The Stowe Putter 2019 - Results
27 August 2019
THE STOWE PUTTER 2019
On Wednesday 21 August 2019, we celebrated the 53rd year of the extremely prestigious Stowe Putter. A stellar field of Prep School competitors once again took to the iconic Stowe Golf Course, which had been superbly prepared by Steve Curley and his team. Over the years, thousands of young budding golfers have locked horns in friendly competition contesting the trophy - a classic Andrew Kirkaldy Putter of St Andrews design. During this period, much in the world of golf has changed, not least the composition of club heads, club shafts and the golf balls themselves. However, some things have remained the same: firstly, the magical and iconic Stowe Golf Course, which was re-designed in the 1960s by C.K.Cotton, and in spite of the significant developments in club and ball technology, it is interesting that the winning scores have not changed so very much over the last 50 years. Another constant has been the etiquette, courtesy and sportsmanship displayed by the players. This, without question, makes golf such a special sport and this year was certainly no different.
We were thrilled to have Mr Michael King in attendance as our Guest of Honour. Michael was educated and introduced to the game of golf at Millfield School from where his golfing career developed rapidly. He went on to have an outstanding amateur career by captaining the British Boys and British Youths before being selected to compete in The Walker Cup. Michael’s career then progressed to the professional game and one of the major highlights was being selected to compete in the 1979 Ryder Cup at The Greenbrier, West Virginia. Remarkably, Michael is also the joint course record holder here on the Stowe Golf Course – he shares this achievement with Mr Stewart McNair, distinguished golfer and Old Stoic. Throughout the course of the day, Michael spoke very highly of the Stowe Putter and was hugely impressed with the quality of golf on display. In his address during the closing ceremony, Michael passed on some remarkable wisdom to our golfers of tomorrow by stressing the importance of having regular golf lessons with a PGA Professional in order to iron out any technical faults within the golf swing, along with being able to develop and maintain sound basic fundamentals. Michael also had a tour of our new Golf Course and was very impressed with the quality of the layout.
The winner of this year's Stowe Putter, with a score of 55 Stableford points, was Elliot Strickland of Spratton Hall School. I spent some time with Michael King during the afternoon observing Elliot’s golf and it is safe to say that he is a very talented young golfer who possesses serious potential for the future. We are delighted to be welcoming Elliot to Stowe this September as one of our Golf Scholars.
The winner of this year's Junior Jigger, with an excellent score of 49 Stableford points, was Hayden Sarfo of King’s Hawford School. This again was a superb performance by Hayden and we greatly enjoyed watching him play such good golf and retain the Jigger! It is clear from Hayden’s fine performance this year that he will be a serious contender in future years. Lily-Rose Hunt of Bromsgrove Prep School recorded 50 Stableford points and claimed the Girl's Prize. This year’s team prize was won by Windlesham House who recorded a total of 92 Stableford points. Congratulations to all of the prize winners.
During the presentation we were joined by Headmaster, Dr Anthony Wallersteiner, who spoke very highly of the fine and distinguished history surrounding The Stowe Putter and Golf at Stowe in general. He thanked Michael King for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come and join us at Stowe on this special occasion. Special thanks were also made to Andrew Hancox for organising and coordinating the smooth running of the event, along with offering a full day of free PGA golf lessons to all competitors on the practice day. Thanks were also made to Di Proctor and Cheryl Davis (Official Scorers), Nick Thorne (Official Starter) and our wider team of volunteers. 
I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Peter Simmons, Secretary of the Old Stoic Golf Society, for supporting the event by way of an OSGS memorabilia display. We very much look forward to seeing you all again next year when we will be marking the first Stowe Putter to be contested on our new Golf Course.
Click here to take a look at the results and view photos from the day here
Andrew Hancox, PGA Golf Professional & Head of Golf