Belfairs golf club hosted a friendly match against their Hartswood counterparts on Monday. Thick mist initially caused visibility problems but cleared by mid-morning to provide ideal golfing conditions. The 12 man teams played a 4 ball-better ball with Belfairs overturning the previous loss with a well deserved victory.

    Belfairs  4-1/2        Hartswood 1-1/2 

Although played in misty conditions, the weather did nothing to dampen the Spring renewal oif the biannual fixture between Belfairs and Southend golf clubs. With host Belfairs wanting to redress recent heavy defeats and Southend looking to extend their winning run, the scene was set for a tightly fought contest that was to produce an unlikely finale. 

Southend's opening pair completed a remarkable 7/6 victory to go 1 up, but thereafter the overall match ebbed and flowed between the two clubs until it was all tied after 14 of the 16 results were in.

The penultimate Belfairs pairing gained a win to go one point ahead but news from the course was that Southend were 3 up after 14 in the last match and therefore looking inevitable to win. With only a tie required by the visitors to retain the trophy, another Southend victory looked a foregone conclusion.

However, all was not lost as the final Belfairs pairing of Rose Mahoney and Colin Parker fought back to win  three of the last five holes to gain a half and provide their club with a memorable victory.

The occasion was again hotly contested but consistently in the spirit of sportsmanship and as always, the result quickly forgotten as celebrations and commiserations were exchanged in the clubhouse

Final score:

The Southgate-Brown Cleek is Belfairs oldestt trophy and the first "gold leaf" competition of the year was keenly contested by 31 entrants who took advantage of the fine weather to produce some excellent scoring.

Club Secretary, Peter Mahoney led the way with a fine 76 to card the lowest gross score and a nett 62 and just one point seperated the next 4 places with runner-up Chris Shawyer prevailing on countback from Dave Smith in third.