The name Grafton Morrish by which the golf
competition is generally known is derived from the Grafton Morrish Trophy
which is the major trophy of the Public Schools Old Boys Golf Association
(PSOBGA).
There are two other trophies played for each year, these being the Solihull
Salver - the trophy of the Plate competition - and the Committee Bowl - the
trophy for an extension of the Plate competition.
The Association is open to the golfing sections of Societies of Old Boys (
which includes Old Girls ) of schools the headmaster of which attends the
Headmasters' Conference and other schools which are sponsored by six
members.
The competitions are amateur scratch foursomes competitions for three pairs of
former pupils of the school. There is a qualifying round in
May/June, on one of seven courses to reduce the number of entrants - usually
105 / 115 - to the 48 which will take part in the knock-out 'Finals' in
September/October each year at
the Hunstanton G.C. in Hunstanton and the
Royal West Norfolk
G.C. in
Brancaster. Most societies field
a team of six single figure handicap players for this scratch competition -
some societies with six very low single figure handicaps !!
The current arrangements for the ‘Finals’ week-end are that it
starts with a practice day on Thursday. The
Grafton Morrish Trophy knock-out is played from Friday morning to Sunday
afternoon. The Solihull Salver, for three foursomes pairs on
Saturday (Stableford scoring), is for first and
second round Trophy losers and the Committee Bowl, for four teams from the
Solihull Salver, is on a knock-out basis on Sunday.
Tides at Royal West Norfolk G.C. dictate which weekend we play the Finals
- a high tide makes the clubhouse inaccessible - but it is always
either late in September (when we
try to avoid a clash with the Queen Elizabeth
in Scotland) or early in October -
preferably the first weekend.