South African Inter-Club Foursomes Competition
Background
At the inaugural SA Tournament in Kimberley in 1892 there was no mention of a foursomes competition, let alone an Inter-Club foursomes. The records are very scant and somewhat ambiguous and it can only be assumed, therefore, that when the SA Tournament was played in Port Elizabeth the following year an Inter-Club foursomes competition was introduced in addition to the Inter-South African Club Competition, a teams event which had been part of the programme in Kimberley. The records show the winners of the foursomes going back to 1893 and a clue to the correctness of the above assumption is that two names are given as being the winners representing Graaff Reinet, Proudfoot and Glennie. Certainly they would not have been playing better ball; it can only have been foursomes.
The result in the record books for the 1905 event played at Bloemfontein and won by the local pairing of H Gunn and A Henderson shows a score of 84 indicating a stroke play format over 18 holes. It seems likely from the recorded results that in the years between 1893 and 1905 this was indeed the case and that it was only in 1906 that foursomes match play on a knockout basis was introduced. The result for 1906 is the first clear indication of a match play format, Port Elizabeth beating Johannesburg at the 19th hole.
For a spell from 1925 to 1930 foursomes match play was changed to singles stroke play, clubs being represented by teams of three with the best two scores to count. In 1931 by popular demand foursomes was re-introduced, for two years as match play and then finally as from 1933 as foursomes stroke play over 18 holes. It remained such until discontinued in 1969.