16. The 2025 RNGC Invitational — through the lens of Brian Sweeney
The Sacred Acre's official photographer excels again as rain hits tournament day (which turns into tournament night) and Amy Winehouse and Katy Perry shock the Bee Gees in the final
Rock, pop and rap was the theme for the 2025 RNGC Invitational, the fourth edition of this extreme backyard golf extravaganza. A record field of 62 patrons travelled from all corners of Britain, with one even red-eyeing it from Bangalore.
Most camped, emerging from their tents bleary-eyed on Saturday morning dressed in wholly inappropriate attire but ready to compete.
Intermittent showers couldn’t dampen an atmosphere buoyed by tunes from the club’s resident DJs (two members of The Village People), breakfast baps from the tournament chefs and more than 1,000 cans of beer from the local Morrisons.
After the fireworks of practice day when Paul Millward (Robin Gibb) recorded the first ace in RNGC history, holing out on ‘White Apple’, the downhill 54-yard 7th, a glittering array of music industry legends brought a festival vibe to one of the world’s smallest and most difficult golf courses.
The multi-platinum rock, pop and rap idols included 20 new RNGC members, experiencing the Invitational’s traditional trial by greensomes for the very first time. Two rounds of nine holes, the best round score to count. The question remained: who had enough balls?
At least eight members of Run DMC, a similar number of Beastie Boys, Bono and the Edge out of U2, Adam Ant, three Keith Flints (RIP) of The Prodigy, Francis Rossi of Status Quo, Axel Rose, a brace of Slash, the Ramones, Kurt and Courtney, two Simons, a pair of Garfunkels, Prince and Britain’s Got Talent winner Susan Boyle, were among the names on a star-studded tee sheet.
Ball-spotting, as always, was a universally held article of faith among the patrons. Once located and ‘flagged’ in deep bund, lies were imaginatively ‘cultivated’, meaning skill levels continued to defy the conditions. So much so that ‘Coffin’ green was hit again, not once but twice!
A new course record of 28 was set in the morning wave, a remarkable score that was, incredibly, equalled within the hour. With the skies looking ominous and the top eight teams going through to the knockout stages, the scoreboard spelled it out in black and white. Scoring was low.
As the towering inferno from the BBQ threatened to ignite the gazebo, Flavor Flav shone on debut while the two Elton Johns both threatened to go deep. Kylie Minogue, who appeared to have put on some timber, defied her restrictive stage attire to tap into a rich seam of form. Meanwhile, various members of Abba looked confused.
With RNGC’s tiny and viciously sloping greens running at close to 5 on the Stimp, the afternoon was all about grind. Post a score, avoid Pete Doherty, and endure the agonising wait to see if it’s good enough.
And then someone decided it would be a good idea to extend match play from the top eight to the top 16 pairs. As the tournament threatened to descend into chaos and the light dwindled, favourites fell, form books were shredded and it quickly became clear that someone would need to search for the hero inside themselves to claim the greatest title in backyard golf.
With the tournament threatening to descend into chaos and the light failing, favourites fell
Unfortunately, M People were ineligible for the tournament, Heather Small having previously competed in an unsanctioned pitch and putt event in Weston-super-Mare.
Day slid into evening and evening gave way to night, revealing that the new lighting tower, which had taken a number of direct hits during the qualifying rounds, was not actually high enough to adequately illuminate the playing arena.
Extensively fed and watered by this time, patrons resorted to mobile phones and head torches worn over their ‘Bund’ visors (this year’s merchandise tent winner).
Abba’s Benny and Agnetha (or maybe it was Bjorn and Anna-Frid) made it through to their fourth successive semi-final, suffering their fourth successive defeat, going down to the unfancied pairing of Amy Winehouse and Katy Perry. More heartbreak for the longest-running pair in RNGC Invitational history.
While their wait to lift the RNGC Invitational trophy continues, the Tanton family now at least has its name on the club honours board, with Kieran winning bragging rights over older brother Olie by taking the RNGC Club Championship in an all-Tanton final the very next day.
Back to the 2025 final of the RNGC Invitational, which was played in almost total darkness. From what anyone could make out it was a closely contested affair with patrons gamely taking incoming shots to various parts of their bodies as spotters worked overtime to ensure no ball was left behind.
Galleries that were one-deep at times marauded across the course, applauding shots, gasping at near misses and groaning in pain as they were struck by another errant tee shot. The match ebbed and flowed and all anyone knew for sure was that a new pairing would be added to the honours board in the open-sided animal shelter clubhouse.
The brothers Gibb put up a brave fight but ultimately they were no match for the doomed Back to Black chanteuse, who played through the pain of a sodden beehive, and her debutant partner, the chart topping “I Kissed a Girl” singer. When it mattered most, it was Amy and Katy who managed to hit the high notes.
To see more of Brian Sweeney’s extraordinary photography, click here