Sunday saw the second challenge for the Nash Cup, a trophy donated from the BGC archives and first played for a century ago by the dentists of Queensland, using hickory shafted clubs.
The modern version commenced last year, but uses the same equipment played with in the 1920’s. Six players ( no dentists ) from BGC (the Tennyson Hickory Players) played six Challengers from other Clubs (Nudgee, RQ, Noosa Springs and Indooroopilly) in a Ryder Cup style format, comprising 6 holes of Foursomes followed by 6 holes of Fourball followed by 6 holes of Singles.
On a beautiful day, there was some excellent hickory play on offer. In particular, Al Grieve played the 6 holes of Fourball in one under par and Greg Cooper from Nudgee played the 12 holes of Fourball and Singles 9 or 10 shots better than handicap.

The Tennyson Hickory Players team consisted of Al Grieve, Bruce Collins, Peter Kyffin, Dave Mansfield (recovering from a double hip replacement), Rob Bischof and Greg Mellifont. The Challengers team was Ross Haslam, Rob King-Scott, Michael Mason, Greg Cooper, Roger Gibson and Col Marshall.
The THP team was in trouble after the Foursomes and Fourballs. The Challengers team played really good team golf to lead 4.5 points to 1.5 points, with THP’s only points coming from Al and Greg’s win in the Foursomes and Bruce and Dave’s square in the Fourball. THP had a proper mountain to climb in the Singles.
As they say, when the going gets tough the tough get going. Bruce, Peter and Rob all won their Singles matches and Dave and Al had squares in theirs. The clanger was that Greg Mellifont lost his match 2 down, despite playing the six holes 3 shots better than handicap. Unfortunately his opponent, the aforementioned Greg Cooper, played the six holes in an insurmountable 6 shots better than handicap !
All in all, the Challengers avenged last year’s loss with 6.5 to 5.5 win, despite the spirited comeback from THP.
Convivial refreshments were had afterwards on the balcony, including a sumptuous cheese and fruit platter from Gillian’s kitchen.
Well done to everyone in a rubber that displayed all that is wonderful about antique golf. Thanks in particular to Brisbane Golf Club which takes its role as The Cradle of Golf in Brisbane very seriously and is a fantastic supporter of hickory golf.
Next year !

Greg Mellifont