Creating your own Anual Golf Championship with your Golf Buddies

Richard and his golf buddies: "Challenging golf is what we want."

Richard Fisher from Kettering, UK, has won a few golf ‘championships’, even with his handicap of 28. He competes for the same trophy every year, in the same competition against the same players. “I play golf with three friends, match play. After the summer, we have our own championship ceremony, the shield is handed out, of course with a few beers. It’s a lot of fun!”

Being an engineer and working shifts, Richard (55) only has time to play about once a week during summer. In the weekends he and his friends from his region like to play different courses usually on a pay-and-play golf base.

Serious golf

“We also have our special golf days, when we play serious golf at some private courses that are a bit further away. Our favourite courses are Stoke Rochford, Lakeside Lodge in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, the Bedford and County Golf Club in Bedfordshire, and the Cambridge Meridian Golf Club. These are all lovely places, with lots of trees and streams and old trees. Some of these courses are quite up-and-down, with a great scenery. We like a bit of variety and try to avoid golf courses where all holes are more or less the same. Interesting and challenging golf is what we want, with the occasional dogleg, some lakes, and some water hazards to keep us occupied. We have played outside England yet, and I don´t see why we should, this country has so many lovely courses.”

Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose

“For us, serious golf is 18 holes in the morning, and 18 in the afternoon. We have a little competition going on. We play match play and at the end of the season there is a winner. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, that´s the great thing about golf. One of us has handicap 4, mine is 28, and the two others are about 12. Thanks to the handicap system, we all have a chance to win. We are serious about golf, but not too much. There is some competition, but also some chatter and friendly banter. Just good fun.”

Going left instead of straight

“I have been playing golf for eight years now. I would like to play more often, but with the busy job that I have, there is only so much time I can spare. I do believe my golf would improve with some practice, and so sometimes I do take lessons, but putting the learnings into practice is just as important.

The weakest part of my play is my driving. The first shot is the most important one, but I often find my drive going left instead of straight. I have been trying to compensate this and even tried different drivers, but I still 3 or 4 drives out of the 18 go the left, missing the fairway and going into the rough. I think I need a few more lessons to sort that out.”

Meet our other Golf Buddies

• Andi X: golf lover in a new life
• Isabelle Piatt: "My family are my Golf Buddies"
• Sophie Grandin: "Women are more relaxed about golf than men"

Main menu

• Home
• Play
• Travel
• Inspire
• MyClub

Sub navigation

• Golf Buddies
• Ladies’ Tees
• Scratch Golfer
• The Game
• Picture This!
• Golf Bloopers