Spring Meeting 2026 Report

Henry Somerset, OWGS President (Bn 74-79)

The Spring Meeting of the OWGS was held at Rye Golf Club on the first weekend in May. This

was our 83rd Spring Meeting at Rye; the first was held in 1935.

Accounting on the Rye veranda proving complicated

35 members participated over the weekend, with a great spread of generations, ranging from 19

year old Joe Byrne to our former Captain & President 85 year old Barry Campbell. There were 11

members aged under 30, and 4 members of the 2026 Halford Hewitt team.

5 pairs of brothers were there – our Captain Ian Burn & his brother Nick, Nick’s sons Caspar & Theo Burn, John & Robert Kelly, James & Peter Mallinson, and Anthony & Peter Salmon, Several OWs gathered for a curry in Rye on the Friday evening, and 25 attended our AGM and formal dinner on the Saturday evening, where Julian Avery, the President of Rye, was our guest.

The fraternal pairings

The Docker Club draw (previously the 100 Club, now re-named in memory of John Goodeve-

Docker) took place at the dinner. As we had hoped, ticket purchases were well up on recent years, and substantial funds were raised to support younger OWs playing OWGS golf.

We played 18 holes of foursomes on the Saturday morning, 18 holes of singles on the Saturday afternoon, and 2 sets of 9 holes of foursomes on the Sunday.

Louis Ferguson Jones contemplating on the 4th green

The main prize, the O’Brien Trophy for the best gross medal score, was won by Joe Byrne with a remarkable 66 shots, which we believe is the lowest ever winning score. His playing partner, Jack Sallis, came second with an excellent 68, which would have won in any other year.

The Goodeve-Docker family had generously presented the OWGS with a silver salver (the John Goodeve-Docker Trophy), which was awarded for the highest combined stableford score (with different partners) for the 2 rounds on the Sunday.

The full list of prize winners was:

Captain’s Tankards (Sat am foursomes stableford)

James Mallinson & Rory Stradling, 39.5 pts

O’Brien Trophy (Sat pm medal)

Joe Byrne, 66 shots

Birkmyre Card (Sat pm medal for over 60 year olds)

Anthony Salmon, 83 shots

Captain’s Shield (Sat pm singles stableford for handicaps under 14.0)

Joe Byrne, 43 pts

Birkmyre Trophy (Sat pm singles stableford for handicaps 14.0 or over)

Peter Mallinson, 42 pts

John Goodeve-Docker Trophy (Sun foursomes stableford, 2 x 9 holes)

Robert Kelly, 35 pts

Dutton Trophy (Sat am & Sun foursomes stableford, 1 x18 holes & 2 x 9 holes)

Rory Stradling, 72 pts