Competition Details

2024 COMPETITION DATES

Thinking about entering a County competition ...... but you would like to know more details?

This page is for you!

NB: All competitions are for a maximum 36  Handicap Index unless otherwise stated

FRIDAY 3RD -SUNDAY 5TH MAY:  COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP at COTSWOLD HILLS GC (see also 

seniors' CHAMPS. BELOW)

TROPHIES

CHALLENGE BOWL:   The trophy of trophies, a wonderful silver bowl for the county champion.  Presented in 1913 by Mrs. A. S. Winterbothom.  Once again those early minutes don’t give much away!  They never mention the bowl, and we only learn about it in a newspaper report of 1914, which tells us of “the handsome challenge bowl presented last year by Mrs. A. S. Winterbotham.”

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNNER-UP SALVER:   In 1948, Miss Wetherman presented the county with a cheque for £20 when she retired as president.  The committee decided that this should go towards purchasing a salver for the championship runner-up.  Perhaps it should be renamed The Wetherman Salver!

THE MAY TROPHY:  In 2014 it was decided to extend the matchplay to a second flight. The President, Jennifer May, gave a trophy for this -- saying she had found it gathering dust in a box at her home and felt it could be put to much better use!

BRAMWELL CUP:   In November 1970, the executive meeting was informed that “Miss Bramwell, a life member of the county, had kindly donated a Rose Bowl for a competition, but stipulated that it was for a gross score only.”

The committee later decided that it could be awarded to the best scratch score in the qualifying round of the championship.

PRETTEJOHN CUP:   Mrs. Prettejohn, ‘Babs’, is first mentioned attending the AGM of 1927.  By 1930 she was representing the Cheltenham club and then she is playing for the county team in 1937. 

In 1982 we wanted to keep higher handicap players interested in entering the championship, despite the fact that we were increasing entry fees.  Eventually two cups were bought as nett trophies.

The then vice captain, Dorothy Walker, suggested that “the cups bear a name”, and the committee agreed the trophy for the silver nett should be named as “The Prettejohn Cup”.  “This lady,” the minutes continue, “had done much for the county in the past and it was a fitting compliment to have the cup with her name.”  Presented, now, for thebest nett score in the36 holes qualifying round of the championship. 

GROSS CUP:  This was originally the Stableford Cup, but in 1973 was renamed the Gross Cup and presented to the best gross qualifier in the bronze championship.  In 1986 the wording was changed from bronze championship to division two

PRESIDENT’S CUP:   Presented by the retiring president Margaret Joshua in1977 for the winner in what was then the bronze championship.  In Gwen Graham’s reorganisation of cups and trophies in 1986 it became the trophy for the best nett score in the 36 hole qualifying medal rounds for division two.

Margaret was a regular member of the 1960’s ‘glory years’ county team – and remembered by many as “always glamourous, with wonderful hats.”

FRIDAY 3RD mAY: SENIORS COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP AT cOTSWOLD HILLS GC

18 hole Medal   Entry fees: £20     Online entry & Payment

To be played on Day 1 of the main County Championships as a stand-alone 18-Hole Medal.  (Players intending to play in the main Championship can also enter this Competition with a separate Entry Form and fee; and their first 18-hole Qualifying Round will count for both Competitions)

THE SENIORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: First played in 2007 at Cotswold Edge, in torrential rain, with Frances Lindley (Minchinhampton New) winning the trophy, a glass bowl, with a gross 78.

As we had proudly become frequent visitors to the County Finals, we felt the need to do some fundraising. So in June 2007 we held a fundraising corporate day. Generous friends donated prizes, one of which was a glass bowl given by a friend of County President Val Sprott.  Showing the bowl to her organising committee, Val remarked that it was really too good to give as a one-off prize on a ‘fun’ day!  So, with the approval of the donor, Jim Davidson, of Napier Brown Holdings Ltd., it became the trophy for the newly arranged Seniors’ Championship.

WEDNESDAY 15Th May: SPRING BOWMAKER at fILTON GC

Teams of three, not necessarily all from same club. Best two stableford scores on each hole to count Entry fee: £60 per team Online Entry and Payment  90% of Course handicap

One of our more popular competitions.

With the move to the CONGU handicapping system, many of us played in fewer Club Opens and County Competitions – worrying that they might affect our handicaps!

So Bowmakers became popular as a format providing a great day out ….. just for fun.

Recognising this, the County included two Bowmakers in its calendar.

The Spring Bowmaker was first played in 2010 at Lilley Brook GC. From 2013 there has been a Spring Bowmaker and an Autumn Bowmaker to spread things out a bit.

Note: Just a little snippet to show that we ladies never change! When the universal handicapping system for lady golfers began in 1893 ….. one champion lady was heard to mutter that golf would not be fun any more! ‘Everyone will be too worried about their card!’

    Wednesday 29th May: BRONZE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP at THE KENDLESHIRE GC

THE BRONZE TEAM TROPHY

The first Bronze Team Championship was played at Puckrup Hall in 2006 when 23 teams took part. This competition was organised to give more Bronze Division players a chance to play in a team championship and to play in a stableford format, rather than a medal, as in the Nett Team Championship.

It was reported in the Minutes that many of the players had never played in a County competition before!!

The Henbury team, Barbara de Winton, Erica Bealey, Bev Litten and Christian Blake, won the Championship, and their success prompted two of their caddies, Julian Steed and Graham Beevor, to donate a trophy  

wednesday 12Th June: THE WESTERN DAILY PRESS CUP at gloucester GC

THE WESTERN DAILY PRESS CUP

Presented by the Western Daily Press & Bristol Mirror in 1933, although we tended to call it the Times and Mirror Cup for some time!  We also imposed a handicap limit of 30 on entrants after its first playing – that first competition was won by a 32 handicap player with one off 33 coming second.  Phyllis Whitley, handicap 5, was third.  Enough said!

thursday 4th July: FRASER FOURSOMES at STINCHCOMBE HILL GC

36-hole Foursomes Medal Pairings can be from different clubs within Gloucestershire Handicap Index limit 40 combined for each pair. Nett competition, plus gross and am/pm prizes Entry fee: £40 per pair  Online entry and payment

THE PEGGY FRASER SALVERS 

Known to us all, affectionately, as The Fraser Foursomes. 

The 1959 County AGM was probably fairly emotional.  The meeting was held at Stinchcombe, Peggy Fraser’s home club.  Peggy, County Captain in 1955 and 56, had just suffered a cerebral tumour and died. 

At that meeting it was formally decided to “buy Silver Salvers and to hold a Foursomes Competition at Stinchcombe each year.”  Each club was asked to subscribe 3 guineas towards the cost of the two salvers.  The Fraser Foursomes were born.

It was Peggy, tall, elegant and attractive “both in looks and personality”, who first proposed that we should have a second county team.

SUNDAY 12TH MAY: JUNIORS' CHAMPIONSHIPS at HENBURY GC 

(played on same day as the GGU Under 16s Championship)

JUNIORS TROPHIES

GIRLS’ CHAMPIONSHIP CUP:   Presented by Lilian Parsons in 1977 for the first Girls’ Championship.  Described in the minutes as  “a delightful piece of silverware.”  The names of those early winners – Di Park, Kitrina Douglas, Caroline Griffiths, both the Shapcott sisters, Alison and Sue, and on to Caroline Hall, Kathryn Hamilton, Clare Lipscombe and Zandie Lennox – champions all.

TOWNSEND PLATE:   This little salver appears in 1982 as the nett trophy for the Girls’ Championship, but once again, the minutes do not give any details.  Miss N. Townsend, known to all as Tigger, was a Lilley Brook lady and, like her great friend Babs Prettejohn, a longstanding supporter of the county.  Maybe we need to read between the lines of the minutes:  just prior to the appearance of the salver were a couple of anonymous donations for the juniors.  Make of that what you like. 

COTSWOLD NOVICES’ TROPHY:   presented in 1990 by Cotswold Golf Shoes, always great supporters of the juniors and the county in general.  Judy Gardiner, wife of the company’s managing director, was the daughter of Mary Norris – county player before and after the second World War

(We have been unable to locate this trophy since 2003! Please help us to find it so that it can be presented!)

WEDNESDAY 17th July: NETT TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP at LILLEYBROOK GC 

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP NETT CUP

This first appears on the scene in 1933 when, in giving details of the Gross Team Championships, played in conjunction with the individual championship, we are told “The second prize will go to the team with the best nett aggregate of 3 scores.” 

The original cup was destroyed by fire at Shirehampton in 1937.  The current replacement however bears the names of the original winners.

TUESDAY 13TH August: SUMMER TEXAS SCRAMBLE at SHIREHAMPTON GC 

The inaugural competition was held in 2017 to involve the county's smaller clubs.  These clubs may not have the facilities to host a large competition, but would like to be included in the  calendar,

Tuesday 23RD July: Gross team championship at  KNOWLE GC

Inter club competition. Teams of  four nominated by each club's Ladies' Section Captain Best three overall gross scores to count with fourth card only being used if a countback is required.  Entry fee: £80 per team. Max 3 teams per club.  Online payment and entry by County Delegate or Lady Captain ONLY

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP GROSS CUP

First presented in 1913, although our minutes for the 1912 AGM indicate that the competition had been held before this. 

They read: “The next question was the repetition of the Team competition, which was voted for unanimously.  The suggestion
that it should be held at the same time as a Glos’ Ladies Individual Championship was also carried; the individual Championship being competed for
in a 36 holes medal round, and the Team Championship decided on the first 18 holes.” 

It was later decided to play it on a separate date.

Tuesday 3RD SEPTEMBER: LADY MARLING CUP/ CORONATION MEDAL (SILVER & BRONZE) at  HENBURY GC

TROPHIES 

LADY MARLING CUP

The cup was presented, in 1914, by Lady Marling, county president from the time our records begin in 1903 until her death during the first World War.  Its official name was, and still is, the “Handicap Challenge Cup”.  It was always a nett competition, originally played for twice a year, in spring and autumn, with the autumn event played in the morning of the AGM.  But in 1930, at Shirehampton in atrocious weather and with a record entry, the AGM was delayed by nearly two hours because of the Lady Marling.

From then on it was played on a different date, and later changed so that the bronze division was played in the spring, and the silver in the autumn.  The one trophy remained, held by each division’s winner for six months, until Minchinhampton gave a bronze cup in their centenary year, 1989.

LADY MARLING BRONZE CUP:  

Lady Marling was Lady President of Minchinhampton as well as being County President.  So, to mark their centenary in 1989, the Minchinhampton ladies presented the county with this cup.  No longer would the lesser lights of the bronze division have to share the Lady Marling Cup with their silver stars.  Now they would have their own cup.

The Lady Marling competition has always been a nett event but gross trophies are also waiting to be won!

SCRATCH CUP

Presented by Miss V. Bramwell in 1937.  Miss Bramwell was County Champion ten times, her last success being in 1938.  The cup was “to be played for in conjunction with the Team Championships and the Lady Marling Cup Competition.”  The Lady Marling Cup was a nett competition, and a prize had previously been donated for the best gross score.  Now there was a cup.

GRAHAM CUP

Gwen Graham, as secretary in 1982, was worried about keeping higher handicap players in the County Championship – we needed their entry fees to make the Championship financially viable! Two cups were to be given as nett cups, one for the silver division (The Prettejohn Cup) and another for the bronze.

Gwen donated this one and its use was changed in 1986, to be a gross prize in the Lady Marling bronze competition.  In those days the Lady Marling Cup itself was shared – six months with the silver winner, and six with the bronze.

CORONATION MEDALS

Our records are remarkably shaky on both the silver and bronze medals.  To begin with each is inscribed “LGU Open County Medal”, but in each case the actual medal commemorates a coronation.

The silver, presented by the LGU Treasurer and Secretary (Miss Issette Pearson), is dated  26 June 1902 and shows Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.  We first played for it in 1907 and more than once a year until 1914.  But it is not mentioned in our minutes.

The next date on it is 1933, which is also the first on the bronze medal, which shows George V and Queen Mary, “Crowned at Westminster” in …… 1911!

Still nothing in our minutes.  But the 1933 printed notice of forthcoming events states:  “Coronation Medal (Open to all members of L.G.U. Clubs whether they belong to the County or not) ………..A Medal will then be given for the Silver and Bronze Divisions.”

The competition for the Coronation Medals and the Lady Marling tournament, have been combined for 2019.

THURSDAY 22nd august: THE KITCAT CUP FINAL at MINCHINHAMPTON GC

Entrants qualify at club level. Maximum of six  players from each club qualify for final. Stableford format at both club & final level. Entry fee: £2 at club level then additional £15 each finalist Online Entry and payment by County Delegate ONLY

THE KITCAT CUP -- our oldest trophy!

Presented in 1905 by the Rev. Kitcat, father of our first recorded captain and secretary, Miss S.W.P.Kitcat.

It was originally known as the Challenge Cup, or sometimes the County Cup, and the final was a matchplay tournament.  It is our oldest trophy, and until our championship began in 1913, this was THE trophy.  Over the years its format has changed, its importance has become diluted.

The early winners’ names engraved on it are, quite simply, a record of our history.  The first winner was M.B.Woollcombe-Boyce -- followed by Sybil Kitcat, Miss Bramwell, Phyllis Clark…. and on to Frances Mann, Margaret Joshua, Marjorie Williams, Hilda Pickup, Peggy Baker, Dorothy McLennan, Peggy Reece, Vivian Wilde and Caroline Griffiths.  

tHURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER : AUTUMN BOWMAKER  at RODWAY HILL GC

Teams of three, not necessarily all from same Gloucestershire affiliated club. Best two stableford scores on each hole to count Entry fee:£60 per team      Online entry and payment  90% of Course handicap

AUTUMN BOWMAKER

With the move to the CONGU handicapping system, many of us played in fewer Club Opens and County Competitions – worrying that they might affect our handicaps!

So Bowmakers became popular as a format providing a great day out ….. just for fun. Recognising this, the County included two Bowmakers in its calendar.

The first Summer Bowmaker, now moved to be an Autumn Bowmaker, was played in 2009 at Cotswold Edge

Note: Just a little snippet to show that we ladies never change! When the universal handicapping system for lady golfers began in 1893 ….. one champion lady was heard to mutter that golf would not be fun any more! ‘Everyone will be too worried about their card!’

tHURSDAY 3RD october : FINAL OF COUNTY GREENSOMES at ROSS ON WYE GC

Qualifying Stableford Greensomes Competition to be played at home club between 1st April and 31st August. Handicap Index Limit 40 (80 combined. Greensomes allowance 60/40 of Course Handicap. Entry £2 a pair 2 best cards to be sent to the Competitions Secretary for Entry into the Finals Cost: £15 per pair for the final .  Online entry and payment by Country Delegate ONLY

There is a personal bit of history, which makes the original format decision interesting.  Val won the Mercia Castle in a playoff against Claude McKenzie in 1972.  The final was played on Finals Day, when her club, Cirencester, also won the Watson Williams and the County Foursomes. Quite a day for them. But all things change!!

COUNTY GREENSOMES GOBLETS:   Spectacular glass goblets presented by the 1981/82 captain, Mrs Val Sprott, in 2002.  “For some time I had wanted to give some trophy to the county, but I wanted it to be part of a general fund raising occasion.  So, we have asked clubs to hold raffles, bridge drives, coffee mornings – you name it – in conjunction with the greensomes competition for which the goblets are given.”

 The competition, although greensomes,was on much the same lines as the Mercia Castle -- an 18 hole Stableford played in each club and the winners were the best Stableford score returned overall.  Should there be a tie, a final (as with the Mercia Castle) was to be played on Finals Day. This was the original format. 

But all things change! Now this competition is run more on the lines of the Kitcat competition in that the two best cards from each club  qualify for a final to be played on a specific day.

sunday 6TH oCTOBER FINALS DAY for the Watson Williams  Foursomes (Scratch) & County Foursomes (handicap) AT tbc

These are both played as knockout matches throughout the season.

Entry fees: Watson Williams (nominated by Ladies' Section Captain/committee) £20 per pair.  CLICK FOR ENTRY FORM (Delegates only)

County Foursomes £8 per pair at club level.  CLICK FOR ENTRY FORM (Delegates only)

The final will be held at tbc 

TROPHIES

THE WATSON WILLIAMS CUP

 Presented in 1934 by Miss Watson Williams, county champion in 1932, and later, as Mrs. Ruth Dickenson. in 1947 and 51.  She was both pre and post war captain as well as president.  The cup is, as described in the 1934 minutes, ‘a handsome cup’ to be played for in a scratch foursomes, knockout, inter club competition.  Its rules have remained basically unchanged – except for minor excursions into how the draw should be made, and the fact that, despite being decreed when it was given that the final should be over 36 holes, the final now is an 18 hole event.

This trophy was stolen in December 2013. In April 2014 Penny Hampson, the granddaughter of our first County Champion Lettie Barry, gave us a trophy her grandmother had won in 1903 -- The Ladies' Pictorial Cup. It now replaces the stolen Watson Williams trophy, and so two pieces of our history are joined forever!

THE COUNTY FOURSOMES CUPS

 First played for, experimentally, in 1932.  At that year’s AGM it was reported “This competition had proved a great success.  142 members entering from a membership of 180.”

 It was, and is, a knockout foursomes handicap matchplay competition with qualifying rounds played in the clubs, followed by inter-club matchplay competition. 

MERCIA CASTLE CUP STABLEFORD COMPETITION (TO BE PLAYED DURING AUGUST)

MERCIA CASTLE CUP:  Presented in 1970 by MerciaCastle, when she retired as our first county chairman, a position she held for 20 years.  It is an 18 hole Stableford played in each club during the month of August and the winner is, quite simply, the best Stableford score returned overall.  There is often criticism of this format – conditions vary so much from day to day, and within the geographic extremes of the county.  But for all that, when we feel hard done by (36 points on a foggy day at Broadway should perhaps equate with 40 in the sun at other courses!) it is worth remembering the reasons for designing the competition this way.  It was to allow “ladies who through family commitments, lack of transport, and various reasons, were unable to take part in County Competitions.”  In the event of a tie, there will be a card countback.

18-hole Stableford Competition to be played in Clubs during the month of August, with prizes for Silver and Bronze Divisions.   Copies of Two Best cards in each Division to be sent to the Competition Secretary by 16TH September

Entry fee: £2  per player at Club level.   CLICK FOR ENTRY FORM (Delegates only)

( Footnote:  In 2002 more than one well intentioned county representative, trying to drum up interest in the Mercia Castle Cup, informed their club members that Mercia Castle was a district of Bristol.)

BARRY TROPHY: This trophy incorporates badges won by our first County Champion Lettie Barry. They relate to our County Team which won the first Midlands Match Week (yes, we were in that division long ago!) and were given to the County by County President, Jennifer May, in 2013, who bought them in auction. The trophy is presented to the player gaining most points for the team at SW County Match Week.