The Vice-Captain’s Cup!
Rigenée, October 10, 2026
Julian Lindley-French
What a difference! At historic Palenbeek in September we basked in the heat of a late
summer that seemed destined to never end. At beautiful Rigenée a hard, cold autumn wind
added edge to the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
The Captain’s Cup was in part a tale of two vice-captains. Vice-Captain Julian finished last after embarking on a long and fruitless horticultural tour which allowed him to ‘enjoy’ almost every bush, shrub or tree the course had to offer under the stern but benevolent eye of our very own Cnut the Great, President Arvid. By contrast, Vice-Captain Bogdan drove himself to the Cup with a ruthless display of control and power that delivered not only the Cup (why we call it a cup when it is a bowl beats me) but also the Longest Drive (Seniors) award and Closest to the Pin honour.
Young Darryl took the Longest Drive (Juniors) whilst Dace (the ‘c’ in her name is pronounced like ‘zz’ in ‘Pizza’ I was told) took the Longest Drive (Ladies) in a close contest with heroic Katrin (pronounced Katrin) who somehow made it around the course on one foot! Supreme Leader Arvid took the Fewest Putts (30), even though Vice-Captain Julian did at least sink a 400-metre putt at the 12th (alright 10 metres but who’s counting?) for which he got no thanks
whatsoever having just spent 3 minutes in a rhododendron!
Now we turn our minds to red russet autumn. On 8 November we engage in friendly fire with the SHAPE Golf Association at Brabantse and then cast the Autumn Medal on 21 Nov at Bercuit. We finish in the deep mid-winter with the fabled “Season Christmas Cracker” at Hainaut on December 6th. Goodwill to all will no doubt be in short supply until life-restoring glühwein is administered by Katrin and Wolfgang in the 19th!
Happy Golfing NGCers!
-JLF
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