Simon Byford's golf column: Thetford welcomes Martin to club

What a busy week we have had on the competitive front around our Suffolk Golf Clubs, but before we get to that there is an important & exciting announcement from Thetford GC. You may remember a few weeks ago Thetford said goodbye to Paul Gould as retiring Course Manager, they now welcome Martin Turna as his replacement.

Martin joins Thetford from Aldeburgh, one of the top courses in the country, where he was Deputy Course Manager, a role he held for 5 years. Prior to that Martin held positions in Scotland, at Fraserburgh and also 10 years at St Andrews, where he worked on the most famous course in the world, the Old Course. In his time Martin has worked and gleaned experience from many tournaments including the Open Championship.

Martin originally hails from Slovakia where he first got into golf in 1998 and through that into greenkeeping. Martin says he relishes the challenge and opportunity offered by Thetford. The course is rated one of the best in England, ranked 118th in the country by Golf World. Martin and his team are set to keep moving Thetford forward using the knowledge he brings allied to that held by the experienced team at Thetford.

Suffolk Junior Coaching Hubs

There was also an exciting development in the delivery of Junior Golf across the county, with the introduction of the Suffolk Junior Hubs. Historically there were separate boys and girls county coaching, but the organisations have come together to introduce regionalised mixed coaching opportunities for junior golfers under 14 years of age. Specifically designed to bring boys and girls together who have shown a keen interest in golf at their local clubs, but not quite reached the standard of the main county junior teams. The sessions for this part of the county will be held in the superb facilities at Culford School, and I am super proud to be heading up this coaching programme alongside Charlie Sadler of Culford School. If you know anyone who would be interested then please get in touch at the email above.

Hambro&Tolly Round 1

The first round of the county inter-club mens knockouts were played last Sunday. Firstly the Hambro Cup which covers golfers below 9.4 handicap. With Stowmarket, The Suffolk &Flempton all receiving byes, it was left to Bury St Edmunds to fly the flag for our patch. Playing at home against Bungay, Bury were victorious by 16 holes and progress to face Southwold in the next round.

The TollyCobbold Cup also saw byes for Flempton, and with Stowmarket winning 16 up at home to Newton Green, it was left to the juicy local derby at The Suffolk as they hosted Bury St Edmunds. Once again home advantage came up trumps as The Suffolk were victorious by 20 holes. 7 up at lunchtime The Suffolk kicked on and were 13 up in the afternoon. Special mention to playing captain Andrew Sandford and James Laflin who were 20 up on the day themselves. The match was played in an excellent sprit as would be expected between the clubs, epitomised by the time spent in the bar afterwards talking through shots played in the day.

Stowmarket GC

There was charity and goodwill in the Ladies MacMillan Stableford, again raising money for a good cause. Division 1 was won by Dawn Flood with 32 points ahead of Anne Tyler on 30. 32 points was also good enough to win Division 2 by Georgina Anderson, with outgoing captain Anna Suggett just pipped into second place. Annette Ross won Division 3, four points clear of Jane Wincer in second.

The Stowmarket men also held a midweek Stableford, with Steve Brightwell returning 38 points to win Division 1, and Matt Lockwood runner up on 35.

Nobby Clark won Division 2 on 37 points with Stewart Dorward second on 33 points.

Men’s Midweek Stableford.

The Suffolk GC

Things are heating up in the Dudley Potter Trophy, with round 3 allowing many players the opportunity to improve their overall position. Michael Downs was the winner with 40 points, with Richard Graves & Douglas Coe second and third respectively on 37 points. Michael’s victory puts him on 103 points cumulative, only 1 point behind current leader Alan Horne. With the best 5 scores from 7 round to count, there is still all to play for.

The Spring Pairs 4BBB was held on Saturday 22nd April and should have served as a warning to the Tolly players of Bury St Edmunds, as Andrew Sandford combined with Paul Dobbyn to return a staggering 47 points. Richard Budgen also lead into the Tolly in form returning 43 points with his partner Gavin Hogg in second place.

Bury St Edmunds GC​​​​​​​

Julie Byford & Helen O’Connell were victorious in the Ladies Winter Foursomes event. A Champions League style tournament they have had to qualify through a league round robin, plus semi final and then final. They were 2&1 winners against Debbie Anthistle& Dorothy Clarke in the final.

Have a great golfing week.