"West Hove Golf Club was founded by Alderman John Jackson Clark for the simple reason that he put up for membership of Brighton & Hove GC and, although being a wealthy man, was turned down as being, ‘in trade’."

These words come from the first paragraph of our centenary book "The History of West Hove Golf Club 1910-2010". They epitomise the life of the Club over the past 100 years with its continual ups and downs (no pun intended). The book, which will be hard-back, is full of very interesting stories, anecdotes and photos and will be a 'must read' for every Member.

It has been written by an old friend of West Hove, John Vinicombe, who for over 30 years was the Argus’ chief reporter on sport in general and the exploits of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club in particular. John continues to write for the Argus about golf and the Club is exceedingly grateful that he agreed to write this history for us.

Although the book is substantially complete, the final chapter still needs to be written - that is the story of our 2010 Centenary Year. Consequently it is planned to have the book published towards the end of 2010.

Centenary Mixed Open

Sunday 9 May 2010 - 13:30 shotgun start

Between Tuesday 6 April and Thursday 8 April 2010 we welcome the Sussex County Ladies' Golf Association's (SCLGA) 'Inter-club Scratch Foursomes'. The Combined handicap limit will be 22 and higher combined handicaps cannot unfortunately be accepted. The Entry Fee is £38.00 and an Entry Form is available from the SCLGA website -
please click here 
 

From Friday 4 to Sunday 6 June 2010 the Club is privileged to host the Sussex County Golf Union's 'Amateur Championship'. The best amateur golfers in Sussex will be competing in a 36-hole stroke-play event on Friday and the top 16 will progress to the knock-out matchplay stage on Saturday with the semi-finals and final on Sunday. Members will remember that in last year's event at Littlehampton our own Tom Coulson lost in a thrilling semi-final to Jack Bartlett of Worthing GC at the 22nd hole. Jack went on to win the Championship by beating his Club colleague Scott Nightingale. Of course, Tom cannot enter this year having turned 'Professional' last August.

On Wednesday 11 August and Thursday 12 August 2010 the Sussex Professional Golfers' Union's 'Professional Championship' will again be held at West Hove. This is a 36 hole stroke-play event with the top 30 players from day one battling it out for the Bill Watts Trophy on day two.

On Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 September West Hove will host the Sussex Professional Golfers' Union's 'Open Championship'. This event also welcomes amateur golfers and the entry fee is £40 which includes catering. The closing date for entries is 8 August 2010 and entry forms may be obtained from the SPGU's website.

The Brighton & District Golfing Society will be holding the following competitions at West Hove Golf Club during our Centenary Year.

Sunday 25 April 2010 - BDGS Senior Cup
Sunday 4 July 2010 - BDGS Championship
Friday 30 July 2010 - Captain's Putter, Professional's Cup, Secretaries' Cup and the President's Salver.

This event is proving very popular. Booking forms for the purchase of tickets only became available from 1 March 2010 and in just over a fortnight 159 tickets had been allocated and sold. If you, as a Member of West Hove Golf Club, would like to attend please act quickly and collect your Booking Form(s) from the General Office or the bar. Act quickly to avoid disappointment.

Starters

Fresh Crab and Prawn Tian
A crown of white crab flakes and Atlantic prawns dressed with lemon and chive mayonnaise

Mediterranean Antipasti
Serrano ham, peppered salami, fresh mozzarella, chargrilled vegetables, marinated olives, sun-blushed tomatoes,
with extra virgin olive oil and black pepper

Chargrilled Asparagus
Chargrilled asparagus with slow roasted Italian plum tomato and tarragon dressing, garnished with quail’s eggs

Main Courses

Girolle & Madeira Chicken
Pan seared chicken supreme filled with wild mushrooms, parsley, garlic and cream, glazed with a Madeira jus,
served on crushed new potatoes

Venison Belle-Vue
Roast loin of venison marinated in thyme and rosemary, glazed with a redcurrant and fine port jus,
served on a puree of potato and root vegetables

Herb Crusted Salmon
Roast fillet of salmon topped with a fresh herb and parmesan crust, with a white wine, cream and asparagus sauce,
served on a bed of crushed new potatoes

Vegetarian Option:
Forest Mushroom, Spinach and Goat’s Cheese Strudel
Light, crisp filo pastry filled with melting goat’s cheese, garlic roasted forest mushrooms, fresh baby spinach leaves,
served with a tomato, white wine and herb sauce

*******

All main courses are served with a fresh market vegetable medley including a selection of hot new potatoes
 
*******
 
Desserts

Triple Delight
An individually plated selection of three delightful miniature desserts:
Raspberry Pavlova ~ Rich chocolate parfait with amaretto biscuit ~ French lemon tart

Hazelnut and White Chocolate Cheesecake
Crunchy biscuit and Hazelnut base filled with whipped soft cheese, mascarpone and white chocolate,
drizzled with a hazelnut syrup

Classic Crème Brûlée
The creamiest smooth set Jersey cream, infused with fresh vanilla pods,
sprinkled with brown sugar and caramelised until crisp and gold, served with a selection of fresh raspberries

Assiette de Fromage
A selection of Pub Cheddar, English Stilton, French Brie and Italian Dolcelatta, with sweet seedless grapes,
biscuit selection and crusty bread
 

The Club has arranged 3 matches against two other southern area Golf Clubs who will also be celebrating their centenary in 2010.

They are Reading GC in Berkshire and West Surrey GC in Godalming. The 3 matches are scheduled as follows:

Thursday 29 July - West Hove will host the first match
Tuesday 3 August - Reading will host the second match
Thursday 26 August - West Surrey will host the final match.

The exact composition of the teams and the format of the competition has still to be finalised, but details will be displayed here in due course.

We hope that all Sections within the Club will be represented and, that being the case, the respective Section Captains will select the teams for each match.

The Club will also be holding home and away matches against Le Golf du Sart golf club, from Lille in France, as they too will be celebrating their centenary in 2010.

A remarkable friendship between the two Clubs has been established over the past 2 years after they sent a team of 12 to Hove in September 2008 and we visited Lille in May 2009 with a team of 16. The score stands at 1-1.

This year's matches (better-ball) are scheduled to take place in Lille between Friday 9 and Sunday 11 April and in Hove, over our Gala Weekend, between Friday 27 and Sunday 29 August.

These are men's matches and anybody interested in representing the Club is invited to add their name to the notice-board in the foyer - but be quick.
Vive L'Angleterre! 

Section

Competition Name

Inaugural
Date

Description

Winners' prizes

The Past Captains' President, Carl Haydon, has donated a lovely trophy for this new 'Invitation' pairs competition. However, in this inaugural year it will be a singles competition to accommodate our special guests. The format will be Stableford, off full handicap, over 18 holes and 'Inactive Handicaps' will be permitted. Carl has also kindly provided two statuettes for the two individual winners this year (i.e. a Member's and a guest's prize).

Seniors

The Seniors' Section has recently purchased a  silver salver for this new event and it is  hallmarked 1910, the year our Club was founded. All Members of the Section will be invited to compete for this prize in an 18-hole Par (or Bogey) competition off of full handicap. This format is new to the Section and was proposed by John Lane, whose name was added to the trophy in his memory.

Mixed

This new annual (Members only) event will be a mixed pairs competition over 18 holes off of full handicap.
The pair with the highest combined Stableford points total will win this splendid new glass vase for a year. As is customary with most of our mixed events, there will be an evening supper and prize-giving for all competitors.

Men

The Club has purchased a splendid silver filigree bowl which is hallmarked 1910, the year the Club was founded. The bowl will be played for as a medal competition off full handicap over 18 holes.

Ladies

As with the Men's event described above, the Club has purchased a silver trophy and it, too, is hallmarked 1910. The format for this new Ladies' event will be announced shortly.

Juniors

Michael Phillpot, a past Club Captain and Junior Organiser, will be providing a salver for the Juniors to compete for. This event will be held in June every year and will comprise an 18-hole Stableford competition off of full handicap.

West Hove Golf Club was opened on 22 September 1910. To commemorate the centenary of that opening day, the Club will be holding a once-only event where Members will be expected to wear Edwardian costume and play with hickory clubs. There are some very exciting plans being pursued, but negotiations are still taking place so full details will need to be published later.

 
Samples of a large plate, a large bowl, a small plate, a box (containing 2 packs of cards), a beaker (or loving cup) and finally a magnificent clock. All pieces have been fired using our Club colours of green, purple and gold. They're fabulous!

In recognition of our Centenary Year, the Club will be providing some very special prizes for the winners of most of our 2010 competitions.
 
Plans were made some years ago when the Club commissioned Sussex potter Stephen Atkinson-Jones, from Bexhill-on-Sea, to produce a variety of Wedgwood design bone-china pieces.
 
Stephen trained at the Royal College of Art, Ravensbourne College of Art and North Staffordshire Polytechnic, obtaining a Master of Design and B. A. Honours Degrees. He has been designing and producing ceramics for the past 30 years and examples of his work can be seen by going here  www.atkinsonjones.co.uk
 
The splendid result of his work for us is shown in the photo' on the left.
 
The schedules below define how the 169 special pieces are to be distributed between each of the Sections in the Club.

MEN'S SECTION

LADIES' SECTION

SENIORS' SECTION

JUNIORS' SECTION

West Hove has had a long-standing reciprocal golf arrangement with 10 other Clubs, all within a day's travelling.

Those arrangements will remain in place (see here) but further far-flung Clubs have joined us for our Centenary Year.

The following 13 Clubs which are dispersed across England, Wales and Scotland, are also celebrating their Centenary in 2010 and we have been fortunate enough to arrange reciprocal golf for our Members during this special year.

Each West Hove Member will be permitted to visit the reciprocal club, on any weekday, once during the year. All visits must be pre-booked via our office and a letter of introduction must be taken to prove identity.
 
We hope you get the opportunity to play some of these excellent courses during our Centenary year.
 
For more information about these Clubs, please visit their websites by clicking the hyperlinks below.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU AND 3 FRIENDS TO PLAY A SUPERB COURSE AT A FANTASTIC PRICE.

As part of the fund-raising process for the Centenary Gala Ball and the Captains' charities, the Club is very pleased to be running a 'Silent Auction' to enable the successful bidders to obtain a '4-ball voucher' at one or more of 14 fabulous golf courses situated in the south and south-east of the country.

The Clubs are listed below alphabetically. You can visit their websites by clicking on the Club's names below.

The minimum initial bid for each Golf Club (being 25% of the standard cost) is shown below. Bids should be entered onto the Centenary Notice-board which is situated just to the right of the bar in the Clubhouse.
Bids will be accepted up to 5pm on Wednesday 31 March 2010.

The highest bidders will then be invited to submit their payment to the Club's office and payment must be made by Saturday 10 April. Failure to do so will mean the bid is forfeited and the voucher will be offered to the next highest bidder.
Please note:   THE AUCTION IS NOW CLOSED

On Sunday 25 April 2010 two past Club Captains, Michael Phillpot and David Nealer, will start a 100-mile east-to- west charity walk along the South Downs Way, to celebrate both the Club's Centenary and the designation of the South Downs as a National Park. Specifically, they wish to raise funds for the Club & Ladies' Captains' charities.

(Please scroll to the bottom of the page for sponsorship details.)

Mick and Dave completed a similar walk in 2006, but from west to east, when they raised nearly £6k for the then Captain's charity. They hope to exceed that amount this year but recognise that the recession has hit many people's pockets and their target will be very difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, they hope that with the support of Members, family, friends and even strangers their target will be achieved, especially as this year's charities concern the needs of children.

All funds raised from the walk will be distributed three ways. They will be supporting a young local charity which helps children with life-limiting conditions, a large national children's charity which deals with all forms of child abuse and finally a smaller proportion of the funds will go towards junior golf development in Sussex - all very worthy causes.

THE CHARITIES

The first charity is Club Captain Gordon Eaton's choice and is 'Leo House at Home'. This is a registered charity that was founded by the Brighton Lions Club in 1999 with the aim of helping children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions  in their own homes. They are 'local', covering Brighton & Hove and parts of East and mid-Sussex.

By raising funds, the charity is able to pay for specially trained nurses who help and support the children and their families. The nurses are based with the South Downs Health Trust and the Chestnut Tree Children's Hospice community team.

Leo House supports children from birth up to the age of 25 and helps give them the best quality of life for as long as that may be. The help given is focused on the emotional, physical, social and spiritual needs of each individual child, having regard to the wishes of the family.

In practical terms, Leo House helps children and their families by providing respite care, assessing and monitoring the child's needs, working with statutory agencies, listening to the concerns of the whole family and offering bereavement support. They are also very efficient spending less than 1p in every pound raised on administrative expenses.

The second charity, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, better known as the NSPCC, is the choice of the Ladies' Captain Jan Seabrook. Unlike Gordon's charity, the NSPCC is well established having been founded in 1884 when its aim was to protect children from cruelty, support vulnerable families, campaign for changes to the law and raise awareness about abuse.

Today, it is a massive national charity inspired by the belief that they can make a difference for all children - by standing up for their rights, by listening to them, by helping them when needed and by making them safe. Their vision is to end all cruelty to children in the UK.

Finally, the third choice is that of Michael Phillpot. Mick was Club Captain in 1986/7 and has had two lengthy spells as Junior Organiser before being appointed to the Sussex County Golf Union Junior Committee as the Regional Organiser, South Region. At a time when sponsorship is diminishing, he would like a small proportion of the funds raised to be given to the SCGU junior golf development fund. Many of our own juniors have benefited from this with some even turning professional in the hope of making their sport a lifetime career.

THE WALK ITINERARY

The walk will start at West Hove Golf Club at 9.30am on Sunday 25 April when Club Captain, Gordon Eaton, will be starting his normal Sunday round of golf. Mick and Dave will then walk up the first hole with Gordon before leaving the course to join the South Downs Way at Devil's Dyke.

They will then walk west to Winchester, spending three out of four nights away from home, before being transported to Eastbourne for the final legs back to West Hove. They hope to finish the walk at lunchtime on Sunday 2 May 2010 by walking down the eighteenth hole and celebrating at the 19th!

The full itinerary is shown below.
If Members or friends would like to accompany Mick and Dave on any of the walks (or just part of a walk) they are most welcome. Don't forget to wear suitable clothing and bring water, food and a mobile phone. 

 THERE ARE THREE EASY WAYS TO SPONSOR MICK AND DAVE

• All West Hove GC Members will be receiving full details of this charity walk with their AGM Notice papers.
  Simply complete the tear-off counterfoil and post it in the box beneath the Centenary Notice-Board in the Clubhouse.
   

• Complete up to three of the sponsorship forms which will be on the table beneath the Centenary Notice-Board.
  (There are separate forms: Leo House at Home, the NSPCC and the SCGU Junior Development Fund).
   

• The most efficient way, however, is to donate on-line using the JustGiving website.
  Simply click on one or both of the links below and follow the instructions.

http://www.justgiving.com/sdw-leohouse

http://www.justgiving.com/sdw-nspcc