Team Event Overview:

For those who have often wondered what each of the team events is all about….

HALFORD HEWITT CUP
The Halford Hewitt is the premier competition in Public Schools Golf and is the largest amateur golf tournament in the world! The OSBGS first participated in 1938, beating Fettes in the preliminary round and losing 0/5 to Watson’s in the first round (no changes there then…). Membership of the Public Schools Golfing Society is limited to 64 schools and thanks to Brig. Gen. A C Critchley (father of Sky Sports Golf commentator Bruce and founder of the OSBGS), we are very privileged to be one of them (unlike Sedbergh…!). Therefore the Halford Hewitt is one of those rare events where the name of St. Bees is coupled with the larger and more famous schools. If at any stage we fail to produce a team of ten (something that has very nearly happened on a few occasions), we risk losing our place.
The ‘Hewitt’ is played in early April over two Open Championship links, Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) and Royal St George’s (Sandwich), the same 64 school teams of 10 play five, scratch foursome knock-out matches each round over four days to determine the winner. The standard of teams varies greatly, from schools who can put out teams of largely scratch golfers, to schools with mostly 10-15 handicap golfers. This huge variation in talent means that David v Goliath often occurs and just sometimes David wins! The introduction of the Plate tournament at nearby Princes, which is competed for between 1st round runners-up, extends the competition into at least a second day for all teams. 
Thanks must go to team Captain, Adrian Peckitt, for continuing to make the arrangements for this event, which are the envy of many another school.

CYRIL GRAY TOURNAMENT
This is for those who have reached the tender age of 50+. It is played in June with teams of six and is open to the final 32 schools that joined the Halford Hewitt Cup. It is by far the most friendly and fiercely contested of all the competitions and one in which the OSBGS has an excellent record, winning the Tournament in 1983. The format is match play knockout and there is a Plate for first round casualties. Therefore, with the practice round, competitors have a minimum of three rounds over the beautiful Worplesdon course. The OSBGS team gets the competitive juices flowing each year with a warm-up match against Glenalmond. This is another tournament where we are envied for our off- course arrangements.

GRAFTON MORRISH
The Grafton Morrish was founded in 1962 by Peter Grafton and Peter Morrish, old boys of public schools that were not in the Halford Hewitt. The Public Schools Old Boys Golf Association, to give it its full title, runs seven regional qualifying events each year, for 48 Teams to reach the final. Northern qualifying takes place at Huddersfield Golf Club, Fixby, in May each year & the format comprises three pairs playing stableford foursomes with the finals being 3 pairs playing foursomes knockout. The finals are played each year over Hunstanton and Brancaster (Royal West Norfolk) in late September/Early October. The OSBGS were runners-up in 1972, represented by Adrian Bagott & Howard Delany, Tom Sharp & Dick Martindale, Alec MacCaig & the late John Younghusband.

QUEEN ELIZABETH CORONATION SCHOOLS TROPHY
The Queen Elizabeth Coronation Schools Trophy is played over a long weekend every September at Royal Burgess Golf Club, in Barnton, Edinburgh.
The weekend usually starts on Thursday afternoon with a competition between the many OSB’s who attend, for the Islay Trophy, contested over one of the courses at Gullane. The evening usually sees us end up in one of the restaurants in Gullane or in Edinburgh in a very convivial atmosphere.
On Friday we have an annual 36 hole match, again at Gullane, against one of our fellow competing schools (from England), Pocklington, who, over the years, have proved to be of a similar standard to ourselves, both on and off the course.  This is followed by the fantastic QE Dinner held in the clubhouse at the Royal Burgess in the evening. Saturday morning sees the start of the competition proper with teams of six, competing in three foursomes matches over the Royal Burgess.
A big thank you must go to Charlie Crummey for not only organizing the team for this event, but also handing over his home and golf course to the gang of OSB’s who attend each year.