Berkshire came out victorious when the annual “Four Counties” event was played at Broadstone Golf Club on Tuesday 29th June 2021. The “Four Counties” golf tournament is an annual competition between Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, and Berkshire. The course was in great condition..
The format for the competition is a stableford four ball better-ball, with six pairs from each county. Played off the yellow tees with full handicap (maximum 18), the best five scores from each county are added together to find the winner, with the sixth score used in the event of a tie.
First off for Somerset were Captain of Captains Stephen Butterfield and past Captain of Captains Andy Carter who led from the front and posted a good score of 40 points.
Next for Somerset were John Beer & Paul Hucker. A poor front nine and a better back nine resulted in a score of 36 for Somerset 2.
Somerset 3 consisted of Paul Wills and Mike Rossiter who returned a score of 35.
Next were David Bate & Max Putnam who also returned a score of 36 as Somerset 4.
Somerset 5 recorded our highest score. Well done to Michael Bovingdon & Geoff Rooke who came in with 43 points.
Last, but not least, were Roy Parmiter and Murray Parsons as Somerset 6, who carded another good score of 41.
So the overall team score for Somerset was 196.
The overall results were
1st – Berkshire 204
2nd – Wiltshire 203.
3rd -Dorset 198
4th -Somerset 196
| 4-Counties Competition at Broadstone GC 2021 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire | F9 | B9 | T | Dorset | F9 | B9 | T | |||
| B1 | Roger Beavis [Captain] – Reading | 21 | 20 | 41 | D1 | Peter Foster [Captain] – Dorset G&CC | 18 | 21 | 39 | |
| Graham Harris – Winter Hill | Alan Clarke [Club Captain] – Broadstone | |||||||||
| B2 | Phil Hadfield [President] – Calcot Park | 19 | 19 | 38 | D2 | Nigel Mobbs [Secretary] – Sherborne | 20 | 21 | 41 | |
| Alan Sweet – Maidenhead | Graeme King – Broadstone | |||||||||
| B3 | Andy McClean – Castle Royle | 24 | 23 | 47 | D3 | Brian Hansford [Treasurer] – Came Down | 22 | 20 | 42 | |
| Tony Payne [Match Secretary] – Frilford Heath | Jack Crockett – Sherborne | |||||||||
| B4 | Derry Lewis – Sonning | 18 | 21 | 39 | D4 | David Kimberley [Webmaster] – Ashley Wood | 21 | 19 | 40 | |
| Peter Spooner – East Berks | Paul Fowell – Canford School | |||||||||
| B5 | Martin Green – East Berks | 19 | 20 | 39 | D5 | David Woodroffe [Vice-Captain] – Bridport | 17 | 22 | 39 | |
| Mervin Foulds – Maidenhead | Derek Grimes [President] – Canford School | |||||||||
| B6 | Terry Jackson – Maidenhead | 18 | 19 | 39 | D6 | David Picton [Fixture Secretary] – Weymouth | 19 | 21 | 40 | |
| Michael Foster – East Berks | John Coley – Lyme Regis | |||||||||
| BEST FIVE CARDS | 204 | BEST FIVE CARDS | 202 | |||||||
| 6th Card | 39 | 6th Card | 39 | |||||||
| Somerset | F9 | B9 | T | Wiltshire | F9 | B9 | T | |||
| S1 | Steve Butterfield [Captain] – Cannington | 23 | 17 | 40 | W1 | Frank Ham [Captain] – Tidworth | 19 | 16 | 35 | |
| Andy Carter – Stockwood Vale | David Spaven – Salisbury | |||||||||
| S2 | John Beer [Secretary] – Oake Manor | 15 | 21 | 36 | W2 | Steve Smith – The Wiltshire | 21 | 20 | 41 | |
| Paul Hucker – Burnham & Berrow | Ray Smith – [Match Secretary] – The Wiltshire | |||||||||
| S3 | Paul Wills – Long Sutton | 17 | 18 | 35 | W3 | Andy Lake – Hamptworth | 20 | 20 | 40 | |
| Mike Rossiter – Enmore Park | John Flynn – Ogbourne Downs | |||||||||
| S4 | Dave Bate – Mendip Spring | 16 | 20 | 36 | W4 | Jim Cameron – Upavon | 22 | 19 | 41 | |
| Max Putnam – Taunton & Pickeridge | Steve Best – North Wilts | |||||||||
| S5 | Michael Bovingdon – Enmore Park | 22 | 21 | 43 | W5 | Allan Wood | 20 | 19 | 39 | |
| Geoff Rooke – Cannington | Peter Hill – Hamptworth | |||||||||
| S6 | Roy Parminter [Vice-President] – Long Sutton | 19 | 22 | 41 | W6 | David Headech – Upavon | 20 | 22 | 42 | |
| Murray parsons – Brean | Mark Lousteau – Tidworth | |||||||||
| BEST FIVE CARDS | 196 | BEST FIVE CARDS | 203 | |||||||
| 6th Card | 35 | 6th Card | 35 |
The consolation for Somerset was that Stephen Butterfield and Andy Carter won the prize for the best front nine with score of 23. The highest overall pairing was the Berkshire team of Andy McLean and Tony Payne with 47 points
The origins and history of this competition are very interesting. It started when Derek Bryant from Berkshire and Trevor Jenkins from Somerset tried to arrange a fixture – but couldn’t fit one into their schedules. So Derek and Trevor agreed this inter-county format instead. The former Berkshire captain Tom Sherry presented the trophy in 1984. The trophy is named after Sid Hoare who was a great benefactor of Berkshire Golf Captains. Sid was also the sales director of Brooke Bond PG and his claim to fame were the famous “PG Tips” chimp adverts. It is for this reason that the trophy takes the form of a tea caddy – which is accompanied each year by a packet of PG loose leaf tea. Indeed on the first occasion the trophy was filled with tea! The individual prizes were made up especially for the competition.
We would like to thank Dorset Golf Captains and Broadstone Golf Club for their superb organisation and hospitality. The Somerset team had a great day and we look forward to next year’s event which will be played at Frilford Heath Golf Club in Berkshire.
(If you click on a thumbnail below, you will see the original photo)