Surrey celebrates success with annual dinner

The PGA in Surrey kicked off a busy 2016 by celebrating the successes of 2015 with their annual dinner and pro-ams to showcase the achievements of its members and raise funds for its PGA Assistants.

Guests of honour included new The PGA in Surrey Captain, Wraith Grant (Woodcote Park), former executive director of the European Tour and World Golf Hall of Famer Ken Schofield CBE and chairman of The Golf Foundation, Stephen Lewis.

The unstoppable Welsh comedian Rod Woodward provided all the after dinner jokes, and the evening’s host County PGA Secretary Sam Smith wrapped up the proceedings with a quick auction to raise funds for county PGA tournaments with Surrey for 2016.

Two shotgun start Pro-Ams were played over two of Surrey’s finest courses, Hankley Common and Hindhead GCs.  The winning teams were brought home with 84 points at Hankley Common by Hindhead’s Ben Clayton, and at Hindhead with 91 points by former Surrey PGA Champion Andy Raitt (St. George’s Hill). 

All the winners picked up prizes from The PGA in Surrey supporter, Brand Fusion, by way of products from their Sun Mountain Bags & Trolleys and SuperStroke Grip brands.

Along with the driving force behind the event, and the County PGA, West Hill’s Chairman of The PGA in Surrey, Guy Shoesmith, were the winners in Surrey in 2015 which included PGA Surrey Open winner, James Ablett (Lee-on-the-Solent), The PGA in Surrey Championship winner Chris Gane (Left Handed Golf at Silvermere), County Super Senior champ Dave Allen (Benross Golf) and Michael Lowe (Leatherhead), the winner of The PGA in Surrey Order of Merit for 2015.

Once the golf was completed, the teams headed to a new venue at Brooklands Museum at Weybridge where the ambience of the original Brooklands clubhouse made a fine change, and where the Brooklands’ motto ‘The right crowd and no crowding!’ seemed very appropriate despite there being nearly 200 guests in attendance.

The secretary summed things up by saying, “The PGA in Surrey Dinner Pro-Am is now an established part of our season, and it’s fantastic to see so much support yet again from Brand Fusion, our PGA Professionals, our golf clubs, our secretary managers, and more importantly the guests and teams that make our events possible. I’m delighted that we were again able to show them all how much we appreciate their continued enthusiastic and very generous support.”