Past Captains

Swinley Forest Golf Club

Bodens Ride, Coronation Rd, Winkfield Row, Ascot SL5 9LE

The Past Captains meeting is an invitational event that takes place at Swinley Forest Golf Club in Berkshire. The field is made up of past captains and current committee members, who compete in a 36-hole stableford competition over Harry Colt’s ‘least bad course’.

2024 report

There are few better places to be on a sunny September day than Swinley Forest.

We assembled for coffee and bacon rolls in the Swinley clubhouse, and the magnificent view of the first and eighteenth holes glistening in the morning sun had us salivating at the prospect of tackling Harry Colt’s classic golf course.

But the bright conditions masked a gusty and chill north-westerly wind, and the heather that lines both sides of every fairway is particular brutal after a warm and wet summer. Add in greens that were deceptively slow, and the field found scoring a challenge.

One notable exception was Dan Barnett, who played the back nine in level par en route to a gross 75 and 38 stableford points - enough for a three shot lead over Elliot Sargent at lunch.

After a glorious Swinley spread at lunch, we re-emerged to tackle the afternoon round. Defending champion John Parnell posted a commendable 34 points, but Barnett dug deep to record 31, enough to see him two shots clear on the final leaderboard.

Congrats to Dan and thanks to everyone for attending, in particular a number of past captains - notably Geoff Carter (captain in 1982), Lionel Godfrey (1987) and Dennis Kerslake (2005).

Past winners

• 2003 Peter Hollins

• 2004 Peter Hollins

• 2006 Peter Hollins

• 2007 Steve Hall

• 2008 Peter Hollins

• 2009 Richard Church

• 2010 Drew Nicholson

• 2011 Mark Young

• 2012 Mark Young

• 2013 Matt Chaplin

• 2014 Matt Chaplin

• 2015 John Parnell

• 2016 John Farrell

• 2017 Robin Frewer

• 2018 Andy Byrd

• 2019 Steve Henderson

• 2020 John Farrell (reduced to 18 holes due to Covid-19)

• 2021 Paul Bainsfair

• 2022 Tim Brown

• 2023 John Parnell

• 2024 Dan Barnett