Glastonbury Festival has long been considered the toughest ticket ballot going, but that is no longer the case. The ballot for this year’s Cookie Jar Spring Meeting has smashed that long standing preconception to pieces. Purchasing Oasis tickets for their reunion was much less of a scrum than the hotly contested seat at the table as one of the lucky 32 golfers who turned up at Royal Birkdale and Formby in mid-April.
Day 1 saw the Spring Meeting participants gather at Royal Birkdale for food, then golf. Two sleeves of C.J. logo’d Titleist ProV1x golf balls were generously placed for the field on the place mats at lunch, acting as both a lovely memento and more obviously six shells of premium ammo.
It was a room full of nervous energy, a re-run of the first day of new school year. The attendees on the more severe end of the autistic golfing spectrum quickly played a fast round of logo bingo silently in their heads.
Any Cookie Jar event is considered one of the safest places to comfortably parade Matchplay long socks without fear of copping some awful banter about dressing up like a member of the Famous Five. Instead, they were lovingly supported in their sartorial excellence.
We were served some scrumptious soup, sandwiches and chips which really hit the spot, especially for those diligent golfing ‘tragics’ that had come fresh off a 5-hour car journey to get there. The house staff at Birkdale were superb and attentive; I’ve never had Still and Sparkling water offered to me so many times during a meal, and offered so sincerely each time.
Tom Mills performed another iconic formal speech. The format of better-ball Stableford was declared with partners drawn blind out of a hat. With each name called, a Spring Meeting participant would stand up and make themselves known to their partner and the room. Again, wonderful nostalgic first day at school vibes.
Everyone shuffled out for whatever their version of a warm-up was. For some the warm-up was in the pro shop banging some stash through the credit card, others a hit in the net and putt …for the Blackwell members a chance for another drink, no P&B button on the till system, instead they attacked some Kümmel in place of a heeled 7 iron in the net.
The first tee was adopted by the field and James Nicholson of Delamere Forest had the ceremonial tee shot duties on his shoulders after winning the Spring Meeting last year at Wallasey. He won it on practically one leg in homage to Tiger at Torrey in ’08 (on a painkiller prescription that resembled Barry Bonds more than Bobby Jones).
The Cookie Jar Chairman Emeritus Sam Williams had selected the Red Tees for play, tipping out at 6736, as far back as we could go without stepping onto the Open tee boxes. This was briefly challenged by the starter in the politest of ways, “You lads okay playing off those, all got clearance?”. It was a moment for brief self-reflection, not exactly ‘playing it forwards’…had the vegans been caught in a steak house? Thankfully Peter Handcock piped up to put the worries of the starter to bed and we were off. An exciting golfing exam paper awaited the field.
The course played beautifully, brawny holes framed amongst carefully thought out duneland, it felt big and played big, though still with a high level of real intricacy when it came to approach shots and especially intricate in and around the greens. A shot a groove low or slightly toe or heel side offered very little reward around the Open Championship layout. The work carried out by Mackenzie and Ebert with note to Senior Design Associate and Royal Birkdale member Mike Howard has been executed excellently, particularly for me the 7th and 12th par 3’s; it has been definitely worth exploring more points of the compass and adding the clubbing variety on the par 3’s.
As the groups gathered for post round pints by the 18th green a beautiful atmosphere formed as the great collective debrief took place. Peter and Jack were deep in admin duties and it was great to hear ‘counting aloud’ coming back into fashion as they combed through the scorecards. Speaking of scores, and we don’t want to dwell on them too much, but some excellent golf was played. Previous Spring Meeting winner James Lord of Blackwell scored 38 points as did his fellow member Ryan Cleary with Gordon Curtis of West Sussex and Ryan Noades of the Addington also hitting 38 too. The rest of the field spread themselves out comfortably over the remaining available numbers below that figure.
The evening’s festivities started at Volaire in Southport, effectively a 56-degree wedge from the hotels, though some would choose to putt that distance. It was a stonkingly good Italian. The ‘Jarheads’ occupied one half of the restaurant, Chiantis and Piedmonts flowed. The blind pairings from the mornings draw were sat shoulder to shoulder catching up on all the fun, running through the holes at Royal Birkdale in granular detail, no one shy of opinions and better yet, everyone wanting to hear them.
Sam and Tom were then beyond generous in picking up the bill and it was onto Sinclair’s cocktail bar for the night cap. As we entered, it was evident they were trying to shut, but they kindly offered to stay open for us as S.J. Williams looked to process the largest single Guinness order one could find outside of the Temple Bar in Dublin. More intimate golfing conversions took place, dice games were in full flow and even the ‘Old Negronians’ were in on the action.
Day 2 of the 2026 Cookie Jar Spring meeting saw the fractionally sore headed field arrive at Formby Golf Club. A convenient 20 minute drive from Southport to Formby was perfect for those who laboured over checking out due to too much good fun.
Formby couldn’t have been a better a foil to Royal Birkdale. It was elegant, understated and deeply charming …you could confidently say all aspects of the Club fit those descriptions.
The grand clubhouse had already been host to a few of the members of the field who had sensibly taken up the opportunity to stay in the dormy or ‘Dormby’ accommodation instead of driving up early for Day 1 at Birkdale. They reportedly fitted in an unhealthy amount of snooker games, though their level of play was more Ronnie Corbett than Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Another Spring Meeting first tee gathering started to take place. Sam Williams had chosen to cosplay as Kevin Hammer (the USGA President), Tom Mills was in a graceful statesmanlike mode, Jack and Luke were swivelling lenses capturing the hot and sticky anticipation. Peter Handcock, back in administrative mode dealt out fresh scorecards out to people with the wrist action you would only see from the finest dealers in Monte Carlo.
There was an awful lot to play for during the final round, but one thing everyone was deeply looking forward to was an opportunity to sample the newly redesigned 7th hole. It was the work of great friend of The Jar and course architect Joe McDonell (sadly without the other half of the hole’s designer and great friend too in Sam Cooper).
For Joe, one must imagine it was the equivalent of one massive parent teacher conference, receiving feedback on your child’s performances or meeting all your TripAdvisor reviewers in real-time. The verdict was never in doubt; it is a brilliant success. The expanded green-site now fitting in with the rest of the landscape, including new pin-able positions off the back of that, is pure class. The diagonal tier in the green offers strategy with the approach shot. The fairway was also widened to spread wear, with bunkers added to create deception with the tee shot. Just damn good stuff from McDonell & Cooper.
A few holes after playing the 7th hole that afternoon Jar stalwart Sam Skelton found himself on the par 3 10th tee box. He proceeded to hit a smooth 7 iron and that was the only stroke that he required …in for the hole-in-one!
After the round the field were treated to a truly incredible 3 course jacket and tie lunch in the dining room upstairs at Formby. The wine choices were top tier and the food produced by the head chef and his team was heavenly. People sunk into their seat feeling incredibly satisfied and well looked after.
The winners of the event were formally announced, with Ryan Cleary and Matt Forde crowned as the eventual champions.
For those who didn’t have to dash off back to reality, an afternoons casual foursomes awaited on Formby Ladies to walk off lunch; it is quick, fun and the conditioning was top tier.
It was hugely evident that the Spring Meeting was a huge display of friendship and generosity, as all these Cookie Jar events tend to be in all honesty. It is a level of fun and camaraderie that really can cut through the human condition and the crazy world we all occupy. For moments out at Birkdale and Formby, amongst the good shots, the bad shots, the laughs and the groans there was serene peace.
As the seasons turn from Spring to Summer and to Autumn more events and opportunity awaits …onto the Addington on the 15th of June for the Summer Meeting.
Vivat Cookie Jar Golf!