NEW YEAR’S EVE MIXED PAIRS STABLEFORD : 31/12/18

The New Years Eve Mixed Pairs was held on a simply glorious and sunny final day of 2018. This year’s event had a great field of 22 pairs participating on the Indiana Course at Desert Springs.

The leaderboard saw five couples all within one point of each other. The winners for the final competition of the year were Steve and Elaine Gray. Runners-up position went to Robert Wallace and Sandra Edwards.

The prize giving ceremony took place on the deck and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

CHRISTMAS INDIVIDUAL STABLEFORD: 26/12/18

A fantastic field of 39 players competed for The Christmas Individual Stableford traditionally played on Boxing Day. The Indiana Course was presented in excellent condition and a great day was had by all.

Ray Charles took out the festive victory with a score of 39 points, from runner-up Dianne Biggs on 38 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

THE CONSTITUTION CUP : 06/12/18

A field of 36 players competed for The Constitution Cup on the beautiful Indiana Course with glorious weather conditions which were enjoyed by all.

In the Men’s Event, Chris Mear was victorious with a great round of 76. For the Ladies, Brenda Clark-Whittle was crowned Champion with a round of 96. The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

THE CLUB HANDICAP SALVER : 10/11/18 – 11/11/18

The Club Handicap Salver brought to an end a very busy period of tournament golf at Desert Springs. It was was held over two days on another glorious sunny weekend. A field of 23 players entered the event on the stunning Indiana Course which was played under medal conditions.

A nail biting finish was seen in the Men´s event with two players going for the title down to the very last hole. Freddie Beames reigned supreme with a combined score of 142, beating Chris Mear by one shot. Third place went to Evelio Alonso on 146. For the Ladies, Wikkie De Graaf was crowned champion with a score of 152, from runner-up Jaki White on 165.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by the Club Vice-Captain, Patricia Deraedt.

THE PRESIDENT’S CUP : 07/11/18

The President’s Cup brought together a field of 37 players for the event held on the beautiful Indiana Course at Desert Springs.

Jaki White proved a very popular winner and was crowned champion with a score of 36 points. Phil Webster took the runners-up position with 34 points (by virtue of lower handicap), from David Hadden and Peter Bielby respectively.

The prize presentation was held on The Deck and was hosted by Committee Member, Barry White.

CAPTAIN’S CHARITY DAY : 27/10/18

The last weekend in October saw Club Captain for 2018, John Haydon, host his Charity Day. The stage was set for 15 Teams of four to compete in a Scramble Tournament on the beautiful Indiana Course. Not even the electrical storm that swept through the course mid-round could dampen anybody’s spirits.

The team of Rob and Karen Stillwell, Ryan Stillwell, and Ben Brower, were crowned Charity Day Champions, followed by Paul and Lynne Taylor, Nicky Watson and Gail McKemmie as runners-up.

Following the golf, a simply wonderful evening was had by all, with lots of money raised for the Captain’s chosen charity for the year.

The prize presentation was held as celebrations went long into the night at The Crocodile Club and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

PAST CAPTAIN’S TEAM CHALLENGE : 28/10/18

A fantastic field of 41 players teed it up for The Past Captain´s Team Challenge. A glorious morning greeted the players for the event held on the beautiful Indiana Course.

'Team De Graaf' comprising of past captain Wikkie De Graaf, Patricia Deraedt, Elizabeth Bielby, Pat Clay, Phil Webster, Chris Mear, and Barry White took home the honours for the day.

The prize presentation was held in El Torrente and was hosted by Committee Member, Barry White.

AUTUMN TROPHY : 13/10/18

The Indiana Course at Desert Springs hosted The Autumn Trophy with the fairways bathed in glorious sunshine all day long. A fantastic field of 51 golfers took part in this Individual Stableford competition in their quest to claim the Trophy.

Martin McLellan put together a great round of golf to win the event with a score of 38 points. Freddie Beames took second place with 36 points, with Stuart Baynham third on 35 points.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Vice-Captain John Haydon.

DESERT CLASSIC : 06/10/18 – 07/10/18

The Desert Classic Tournament is played over two rounds of the stunning Indiana Course in October each year. This year’s renewal had a wonderful field of 40 players competing in beautiful conditions trying to be crowned The Desert Classic Champion Golfer.

After a fantastic weekend of golf, Elaine Gray proved to be a very popular winner with a combined winning score of 75 points. Chris Mear took the runners-up position with a score of 71 points, with Stuart Baynham third.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Vice-Captain John Haydon.

SEPTEMBER GREENSOMES : 22/09/18

A fantastic field of 22 pairs took to the fairways for the annual September Greensomes.

The format ensures lots of tactical thinking, with plenty of discussions taking place between pairings trying to plot their way round the Indiana Course in their quest to become Champions.

The Father and Son pairing of Mark and Lee Danson put together a great round to score 41 points and take the prize. Runners-Up were Keith Kingdon and Wikkie De Graaf with David Knoote and Neil Halliday in third.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

SEPTEMBER STABLEFORD : 01/09/18

A total of 23 players teed it up at Desert Springs to compete for the September Stableford. The sunny sky and beautiful conditions of the golf course provided the perfect setting for the players.

The course certainly played difficult with Stuart Baynham coming out on top with a score of 33 points. Runner up went to Barry White, with Chris Mear in third.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

THE FLAG : 25/08/18

A field of 24 players competed on yet another sunny and beautiful day at Desert Springs for this year’s Flag Tournament. This unique event is not about scoring the most points or how many shots under your handicap you can play, but how far you can get around the golf course once you’ve used all of your available shots. Once you’ve played your last shot, the position in which the golf ball finishes is marked with a Flag. If you are able to play 18 holes and still have some shots left, then you start again on the first tee until you have hit them all ! The winner is the player who gets the furthest on the course.

This year’s winner was David Smith who managed to hit two more shots down the 1^st hole after finishing his round. Runner-Up was Club Captain, John Haydon, with Mark Danson third.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

AUGUST STABLEFORD : 18/08/18

A total of 27 players gathered at Desert Springs to compete for the August Stableford. The sunny sky and beautiful conditions of the golf course provided a warm welcome for all the players.

Chris Mear won the event (by virtue of lower handicap), from in second place, Harry McKinnes, after both players couldn’t be separated scoring 37 points.Theo Goodhall took third place.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and hosted by Club Vice-Captain John Haydon.

THE SUMMER CHALLENGE CUP : 04/08/18

The Indiana Course played host to the annual Summer Challenge Cup on a simply delightful sunny day. A field of 33 players took to the fairways all aiming to be the Champion. The course certainly played quite tough, as the scoring showed, with ‘par’ definitely being a good score for the day.

Richard Fuller won the event with 39 points, from in second place, Roger Butters, with 35 points. Third place went to Dennis Stafford.

The prize presentation was held on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

THE PROFESSIONAL’S CHALLENGE CUP : 21/07/18

The Indiana Course again played host to the annual Professional’s Challenge Cup. The event is played between the Desert Springs Golf Professionals Vs a field of member’s and their guest’s pairs, who compete in a Fourball Better Ball format.

A total field of 16 pairs enjoyed the fantastic conditions of the Indiana Course at Desert Springs on a beautiful summer’s day, with some fantastic scoring.

Desert Springs Services Manager Kirk Lovell teamed up with Club Captain John Haydon to set the target of 37 points to beat. Eight pairs were able to better that score this year and the winners of the event with a great score of 43 points were the husband and wife team of Stuart and Josephine Baynham. Thank you to all participants on a great tournament.

The prize presentation took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon, and Desert Springs Services Manager Kirk Lovell, who presented the trophy to the winning team, as well as the prizes for all pairs who were able to claim that for 2018, ‘We beat the Pro’.

DESERT SPRINGS MED-FORD : 14/07/18

The Desert Springs Med-Ford is a rather different style of competition whereby the competitors play two different formats in one round of golf. The front 9 holes are played as a Medal with the back 9 played as a Stableford. 22 players entered the event on the beautiful Indiana Course played on a glorious sunny day under powder blue skies.

Winner on the day was Liam McKinnes . Runner-up was Charlie McKinnes from Stuart Baynham in third.

The prize giving ceremony took place on the Deck and was hosted by Cub Captain, John Haydon.

JULY MEDAL : 07/07/18

A field of 22 players took to the fairways for the July Medal. The Indiana Course was presented in beautiful condition on a glorious warm and sunny day. The pace of play for the course was noticeably swift due to it being World Cup Quarter-Final Day over in Russia !

Charlie McKinnes won the event with a score of Nett 67. Ali Mahmud took second place with a Nett 69 from Richard Fuller in third with a Nett 71.

The prize giving ceremony took place on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

JUNE STABLEFORD : 16/06/18

A field of 18 players teed it up on the The Indiana Course for the June Stableford. The course was presented in beautiful condition and the sun shone down all day for everyone.

Stuart Baynham produced a stunning round of golf to be victorious with 44 points. Second place went to Neil Halliday on 40 points from Sandra Edwards in third with 39 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

DIRECTOR’S TROPHY : 02/06/18

36 players took to the beautiful fairways of The Indiana Course for the Director’s Trophy. Delightful weather conditions of 27ºC and powder blue skies ensured a memorable golfing day on the Indiana Course, which was presented in superb condition.

Dennis Stafford was victorious with a fantastic score of 42 points. Peter Bielby finished runner up with 38 points, followed by Stuart Baynham, Roger Butters, and Margaret Allison all with 36 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place at The Crocodile Club and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

MAY MEDAL : 19/05/18

21 players took to the pristine fairways of The Indiana Course for the May Medal. Glorious sunshine played out all day long which ensured lots of very happy golfers.

David Smith blitzed the field with a simply stunning round of Nett 64. Freddie Beames was runner-up with a Nett 72 from Ray Charles in third with a Nett 73.

The prize presentation took place on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

OPEN PAIRS TOURNAMENT : 12/05/18

A great entry of 22 pairs took to The Indiana Course for the Open Pairs Tournament. The sun shone down and the course was presented beautifully for the event.

The pairing of Chris Mear and Alicia Cook were victorious with a great score of 42 points. Ken Taylor and Sandra Edwards were runners-up with a score of 41 points from Freddie Beames and Wikkie De Graaf in third on 40 points.

The prize presentation took place on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

MAY STABLEFORD : 05/05/18

A fantastic field of 42 players took to the fairways for the May Stableford. The Indiana Course was presented in beautiful condition on a glorious sunny day.

Chris Mear won the event with a score of 38 points. Liz McCartney took second place with a score of 37 points, from Roger Butters and Ian Tomlinson in third on 36 points.

The prize presentation took place on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

APRIL ECLECTIC : 28/04/18 – 29/04/18

19 players took part in the April Eclectic. A beautiful sunny weekend ensured perfect playing conditions for both rounds on The Indiana Course which was presented in fantastic condition.

The individual event was played under Medal play with the best score recorded on each hole over the two rounds to count towards the Eclectic score. Dennis Stafford came out on top with a wonderful Nett score of 63. Jaki White took second place on Nett 64 (by virtue of lower handicap), from Brent Clark-Whittle in third.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, John Haydon.

THE INDIANA MASTERS : 07/04/18 – 08/04/18

The Indiana Masters, which is always played to coincide with the US Masters at Augusta, gathered a field of 21 players, all striving to put their name on the Honours Board after competing in this 36 hole Stableford Competition.

The Indiana Course was presented in beautiful condition for the two days and a new name was added to the illustrious list of past winners, with Chris Mear following up his runners-up position in the Club Championship to take the honours. It was an extremely close affair with Chris’s winning score of 64 points on a countback from Stuart Baynham, and Phil Angus in second and third respectively.

The prize presentation was held on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain John Haydon.

THE CAPTAIN’S DRIVE-IN : 06/04/18

The 2018 Captain's Drive In took place on April 6th, gathering a field of 17 teams of 4 players, who competed in a Scramble event with perfect weather conditions. The theme for this year was ‘Childhood Heroes’, with golfers dressing up accordingly !

The day began with a drinks reception at the unique Cave Bar, where 'mulligans' and flags were sold, the flags being offered to players who wanted to guess where the first drive of New Captain John Haydon would finish up. All the money collected would be sent to the Captain's Charity.

After the competition, over 90 players and guests gathered at The Crocodile Club for a lunch and prize presentation. Attendees were treated to a stirring reunion performance from the Member’s band, ‘Springs’, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The winning team, formed by Paolo Payne, John Haydon, Lee Coxon, and Chris Mear, won with a score of Nett 55 from Lynne and Paul Taylor, and Patricia Clay and David Garnett. Third place went to Shona and Phil Lockyer, playing with Robert Boersma and Neil Evans.

A fantastic day was had by all and a great welcome given to Desert Springs Club Captain John Haydon to launch into his year !

THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP STABLEFORD : 04/04/18

Alongside the second round of the Club Championship, the Club Championship Stableford gathered a total of 35 players, competing in an 18 hole stableford tournament.

The winner of the event was David Garnett with a total of 39 points, from Ray Charles with 36 points.

The prize presentation took place during the Club Championship Dinner, hosted by former and new Captain’s Chris Cole and John Haydon.

THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP : 03/04/18 – 04/04/18

The prestigious Club Championship Competition takes place each year and is traditionally competed for over a 2 round medal play format. The Club Championship crowns the Men’s and Ladies’ Champions, who must compete against the best players and produce the best gross score on the challenging Indiana Course, played from the Championship Tees. Fast greens and demanding pin positions lay in wait for all those trying to become Club Champion !

After round one, Mark Danson took the early lead in the Men’s Championship with a fantastic round of 76 strokes, followed by Chris Mear with 83 and John Crosby with 85. On the Ladies side, Sue Wood was the overnight leader with a round of 91, closely followed by Liz Shutlar with a 93.

In round two, the Men’s leaderboard took a few twists and turns throughout the morning but Mark Danson remained solid to be crowned Champion. Runners-up position went to Chris Mear, with John Crosby in third. On the Ladies side, Liz Shutlar played a great second round to take the spoils from Sue Wood. Many Congratulations to both !

Following on from the tournament, the Club Championship Dinner and Prize Presentation, hosted by former and new Captain’s Chris Cole and John Haydon was held in El Torrente.

THE EASTER CUP : 01/04/18

Desert Springs was, as is the usual, bustling with activity during the Easter period. The Easter Cup launched a wonderful week of tournament golf. A total of 75 players competed in this year’s event. The superb conditions of the Indiana Course and the beautiful weather ensured a wonderful day was had by all.

Outgoing Captain Chris Cole was crowned champion by virtue of lower handicap with a score of 37 points from Runner-Up Dee Tomlinson. Third place went to David Knoote on 36 points, again by virtue of lower handicap, from Jim Kendall and Ray Charles.

The prize presentation was held on the Deck and was hosted by Club Captain, Chris Cole.

ST PATRICK’S DAY BOWL : 17/03/18

44 golfers teed it up, all with the aim of holding aloft the St Patrick’s Day Bowl. The event was played on a beautiful sunny morning with The Indiana Course presented in fantastic condition.

Kirby Garrod galloped into the winners enclosure, being crowned champion with a score of 37 points. Steve Gray took the Runners-Up position on 36 points, with Evelio Alonso Fernandez in third on 34 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place in El Torrente and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole.

MEMORIAL DAY TOURNAMENT : 10/03/18

A fantastic field of 63 players took to the fairways to compete on Memorial Day. The Indiana Course was presented in beautiful condition with the weather delightful all day.

The winner of the tournament was Wikkie De Graaf with a stableford score of 36 points, from Runner-Up John Bridgen on 35 points. Robert Wallace and Ray Charles both scored 34 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Vice-Captain John Haydon.

ANDALUCIA DAY : 28/02/18

37 aspiring golfers teed it up for Andalucia Day with The Indiana Course being presented in great condition. The tournament was played in wonderful spirits, with everyone enjoying a fantastic day.

Barry White won the event with 39 points. Second place went to Ray Charles, by virtue of lower handicap, from Dee Tomlinson in third, and Josephine Baynham fourth, with all three scoring 37 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole.

THE CARNIVAL SCRAMBLE : 25/02/18

A wonderful entry of 12 teams competed in The Carnival Scramble which was played on a glorious sunny morning with The Indiana Course presented in beautiful condition.

Carnival Champion Golfers for 2018 were the team of Barry and Jaki White, and Stuart and Josephine Baynham, with a fantastic score of 56. Just missing out, and runners-up on the day were James and Sarah Greenall, and Peter and Gill Andrews, on 56.

The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole.

DESERT SPRINGS OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP : 10/02/18 – 11/02/18

19 players took to the fairways to compete for The Desert Springs Open Championship which was played over two rounds. The Indiana Course was presented in beautiful condition and the weather for both tournament rounds was just divine.

It was very close at the top of the leaderboard with Club Captain Chris Cole putting together two great rounds of golf to be crowned champion with a combined stableford score of 70 points, from Runner-Up Kirby Garrod on 69 points. Ray Charles was 3rd with 66 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place on The Deck and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole alongside Vice-Captain John Haydon.

THE EPIPHANY CHALLENGE : 06/01/18

A fantastic field of 50 players took to the fairways for The Epiphany Challenge which is traditionally held on Three Kings Day, the 6th January.

The Indiana Course was bathed in glorious sunshine for the event, with some good scoring.

Patrick Sweeney was crowned champion with 37 points (by virtue of lower handicap) from Runner-up Jaki White. Third place went to Mike Thorpe with 35 points.

The prize giving ceremony took place in El Torrente and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole.

COMMUNITY TROPHY : 03/01/18

The Community Trophy kicked off the 2018 tournament year in style with 46 competitors taking to the fairways. The course and weather were both magnificent. The format is that of a team event whereby the respective communities of the resort compete in a stableford tournament to claim the title as the best Community in Golf.

The combined communities of Desert Drive, Powderhorn, and La Estrella formed one team and came out triumphant to be crowned winners of the first event of 2018. Congratulations to all players.

The prize giving ceremony took place on the deck and was hosted by Club Captain Chris Cole.