Fitzwilliam Golf Society

Ten Fitz golfers and two guests assembled at the Mansion at the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club to take part in the second Eddie Butler Memorial Day. The event was organised by Prostate Cymru.

Fitz had three teams of four.

Fitz 1

• Mike Hamment (C )
• Rob Kitson (the Guardian rugby correspondent as a guest)
• Matt Hignell
• Richard Newport.

Fitz 2

• Colin Dunkerley (C)
• Gordon Wood (guest)
• Austin Jessop
• John Coombs.

Fitz 3

• Michael Hall (C)
• Martin Holmes
• Norman Bell
• Chris Coyne.

Eighty golfers were taking part in total with a shotgun start at midday. The format was stableford scoring with the best two scores on each hole to count. Therefore par for a team would be 72 points.

Despite arriving at the venue in good time and much careful preparation Fitz 3 found themselves in difficulty even before the competition started. At registration, each team was allocated a starting tee and Fitz 3 were allocated 15 – the furthest point away from the clubhouse. Matters were not helped by the organisers bringing the start forward by 15 minutes without telling everybody, and the situation was compounded by an inability to read (a very complicated and some might say misleading) course map. The team split into two as one pair had a buggy (with a geographer on board) but to no avail as when reunited the team found themselves in a wood that did not appear to be part of the golf course.

When the 15th tee was eventually located and golf commenced it was apparent that the course was in great condition with beautiful views and set in stunning countryside. The weather was warm and sunny and Monmouth was a great place to be. The greens were excellent but difficult to master with extremely difficult pin positions. This was the consensus of the Fitz teams but judging by the scores some other teams were not troubled by the greens, or any other part of what is a challenging course.

At the end of the competition the only team left on the course was Fitz 3 who had started about 25 minutes after everybody else and it really was like millionaires golf and the other advantage of a late start was that there were no queues for the showers.

A two course dinner took place in the early evening with a substantial main course of beef with Yorkshire pudding followed by dessert which seemed to be well received by all diners. Speakers after dinner were made up of some of Eddie’s colleagues from Welsh rugby and representatives from Prostate Cymru for whom Eddie was an ambassador. As expected all spoke so highly of Eddie and there is no doubt that he was greatly admired and respected and is very much missed.

Also after dinner was the prize presentation and there were numerous prizes for teams and individuals. Fitz did not figure prominently in this presentation, but we did have one winner, that being Norman Bell who won a selection of socks in the raffle.

Proceedings closed shortly after 8.30 with some Fitz players heading home and five heading for the bar of the King’s Head where they were staying the night accompanied by Chris Coyne who had parked his motorhome nearby. Proceedings in the bar were convivial until closing time at midnight and the trip ended the next morning back in the bar for a hearty breakfast.

The memorial day was clearly enjoyed by all who attended. The scores are not important but for the record Fitz 1 scored 75, Fitz 2 69 and Fitz 3 64.

Hopefully the same level of support in Eddie’s memory can be shown next year and perhaps the organisers will provide local guides to guide teams to the far flung tees!

Michael Hall – Fitz Match Organiser