Royal North Devon

In late September 5 Old Rugbeians (Jock Fraser, Colin Passmore, Christopher Gabbey, Peter Strother-Smith & Nick Hills) made a spectacular visit to Royal North Devon at Westward Ho !

This was intended to be a return for the six man match played the previous year at Rye; but, because of fixture clashes, injuries, unavailibilities and a deficient match manager, we fell a little short of players so that in the end it was just a very enjoyable party in which we and 8 RND members mixed and matched for an afternoon round on Tuesday 24 September and a morning round on Wednesday 25 September. Very competitive golf was played with RND members who are becoming very good friends to the substantial ORGS contingent in the south-west. Passmore & Hills are country members of RND and it would not be surprising if others followed and joined this historic golf club.

RND is the oldest golf course (not quite oldest club) in England and it provides golf as it was meant to be played over natural terrain with dunes, giant sea rushes, beautiful views, roaming sheep and horses as well usually as a challenging breeze. This time we played in perfect conditions – glorious sunshine and hardly a zephyr. The greens were first class.

The hospitality was unsurpassable. We had a very jolly and humorous dinner in the clubhouse in the evening; and on the Wednesday, a great lunch (delicious bream). In accordance with our invariable custom we bought the wine for dinner which (very hospitably) inspired the hosts to forego any green fees, which was extremely generous. We stayed in the Seagate Hotel in Appledore and were not unduly abstemious there either.

Two ORGS/RND events are arranged (with the authorities at each venue) for next year (2019):
Tuesday 16 (PM) & Wednesday 17 April 2019 (AM):
Informal ORGS match v RND members at RND – match manager, Colin Passmore

Wednesday 23 October 2019:
ORGS v RND members at Rye (36 holes) – match manager, Nick Hills. We will need our team to contain at least 4 Rye members which will not be too demanding.

We need 8 ORGS members for each of these matches. Enormous fun can be guaranteed.