LUGS was established in 1988 when Ian Smith, the SUGS (Scottish Universities Golfing Society) captain of the day, suggested to the Old Purple he was comfortably trouncing on the links at North Berwick that he raise a team to play against the SUGS on the eve of the Calcutta Cup. That match proved a great success and games against other ‘UGS’ (Trinity College Dublin (DUGS), Queens University Belfast (QUGS), Universities of Paris(PUGS)) followed. These were supplemented by fixtures against Berkhamsted and Old St Peters and Uppingham as well as the revival of our match against the current London University undergraduate side. But, while the fixture list grew, it was missing one event – a LUGS meeting.
That gap has now been filled and, as the sun came up on Friday, we all anticipated a glorious day of Spring sunshine on the Kent coast at the marvellous Royal St George’s Golf Club. The ideal venue for our first meeting – and a fitting day to remember one of LUGS’ finest members.
An enthusiastic group of 24 Old Purples and other university players and friends assembled for 36 holes around the fast and running links of Sandwich. The fresh wind of the morning gave way to one of those marvellous ‘big skys’ that you only seem to see in eastern Kent with the melodic birdlife of Pegwell Bay providing a backdrop to a variety of cries of anguish and derision as shots flew left and right.
We were to play for two prizes. The first for the winning stableford pair over the day. The silver cup, almost as old as the course itself, went to Sean Dryden and John Paddy who scored an extremely impressive 78 points. That silver cup is to be named after Alastair Wells who sadly died, far too young, last year. Alastair was a central character in the LUGS, the undergraduate side and at Royal St George’s. He was also a very fine golfer, reaching the semi-finals of the English Amateur as a teenager. We were delighted that his widow, Rose, was there to support and to present the prizes.
The other prize was for the team event. It was not entirely straight forward to split the 24 into two coherent teams – but, taking a broad brushed approach, we had 12 Doctors and Lawyers. That included shoe horning John Paddy into the side – and, although he felt a PHD in the sciences set him apart from other medical riff-raff, he eventually relented in the classification. And it is fair to say that the 12 months of ‘intensive’ medical school that Paul Woodhouse went through might not have made him the ‘GP of choice’ to many. But, no matter, the Captains of Industry side (perhaps an even broader classification) raced to a good lead in the morning and held on after lunch.
And so Rose was able to present the Tuck Box to her niece, Nicola, who captained the Captains of Industry with distinct flair.
Why a Tuck Box? The story was told of Alastair’s entry into Royal St George’s. His golfing abilities having to be endorsed, he was due to play with Michael Attenborough, a Walker Cup player, after lunching together. The weather outside grew stormy as lunch progressed and, at three o’clock, the caddie master reported the course closed because of fears of lightening. Alastair’s proposer, Tim Leonard, asked Michael if he was available on another date to endorse Alastair’s game. ‘No need,’ said Michael, ‘any man that can consume six puddings and be ready for more deserves to be a member here – I will write a glowing reference.’
Royal St George’s looked after us extremely well as ever. We are blessed to be able to play at this special place. The mood of the day was very much one of recollecting Alastair and knowing that he would have enjoyed what we were up to. Stuart Lloyd produced napkin holders in the ‘Wells style’ and so not a tie was ruined at lunch.
Let us hope this will be the first LUGS meeting of many.
Alastair Wells Cup Result:
Winners: Sean Dryden and John Paddy
Second place: Andrew Berryman and Aaron St Pierre
Third place: Nicola Calder and James Bull
Morning Foursomes
| Doctors and Lawyers | Captains of Industry | |||
| 1 | Stuart Lloyd/Stewart Tucker | Ian Raisbeck/Andrew Westmore | Win | |
| 2 | Mike Edwards/Anastazja Piechula | Nicola Calder(C)/James Bull | Win | |
| 3 | Nick Denny/Paul Woodhouse | Halved | Andrew Berryman/Aaron St Pierre | Halved |
| 4 | Peter Dyson/Richard Gullan | George Yeandle/Daniel Grumberg | Win | |
| 5 | John Paddy/Sean Dryden | Win | Josh Collingwood/Kaihan Mobed | |
| 6 | Alison Taylor(C)/Neil Falconer | Rudder Jenkins/Sam Baker | Win | |
| 1.5 | 4.5 |
Afternoon Foursomes
| Doctors and Lawyers | Captains of Industry | |||
| 1 | Stuart Lloyd/Stewart Tucker | Nicola Calder(C)/James Bull | Win | |
| 2 | Mike Edwards/Anastazja Piechula | Ian Raisbeck/Andrew Westmore | Win | |
| 3 | Nick Denny/Paul Woodhouse | Win | George Yeandle/Daniel Grumberg | |
| 4 | Peter Dyson/Richard Gullan | Andrew Berryman/Aaron St Pierre | Win | |
| 5 | John Paddy/Sean Dryden | Win | Rudder Jenkins/Sam Baker | |
| 6 | Alison Taylor(C)/Neil Falconer | Win | Josh Collingwood/Kaihan Mobed | |
| 3 | 3 |
Tuck Box Match Score:
Captains of Industry defeat Doctors and Lawyers by 7.5 to 4.5
London University Golfing Society 