – Seb Childs and George Hutchings and their Mum and Dad respectively, came in 2nd. Very pleasing altogether. Here is Ben Newman, Junior Captain 2023, teeing off on the 1st.

 

April 30th – A 3 man team from The Junior Section went to Wheathill to play in the first round of the 2023 Somerset Junior League Knock Out. Sadly we won one match and lost 2 so do not progress to the next round this year.

May 7th The Somerset County Junior Championships for under 12/14 and Under 16/18 took place at Worlebury. T&P Juniors did really well. In the Under 14’s Peter McGivern was crowned Champion for the second year running with a gross score of 73 and Finley Pyke, on the right,was 2nd with a gross of 77. Tate Sinfield-Day, on the left, won best nett with 65 ( gross 82).

Morgan Couch from T&P won the overall nett prize in the Under 16’s with rounds of 79 & 80 for a net score of 141

May 21st The Somerset Junior League Jamboree was held at Worlebury. Teams of 4 players with the best 3 individual stableford scores to count for each team. There were teams from Worlebury, Wells, Burnham & Berrow, Oake Manor, Ferndown, T&P, Mendip and Mendip Spring taking part. Burnham & Berrow were the winners on the day. Here are our team from L-R, Alfie Sully, Ben Newman, Seb Childs and Jack Legg.

 

There are some busy weeks ahead for the Junior Section of T&P. On Sunday 21st May we are at Worlebury GC for the Somerset Junior Jamboree. Taking 4 players who will play in an 18 hole stableford competition against juniors from 8 other clubs. The winner is the team with the best 3 scores out of 4 counting, and the 4th card coming into play if there is a tie. Worlebury were the 2022 winners.

 

On 4th June we are hosting a Somerset West Division League Match with a team of 5 T&P players representing the club and playing against juniors from Enmore, Worlebury, Oake Manor, Mendip Spring and Burnham & Berrow. It is stableford format with HI up to 36.4 playing 18 holes and 36.5 to 54 playing 9 holes. At the end of the season the club with the most points plays off against the winner from the East Division to become Somerset Junior League 2023 Winners.

On 11th June there is another league match, this time away at Oake Manor.

We continue to run qualifying and trophy competitions at Junior Club Night on Mondays,when the tee is reserved from 4-6pm, and we have been pleased to welcome some new juniors into the section recently.

Results and photos will be posted on the website and our social media pages of all the above events.

On 7th May at Worlebury GC the 2023 Somerset Junior County Championships took place and T&P Juniors did exceptionally well. In the Under 14 age group the outright Champion was Peter McGivern, who defended his title after winning in 2022. Finley Pyke came 2nd and Tate Sinfield-Day was 8th. Tate won best Nett too with a score of 65. Peter scored 73 gross and Finley 77 gross. Brilliant result boys!
In the Under 16 age group our own Morgan Couch won best Nett and came 11th in the gross scores. Well done to all the T&P Juniors who represented T&P on the day. See below for Under 14 Winners and Morgan bottom right as Under 16 Nett winner.