CHARLIE Forster’s father Lance is convinced his son is on the right track to reach the pinnacle of amateur golf – an appearance in the Walker Cup.
Having been a late-starter comparatively – only taking up golf seriously in his last two years at Perrins School, in Alresford, before completing his A-Levels at Winchester’s Peter Symonds College – Charlie has been on a fast-track as an international.
The 22-year-old first caught the England selectors’ eye when reaching the last four of the English Amateur Championship three years ago.
Dad Lance – speaking after Charlie was nominated to receive the Nettell Trophy for the most outstanding contribution to Hampshire Golf in 2024 last month, revealed: “Not many golfers get selected for GB&I before they have been capped by England.
“If you go back nearly 25 years ago when GB&I dominated the Walker Cup – winning it three times in a row – the Home Nations had players like Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Jamie Elson and Graeme McDowell, who were all playing and winning in US college golf.
“The captain Peter McEvoy, one of our most successful amateurs of all-time, wanted players who had won in America, when GB&I won in the States for the first time in the competition’s then 70-year history in 2001,” added Lance, who travelled to watch his son’s win with Long Beach State in Las Vegas last month,
Basingstoke GC’s Great Britain and Ireland international Charlie Forster playing for California’s Long Beach State
The 50th Walker Cup is being played at Cypress Point, in Northern California, a few hours’ drive up the coast from where Charlie plays and practices every week in Los Angeles.
That gives him an advantage, knowing the grasses and course conditions encountered on the Pacific coast of America and a California call-up for the biennial match would be one of his dreams, according to his dad.
“It was a busy time around Christmas as Charlie spent time with his girlfriend in Hawaii,” added Lance, “before travelling halfway across the world to play in the Bonallack Trophy in the United Arab Emirates.
“It was an incredibly high standard of golf – the Walker Cup will be even higher.
“The trip to the UAE was good preparation and an insight into what life can be like for a pro, which is what he wants to be.
“He had little time to get used to the different time zones after a long flight, and had to be ready to go for the official practice, followed by three intense days of competition.
“Charlie’s incredibly competitive and never likes to lose, but they were hopefully more valuable experiences that will help him achieve his dreams.”
Charlie and Lance still get the chance to play competitively together. Last summer they won the prestigious Antlers Scratch Foursomes at Royal Mid-Surrey, as the Richmond club celebrated the competition’s 75th anniversary.
In a twist of fate, Royal Mid-Surrey presented the Forsters with a new trophy to mark the anniversary – named after Martin Christmas, the club’s former president, who himself played for Surrey and England, appearing in the 1961 match in Seattle.
He earned the visitors their sole point in the singles – and was selected again at Turnberry in 1963, when he played alongside North Hants GC’s Scottish Amateur Champion Stuart Murray, the first Hampshire golfer to appear in the Walker Cup.
Past Antlers winners include another famous amateur and Walker Cup player in former Sky Golf commentator Bruce Critchley, the winner in 1974, and fellow Sky pundit Richard Boxall, who claimed the title seven years later.
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In 2017, Hampshire’s back-to-back Amateur Champions Scott Gregory (Corhampton) and Harry Ellis (Meon Valley) appeared in the GB&I Walker Cup team that faced current PGA stars Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris and Schauffele, in Los Angeles.
They became just the sixth and seventh Hampshire players to appear in the biennial clash with the USA – the amateur’s equivalent to the Ryder Cup.
Scottish champion Stuart Murray, who moved to North Hants through his work in the golf equipment industry, was the first in 1963. He was followed by Guernsey’s Bobby Eggo (1987), Justin Rose (1997), Sam Hutsby (2009) and Neil Raymond (2013).
Two-time Hampshire Junior Champion Jack Singh-Brar, who came through the same county School of Excellence programme as Ellis and Gregory, also played in Los Angeles eight years ago.
But he switched his handicap to Dorset in 2013, having won the Faldo Series a year earlier, having played his golf at Bramshaw and Brokenhurst Manor, otherwise Hampshire could have claimed three of the 10 players in the GB&I side.
Three Hampshire juniors appeared in the same GB&I Walker Cup team – (left to right) Jack Singh-Brar, Harry Ellis and Scott Gregory. Picture R&A