Mens Champion Club 2026 – Sandy Lodge GC

One of the County’s premier events took place yesterday (Sunday 26 April), with the playing of the Mens Champion Club Final event, played at Porters Park Golf Club. 

23 teams of 3 golfers took part playing 36 holes scratch medal strokeplay with all scores to count to determine our Mens County Champion Club for 2026. 

The day started off with cloudy skies and was decidedly chilly first thing, but the weather improved throughout and the event was mostly played in bright warm sunshine and light winds. 

The course like most currently due to the very dry and windy spring we are experiencing, was playing firm and fast, with control and touch a premium over distance. 

After the morning round The Hertfordshire lead the way in the main team event with an excellent cumulative team score of +5. Best individual score was returned by Mens County Captain for 2026 Connor O’Brien of Brocket Hall with a gross 68 -2, helped in no small part by a hole in one on the par 3 12th hole with a 6 iron – Connor’s 4th ace in his golfing career to date. Next best individual scores were 69’s -1 achieved by County player Dan Stannard of The Hertfordshire and 13 year old bright prospect Freddie Buck of Hadley Wood, who has recently moved his allegiance from Middlesex to Hertfordshire, a decision we are certainly happy over! 

In the afternoon round Tom Turner of Harpenden Common returned a best of the day gross 67 -3 and ended up our medalist on 140 level for the 36 holes, edging out the aforementioned Connor O’Brien into 2nd on an afternoon countback after Connor shot 72 +2 in the pm round. 

The Hertfordshire couldnt capitalise on their morning lead and ended up 7 shots behind eventual winners Sandy Lodge, who returned a cumulative score of +15 across the day to win the title. Harpenden Common took 3rd place on +22, 1 shot behind The Hertfordshire. 

Sandy Lodge were represented on the day by Antoni Hawkins, fresh off his recent win at the Scottish Boys Championship, 2025 Mens County Championship runner up Adam Berg-Capin and 2025 Scratch Boys Order of Merit winner Nick Curran. 

Sandy Lodge will now progress to represent Hertfordshire at the England Golf National Mens Champion Club Final, to be played at Kedleston Park in Derbyshire in September. We wish them all the best at that future event. 

Our thanks to all the competitors who took part and of course our hosts on the day Porters Park for their hospitality.