Inside The Annual Golfing Tradition That's Raised More Than £185,000 For Charity

The Golf Monthly Forum is an online meeting place for all keen golfers to chat, exchange ideas, learn, laugh, obsess, arrange a game, and debate anything and everything to do with the game we all love. With more than 29,000 members, there are always people online ready to interact, and it is a hotbed of opinion and information.

Once a year, and a regular and extremely popular fixture on the Forum calendar since 2010, there is a charity day in aid of Help For Heroes. This is open to members and their guests, and so each year is a perfect combination of reuniting with familiar faces at the same time as making new friends.

At the heart (bad pun intended!) of all this is lynchpin and selfless organiser, Richard Hart. Recent years have seen the day hosted at the likes of Hankley Common, Hayling, Tandridge and West Surrey - this year it was the turn of the lovely Blackmoor Golf Club on the Hampshire/Surrey borders where Richard is a long-standing and rightly proud member.

He became involved in 2012 when the event made its first move from its original base, Aldwickbury Park in Hertfordshire, then the home club of the event’s founder Rick Garg. As the day grew in popularity and stature - it is now a guaranteed sell-out - Rick wanted to take it to different venues and make it a permanent fixture on the Forum calendar. He achieved this quite brilliantly, though cruelly and very sadly he suffered a fatal heart attack while playing at his new club, Centurion, in 2016. The event has now raised getting on for £190,000, a brilliant sum for such a worthy and vitally important cause.

Help For Heroes

This wonderful charity was founded in 2007 and runs under the ethos that “every member of our Armed Forces community should have the opportunity to live well after service.” The help it offers includes physical healthcare support, mental health counselling, financial grants, sport and social activities, welfare support and even a Recovery College whose online courses give people the knowledge and skills to make lasting improvements to key areas of their life.

Since its inception, the charity has helped many thousands of military veterans and its help is needed now as much as ever. For more information, please visit helpforheroes.org.uk.

Blackmoor - The Warmest Of Welcomes

I have been lucky enough to play Blackmoor a number of times over the years, and so was delighted to be back to see the recent changes. I was drawn to play with Andy Robb, a member at Sittingbourne & Milton Regis, and his son Steve and daughter Charlotte. They had kindly, some might say foolishly, paid extra towards the charity to play with a Golf Monthly writer.

They had clearly drawn the short straw with me, but nonetheless we had an extremely enjoyable round, neither disgracing ourselves nor threatening for the prizes. Poor Alan hit a superb opening drive, way beyond the obvious hazard of the new right-hand bunker, only to find his ball in a sneaky ditch hidden some way beyond.

Throughout the course, Tim Lobb’s changes to the bunkering have greatly improved the visuals, strategy and fairness. The course sits in the Next 100 of the Golf Monthly rankings, and although it occupies quite a compact plot of heathland, it uses every inch to full effect. To see and play the course when the heather is in its pomp is an absolute treat.

Words From A Hero

Following an excellent carvery lunch, we sat down to listen to Carl Shadrake, a young forces veteran who has benefited from the support of Help For Heroes and who had enjoyed playing in the event in the morning. He was able to relate the most harrowing stories but in a remarkably stoic and unsentimental way.

This is a man who has put his life on the line for his country, a man who was seriously injured in Afghanistan, a man who has who has been with friends as they died! Carl quite brilliantly conveyed the horrors of war before explaining how he had needed, and benefitted from the support of Help For Heroes.

His humility and gratitude were clearly evident, leaving all of us moved and in deep admiration. He is genuinely a hero, as are so many more who need and deserve the support of this great charity.

Going… Going… Gone!

As part of the fundraising activities, alongside a raffle with plenty of excellent prizes, there is always an auction comprising two strands. One is the silent auction where those in attendance can bid for prizes such as golf clothing and four-balls at popular clubs, and then the regular auction which with Simon Bratt at the helm again this year, is anything but silent!

There were plenty of great lots to be won, and Simon did a brilliant job which even included coaxing winning bids from Blackmoor members who were innocently enjoying a quiet drink out on the balcony. One of the star attractions was a Help For Heroes jacket presented by the charity’s local fundraising manager, John Carpenter who also spoke more about the varied and very active work of Help For Heroes.

And The Winner Is…

With the heather in bloom and its bright, new bunkering touting for business, Blackmoor is a fine test of golf and a proper challenge. It was therefore fitting that 36 points won the day, with the Forum’s Hugh McKinnon the only one to achieve this score and therefore clear winner of the Vickers Trophy. Runner-up on 35 points was Guy Hall, narrowly pipping Chris Dorsett on countback.

Best Stableford score off scratch was James Robinson, while the guest prize went to Martin Hendy, also on 36, edging it from Dhan Sharma on countback. Golf Monthly’s very own Nick Bonfield achieved the longest drive, something that those in the office will doubtless never hear the last of, while nearest the pin on the par-3 9th went to Phil Medley, and nearest the pin in two on the par-4 second hole went to Steve Tilley.

Not all prizes are won, some are earned, and each year the Rick Garg Memorial Trophy is awarded to a Forum member whose contribution is above and beyond. This year it went to Simon Bratt, and it was lovely to see Rick’s widow Karen in attendance to present the beautiful trophy. This was actually the first time that anyone in the Forum had ever seen Simon lost for words.

Learning New Skills

Many of the trophies, auction items and raffle prizes are the excellent handiwork of Military Craftmanship, CIO. This charity has been set up by veterans for veterans, to support individuals with severe mental health issues such as isolation, PTSD, low self-esteem, loneliness, depression and anxiety. Jodie Kidd is their patron and the principle is that by working with wood and learning new skills, they find new purpose. This in turn creates self-confidence, empowerment and improved well-being.

The organisation was formed by Ted Granger and Bob Taylor from the ashes of Veterans Woodcraft, a similar enterprise that is sadly no more since a dishonest associate forced it into liquidation. I was lucky enough in the raffle to win a Dambusters carving featuring a Lancaster Bomber. It is a beautiful piece of art, more of which can be seen at militarycraftmanship.co.uk.

Behind The Scenes

An event such as this takes a great deal of organising, and Richard Hart deserves all of our thanks for the huge amount of time and effort he puts in. He is greatly supported in this by his wife Vicky, and by enthusiastic members of the Forum such as Guy Hall, Phil Coumbe and Sean Wheatley.

The day at Blackmoor raised a further £8,000 for Help For Heroes, a terrific sum that will go a long way to helping people who really need that help! This annual event features golf, friendship, fun, and the worthiest of causes - a genuine win, win, win, win combination. Here’s to the next one!