Hat and Hound Golf Day, St Francis Bay

I was fortunate enough to receive an invitation from Jeff Clause, Director of Golf at St Francis Links, to play in the Hat and Hound golf day at St Francis Golf Club. It was beautiful day like all days on a golf course and had so much fun with my 4 ball. It was a Stable Ford competition but also a team "pink ball" competition and we managed to keep our "pink ball" till the end!

How this event came about:

The first event was held in 1999 when the weather was bad in St Francis so a group of 8 players decided to go to Hankey Golf Club to play golf. They got there and decided that they should play for something. There was an ornament in the house of a drunken guy passed out over a dinky bottle of Johnnie Walker and that became the trophy.

The name Hat and Hound originates when the house was built the pub was named Hat and Hound because they decided that you have to wear a hat when inside the pub. The hound part comes from the Ferrans's golden retriever Oscar who was famous around St Francis beaches for bod surfing the waves on the main beach. So because the trophy was from the pub the name Hat and hound Classic was formed.

James Ferrans

In 2000 they were at home again and on the 28^th decided to go back to Hankey Golf Club and play again for the trophy. This time we got 16 players together…. "We were in the bar afterwards and decided that we should continue the tradition in the following year but have a charity angle to it to show some support for the local community." For the next 5 years they donated clothing to the local school in China town (the township school). Players would bring golf shirts and general clothing in exchange for new golf shirt and that would be sent to the school for the kids.

"We then decided to change the charity and found out that the SPCA was short of donations and funds so for the next 3 years that became the beneficiary of for the day.

We had to skip a year or two because my Dad fell ill and needed to receive a Liver transplant. He did receive one April 2008 but sadly passed away in March 2009. In the December we decided to have a memorial day (last ever event) for him and chose the SATSA South African Sports Transplant association as the beneficiary. He had qualified to represent SA at the transplant games in Sydney 2009 but sadly did not make it. The support we received on that day was incredible and the players asked us to continue the legacy and keep the day going for years to come."

"After each event we head back to the house where the pub is and share in stories of years gone by at the house, the golf day and reminisce about the good times and memories. We also have the tradition of hitting golf balls off the edge of our lawn into the ocean. Something that has become a legendary thing to do in St Francis Bay.