Four Wood by Phil Walker:

The table below was put together by Herr Doktor. It may not look much, but Andy put in minutes of work looking through old records and checking things with his mates over a pint or eight.

The Dish all started back in 1988 when Herr Doktor was set to marry Pamela Jones. I was going to be the best man and the 1988 event in April was his stag weekend. The wedding never went ahead, but we decided to proceed with the stag do anyway. Freak weather conditions saw us basking in 70 F in April on Scotland's West coast. David Robson was victorious, but we had not established the rule that the winner organises next year so the event never took place in 1989.

The dish itself was purchased in a trophy store in Berkhamsted for £13. Seeing the opportunity for repeat 'stag' events I thought we would need a trophy to play for. I never imagined that over 20 years later the field would grow to 20 or more.

As a prize for the best golf across the whole event the Didsbury Driver was introduced by Rick Wilson (R.I.P.) in 1990. The Rydder cup was introduced in 2002 when I was asked to purchase two sets of shirts for a team event. The shirts were orange and green and due to stock availability at Bovingdon Market all the orange ones were extra large and the green were medium or large. It seemed logical therefore that the thin guys should take on the fat guys or the Ultra Slim Athletes (U.S.A) should take on the You're Obese (Eurobs) as it were! The Rydder Cup was born!

I'll sign off now with a few statistics for you:

Best Attendance: 1) Herr Doktor all 35 events,
2) Phil Walker 32 3) Simon Lowe 30

Highest Points Score (off a gentleman's
handicap): Herr Doktor: 48 off 22 h'cap at
Ross-on-Wye (cracked up on the second 18
including missing a 2 foot putt on the 16th to lose
to Hursty.)

Lowest Points Score: 1) Chris Fortes: 3 off 28
h'cap at Turnberry (almost lost his bag in the rough
as well as about a dozen balls) - now plays off 11
so there is hope for us all. 2) Albin Darwin: 5 at Le
Touquet (refused to accept the 'no gimme' rule and
picked up when close to the hole - DRD who was
marking his card diligently gave him a blob each time - nice one Dave!).

Best Shot: Phil Walker's hole-in-one with a 7 iron at the 3rd on West Lancs in the 2002 event. Being a cheap skate Northerner I celebrated by buying the cheapest sparkling wine on sale at the club.

Worst Shot: Dave Normington standing on the 18th at Ganton in 2008 was leading the Deutsch Dish with one hole to play. The 18th at Ganton has a 160 yard carry over gorse. Under pressure Dave miss hit his drive so badly that it didn't even make the start of the gorse, let alone clear it. The shot probably travelled 10 yards. He then failed to clear the gorse with an 8 iron and ended up with a blob, which fortunately for him was good enough to secure victory!

Biggest Choke: Peter Walsh - also at Ross-on-Wye missed an 18 incher on the 36th hole to lose the Dish on a count back.

Highest Handicap: Mike Campbell 71.5 (playing 72). Scored 72 points (the absolute highest points score ever in the Dish) to beat Ian Laycock into second place.

Biggest Sickener: Ian Laycock (see above)

Biggest Sick: Phil Walker at Belton Woods before falling face first into a rockery.

Breakfast Drinking Record: MRT-Y: 4 pints of keg bitter at Ruddings Park for what he describes as 'elevenses' (advice he received from The Hoff on how to describe breakfast drinking) prior to an 1130 tee off. He then managed to make the ultimate force meet the immovable object by smashing a Molitor 300 yards down the first with his Callaway driver. Simon Lowe in the group in front was witness to the drive as it went through them.

Lunchtime Drinking Record: MRT-Y: 5.5 pints of Kronenbourg 1664 at Princes. Unofficially he beat his own record at Torrequebrada, but due to a combination of metric measures and a dispute on whether a couple of tinnies at the halfway house counted as 'lunchtime' the Princes record stands.

Worst Weather: 1990 Aberfeldy GC. About the only course left open in Scotland. A nine holer and only 4 brave dishers ventured out in the persistant rain: HD, MRT-Y, Nigel Philpott and Dave Wilde

Most Windy: 2018 Carlise GC (where we had booked) was closed due to a large tree falling on the course. We then diverted to Cockermouth GC, having to take a long route to the course because a tree had fallen on the road. We played in a literal Gale Force 9 and it was difficult to stand up, let alone play golf. Quite a few gave up after 9 holes and out of those who battled on, none of us scored 30 points or more.

Phil Walker

Detailed Results are available for 1993 and 2001 onwards.
Select from the drop down menu below