The Halford Hewitt



Founded in 1924, The Halford Hewitt is a highly competitive golf tournament in Britain, where teams of 10 former pupils from the 64 schools that comprise the Public Schools Golfing Society compete. Each school fields five foursomes pairs, making 640 competitors in all. It is the largest scratch amateur event in the world in terms of starting competitors.

The Halford Hewitt has been described by the golf writer Nick Tremayne as ‘the greatest of all truly amateur tournaments’.

The Competitions
The Halford Hewitt Cup: teams of five pairs of golfers playing scratch foursomes knockout match play.

The Peter Kenyon Bowl: a handicap foursomes stableford competition open all members of an appropriate Old Boys Golf Society.

The Prince's Plate: a scratch foursomes knockout for first round losers in the main competition.

The Courses
The Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club is considered the spiritual home of the Halford Hewitt, offering a challenging test of links golf with arguably the most difficult back 7 holes in Amateur golf.

As the competition expanded beyond the capacity of a single club in 1950, the Royal St Georges Golf Club was invited to assist, and since then, half the field has played its initial two rounds at the Royal St Georges Golf Club.

In addition to the main event, the Peter Kenyon bowl has traditionally been held as a consolation competition that welcomes both competitors and spectators. This tournament is played at the Princes Golf Club.

More recently, in 2001, a knockout plate competition was introduced with the same format as the Hewitt, featuring teams composed of three pairs of golfers. This tournament takes place at the Princes Golf Club.