Each year, members of the Golf Monthly Forum and their guests meet up to enjoy playing a top-notch course at the same time as raising funds and awareness for Help For Heroes. Dating back to 2010, this has since evolved into an eagerly-anticipated win-win tradition where the beneficiaries are both those taking part, and this most worthy of charities. Along with plenty of regular attendees, there are always a few new faces, and the funds raised are both needed and greatly appreciated.
From Small Acorns
The very first Help For Heroes day was staged at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire and was organised by Rick Garg with an initially modest field of fewer than 10 members of the Forum. Happily, this was supplemented by a healthy turn-out from Rick’s own club, Aldwickbury Park, taking the number to around 40. The day raised a very healthy £2,200, and the event was staged at the same venue the following year, 2011. This time it attracted a larger field with more forum members at the same time as raising an even more impressive £6,500.
Having served in the RAF, Rick was a passionate supporter of Help For Heroes as well as a very keen golfer. His hopes for founding the day were wide-ranging; to raise awareness for the charity, which itself only started in 2007, to generate funds via donations, to make the charity day a permanent fixture on the Golf Monthly Forum calendar, and for all those on the forum to make new friendships that might last a lifetime. This he did in spades, though tragically he died suddenly from a heart attack in 2016 while on the course at the club he had joined and come to love, the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire.
Current organiser Richard Hart became involved in 2012 when the day was staged at the club where he is a member, Blackmoor, a very popular venue with a fine course in the Golf Monthly Next 100. It was around that time that the then Golf Monthly editor Michael Harris came on board and the team was now in place. Suddenly, the number of forummers who wanted to play really took off and there were 80 golfers raising a brilliant £11,500. Richard’s aims are “to get golfers from all over the UK to meet up with friends, play top courses and raise significant amounts of money for Help For Heroes. This is money that really does make a difference.”
A highlight for Richard was a visit with Rick Garg to Tedworth House in Wiltshire which is a recovery centre for service personnel. It was here in a ‘Tin Hut’ that the charity was founded. According to Richard, “A few forummers joined us and we saw just where our money was going and what the charity was all about.” He feels particularly close to the cause and its excellent work as his father was in the RAF, a Spitfire pilot during WWII, and he remained a Squadron Leader until the mid 1960s.
Since those opening two years, there have been between 68 and 103 golfers playing at any one day, and following this year’s event the total sum raised in the 15 years has risen to the brilliant sum of a touch over £180,000. There has been a different winner every time, while at the other end of the spectrum, there was one entrant who managed a grand total of two points at West Hill, both of them on the same hole!
Each year there are honoured guests, men and women from Battle Back Golf which was founded in 2009 and is a military initiative designed to utilise golf to support the wounded, injured and sick. This year it was Kushal Limbu, subject of a recent feature in Golf Monthly, while there are also guest speakers from Help For Heroes.
At West Surrey Golf Club this year, we were treated to a powerful, modest and impassioned speech from the charity’s Chief Advocacy Ambassador, Mark Elliott. He explained how every single donation really does make a difference, no matter the size, and how every one of these is used well and is genuinely very much appreciated. He related several examples of athletes competing in this Summer’s Paralympics in Paris who had benefitted from programs created and run by Help For Heroes.
Asked about the best stroke in the history of the event, Richard cites a second shot on the closing hole at Blackmoor which had been designated as the nearest-the-pin-in-two for the day. This is a strong par 4 played up the hill and overlooked by the clubhouse. One golfer actually managed to hole out, and the competition marker was found in the hole. Conversely, in 15 years there has never been a hole-in-one, though rumour has it that most players deliberately aim a little away from the hole as they aren’t too keen on the prospect of buying drinks for 80 or more golfers!
A Perfect Host
Herbert Fowler is one of our greatest golf course architects and his legacy lives on both at West Surrey and at a pair of excellent Top 100 36-holers not too far away, The Berkshire and Walton Heath. Following initial input from JH Taylor, Fowler designed this undulating and very varied course a few miles south of Guildford. There is an excellent clubhouse that is full of charm, and the course has benefited greatly over the past decade from bunker renovations and other changes by architect Ken Moodie.
This is particularly so at the down-and-up par-4 8th which used to have a solitary bunker smiling at you around the front of the green, but now has a handful of various shapes and sizes beckoning to you and asking different questions. In a county with way more than its fair share of golfing treasures, it is one of the best and most enjoyable courses, and everyone who took part in the day is very grateful to secretary Duncan Marshall and his team for hosting.
In The Prizes
With the rain at best but only briefly light, and at worst of power-shower proportions, every single golfer in the field can be congratulated for taking part. Needless to say, there was an impact on scoring, especially later on as one or two greens became unplayable. Had this not been a charity event with so much at stake, you get the feeling that play might have been called off. Huge thanks are therefore owed to course manager Alec MacIndoe and his team as even in such unwelcoming conditions, the course looked a picture.
The Forum winner of the day with a 3-point margin and a very impressive 35 points was Olly Cole, while in second place on countback was Laurie Lax, with Richard Hart in third, also on 32 points. The guest prize was won by Richard Donaldson with 32, while the longest drive on the closing hole was won by Martin McGowan.
This year’s nearest-the-pin-in-two was won by James Robinson of Kedleston Park, one of the best golf courses in the Midlands, on the 16th, while the day’s most prestigious and certainly most touching award is the Rick Garg Memorial Trophy which goes to a Forum member whose loyalty and support for the event is deemed to be particularly noteworthy. The very popular 2024 recipient was the beaming Guy Hall, also known as Midnight.
Golf Monthly editor Neil Tappin distinguished himself, some might say showboated a little, by claiming not one but two prizes. First of these was the best gross score on the day, in this case a very impressive 4-over before the final two greens became unputtable. Two pars would have resulted in a 75, an excellent score in such testing conditions. Neil has a pet hate for the expression, “I almost had a hole in one”, his belief being that it’s the same as saying “I didn’t have a hole in one”! Regardless, the prize for nearest-the-pin at West Surrey was on the final par 3, the 151-yard 12th. Let us simply say that while claiming this prize, Neil absolutely didn’t have a hole in one. However, the ball did stop agonisingly just inches short, so he almost did!
A True Team Effort
Anyone struggling to arrange the next round of a four-ball knockout will know how difficult it can be to arrange just the one tee time that caters to the crowded diaries of four people. If you imagine the complications of working with a leading club to agree a date at a price that works for a charitable event, then filling its course for a shotgun start with catering before and after, organising an auction and a raffle, and all the associated publicity and communications, then you will realise it is a mammoth task. Huge kudos therefore goes to Richard and his many helpers.
These include the brilliantly enthusiastic and tongue-twisting auctioneer Mark Head, a man who has been known to turn up at the wrong club, sit down and start eating a bacon roll, and only then realise he doesn't recognise anyone! Legend has it that he still finished his food before making a surreptitious departure and heading to the correct venue. Another vital part of the day are Richard’s wife Vicky and Kate Cave whose disarming smiles and gentle manner make it so easy for them to extract donations from all those taking part.
There is also a strong relationship with Ted Granger and Bob Taylor of Veterans Woodcraft who are based in Richmond, Yorkshire. Their mission is to provide support, empowerment, and a sense of purpose to those who have served in the forces and are looking for ways to improve their mental health and overall well-being, and they are responsible for the excellent trophies and many of the auction lots.
One of the tricky things in organising these events is finding top-quality courses that are able to recognise the importance of Help For Heroes and offer a rate that will still generate a good income for them while at the same time allowing the Forum to retain as much as possible for the charity. Plenty have been more than generous so far, and it is to be hoped that this will continue long into the future. Let’s leave the final word with Richard Hart who puts so much time, effort and generosity into the event. “I hope that the charity day continues for as long as forummers and Golf Monthly support the day. I am sure that Help For Heroes will need our support for some time yet. We are a family, happy to adopt new members, and when we lose a member such as Rick we are very saddened. The day is all about golfers having fun, making new friends and supporting a fantastic charity.”
A Thank You from PXG
Leading golf club manufacturer PXG kindly donated a new driver with custom fitting as one of the star lots for the charity auction. The company was founded by Bob Parsons, a United States Marine Corps Vietnam War veteran, and a recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He frequently tells people that he owes everything he has to the Marines.
On the back of this military experience, Bob Parsons set up the PXG for Heroes program. In simple terms, this is his company’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to the men and women of the military, and first responders. Run under the direction of Marine Corps Colonel (Retired) Kevin Hudson, the scheme was extended into the UK earlier this year. It is free for active military and veterans alike (as well as first responders) to register, and it then gives access to PXG clubs, apparel and accessories at special pricing. Full details are available at pxg.com.
