It must be the first time that a husband and wife have battled it out to win a major trophy with the Northcliffe.

But with brand new clubs in her armoury, life member of the Society Jayne Burden, outgunned husband Garth to win the Tom Marlowe Trophy, on a wonderfully warm and sunny Northwood Golf Course.

With both having the added advantage of being Northwood club members though so many of those playing have frequently enjoyed the parkland course in Middlesex, Garth came in with 39pts only to discover that it wasn’t good enough to win as Jayne had fallen in love with her new clubs, scoring a record breaking 44 pts!

The win however came with a tough penalty of a 3-shot cut to Jayne’s handicap as under the Society’s handicap rules, anyone scoring 40 or more points is cut by three shots. Runner-up Garth was cut one shot with the penalties remaining in force for their next three individual golf matches.

Jayne was the only person to back herself in the “Back the Winner” competition. With £170 in the kitty including an £80 roll-over from the last fixture at The Berkshire, she helped to defray some of the costs of her new clubs by winning £100 with £70 going into the Society funds.

Will Flint was third with 36pts and he also won the champagne for “Nearest the Pin” on the tricky 3rd Par Three hole.

With the USGA greens proving to be a good test of putting ability, Will converted his putt for a birdie “2” and was the only person during the morning round to score a “2”. With £30 in the kitty he won £20 with £10 going to the funds.

The afternoon “Texas Scramble” competition over the front 9-holes of the course proved to be a very close finish, with Edward Hawkins, Dan Hall and guests Martin Hall and Chris Brown scoring a net 28 with the 10% combined handicap allowance.

Vice-Captain Barry’s Theobalds team of Mike Germain, Kerrel Wills and Will Flint were second with 28.8 and Keith Cottington, Stephen Sharp, Northwood Club Captain guest Ian Johnston and Rex Galbraith with 28.9.

Prizes were presented by Barry who said that Jayne had become the second lady member he could remember to have won the main trophy at a Northcliffe event , joining Lisa Heywood on the “honour’s board” with earlier this year, new member Clare Vivian being narrowly beaten at The Grove fixture.

The next fixtures are the double-header at North Foreland, Broadstairs in Kent, on Sunday, September 11 and then Knole Park on Monday, September 12 at Sevenoaks. Members can sign up for either fixtures or both. All details will be listed shortly.