BASINGSTOKE GC’s Charlie Forster’s spectacular rise through the international ranks last year was recognised by Hampshire Golf as he picked up the Nettell Trophy for the most “outstanding contribution” to the county in 2024.
The Long Beach State student, who is in his final year of a four-year spell in the States on a golf scholarship, was unable to collect the trophy at the Hampshire Golf AGM last month as he was playing in Los Angeles.
But his father Lance was on hand to receive the trophy – first awarded back in 2012 – when the county’s ruling body in the amateur game held its AGM at the revamped golf club in the village of Dummer, following the Basingstoke’s club’s switch across the M3 two years ago.
With Charlie back in California, it was left to his dad, himself a very good single-figure golfer, to reflect on his son’s success in 2024, after Charlie sent a video message to representatives from the county’s near-80 affiliated clubs, thanking Hampshire Golf for the prestigious award.
Lance said: “Last year was the most successful for Charlie so far, and he has been on a fairly fast rise through the amateur ranks having only really taken up golf seriously when he was 15.
“Having reached the last 16 of the Amateur Championship in Ireland in June – when he beat European No. 1 Jose Louis Ballester from Spain, he then had a top 15 in the European Amateur Championship having played in the final group.
“That earned him a call-up by Great Britain and Ireland for the St Andrews Trophy match against Europe, at Royal Porthcawl, the following month.
“At that point, Charlie was still not in the England squad, but he was impressive enough even though GB&I were beaten in the St Andrews – clearly the captain Dean Robertson, who will captain this year’s Walker Cup team, saw enough having paired him with Max Kennedy, who Charlie beat in the Amateur.”
And after Kennedy’s switch to the pro game in the autumn, the Hampshire man was drafted into Europe’s team to face Asia in the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy, which was selected from the top eight players from the Continent in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, with four picks granted to French captain Joachim Fourquet.
Last year Forster rose from No. 749 in the world into the top 150 and was moving closer to the world’s top 100 after his latest international selection.
Charlie was just the second Hampshire player to be picked for the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy, following in the footsteps of another North Hants junior – Justin Rose, who appeared in the inaugural match in 1997, shortly before becoming the youngest-ever player to be selected for the Walker Cup that year.
Now Forster, will be looking to maintain his form in the coming weeks to cement his spot in Robertson’s Walker Cup thinking, having gained valuable matchplay experience in the Home Internationals last summer, when England missed out on retaining the Raymond Trophy, after Ireland’s 8-4 victory at Scotland’s Murcar Links.
It’s been a very fast rise to the top since Charlie won the Hampshire U16 Championship in 2019. He went straight into the county junior set-up, when he was a member at North Hants GC as well as at Basingstoke, where he started playing with his dad a few years earlier.
His age group was affected by COVID – with courses closed for several months – but in 2021 he won the Hampshire Junior Championship and the South of England Boys Open (SEBO) as well as winning the South West Schoolboys Championship, followed by a top 10 at the English Schoolboys Championship.
That earned Forster an England Schools call-up for the autumn matches, which he had to miss after he took up his place at Southeastern Louisiana University that September, and where he stayed for two years before moving to Long Beach, a much bigger NCAA Division One golf programme.
The 21-year-old’s first win in the States came in 2022, and Charlie reached the semi-finals of the 2023 Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship – a year after marking his breakthrough in men’s golf by reaching the last four of the English Amateur at Lindrick.
Charlie’s ball-striking has earned high praise from Hampshire’s double Brabazon and Carris Trophy winner Darren Wright, Rowlands Castle GC’s England and GB&I International.
It also earned him a place in the county side that has won the South East League crown for the past two years, although Forster has missed both finals because of college commitments.
Now as a Nettell Trophy winner, he joins the likes of Hampshire’s two Amateur Champions – Harry Ellis and Scott Gregory – and Neil Raymond on the county honours board.
All three also played Walker Cup, and Charlie clearly would love to join that special club come September when the 50th biennial match between Great Britain and Ireland and the USA is held at Cypress Point, in Charlie’s adopted home of California.
Charlie Forster became the fifth player from North Hants GC to win the Hampshire Junior Championship in 2021. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES
•The Nettell Trophy was first awarded in 2012 in memory of former county captain and president John Nettell, from Brokenhurst Manor GC, who was instrumental in the founding of Seniors golf in the South East region.
The Nettell Trophy was crated in honour of the late Hampshire Golf Union captain and president John Nettell from Brokenhurst Manor GC. Picture by ANDREW GRIFFIN / AMG PICTURES
The four-time county Seniors Champion was Hampshire Golf Union president from 1997-2000, having been playing captain from 1974-75 and repeating the role as a non-playing captain from 1992-95, serving a total of 35 years on the county executive.
Having started his golfing career as a teenager at Worthing’s Hill Barn, John was a member at the New Forest club for 53 years, having joined Brokenhurst in 1957, representing Hampshire more than 100 times.
He was a still playing regularly at the club when he passed away in 2010, and founded the Mike Smith Memorial Trophy – originally the Brokenhurst Bowl – before the tragic death of the England and Great Britain and Ireland international in 1990 when he was still a teenager.