It’s no secret we play plenty of golf, but until now it’s been done a little too casually. Cards not entered, swinging without consequence, and more flagstick gimmes than we’d like to admit.
This year, that changes. We’re using our fortunate golf calendars to introduce some proper competition to the Jar, allowing us to stay sharp, and, just as importantly, to stay chirpy when our form is written in ink on the Cookie Jar Club Championship table. Whenever we play together during work, it’s now a match. Singles, foursomes, the occasional triangular. Nine holes minimum, but any length course. And crucially, the loser writes the match report, with full licence to try and shift the narrative.
Come December, the league table will seed the Championship Bracket, with seeds 1 and 2 going straight into the semi-finals where they will earn a 1up advantage. Seeds 2 oppo will be seed 3, while seeds 3 and 4 will play a QF match to get into the semi against our top seed.
All reports will live on this blog for anyone sad enough to relive them, likely just the five of us. They’ll also feature in our newsletters, so make sure you’re signed up here.
League Table
Match Reports
Match 4 – Peter vs Luke, Whittington Heath Golf Club, 20th January 2026
Fresh off my win against Tom at Blackwell, I took on Peter in a match at the closest thing Luke has to a home course – Whittington Heath.Course works reduced the round to 12 holes, starting on the 6th, and I received 5 shots from my usual 8. No complaints, just the search for another ace, which never came, but what unfolded was a cracking match nonetheless.
Hole 6 (1)
A straightforward par 4 and the least memorable hole of the day. Peter made par, I slipped in a bogey. One hole played, 1 down.
Hole 7 (2)
One of Whittington’s signature holes. Playing into a brutal three club wind, front pin, 150 yards. Peter missed the green well right, leaving himself a delicate pitch. I hit a typical short and right 6 iron, but safely so. Peter went first, leaving 8 feet for par. I chipped on, no putter required. Peter missed. Back to all square.
Hole 8 (3)
A quiet hole, halved in fours. Notably, my usual high fade had gone missing, leaving me just behind Peter’s Sunday best off the tee.
Hole 9 (4), first shot hole
Peter found the greenside bunker from the tee after a 2.59min ball search. I left my second just short of the green to a front pin. Peter made his up and down for birdie and I raced my third 15 feet past, but calmly rolled in the par putt coming back. Still all square.
Hole 10 (5), second shot hole
Drives to opposite sides of the fairway. Peter then missed left, I found the green but faced a long putt. I left the first one 15 feet short, then poured in another monster for par. Peter\’s near chip in wasn\’t enough.. 1 up.
Hole 12 (6), shot hole
Peter took the textbook +3 route – driver, wedge, two putt par – and felt like he had it in the bag, until I produced the shot of the day from a leafy, awkward lie left of the green, stiffing my pitch shot to within a foot to go 2 up, with two very tough non shot holes ahead.
Hole 13 (7)
A long par 3 with a left to right wind. With my fade, I never really stood a chance. Back to 1 up.
Hole 14 (8)
A long par 4 straight into the wind, again not suiting my eye or my game. I will not give Peter the satisfaction of detailing how well he played it. All square.
Hole 15 (9), penultimate shot hole
Peter teased me by missing another green, but his short game bailed him out again (boring). Par for him, bogey for me. Still all square.
Hole 16 (10)
A short downwind par 4, Peter’s chance to take control. Out of nowhere I topped my tee shot, then my second. A fat wedge then left me a 40 foot downhill putt swinging left to right while Peter eyed a simple 10 footer for birdie. In classic matchplay, the putt was never missing, and the hole got a lot shorter for Peter. He missed. All square, two to play.
Hole 17 (11)
A long par 5 into the wind. Peter’s Sunday best was not enough here, I outdrove him but still had 245 yards left. No chance of reaching in two. Pars all round. Down to the last.
Hole 18 (12), shot hole
All square. Peter faced a near impossible 30 foot birdie putt from the most awkward part of the green. I had a 20 footer for par, slightly downhill, fully expecting the match to finish halved. Peter stepped up and, for the first time all day, made one, birdie. Suddenly I needed my par putt to tie the match. I hit it firmly, just enough pace to take the break out. It caught the lip, and turned at a right angle.
Match lost, 1 down. Peter finishing -1 and I finished +4. Onto the next one. Revenge will be sweet.
Round time: 2 hours.
Match 3 – Tom vs Luke, Blackwell Golf Club, 16th January 2026
On a rare mild January morning in Blackwell, after a torrent of rain the day before, Luke & Tom met up to do content battle. Luke the powerhouse of the consultancy content at Cookie Jar, was bright eyed and excited for the challenge, sporting a single strap bag and only half a set of clubs. The match started tentatively with both players halving the 415y first with bogeys.
The real fireworks started on the second, with Luke puring an iron to the green, which had been recently sprayed and had the tell tale white dots on the green. We both thought one of those white dots was a ball. Alas, the ball was nowhere to be found, but a tell-tale pitch mark sat right next to the pin. Good as gold, the ball was at the bottom of the cup. Tom was one down through 2.
With both foes halving in par on the third, Luke duly hit the green in 2 on the par 5 fourth and two putted for birdie. Tom 2 down. A poor drive from Tom and a regulation par from Luke put Tom 3 down through the fifth. With both players halving 6 with bogies and halving 7 with birdies, Luke hit another par five in two strokes with two puts to make yet another birdie. Tom 4 down. Both players then halved 9 to get to the turn with Tom 4 down.
Current state of affairs:
Tom 2 over at the turn and 4 down. Luke went round in a cool and collected 2 under par.
The back 9 however, turned into slightly more of a pillow fight. Both players bogied 10 and Tom thinned a bunker shot OB on 11 to go 5 down. Both players halved 12 and 13 which took the match to dormie 5.
At this point, Tom started a minor rally, parring 14 and 15 to win both holes. Dormie 3. However, with both players parring 16, the game was done and dusted. A thoroughly well deserved win by Luke the Nuke and the writer must congratulate him on his fantastic play.
Finishing the final 18 holes, these are Luke\’s stats:
5 Over par
12/13 fairways
15/18 greens
36 putts
5 3-putts
Location: Blackwell
Round Time: 2:20
Match 2 – Peter vs Sam, New Zealand Golf Club, 16th January 2026
Following 22mm of rain on the Thursday, West Byfleet was closed on the Friday. Eager for some much-needed fresh air, we headed up to another club that Hugh Locke King was responsible for founding, only a stone’s throw away – New Zealand. The club was founded in 1895 and carved out of the woodland, an idea (allegedly) cooked up in White’s in London where Locke King was a member, with the course built by Samuel Mure Fergusson, who ran both West Byfleet and New Zealand for many years (presumably with an iron fist). Today, Laszlo is the club’s secretary and was only too happy to welcome Sam, Peter and friend of the pod – Richard Pennell – from West Byfleet for a game.
Mild temperatures and golden sunlight cast across the sixth fairway were a welcome sight as we wandered up to the first tee for our first game of 2026. Sam – still suffering the after-effects of an indulgent evening in London the night before – started sluggishly, while Peter came out of the blocks quickly, negotiating New Zealand’s tight and tricky opening stretch with three regulation pars. Enough to secure an early 1-up lead before officially mounting his attack. A wedge stuffed to a few feet on 4 led to his first birdie, with his first and only bogey quickly following courtesy of a failed sand save from right of the green on 5. Sadly, some claret-infused putting pyrotechnics on 5 meant no advantage could be gained by Sam.
More birdies for Peter followed on 6 and 8, bookending a sausage roll and some sugary drinks while chatting to Trevor – the all-seeing eyes at New Zealand, a wonderfully welcoming presence who always knows who is ‘on property’ – at the hut, perfectly situated for two stops after 7 and 13. Despite the great weather, and course conditions that were frankly remarkable following the rain, it looked like a typically quiet day in the office for Trevor.
Now 3-up heading across the road to the 9th, where some exceptional work by Clayton DeVries & Pont has allowed Tom Simpson’s work to truly shine once again, Peter scrambled beautifully for his 4 on 9 before draining a monster on 10 for his 2. He then set up another birdie chance on 11 with some heroics from the heather on the right. This one, however, shaved the edge, and a very generous gimme for Sam saw us head back across the road now 5-up, with Peter 3 under par. Peter quietly admitted that, had Richard not been present, he would have thought twice about handing out three-footers out of pity on his way across Martyrs Lane.
Despite good looks for birdie on both 12 and 13, Peter would need to wait until 14 to deliver the killer blow. A two-putt birdie from 10 feet on 14 was enough to end the game. Clearly not satisfied, a six-footer shaved the hole on 15, and after missing from four feet on 17, Peter arrived at the 18th green four under par, with 10 feet for another birdie and his 63rd swipe of the day. The putt never looked anywhere else but the back of the hole.
Trevor, now back in the warmth of the clubhouse, seemed far more impressed with our round time than Peter’s 63, while Richard enquired about the amateur course record. Whether a course record was set or not is unclear, and I’d imagine it’s something New Zealand wouldn’t have the faintest interest in.
Peter win: 5&4
Round time: 2hr 15min, with a sausage roll
Match 1 – Jack & Peter vs Tom & Sam, Blackwell Golf Club, 31st December 2025
With Sam and Peter taking the odds, Jack and Half-Par burst out of the blocks with wins on 1, 3 and 4, asserting control early as Mills and Williams struggled to find any real rhythm. A valiant up-and-down from a short-sided lie on 7, a hard-earned 6 on 8 and a tidy two on 9 hauled Mills and Williams back to just one down at the turn.
Momentum swung again with crucial wins on 11 and 12 pushing the lead back to three, before another determined response saw the gap reduced to one through 14. Superb putting on 15 — Jack and Tom rolling in matching 12-footers — forced a half and kept the pressure firmly on.
The comeback threatened to gather real pace on 16, before Mills unveiled a previously unseen 3-wood chip at a crucial moment — a bold choice, if nothing else — halting proceedings just long enough to shift momentum. The pivotal moment then came at 17, where a makeable birdie putt for Sam slid agonisingly past, leaving a regulation par on 18 enough for the youngsters to close it out.
Round time: 3 hours 10 minutes (including a bacon sandwich stop).
