RAFA 16th June to 26th September 2020

The RAFA trophy is awarded to the member with the lowest set of 6 weekend round net medal scores in the white tee summer season . This year saw 20 rounds played from 16th June to the final round which was the Autumn Cup day on 8th. September . Make no mistake people , this is one of the most prestigious Board Competitions in the calendar and one most coveted by those members who know of its historical significance given the quality of players that have triumphed in years past . 

RAFA Contenders 2020 (2019 finishing positions in brackets)

John Thompson (416) has ended his 2020 season in tremendous style as he has emerged victorious in the RAFA , one of most prestigious competitions and showing him to be the most consistent player over the season in regard to his handicap. JT is only in his second season with us and incredibly was blissfully unaware of this competition until the final qualifying round he played .
John put together a strong opening few rounds and his initial ‘super 6’ total of 428 immediately put him into the lead , his sixth qualifying score the brilliant net 64 that won him the Old Hall Trophy . After a sixth position in the Dave Barton Shield shaved another couple of points off his score to consolidate his second place position 5 strokes behind Keith Ralston , who had posted his initial ‘super 6’ 13 days earlier then improved it by 3 the day before  . John made a crucial and decisive move with his superb second placed finish in the Autumn Cup , scoring 66 to move one stroke ahead . John had three rounds in his schedule to safeguard his lead and after a disappointing showing in the Divot Party he trimmed that score by one with an unlikely 72 in the Jubilee Trophy , playing the back 9 at 6 under his handicap to shave a further stroke to get to 416 . Thompson was poor in his final outing in the Diggle Trophy but had done enough and prevailed by two strokes for his most important victory of the season , a truly superlative performance .

Keith Ralston (418) began his RAFA campaign with a very strong start to the season , with his first 6 completed events showing him finishing in the top 7 , fantastic consistency with ironically his best performance curtailed by the weather . Keith was playing tremendous golf in the Wests’ shield in his second qualifying event of the season and was 4 under his handicap standing on the 12th tee when the call came to suspend the competition because of flooded greens .
Despite that disappointment, Ralstons’ efforts saw him complete his initial ‘super 6’ with a very competitive score of 421 strokes which made him the front-runner with his highlight his superb Geoff Gibson victory . Given that he had a strong 6 in play , Keith had placed himself in a very strong position in this competition but his next outing in the Ray Gellatly was his ‘worst’ performance of the season , finishing in  a lowly 14th position with a 76 ... the following week he did improve his score with another excellent showing , his second placed finish in the Old Hall scoring 70 improving his score by three strokes to 418 with 5 qualifying events to go . At that time , he had a healthy 10 stroke lead over John Thompson thus remained in a strong position , especially as serial RAFA contenders Danny Miller and Glen Rothwell were 12 and 20 strokes back respectively and not considered a danger at that time .

Ralstons’ next outing was the Dave Barton Shield in which he competed magnificently, finishing second but his score of 71 not low enough to lower his ‘super 6’ score . Despite his best efforts , he could not improve on his score in his next 3 scores and had the angst of seeing Thompson string together successive decent scores to sensationally take the lead by one stroke on 12th September courtesy of a 66 , a day where he could only shoot a 74 (despite 2 birdies on the back 9) and subsequent poor showings in the Divot Paty (77) and Jubilee Trophy (76) left him with one chance left … the Roland and James West Shield where he needed a 69 to tie the scores … Keith started poorly dropping 3 strokes on the opening 3 holes but regrouped magnificently with 4 consecutive pars including net birdies on 5 and 7 to stand on the 9th tee only +1 and needing to maintain momentum and snatch the trophy .News on the course was that John Thompson was having a poor round so it was an opportunity for Ralston with just 10 holes left in the competition .

Sadly the inclement conditions which made scoring difficult destroyed all hopes of success as he succumbed to successive reverses on the benign 9.10 and 11 and despite gaining a shot with a superb par on 12 a triple bogey 6 on 13 made his misery complete with even a late rally still leaving him to complete his round with a net 76 and resigned to a second place finish in the competition thus unable to win the RAFA again after his victory in 2015 but nevertheless a tremendous season  to be very proud of .

Glen Rothwell (424) has recently completed his sixth successive Tommy Povey trophy ( and seventh in total ) to take his Board Competition tally to 20 but the RAFA is a trophy that has always eluded him . This season he completed his initial ‘super 6’ with a score of  443 with his best efforts a couple of 72s which placed him third behind Messrs Ralston and Miller . Although he improved his total by 4 strokes the following week he didn’t take closer order until his superb victory in the Autumn Cup with his net 65 that moved him a massive 10 strokes closer with his updated total of 429 still way behind . A final flourish saw him finish a close up fourth in the Jubilee Trophy to finish on a creditable 424 and sensationally  snatch third place from fellow Hall of Famer Danny Miller .
 

Danny Miller (425) won this great title back in 2008 and would dearly have loved a repeat victory . This season he got off to an encouraging start with his initial ‘super 6’ banked which included two magnificent Board Competition victories in the Coronation Cup and the Trafford Leisure which was his sixth event and which propelled him to the top of the RAFA leaderboard with a score of 435 . Although he was to improve his total by 4 strokes courtesy of his solid performance in the Geoff Gibson he had been overtaken by Keith Ralston and was then effectively battling for third place with Glen Rothwell after the mercurial adventures of John Thompson and although he would consolidate his score further with an excellent third place in the Seniors giving him a healthy 13 stroke lead over Rothwell , his adversary got to within 3 strokes off him then snatched third place as Danny recorded a 11th placed 72 to improve to his final total of 425 it was not enough to hold off Rothwell , whose 4th placed 69 at the same event had overtaken him by a single stroke .
 

2020 Captain Stuart Mason (427) repeated his highly  creditable 5th place RAFA finish of the previous year and he started the year sensationally including  net scores of 67 and 65 in his first 3 events which gave him the Watson Trophy and Holiday Cup . They were to be his highlights as he then struggled under the burden of a lower handicap . His initial ‘super 6’ score of 434 catapulted him into a challenge for the minor places but he was hampered by the difficult playing conditions which saw higher scoring but he found himself only 3 strokes from third placed Danny Miller after the Divot Party and he teed up at the Jubilee Trophy effectively needing a net 70 to get to the podium . His 14th placed net 73 meant that he again claimed 5th place despite posting a ‘super 6’ total of 427 which was 11 strokes inferior to his 2019 adventure ... a fine campaign nevertheless especially given the distractions of his office .
 

Ged Grogan (431) has finished in sixth place after a very consistent season . Ironically his initial score came from his net 72 in the abandoned Wests’ Shield  ... his other scores in making up his initial ‘super 6’ score of 446  saw him finish around the top 20 with the exception of his encouraging 3rd placed finish net 70  in the Trafford Leisure . He made steady improvements to his total over successive weeks culminating in his best score of the season , his net 69 curiously coming in a social subsidiary event which got him to his final score of 431 , 9 strokes worse than last year but achieved with 6 less rounds and elevating him from 11th to 6th place . 

Special mentions ...

The gentlemen who finished in the top 10 deserve a mention ...

7th Brian Cawley 

8th Stewart Royle

9th Derek Cullen 

10th Richard Paulson 

Congratulations to all on their fine campaigns this season !
 

Defending Champion Watch ...

2019 last gasp victor Greg Harding sadly moved on to golfing pastures new back in June thus chose not to defend his title .
 

Overall , a competition that is only superseded by the J Ford and the Tommy Povey but one which deserves the highest profile throughout the season . Your reporter certainly pledges to provide regular updates throughout the 2021 season to raise its profile accordingly so that we will never again the curious scenario of an individual emerging victorious without realising his accomplishment.