Basingstoke GC’s Charlie Forster is gearing up for another big summer of golf – coming within a whisker of reaching his first county championship final, writes Andrew Griffin.

And he earned plenty of plaudits from Rowlands Castle’s former Great Britain and Ireland international Darren Wright and former Hampshire champion Darren Walkley.

The latter marked his return to the amateur ranks by losing an exciting final to Stoneham veteran Ryan Henley, at Hockley GC.

Wright is one of just 10 players to have won the Brabazon and Carris trophies in their amateur career as the English Boys’ and Men’s Amateur Strokeplay champion.

Wright stood between Forster and a place in the last four in Saturday’s quarter-final, before losing at the third-extra hole as Forster made a birdie four on the downhill 18th.

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Darren won the Carris in his last year as a junior in 2006. He completed the strokeplay double – matching the likes of Ryder Cup stars Sandy Lyle and Peter Baker – by winning the Brabazon at Hoylake, in 2010.

In that field was a very young Jon Rahm, and he beat off the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton at Royal Liverpool, so Wright knows what it takes to be the best.

Darren said: “That was a very impressive display by Charlie. I was hitting the ball well this week, but I take my hat off to him.

“That is some the longest and straightest hitting I have witnessed in my time as an amateur and pro,” added Wright, who won on the EuroPro Tour in 2016, before quitting the pro ranks – even though he had qualified to play on the European Challenge Tour in 2017.

“There has been a lot of talk about Charlie after his run to the semis in last year’s English Amateur – but I was very impressed,” added Darren, who has yet to feature in a Hampshire first-team alongside Forster, having played for Lawrence Cherry’s predecessors Neil Dawson and Colin Roope, after getting his amateur status back five years ago.

Charlie made his league debut for the county last summer, and was also picked to play in the South East Qualifier at Bury St Edmond’s, as Hampshire tried to reach the English County Finals for the first time since 2017.

Nothing could separate them after 18 holes in a match where neither player was more than a hole up, before Forster claimed victory with a birdie four on the 18th, second time around.

But in Sunday’s semi-final, Walkley made five birdies to Charlie’s four to edge a 2&1 win, with his opponent – who played with Europe’s most promising players on Germany’s ProTour in 2018 and 2019 – full of praise for Forster’s ability.

Charlie’s excellent showing at Hockley followed his first win in US college golf back in September.

The 20-year-old won the SIUE Derek Dolenc Invitational – and came within a whisker of notching a second in April, finishing runner-up in the Southland Championship, in San Antonio.

Having reached the semi-finals of the English Amateur Championship at Lindrick last summer, the late developer, who only took up golf seriously when he was 16, continues to make great strides in the men’s game.

Having won the treble of the Hampshire Juniors, South West Schools and South of England Boys Open winner back in 2021, another crack at the Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Amateur Championship was high on his agenda, fresh from being named as the Southwind Conference Player of the Year after six top 10 finishes in 2022/23.

Two years ago, the North Hants GC junior reached the last 16 of the county championship on his debut, before being beaten by Hayling’s Toby Burden on his way to a third final in three years.

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Last year, having landed back in the UK after his debut season in the States, Forster pulled out on the eve of the championship at Stoneham, having just played 72-holes in the Lagonda Trophy, while suffering from bad jet lag.

This year, there were no scheduling issues and Charlie flew out of the blocks over Hockley’s hilly course on Twyford Down.

He took the third seed in the knockout draw with rounds of 73 and 71 – only missing out on the Pechell Salver on countback – as Bramshaw’s fellow Southlands Conference player Joe Buenfeld, also denied Forster the Hampshire Youths title for the best U21s total, with scores of 74 and 70.

Buenfeld’s second round 70 also earned him the Hunt Salver for the best 18 holes score in the U21s category – one better than Forster’s best effort of the day.