If you like playing in competitions and matches, Banstead Downs is the place for you! All sections of the Club participate in external competitions and Friendly Matches as well as having numerous, traditional internal competitions.
The results of club qualitying competitions as well as handicaps can be found on the "howdidido" website. Click on the logo to go to the site.
The Gentlemen's section enters teams in many National, County and Local Area competitions including the Surrey Fives, Surrey Scratch and Surrey Seniors KO, the Kelso Hamilton Trophy, The Daily Mail Foursomes, the Mail on Sunday Classic, the Lombard Trophy, the Warren League and the Hilliard League.
We also compete in Annual Inter-Club Events at 15 different local clubs, and there are some 20 annual 'social' matches against local clubs as well as internal matches such as 'New Members' vs 'Existing Members', Gentlemen vs Ladies and England vs The Rest.
We have 12 Monthly Competitions (on Saturdays) and 21 Mid-Week Stablefords (on Wednesdays) each year. There is a Club Championship Knock-Out, as well as Singles and Foursomes Knock-Out Trophies and a Better-Ball Winter League. We also have 16 Singles and 5 Pairs Annual Trophies for Medal or Stableford competitions, and Trophies for the best-performing pairs in the Sunday morning challenges against Captain & Pro, and Vice-Captain and Assistant Pro. We hope that's enough to satisfy your competitive instincts!
Each year the Ladies' section are represented in Surrey Competitions including The Hicks Trophy, Centenary Trophy, Pearson Trophy, Inter-Club Scratch and Handicap Foursomes and the Druce Trophy. We also compete in the Mail on Sunday Classic, Woodcote Fives, Daily Mail Foursomes, NSPCC 4 BBB, LGU Coronation Foursomes, Red Cross Eclectic and McMillan Charity Silver Spoons.
We play 19 Friendly Matches against local clubs and several matches against other Sections of Banstead Downs.
Internally we have 9 Stableford and 16 Medal competitions culminating in the Gold Medal, and 18 Annual Trophies for competitions in a variety of formats. The Lady Captain and Vice-Captain also play regular Challenge matches against pairs of Lady Members.
We play 9 Mixed Matches each year and all participants can take part in our End of Season Mixed Trophy and Dinner. The Club also enters the Flitch Trophy for Senior married couples.
Internally, we have 5 Annual Pairs Cups, and both Gentlemen and Ladies also compete in two major Annual Club Singles Competitions.
The Junior Section competes annually in the Kingston League, the Keppler League, the East Surrey Masters and the Fairways Trophy.
The premier internal competition is the Order of Merit, which is keenly contested throughout the year, with the top two players being rewarded with an entry into the Pro-Am event held in July. The other internal competitions include Over-15 and Under-15 Club Championships as well as a number of Stableford and Eclectic Events, and a Singles Knock-Out with the finalists qualifying for a free entry in the Assistant Professional & Vice-Captain Challenge. The lower handicap Juniors can also play in Gentlemen's Competitions.
The Seniors compete in a wide variety of external and internal competitions and matches, the vast majority of them being run under the auspices of the Club's Old & Bold Section.
Externally, we compete in the Surrey Seniors Inter-Club Knock-Out, and the winter is enlivened by the Surrey Seniors League. We also play matches against 13 other clubs on a Home & Away basis each summer, with many being played for a cup on an overall score basis. In addition, matches are played against the Club, the Ladies and the Juniors.
On Mondays there are 20 Stableford and Medal and 6 cup competitions. Spring and Autumn Meetings are 4BBB and the Christmas Cleek Competition is for 4 clubs and a putter over 12 holes. There are 2 summer knockouts - a Singles and drawn partners Greensomes. The Winter League competition allows 2 from each league to qualify for a Knockout. In all there are 14 cups.
In addition we have a Club team Invitation Day in July and a Members' Invitation Day in August or September.