Trophies contested in the Men's Section

Compiled by Chris Jackson and Richard Young

Adrianne Johnson Trophy

The trophy was donated to the club by Adrianne Johnson, who was lady captain in 1996, and is played for among the past club, lady and seniors' captains. Adrianne was successful in forming a junior girls’ section at Canterbury and at one time there were 10 young players working to gain their first handicap certificates.

Adsett Salver

An 18-hole Stableford competition for the winners and runners-up from Wednesday medals and Stablefords. The qualifying period is from the beginning of September to the end of August the following year.

The trophy was donated in 1962 by Stan Adsett, who became club captain in 1964.  Stan was a founder of furnishing company Lenley’s which, for many years, was located in Burgate and then moved to Roper Road.  He was largely responsible for, in 1969, setting up the twinning with Hardelot Golf Club, an arrangement that continues, with the Stirling-Calonne Cup and Seniors’ and Ladies’ matches. 

Bert Whyte Challenge Cup

This trophy was donated by 2023 club captain Mark Broadhurst to honour the memory of Bert Whyte, club captain in 2014, who died after a long and bravely born illness.

Whyte’s association with Canterbury Golf Club began in 1966 when he became a caddy but it was only after he retired from a career in telecommunications, the majority of it spent in the United States, that he joined the club as a player.

That was in 2009 and during his 14 years as a member, Whyte also served on the board and was a popular manager of the club’s East Kent Evening League and East Kent Alliance teams.

 The format of the competition is to be decided each year by the captain whose year of office it is. Broadhurst’s choice for the inaugural tournament was an 18-hole par-three event.

Bill Cryer Trophy

Introduced in 2002, the Bill Cryer Trophy is an 18-hole Greensomes medal competition, with an allowance of half the combined handicap.

Bill Cryer was club captain in 1974 and was an honorary life member and vice-president of the club. He died in February 2001 and the trophy was donated in his memory by his widow.

Brook Rose Bowl

An 18-hole medal competition, played in conjunction with the Henry Knight Salver.

The trophy was donated in 1969 by PTS Brook, captain in 1934 and 1949, and president from 1967 to 1977.  Pip Brook was a founding member of the club and played in the opening match against the Buffs Golfing Society.  He was chairman of the Green Committee for many years and the copse of sycamore trees on the right of the ninth fairway was one of his gifts to the club.  His wife Ethel (née Mount) was a long-time member of the Ladies' Section and served as lady captain.  The Ethel Brook Cup is still played for by the ladies.

Browning Cup

George Browning was a local builder and JP who introduced the 18-hole foursomes bogey competition, which is open to both men and ladies, in 1928.

Canterbury's first clubhouse, which burnt down in 1938, was built by George's company.

Men play off the white tees and ladies off red. The handicap allowance is half the combined handicaps, with a shot added to ladies’ handicaps before the calculation is made.

Captain's Prize

The club captain chooses the format of the competition as he or she sees fit. For many years it was played on an 18-hole individual medal basis but more recently has been a pairs event. The origin is unknown.

Founders' Plate

One of the oldest trophies played for at Canterbury, the Founders' Plate was donated in 1928 by the club's founder members.  An 18-hole medal qualifying round is held early in the season from which the current holder and top 31 qualifiers proceed to a matchplay knock-out competition.

The following members are credited with donating the trophy: Douglas Grant, captain; Vaughan Page, vice-president; Wright Hunt, vice-president; HE Green; Carol Powers; Dr Edward Morris; Henry Westron; Frank Amos; Spencer W Mount; Col HB McCormick; RN Newman, first club treasurer; Percy R Finn; FW Martin; E Byron Kelsey; Dr H Wacher; CC Williamson, vice-president.

Douglas Grant was the first captain of the club in 1927-1928.  An American, he won the California State Championship before moving to London. He became a member of Royal St George’s, winning the Grand Challenge in 1925 and 1928 and serving as captain in 1951-1952 and president from 1961 to 1966.  He will be remembered in the golfing world as collaborator with Jack Nevill - neither of them a trained golf course architect - in the design of Pebble Beach

Fox Consistency Salver

The salver is awarded for the best 6 out of 10 net scores in qualifying competitions.

It was donated by Dr Arthur Fox in 1982.  Dr Fox was born in Walsall and was educated at Wrekin College, where he became head boy, and St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.  He completed his medical training at The London Hospital and worked there during the Second World War.  In 1945, he came to Canterbury and joined Dr Stewart Gillies, a member of Canterbury Golf Club, in general practice.  Dr Fox, an all-round sportsman, represented Kent at tennis.  When he gave up tennis he took up golf and got down to a single-figure handicap.  He died in 1994, aged 81.

George Cup

This is the Club Championship, contested over 36 holes of medal scratch play. As part of the same event, the Victory Bowl is awarded to the best handicap score. The competition is held on a Saturday and Sunday over one weekend

The cup was donated by Lt Commander Donald H George in 1937, who was Canterbury born and bred. He joined the Royal Navy in 1909 and was a prisoner of war from 1917 to 1919.  He worked on a rubber plantation in Malaya until 1931 and from then until 1951 ran the Farmers’ Transport Company.  From its foundation in 1934 until 1940 he was the Sea Cadets commander and from 1947 until his death in 1960 he was the local Conservative Party treasurer.  He was awarded the OBE for political services.

Hallet Cup

The Hallet Cup, which runs throughout the winter, was donated by Ray Hallet, club captain in 1961 and 1971 and president from 1994 to 1996. 

The Hallet Cup was originally a fourball better-ball matchplay competition in two stages, the first involving qualification from one of a number of divisions and the second being a knockout between the qualifiers. This was changed in the early part of the new century into a cumulative four-ball betterball Stableford competition played over six weeks, with the top 20 pairs moving into the final, a one-round contest played on the same basis.

In 2015, the event underwent a further transformation that saw the introduction of a variety of formats, with points being awarded in each competition according to finishing positions and the aggregate total determining the overall positions at the end of the eight-event schedule.

Ray Hallet was a member of the garage family who had a business in St Dunstan’s for many years before merging with Invicta Motors. Before taking up golf, Hallet was a motorbike rider, who took part in the Isle of Man TT races on a number of occasions.

Hanbury Cup

A foursomes matchplay knock-out competition that runs throughout the summer. Half the difference of the combined handicaps is used to determine strokes received and given.

The first mention of this cup is in 1935.  It was possibly donated by local brewers Jude Hanbury and Co Ltd, who were on the list of the club’s debenture holders in 1926.  Their brewery was in Watling Street but was demolished in 1936.  However, when Fred Hinchliff and Bill Heath won the competition in the 1960s there was, unfortunately, no cup and a new one was purchased, interestingly hallmarked 1934.

Henry Knight Salver

An 18-hole medal competition, played in conjunction with the Brook Rose Bowl competition.

The trophy was donated in 1976 in memory of Henry H Knight, a member of the club from 1964 to 1975, by his family.  After a successful time as a competitive motor-cyclist, Henry Knight took up golf at Canterbury and, with a handicap of 7, was a keen participant in competitions and in the East Kent League team.  Partnered by Richard Young, he won the Hanbury Cup a record three times and helped Canterbury win the East Kent League Trophy on two occasions.

Hooker Cup

A matchplay knock-out competition for members with handicaps of between 16 and 28 inclusive.

The cup was donated by Frank Hooker, JP, in 1928.  A flour miller by trade, Hooker was Sheriff of Canterbury in 1927 and Mayor from 1931 to 1932. He was a great benefactor of the city and had the Frank Hooker School (now the Canterbury Academy) named in his honour and was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Canterbury in 1951. 

Ickham Bowl

An 18-hole medal competition that was introduced in 1928 when the old Ickham Court Golf Club presented the trophy to Canterbury Golf Club to mark their formation and the dissolution of the former. At the same time the Ladies' Section received an Ickham Bowl and also the Sillars Cup for the ladies' club champion .

Ida Cook Trophies

An 18-hole mixed foursomes matchplay knockout competition for which the prizes are two silver-plated statuettes that were originally presented to the Ladies' Section by Ida Cook, lady captain in 1954 and 1956.

The competition is staged throughout the summer and each lady’s male partner must be a member of the Canterbury’s Men's Section.

Jack Snell Trophy

An 18-hole medal competition that was played for the first time in 1981.

Jack Snell was club captain in 1965 and president from 1979 to 1981.  A fanatical sportsman,  Jack was company secretary at Robert Brett and Sons for many years, a long-serving chairman of Canterbury City Football Club and Sheriff of Canterbury in 1976.

John Hogben Memorial Trophy

A popular member, John Hogben was only 52 when he tragically collapsed and died on the course whileplaying in the Captain’s Prize in 1989. The trophy was donated in his memory by his family and is a 36-hole Stableford competition, played on the Saturday and Sunday of one weekend at the start of each new season.

  John served an apprenticeship with local heating engineers Haden’s, where he worked with another Canterbury member, the late John Sullivan, who introduced him to golf.  He went on to become a technical officer for the GPO, later BT, and became a member of the club in 1976.  A wonderfully lively character who could hit the ball huge distances, John reduced his handicap to 13 and won the Jack Snell Trophy in 1988.

Kent County Playing Fields Association Cup

This cup was presented by the Kent County Playing Fields Association, probably in 1933, in exchange for a donation to the association’s funds.  The KCPFA was founded in 1926 and today makes grants and loans to sports clubs and grants bursaries to young sportsmen and women.

The competition is played as an 18-hole medal.

Lefevre Cup

The Lefevre Cup, an 18-hole medal competition, was originally called the Mayor’s Cup andwas donated by the then seven-time Mayor of Canterbury, Alderman Charles Lefevre, in 1937.  As guest of honour at the club's annual dinner that year, Ald Lefevre stated that he had belonged to a club for four years and had played five times, though never having got further than the 10th hole!  The Lefevres were descendants of an old Huguenot family. The well-known department store bearing their name was established in 1875, originally at 2 Sun Street and later in Guildhall Street and Mercery Lane, where the large department store remained known as Lefevres for many years after it was acquired by the Debenhams group in 1928. Charles died suddenly in 1945, at the age of 66.

Marks Salver

The premier consistency trophy, awarded for the best 6 out of 10 net scores throughout each year in qualifying competitions.

The trophy was donated by Ray Marks, a long-term committee member who joined the club in December 1972. He was club captain in 1985 and president from 2000 to 2003

Past Captains' Cup

A prominent businessman and local councillor, Maurice Steptoe donated this cup in 1979 and it is is contested as an 18-hole Stableford.

Maurice was club captain in 1968.  Maurice had many business interests in the Canterbury area and was an important member of the local political scene, representing St. Stephen’s Ward for the Conservatives.  Throughout the 1970s he was chairman of Canterbury City Council’s Amenities and Recreation Committee and chairman of the Canterbury Theatre Trust.  He was greatly valued member of the club for many years.

Pilgrims Challenge Cup

The cup was donated by Walter H Whigham in 1932.  Walter Whigham was mentioned three times in dispatches for his services in the Great War and was awarded an OBE.  Working his whole life in the City of London, he became a member of the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and deputy chairman of the London Norh Eastern Railway.  He was High Sheriff of London in 1923 and of Kent in 1935 and 1947.  Brought up at Highland Court, Bridge, now Higham Court, he was the third president of the club, serving from 1931 to 1935.

The 36-hole medal has undergone a number of changes over the years and was at one time included in the county order-of-merit. It is an open competition, played over two rounds in one day and in recent years has been held during the club's annual Festival of Golf.

Powers Cup

This event is open to the winners of selected competitions throughout the previous year and is played as an 18-hole medal.

The cup was donated in 1928 by Carol Powers, one of the club's founder member and club captain in 1930.  Carol was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge.  He taught at St Edmund’s School for 40 years, most of them as headmaster of the Junior School.  A passionate lover of golf, and in his prime a scratch player, he laid out a nine-hole course in the school grounds and personally attended to the cutting, watering and levelling of the greens.  When he retired in 1946, he went to live in Deal and joined Royal Cinque Ports GC.  He died in 1959.

The qualifying competitions are: the Powers Cup, John Hogben Trophy, Sunday January, February, March and April medals, Founders' Plate, May medal, Brook Rose Bowl, Henry Knight Salver, Style Cup, Redford Trophy, Lefevre Cup, KCPFA Cup, Rogerson Cup, Winch Bowl, Pilgrims Challenge Cup (top net/gross home players), George Cup, Victory Bowl, Jack Snell Trophy, Ickham Bowl, October medal, November (Haig) medal, Adsett Salver, President's Putter, Hooker Cup, Scotland Hills Cup, Ron Gawler Trophy.

President's Putter

The club's scratch matchplay competition was inaugurated in 1945 following the donation of the trophy by the then captain, E Hebden Phillips.

E Hebden Phillips was club captain from 1939 to 1945 and president from 1946 to 1966. He worked in the family firm of licensed property valuers and accountants and had the distinction of being the first person to row across the Channel in a skiff.  It is reported that he was greeted by a brass band when he reached Calais - and a hefty and enthusiastic Frenchman put his foot through the bottom of the skiff!

Redford Trophy

A 36-hole medal competition, played in conjunction with the Rogerson Cup, the Redford being for higher handicap players and the Rogerson for lower handicap players.

The trophy, originally given for play on Saturday afternoons by the higher handicap players, was donated in 1965 by Ken Redford, professional at Canterbury from 1963 to 1975.  Ken took up golf at the age of 15 as an assistant at Roehampton.  His first professional appointment was at Stanmore, where he stayed for five years before emigrating to South Africa.  He was professional at King David GC, Cape Town and, in 1956, beat Gary Player in the final of the South African PGA Championship. He beat him 2 & 1 in the days when the PGAChampionship was matchplay format. 

Rogerson Cup

A 36-hole medal competition, played in conjunction with the Redford Trophy, the Rogerson being for lower handicap players and the Redford for higher handicap players.

The cup was donated in 1936 in the memory of Dr CJ Rogerson, who died that year. Dr Rogerson served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Great War and was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery in attending to wounded men under fire. On coming to Canterbury he became a member of the Honorary Medical Staff of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital as an anaesthetist.  He was a keen sportsman and was a member of the Elms Tennis Club and St Lawrence Cricket Club, as well as Canterbury Golf Club.  Public subscriptions in his memory provided for decorated glass panels in the Children’s Ward of at what was the new Kent and Canterbury Hospital, which opened in 1937.

Scotland Hills Cup

The club's matchplay knockout competition for a cup donated by Charles Cowell Williamson, club president in 1930, 1936, 1937 and from 1940 to 1945. A member of one of Canterbury’s oldest families, Charles, a miller by trade - he was chairman of Kingsford and Co for many years - was an enthusiastic sportsman and was one of the club's founder members. He was also one of the country’s foremost rose growers and was president of the National Rose Society from 1925 to 1926.

Style Cup

This is the club’s oldest trophy, originally donated by Sir William Style to the Barham Downs Golf Club in 1898.  In 1927 it was donated to Canterbury.  The Barham Downs Golf Club was instituted in 1890, along with a ladies' club, and occupied ground which is now covered largely by the southern end of the Bridge by-pass.

The competition is an 18-hole medal.

Vice-Presidents' Trophy

This trophy, played for as an 18-hole foursomes medal, was donated in 1984 by the club's vice-presidents, namely Messrs KW Jeffery, B Rafferty, RM Hallet, ME Steptoe, SA Adsett, WA Cryer, T Allen, R Young, GPC Howson, JH Snell, DJ Stirling, IF Naylor, FW Newing, FW Hinchcliff, JW Gillin, DA Sutherland, JT Morgan, AP Ardouin, GW Pritchett, CJB Murdoch.

The trophy was won by past president Dickie Thrush’s father-in-law, JB Thompson, while a member at Canterbury and was given to Dickie’s wife. When a trophy was being sought by the vice-presidents, Mrs Thrush kindly offered the one she had been given which was then mounted on a plinth.

Victory Bowl

As with the President's Putter, the Victory Bowl was donated to the club by E Hebden Phillips, who was club captain from 1939 to 1945 and president from 1946 to 1966. He worked in the family firm of licensed property valuers and accountants and had the distinction of being the first person to row across the Channel in a skiff.  It is reported that he was greeted by a brass band when he reached Calais - and a hefty and enthusiastic Frenchman put his foot through the bottom of the skiff!

The competition is contested over 36 holes of medal handicap play. As part of the same event, the George Cup, effectively the club championship, is awarded to the best gross score. The competition is held on a Saturday and Sunday over one weekend

Winch Bowl

An 18-hole bogey competition for which the trophy was donated in 1928, it is believed, by the local Style and Winch Brewery. In their heyday, in the 1920s, Style and Wynch had over 600 pubs. They were taken over by Courage and Barclay in the 1950s.