The First Class Shoot-Out is the final Board Trophy of the season but occasionally catches the bad weather.  This is an understatement for the 2015 event which had 13 intrepid golfers turn-out in extremely windy and (mostly) very wet conditions.  Scoring was difficult - even those that managed near-handicap scores on the Essex front 9 foundered on the Cambs leaving a wreckage of poor overall scores. 

The format is 18 hole stableford following by a 4-hole shoot-out off scratch for the 'lucky' top 5. As most returned after 18 to the clubhouse, many were secretly (and in some cases not so secretly) hoping not to have to go out again for the shoot-out phase.  John Chisholm got an early reprieve and cheered the fifth man in to beat his score.  John Rodham was tucking into his Heydon breakfast amid murmers of "I'm not going out again.... I'm not going out again..."

The lucky 5 in the shoot-out turned out to be John Black on 28 pts following by four on 27 pts (Bryan Nunn, Paul Chamberlain, Trevor Clifton and Shawn White) with  Malcolm Knobel-Forbes ambushed into umpire duty.  This chain-gang of elite golfers started again on the Essex 1st - Trevor Clifton then producing possibly one of the worst tee shots in living memory, carefully taking a 3-wood and cunnningly laying up short of the yellow tees.  He dropped out on the first hole with Bryan failing on the second and John Black on the third.  Paul Chamberlain and Shawn both made reasonable bogies on the 4th requiring an additional chip-out - both then getting up and down with Shawn putting in from distance.  Prolonging the agony, the second chip-out produced yet another moment of Shawn White putting excelence from 10 feet to delight the crowd (Dave Tomkins) and take the title.

Pictured below is David our Vice-Captain presenting Shawn (right) with the trophy capping what was obviously a thoroughly enjoyable day's golf for all - well for Shawn at least!