While the race to be crowned SOS Champion is very much an individual journey, with one winner being crowned at the season finale, the SOS Shield has been a part of the SOS silverware since our very first golf tour in November 2012. The physical trophy itself was kindly donated by Dave ‘Smarty’ Martin in 2018, but a Ryder Cup team format has been a staple of our golf school since year one.
The format is simple. A captain is nominated, teams are chosen (or bid for in more recent years) and the matches set.
Day one is a match-play-esque better-pairs combined format, where you add the two team-mate’s scores together and the higher combined score wins the hole. 1 point for a match won, ½ a point for a draw and nothing for a loss.
Day two’s format is also match-play-esque, but the format is betterball. Two players from one team play two players from the other team, best score per hole wins the hole. 1 point for a match won, ½ a point for a draw and nothing for a loss.
Day three is a straight up match-play. Head-to-head. Captains play captains. Two highest ranked players on the SOS leaderboard in each team play each other and the rest of the match ups are based on captain’s alternating picks. 1 point for a match won, ½ a point for a draw and nothing for a loss.
Team with the most points at the end of the weekend wins the SOS Shield. We’ve had one no-result and one tie in 11 years.
Here is how they played out.
2012
Courses: Zebula and Elements
Result: Drawshank Redemption beat Natural Hazards
Played over 2 rounds, it was better ball on day one and head-to-head on day two. Drawshank Redemption took home the maiden win in a year where only 12 players played, rain nearly put paid to our final round, but 1,000 beers were consumed in a weekend. Golf was the real winner here.
2013
Courses: Elements and Zebula
Result: Joo Crew beat the Iron Men
Also played over 2 rounds, in 2013 we flipped our accommodation from Zebula to Elements and played the courses on opposite days. Better weather and a bigger field made for an incredible weekend, where the Joo Crew, led by eventual overall SOS champion Ryan Bernberg took home the team prize.
2014
Courses: Riviera and Vaal de Grace
Result: No result (Red caps vs Blue caps)
In 2014, and because of the popularity of the team competition on Year End Tour (YET), SOS adopted a team competition for the entire season. The Blue caps comfortably won the season long competition, but on YET, we couldn’t get a balance of players from both teams to come, so we ended up abandoning the Ryder Cup styled team prize for YET.
2015
Courses: Umhlali and Zimbali
Result: Apha Hawks 3000 beat The Bern Unit, Kung Fu Pandas and the Dawg Show
Our first coastal trip was a huge success and one of the most popular YETs on record. 24 players formed four 6 man teams to duke it out in a modified format. While complicated, the weekend was a great success and the Alpha Hawks 3000, in their ridiculously lumo kits won the 2015 SOS Team Shield. It was a year of fantastic outfits.
2016
Courses: Mooi Nooi and Pecanwood
Result: Foregasms beat EPAKA
In a David vs Goliath battle, the little fancied Foregasms team stole the show and defeated the much favoured and self-loving EPAKA team. EPAKA, a bit like the 95 All-Blacks team had a variety of excuses as to why they lost, including, but not limited to how early the Foregasm team went to bed and amount of alcohol they consumed, but in reality, two SOS favourites in the EPAKA team bottled it, choking when it mattered, while the Foregasms united and won the SOS Shield for the underdogs in a victory now known as the ‘Performance at Pecanwood’.
2017
Courses: Kingswood, Pezula and Simola
Result: Mills & Boom beat the Under Dwags
Switching to the now regular 3-round format, 2017 saw Mills & Boom quite easily outplay the lesser talented Under Dwag team to win the 6th edition of the SOS Shield. Quality play, superior captaincy and the greatest poem ever written were the standouts for a fantastic YET.
2018
Courses: Gowrie Farm, Cotswold Downs and Victoria Country Club
Result: Gang Green beat Pielie Pielie
An SOS Altering YET, where the currency for our points system switched from fake dollars to Nip-coins, the 7th SOS Shield was a big vs small, fat vs thin affair, in which thin and small won the SOS Shield.
2019
Courses: Stellenbosch, De Zalze and Pearl Valley
Result: Tie: Dancefloor Mavericks vs Rough Rebels
Finding very few dance floors and plenty of rough, the weekend was a close fought affair that came down to a captain missing a 2 foot putt and blowing a 4up with 4 to play lead to make the SOS Shield a tie for the one and only time in history.
2020
Courses: Centurion Country Club, Zebula and Elements
Result: Backdoor Boys beat Y2Gay
A brotherly love showdown in every sense of the word saw Wayne beat his older brother Gary to win not only the team prize but the individual prize too. 2020 saw the introduction of the team swim, the longest drive and closest to the pin swim and the winner’s kiss. All favourites of the captains.
2021
Courses: George Golf Club, Oubaai and Pinnacle Point
Result: Missing the Point beat the Missing Links
In arguably the most scenic of all YETs, it was the team who chose George, Oubaai and Pinnacle Point (The Missing Links) over Fancourt’s Outeniqua, Montague and the Links (Missing the Point) who suffered one of the biggest and most humiliating defeats in SOS Shield history, being crushed by the England bound Kyle van As’ team.
2022
Courses: Blair Atholl, Pecanwood and Rustenburg
Result: Belly Flops beat Brandy Buffalos
In the battle of bad team names, it was the heavier team, the Belly Flops, who obliterated the Brandy Buffalos in the 11th year and 10th official edition of the SOS Shield.
