JON Mills pulled off a remarkable feat as Forest Hills Seniors welcomed Lydney in the opening match of the new season 

The home side got off to a losing start as captain Alan Bridges and Andy Ward lost 3 & 1 against Alan Robinson and Jon Mills.

Jon, who received a shot, used a putter off the tee, onto the greem and then sunk the putt to win the par three 14. Barry Klein and Geoff Pearson, shared the spoils in a close contest against, Mark Lightbound and Dave Prentice which heralded a run of victories for Mile End as the next four matches culminated on the 17th.

Dave Howard and Neil James won 2 & 1 against Stuart Kear and Jim Bendall, Chas Challis and Ray Innes won 2up against Adrian Carter and Mark Anderson with Alan Ayling and Pat Simcoe beating Mal Anderson and Paul Challenger 2 & 1 and Ken Lawrence and Gerry Woodley, saw off Chris Johnson and Paul Lucas 2up.

Phil Gwynne had to complete the next round single handed, as his partner Paul Williams had to leave on the 9th, which meant that Tony Norris and Tommy Miller eased out to a comfortable 4 & 3 win, to leave the final score of : Forest Hills  4.5-2.5 Lydney.

Captain Bridges provided a bottle of wine for the nearest-the-pin on the 17th won by Lydney’s Tommy Miller. Only two points separated the top three of 64 pairs in the Seniors Pairs Shambles Stableford competition.

Terry Davies and Andrew Price on 50 were 14 under par score of 50 points with Colin Baird and Mike Butcher a point behind Phil Gwynne and Mick Hilliam on 48. 

In the nearest the pin contests, Geoff Pearson won the second, Pat Simcoe the seventh, Andy Wright the eighth and Pete Dovey the 17th, raising £64 for the captain’s charity.

Countback was needed in March Medal with Steve Jones the winner from Stephen Forsyth and Darren Page after a better back nine as the top three all scored 40.

There were 12 twos claims with James Bath having an eagle on the second and a birdie on the 14th.

Monmouth were the visitors for the first leg of the 2024 Wye Challenge.

In the opening encounter, home Captain, Alan Edwards and Ashley James lost one down against Jones Davies and Russ Giblin while Derek and Fraser Freeman-Jones shook hands Rob Pilot and Nick Holingbee on the 12th winning 7 & 6.

The home team then edged in front as Dave Bennett and Luke Jobson beat Alan Cairns and Garth Lamb, 3 & 1 but Lydney came back as Dave Howard and Stu Liddington, shook hands on the 17th,losing 3 & 2, against Mike Parry and Steve Thomson.

Forest Hills guaranteed themselves a share of the spoils with victory in the penultimate match as Keelan Reddan and Pat Simcoe beat James Barrell and Graham Wakersey, 3 & 2. Chris Norris and Tom Knight manged a hard-fought half, against Dave and Brad Hudson for Forest Hills 3.5 -2.5 Monmouth.

The winners of the first “Major” were Mark McGirr and Connor Mullen, with a combined score of 150, as they finished just one shot ahead of Callum Reeves and Brandon Leach, and Alan Edwards and Luke Jobson in the Briscoe Trophy.

The final leg of the Winter Stableford series, organised by Jamie and Gavin in the pro shop, saw visitors from 13 clubs with countback needed to separate two Forest Hills members.

Stu Hardy’s 39 – equivalent of three under par – won the £300 pro shop voucher with Colin Grindle in second.