Golf club manager awards disgraced by brawl

The Golf Club Manager Awards 2021-22 descended into chaos after a brawl broke out between attendees.

Host Lynn Benfield revealed the nominees for the ‘Golf Club With The Best PR’ category, and joked that one of them, West Mellington Golf Club, could use their marketing skills to “improve Bristol”, which led to laughter, including initially from the West Mellington manager, David Hall.

However, the club is actually based in Norfolk, and its F&B manager looked visibly distressed by the comment.

Moments later, Hall threw his chair at the table housing the nominees for ‘Environmental Project of the Year’, who had continued to laugh at the joke.

This led to a full-scale brawl and the whole ceremony had to be postponed and will now be conducted digitally in future.

A bloodied Hall later apologised for his actions, saying “they always knew I was a loose cannon but I have overstepped the mark this time”. However, he criticised the decision to not have ceremonies in-person in future. “I got in one little fight and the organisers got scared,” he said.

The winner of ‘Golf Club Manager of the Year’ was not announced but will be unveiled later this month. “I still hope to win,” added Hall. “I hope to get my fresh prints on the trophy.”

One attendee, Rose Main, said she was deeply disappointed by the violence.

“Prior to the brawl the winner of one category said ‘children are our future’ while another talked about how she hated disease, poverty and even death,” she said.

“All that good work will be forgotten now – and when people talk about the ceremony it will probably be dominated by the seven people who were hospitalised.”

(The Golf Business would like to make clear that this story is an April Fools Day joke).