LUGS v Berkhamsted GC – Saturday 19 October 2024

With the arrival of October comes the annual fixture against Berkhamsted – The Club was formed in 1890 with Willie Park Jnr laying out a 9 hole course; Harry Colt was instrumental in it’s expansion to 18 holes but the current layout is very much the work of James Braid.  The world amateur ranking Berkhamsted Trophy is played over the course in late March or early April and counts Sandy Lyle, Luke Donald, Carl Mason, Peter McEvoy and  Gary Wolstenholme among it’s winners

The same 12 LUGS that tied the fixture 3 -3 in 2023 were once again billed to appear, which is a testament to the camaraderie that has been built up between LUGS and Berkhamsted over the years.  However, with tee off 12 hours away, illness struck, and Henry Scott was replaced by Giacomo Calvi; after all with Leo having taken up British citizenship where would the team be without an Italian?

We assembled in the Clubhouse at around 7.45am for the traditional full English breakfast accompanied by port and brandy but to great surprise an additional bottle ……………of sherry, appeared.  As one can imagine LUGS rose to the occasion and ensured it was dispatched.

The course has been described as “sitting in an area of outstanding natural beauty, its fairways flanked by gorse, heather and trees” and built on light, sandy soil. However, after the wettest September on record, Saturday 19 October proved to be the wettest October day of all time.  Sadly the course could not cope with the deluge, resulting in the match being abandoned at breakfast.

Many thanks to Mike Edwards, Jonathan Lavelle, Ed Williams, John Magnin, Mark Wheelhouse, Leo Faganelli, Sam Campbell, Andrew Cole, Kaihan Mobed, Thomas Dvorak and Giacomo Calvi for making the journey to Berkhamsted. 

We look forward to the 2025 landmark fixture, 40 years after the first fixture in 1985.