News and Updates

The Ladies Annual Prize Giving and dinner was held last night at the Clubhouse.

Over sixty winning ladies were awarded their trophies by the Lady Captain, Sarah Burton.

In her speech, Sarah thanked everyone whether staff or members for being so supportive, helpful, friendly and kind during her two year Captaincy and wished Julie Frank every success when she takes over the role in 2024.

On a day with poor weather several members went out and completed for the Heaton & Syvret Trophy.

The winners on count back with 38 points were H Cooper and T Falle.

Second on count back with 38 points were S House and S Hayward.

Third with 37 points were M le Feuvre and M Jones.

A REVOLUTIONARY new scheme designed to develop and hone the talents of Jersey’s junior golfers has been launched in a bid to boost the sport’s profile within the Island.It is hoped that the programme – led by Royal Jersey assistant professional Elliott Pritchard – will lead to more Islanders excelling on the national and international stage.

The Royal Jersey Development Programme has taken on an initial contingent of 25 players, split into performance, development and rookie squads. Over the next 12 months, the squads will receive individual lessons on a fortnightly basis, along with group lessons available for online sign-up. Pritchard has been passionate about creating a pathway for junior golfers at Royal Jersey since his arrival on the Island one year ago. He said: “I just want to give these kids a bit of a platform and a clear roadmap towards achieving their specific goals within the sport. “It is something that when I was a junior, wasn’t there for me and it’s about giving the future generation of our sport every chance at success. “We have some very talented golfers over here.“But it is important of not falling into the trap of being quality at 12 or 13 and then being average come the age of 16.“Living on a small island can definitely give you a false sense of security of thinking you’re better than you are. “We have a very small pool here and sometimes when our better players travel off-Island they get a bit of a shock at the standard of golfers their age in the UK and further afield.”

The gulf in class between Jersey and Guernsey at junior level was glaringly obvious at this year’s inter-insular, whereby Guernsey claimed a 13.5–1.5 victory on home soil.

Three of the boys in green went on to take part in the men’s inter-insular.

What Jersey are seemingly lacking is players who are in their last couple years as juniors. Many have dropped off, or no longer pursued golf as they get older – an issue that Pritchard is keen to address. “We need to give our juniors a reason to stay interested,” he added. “At times, there can be a lack of direction for younger players. “What we aim to create, is an environment whereby the juniors can excel and also become more confident. “We will actively encourage the group to play with better players and people they are less familiar with. “There is a tendency to only play with friends and when they compete in an event with people they don’t know, it can be very daunting.”

The 25 players are separated into Performance, Development and Rookie squads in order to provide bespoke coaching for all abilities. Along with golf specific coaching, the Performance Squad have sessions at Strive on a weekly basis, with a focus on golf-specific exercises. Pritchard continued: “We want the programme to be as thorough as possible and encompass all the aspects of golf that are important to thrive. “I have been in contact with some fellow professionals in Yorkshire and have a few matches against clubs in the mainland scheduled. “This will allow our players to go toe-to-toe with some elite juniors and really step outside their comfort zone. “A massive thanks have to go to AP Construction and Pastella Ceramics for their support, as this would not be possible without them.”

Performance Squad: Anabelle Lucas-Villar, Nathan Crake-Jones, Aiden Wilson, Ben Carvalho, Chloe Cadoret, Iman Hamid-Wilkinson, Jacob Townsend.

Development Squad: Oliver Bourke, Eleanor Bourke, Ollie Smith, Jack Burchell, William Aikenhead, William Stratford, Harrison Leggett, Benji O’Mahony, Charlie Hewgill, Marley Austin-Vautier, Tom Agis.

Rookie Squad: Elsa Wanless, Rory Wanless, Henry Edwards, Brandon McLaughlin, Chloe Cosnett, Joe Redmond, Jack Gallon.

Awards Evening - Player of the Year

Junior Player of the Year - Iman Hamid-Wilkinson.

Iman won the Ladies Island Championship in 2023, we believe it’s 55 years since a junior has won the ladies island championship, highlighting what is a great achievement that is. Iman also went unbeaten in the Inter-Insular contributing 2pts to the victorious Ladies team.

Ladies Player of the Year - Flora Keites

Flora had great season of results while also still at University and juggling all the work involved with that. Flora won the Ladies Strokeplay Championship which is played over 36 holes, 2 great rounds in tough conditions resulted in a 6 shot victory. Flora was also part of our Island Games team which was at the start of July in Guernsey. Individually Flora scored consistently across all 4 rounds - securing an individual Silver Medal, while those scores also contributed to the team score and alongside Anabelle Lucas-Villar, Hannah Scriven & Helen Gray as they won Team Gold Medal.

Men’s Player of the Year - Jo Hacker

Jo who is attending Jacksonville University in the states, had some impressive results. Jo qualified in the Top 16 of the Hampshire County Championship where he would progress to the Quarter Finals where he would lose on the 23rd to the eventual winner. Jo won the La Moye Trophy by an impressive 8 shots with a 36h score of 4 under. But most impressively Jo won individual Gold in the Island Games with 4 scores of 68,71,71,71 to win by 9 & 16 shots from Jamie Blondel & Jeremy Nicolle respectively. This is the 3rd ever Men’s Individual Gold Medal, and those scores contributed to Team Silver medal alongside Alex Guelpa, Matthew Parkman & Josh Ozard.

In very testing conditions on Wednesday 20th Sept, 24 ladies from the Royal from both silver and bronze divisions travelled to La Moye to contest the Jane Rogers and June Saunders Trophies.

The format was 4BBB matchplay off handicap with a shotgun start – a new initiative introduced by our Lady Captain for our matches against La Moye in May where it had been deemed a success.

Some very close, competitive matches ensued. Silver were unfortunately defeated by 4 points to 2 with the overall result depending on the result of the last match which went La Moye’s way. They therefore won the Jane Rogers Trophy.

There were also some very competitive matches in the bronze division, where, due to some excellent team performances, the Royal managed to achieve a very creditable 3 -3 draw. La Moye retained the June Saunders Trophy due to their win in 2022, but we will be trying our hardest to wrestle both trophies back in 2024!

This brings the inter club fixtures to a close for this year. Paula and Jacky would like to thank all team players for their fantastic support during the last two years which has made the job so much more enjoyable. Also, many thanks to our Lady Captain for her unwavering support at all our matches. Nor could we have managed without the help from Bart and his staff, the Office, and the Rangers, so a massive thank you to all at the Royal who have been involved in the smooth running of these fixtures.