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Highwaymen Section |
| The History of the Highwaymen |
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The initial idea and concept for the "Seniors Section" to be formed was driven by an ex Group Captain, John Scambler. John sent out a letter to all senior members on the 10th October 1994 explaining that it would be a nice idea to get senior members of the club playing mid week competitions on a regular basis and to also have friendly matches against other clubs. A month later on the 19th November, having analysed the response from the membership, a second letter was sent out confirming that the majority were in favour of the idea and that a "Seniors Section" would be formed. It was decided that a Thursday morning would be the best day to play and a block tee time was reserved between 8:30am and 9:30am and the first 4 ball stableford competition was held on Thursday 12th January 1995. John set out the initial rules and ran the meetings with the help of a number of volunteers until the first annual general meeting was held. Initially 20 - 30 attended each game during the week steadily growing week on week and year on year until currently as of March 2020 we now have a thriving membership of 247! The first constitution was produced by Peter Thew when he was captain back in 1998. Initially matches were held against 12 other clubs, each way, making a total of 24 matches per year. Bob Baxter ran these matches for 2 years followed by Peter Thew for the following 2 years and we continue to do this to the current day. After about 4 years, once we were fully established the Highwaymen proposed, arranged and paid for the starters hut that still stands by the first tee, Bob Baxter was primarily responsible for getting that organised and as of November 2014 it is still in use. The initial starters hut had a weather vane in the shape of a witch on broomstick. Peter Thew thought that something more appropriate was called for. He designed the present weather vain having cajoled Katie Macdowel who is an accomplished local artist and widow of former Highwayman Barney Macdowel and also a member of the Ladies Section, to draw up the design. Peter then made a plywood template and Tony Heather got one of his friends to flame cut the present weather vane from sheet steel. This is a good example of cooperation between friends which describes the friendly atmosphere and social uniqueness of the Windlesham Golf Club Senior Section. |
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Highwaymen Captains
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Thomas Trophy This is the Highwaymen Championship Trophy donated by Brian Thomas for the first Championship event.
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Highwaymen's Scratch Cup - Claret Jug (Open Replica) This Claret Jug is awarded to the player with the lowest gross score on the Highwaymen Champions Day.
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Balgarnie Cup This was presented by Sydney Balgarnie at the end of his year as Highwaymen's Captain as an award for a player over 70. In the first year it was awarded to the lowest gross score in the Summer Eclectic. It was changed and present for the best net score by an over 70 year old in the Seniors (Highwaymen's) Championship. However the Championship is played off the white tees and it was felt that an over 70's trophy should be off the yellow tees. So from 2015 it was made a separate competition. Past and current winners of this trophy are:
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Elliott Cup This was donated by Robin Elliott during his spell as Highwayman Captain (2000 - 2001) to provide something to play for during the winter. Rod Rigby was secretary at the time and he was asked to come up with ideas. He thought up the competition and wrote the original rules. These have been altered slightly since that time and it is now a Stableford competition consisting of the best 3 scores from 7 rounds. Due to a theft of the original trophy during a break in at the club house Robin Elliott purchased the new replacement trophy you can see displayed here. Peter Christmas turned the wooden base to support the trophy and has added to the beauty of it in the process, as I am sure you will agree. So this is now officially the replacement trophy in all it's glory first presented in 2014. The winners of the original cup are engraved on the back of the new cup and are :
Unfortunatley, there was a robbery at Windlesham GC in February 2020 and the 2nd Elliott Cup was one of the items stolen. Following an insurance claim a replacement Trophy was pucrhased. Peter Christmas utilised his skills and adapted the wooden base to support the new trophy and has added to the beauty of it in the process. The winners of the new cups are engraved on the base and are:
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Costello Bowl Donated by Mr. Geoff Costello, a very nice man who helped to run matches in the early years. Unfortunately he died early from a brain tumour. The Costello Bowl was donated for the Summer Senior's Knockout Competition for individuals. Past and current winners of this trophy are:
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Committee Cup This was made and presented by John Marns, mostly, if not entirely, made from wood taken from the Windlesham Golf course. John had made it for a Church based Charity golf Day which had to be cancelled through lack of support so he had a redundant trophy on his hands and decided to donate it to our section and it has since been used exclusively for this competition, before that we played for prizes and a one off trophy each year. Derek Thomas - "The Committee Cup is a recent trophy. I believe that I or Norlan may have organised the first occasion. The intention was that it was open to the present Highwaymen's Committee together with all former Captains. The original idea was that it should be an "AWAY DAY" . When I organised it we played at South Winchester. When Gordon Ebbon organised it we played at Woodlands Manor in Kent. We needed two attempts because of Snow. I think Mike Tyers took us to Test Valley but Rod Parsons broke with this approach and something was organised with Test Valley at Windlesham. Last year we reverted to the previous policy and visited Sandford Springs." The venues and winners are:
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Kim Short Trophy Donated by Kim Short who was one of the original Directors of the Windlesham Golf Club, he also managed the Pro Shop from when the club first opened. The trophy competition is unusual in that it is a restricted club competition comprising 3 clubs plus a putter. From 2015 an extra club was added to make it 4 clubs plus a putter. Over the years there have been some remarkable scores returned by members competing with only this many clubs begging the question do we actually need to carry 14 clubs in the first place? Past and current winners of this trophy are:
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Most Improved Player - The Highwayman Trophy, presented by Bob Baxter. Bob bought this set of cigarette cards, depicting Highwaymen, from an auction in Suffolk. He then framed and glazed the set and presented them to the Highwaymen for the most improved player during the year. This is based on the largest reduction in handicap during the Highwaymen's year. In the event of a tie for first place, the winner is the one with the lowest handicap. Originally, this improvement was based on their Highwaymen's handicap. This was changed to their Club handicap after the rules on Highwaymen's handicap were changed to reset them twice a year. The past and current winners of this trophy are:
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Serenyi Salver The Serenyi Salver trophy was presented by Andrew Serenyi and is intended to give our more Senior members a competition that they feel able to compete in. The handicap for the day is AGE PLUS CLUB HANDICAP ie. Anyone over the age of 72 is better off! A new Salver was purchased in 2021 after the 2nd Salver was stolen in 2020 from the clubhouse. Past and current winners of the trophy are:
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Staunton Memorial Shield (The Highwaymen's Shield)
The Invitation Day was always organised by Mike Thompson and ran for a few years, he is shown on the left in the picture. The picture shows the original winners, Bearwood Lakes, receiving the trophy back in 1997 from Bob Baxter who was club captain at the time. The Club winners were: After 2002, we couldn't coax enough teams to play and so it was cancelled from that point. That was when we decided to honour John Staunton, shown second from the left in the picture, by renaming the shield after him and creating the Staunton Pairs Competition. Past and current winners of the trophy are:
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Winter Eclectic (Thomson Cup) This is our major winter competition, is multi-round and based upon each players best score per hole over the first 5 rounds completed, however many round are played, typically 6. Past and current winners of the trophy are:
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Bob Wilkie Shield - Winter Pairs The Winter Pairs competition was first played as a trial event in the winter of 2013/14. The competition is limited to 16 pairs, on a first come basis, because of the limited tee times during the winter. Following the success of the trial, the Committee then decided to obtain a prize for the winners and named it in memory of Bob Wilkie, who was Highwaymen Captain in 2011 but who sadly died in July 2013. Past and current winners of this trophy are:
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The Thew Bowl This trophy was made and presented by Peter Thew for matches with the Juniors. After the Juniors won 9 of the first 10 matches we switched the format to a combined Texas Scramble! The winners of the matches against the Juniors were:
The winning Texas Scramble Teams were: 2007 Matt Crew, Steve Hawen, Warren Clarke, John Higgins The format was changed for 2019 to include 1 Junior, 1 Lady & 1 Highwaymen
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The Baxter Trophy Rod Rigby, It was the trophy originally presented by Bob and Pat Baxter for the match against the Ladies section in the autumn. When Pat died Bob decided he wanted a new trophy in Pat's memory and this is the one we now play for in a match. During my time as Secretary I started the Texas scramble as a way of having a fun match against the ladies during the winter season. We started off playing it in late February or early March, but it hs now been moved later to get better weather. As we had the old/spare Baxter Trophy I used this for the Texas Scramble.
The past and current winning Mixed Texas Scramble Teams are: 2003 Sue Mitchell, Florence Carlson, John Howells, Alan Jones |
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Chris and Derek Thomas Bowl Chris and Derek Thomas donated a bowl for the mixed pairs competition. Derek made the base for this trophy himself. The competition for the trophy comprises a randomly drawn mixed pairs field where competitors cannot play with their partners or spouses. This has become one of the annual competitions that is really enjoyed by all those taking part and looked forward to each year. Past and current winners of this trophy are:
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The Patricia Baxter Trophy This is the current trophy for the Highwaymen vs Ladies, 4 Ball Better Ball match. Originally we played for the Baxter Trophy which was presented by Bob Baxter. However, when his wife Patricia died he presented a new trophy dedicated to his wife and called the Patricia Baxter Trophy. We now use the Baxter Trophy for the Texas Scramble match we play with the Ladies. Over the years we have varied the rules (white tees, yellow tees, extra shots) in order to make the match more competitive, and we are still trying! The winners of this trophy are:
The format was changed in 2019 to be a four ball stableford competition with the best two scores to count. |
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Maurice Manning Highwaymen's Tour Trophy This trophy is competed for on the annual Highwaymen's tour. The idea was started by Stan Webb in 1998 who organised the early events. Subsequent organisers were Tony Heather and then Rod Rigby. In 2016 Gerald Bullock, Maurice Manning and Roger Smith took over as the organising team with their first trip tp St. Pierre in Wales. Sadly, Maurice Manning died in 2019 and so Gerald and Roger carried on. The original trophy was full with the winners' shields and a little worse for wear, it was decided to commemorate Maurice's outstanding work for the Highwaymen with a new trophy which was purchased in 2020. The venues and winners of the tour trophy are:
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Evergreen Salver The Evergreen Salver was commissioned by the Highwaymen's committee of 2020/21 in recognition of the valuable contribution of the senior Seniors. It was crafted by the woodworking skills of fellow Highwaymen Peter Christamas during the pandemic of 2021. The Salver is awarded to the Highwaymen who is 80 years old or over with the highest Satbleford score of the day.
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Graham Woodfine Figurine The Figurine was presented to the Highwaymen by Graham Woodfine in 2023 and will be awarded annually to the Highwayman who records the best score on the day of the competition.
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As you can see in the photo on the right this trophy was originally purchased by the Highwaymen to be presented to the winning club in our Inter Club Invitation Day. You can see the early winners on the shield, Oak Park was amongst them.