According to the archive of Bancroftian Magazines the first OB Golf meeting was on 7 May 1924 at West Essex GC. Knowing this we were able to arrange a meeting on 7 May 2024 at West Essex GC.
The relevant Bancroftian articles are below.
March 1924 – notice of 1st meeting
June 1924 – report on 1st meeting
20 OBs and 5 guests including Duncan Abbot (Bancroft’s Governor) and Phil Graham (Captain of Old Felstedians) played 18 holes of Singles Stableford on a very wet and soft course which added a significant amount of difficultly to the proceedings. We were also very pleased to have Amanda Campbell, The Chair of OBA as our guest for dinner.
As we didn’t have a trophy for this event, players were competing for golf balls to replenish their dwindling stock.
The winner with 36 points was Rebecca Beer. We don’t have a complete record of competition winners for the last 100 years but it is quite likely this was the first time a woman has won first prize.
Rebecca was unable to stay for dinner so her husband Andy collected her prize.
OBGS President Roger Booth presenting Rebecca’s prize to husband Andy (photo by Julian Blake)
David Sparks was second with 36 points and Andrew Montlake was third with 33 points.
We also had 3 nearest the pin competitions and the winners were David Sparks (par 3), Mark Gilbert (par 4) and Andrew Montlake (par 5).