John Rae's First Win!

John Rae’s 38 points gave him his first win at Tilgate. Playing off 14 he started the year18th in the January Eclectic, 3rd in the March Eclectic, 6th in the February Eclectic, which moved him up to 15 handicap,13th in the Four Seasons, 8th in the Whisky Singles, back to 30th in the April Medal, 4th in the Five Club competition, 7th in the Spring Cup, 14th in the Mayday Rose Bowl, and then 1st in the Whitsun Trophy. He says there was nothing special in this round which went like this:-

5,5,4,5,2,6,6,6,4 for 18 points out.
5,3,6,4,4,4,4,6,6,for 20 points back.

Bryan Foster was the runner up on the same points and Ron Humphrey third with 36 points. Finally 2nd in the June Medal. Must be time for John to put his name down for some of the Interclub matches.

John started playing golf in 1980 at Cottesmore, where his handicap went from 21 to 8. He had learned to play golf as a caddie at Carlow course in Southern Ireland. for two shilling and sixpence a round plus a one shilling tip if he was lucky.

John came to Crawley from Ireland in 1967 and worked for ten years in the foundry at APV. Then he worked as a night telephonist, where he worked with Brian Cowie. He then returned to APV for two half years later then went to work for Toyota GB, finally ending up at Air Miles for twelve years where he was able to travel all over Europe with his wife Pat. In 2003 he moved to Wales but came back in 2008 starting at Tilgate with a handicap of 14.