Goodwood out to prove you're never too young for golf

Golf At Goodwood is launching Tri-Golf – a six-week course for children between the ages of four and 11. The club’s PGA professionals will take the course, which will consist of fun, games and activities with basic, easy-to-understand technical instruction.

The club are holding two free taster sessions for youngsters to see if they would like to join the course, which will start on Tuesday, March 22 and run after school from 4.30pm to 5.30pm.

The sessions will be held in the aerobics studio at the Goodwood Health Club, and the children will be provided with plastic clubs, Velcro balls and targets.

The first taster session is on Tuesday, March 15 (4.30pm) and the second is Saturday, March 19 (2pm).

Head of the golf professionals Christian Fogden says: “The beauty of golf is there’s no shelf life. You are never too young or too old to learn to play. I have taught people in ages ranging from three years old to 96. Tri-Golf is aimed at encouraging children to enjoy the game by introducing it to them in a fun yet informative way.”

If you would like your child to attend the taster session please contact Craig Gardner on 01243 755133 or email [email protected]

COWDRAY PARK

After four consecutive away matches since the start of the year, Cowdray Park’s Winter League side returned to home territory and registered a convincing 3½-½ win over the visitors from Hindhead.

Captain for the day Phil Harrison and playing partner Derek Smith set the ball rolling with a close-fought win by one hole, with never more than one hole between the pairs.

The second match was halved so victory overall was decided in the third game, with Cowdray scoring a resounding 4&3 victory, courtesy of Brian Street and Dave Lucking.

Extra points were added to the margin of victory by the final pairing of Dave Hirons and Roger Poat, who prevailed by 3&1. The win moves Cowdray up to fourth place in the table but with only 5½ points covering six teams and leaders Hankley Common having completed all their matches, it is all to play for.

Results (Cowdray names first): Phil Harrison & Derek Smith beat David Ottewell & Ed Ricketts 1up; Harvey Terry & Jan de Vries halved with Colin Monkhouse & David Pirret; Brian Street & Dave Lucking beat Alan Farmer & Colin Pilgrim 4&3; Dave Hirons & Roger Poat beat Simon Johns & Graham Cribb 3&1.

On a bright, sunny but cold day, nearly 90 Cowdray Park seniors took to the fairways to contest the February stableford. Following recent dreadful weather, the greens were understandably not up to their usual pristine condition.

The early starters faced cold conditions with damp fairways and yet the early returns were creditable. The consistent Allen Sibley registered a score of 39 points, quickly folowed by the in-form Wally Mitchell with 38.

These two held their positions until nearly three-quarters of the field were in the clubhouse, when six-handicap Dave Lucking returned a score of 40 and seemed destined to secure his first win since joining the seniors last season. Mike Hancock came in with 39, but was beaten by Allen Sibley on countback.

But it was Jan de Vries, a prolific winner in the past, who took the honours with an excellent 41 points. He also claimed first prize in the raffle, which raised £163 for Help for Heroes. Seniors veterans Bill McGregor and Ken Miebs dealt with the scorecards and raffle tickets.