The Tenby Rabbits gathered in the clubhouse last Sunday for the B&H Shield - the traditional end of the Summer League, and the final action of captain Martin’s reign, writes our links reporter, Warren Hacker. Contrary to popular belief, it is not cigarette-sponsored, but named after Messrs Brown and Hughes, past Woolworths managers of the county and has been played for since 1982 and Tom Hughes, Geoff Aston and Terry Picton were the first three winners.

A two ball consisting of Chris and Steve C led the way, followed by the ‘Beatles Appreciation Trio’ - John, Paul and... no, not Ringo, but Adrian. Third away were a couple of Rabbits hoping to re-install their name onto the Shield - Ian (winner in 1998) and Dave (winner in 2000) along with Robin. Fourth group off consisted of Mark, Peter and Bill, closely followed by Kieron, Steve W (the only other previous B&H winner in the field - twice (08 and 09!) - and Wyndham. There was one entrant in the ‘Shortest Drive on the First Hole’ competition, but I won’t name names...

The remnants of Storm Brian were loitering and a few ancillary showers were forecast for later. The forecast wasn’t correct. The rain came early. The two-and-a-half club gusts weren’t helping on any hole and conditions were officially described as ‘challenging’ - especially for the early starters! This was evidenced by the fact that the top three finishers came from the last three groups.

Coming fourth on countback from Mark was John with 33, bronze position went to Bill on 35, who lost out on countback to Ian in silver place, but the new name on the shield belongs to Wyndham Collins with an outstanding 38 points - and it could have been more if fatigue and nerves hadn’t kicked in making him three-putt three of the last four holes! Two players managed to birdie a par three - Peter on the 12th and Dave on the 17th, so six of the Rabbits got some financial reward for their efforts.

The results over the last two Sundays have seen the first to tee-off last week (Dave) win and this time it was the last to tee-off (Wyndham), so the Rabbits will be vying for those tee places next time out. Those weeks have also been the first two of the Winter League and Chris is an early front-runner in the Eclectic with 45, ahead of Bill on 43, with Ian and Steve C on 42. Ian leads the ‘Best Eight Aggregate’ after two with 66, Bill has 65, Chris 64 and Wyndham 62.

The captain (well, due to work duties his stand-in, immediate past-captain, Robin) and vice-captain Paul had chosen their seven-man ‘teams’ from the 14 players prior to the start and after the scores had been added-up the captain’s team were the victors by 15 points, in fact the captain has only lost six times since the Captain v Vice-Captain Shield began in 1983 (with a half in 1994).

The 54th Tenby Rabbits AGM followed the result presentation and captain Martin handed over the reins to new captain Paul Crawford. During his year, Martin has led Tenby to second place in the 14 team ‘Three Counties Summer League’ - no mean achievement - and the Rabbits have donated £200 from Coleford trip fnes to Elly’s Ward 10 Flag Appeal and given £100 to White Horse landlord Anthony Phillips for trip transport - which has been donated to the 1st Kilgetty Scouts. Steve Watkins has accepted the role of vice-captain (again), Peter continues as secretary and Wyndham has assumed the role of treasurer.

If any Tenby Golf Club member with a handicap of 13 or more wishes to play in the Winter League on a Sunday morning, roll up by 8.30 am when the draw for tee-off times takes place, armed with a fiver for Rabbits membership, plus a couple of quid for the day’s comp and enjoy some convivial bantz and wonder at some of the golf on display. You won’t regret it!