Staff WriterClose House once again found itself doing what the best golf clubs occasionally manage between bunker complaints and over-ambitious practice swings: bringing people together for something rather more useful than arguing over whether a six-footer was “good”.
The 2026 Have a Heart Charity Golf Day returned to the North East venue with more than 200 attendees, raising over £55,000 for the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation.
That is a proper result. Not a polite clubhouse raffle result. A serious, community-changing sum, gathered through golf, generosity and the irresistible pull of a good day out with familiar sporting faces.
A North East Golf Day With Real Purpose
Since launching in 2011, the Have a Heart Charity Golf Day has grown into one of the North East’s leading charitable sporting events.
Its purpose is clear: to raise vital funds for the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation, which supports disadvantaged children and young people across the region through education, opportunity and community initiatives.
That gives the event its weight. Celebrity guests may bring the flashbulbs, and the golf may bring the competitive twitch, but the reason for the day sits well beyond the scorecard.
Sporting Names, Big Personalities And A Very Useful Cause
The 2026 edition brought together the sort of guest list that would make most charity golf days quietly check their phone contacts and sigh.
Alan Shearer, Rick Shiels, Brian McFadden and Les Ferdinand were among those in attendance, alongside numerous Newcastle United players. It continued the event’s tradition of attracting high-profile guests who understand the value of lending their time, profile and competitive instincts to something that matters.
Charity golf days can sometimes drift into a haze of lukewarm coffee, heroic handicaps and the occasional trouser choice that deserves its own risk assessment. This one had a sharper edge: a strong cause, a serious venue and enough sporting pedigree to make even a Texas Scramble feel faintly pressurised.
The Lee Westwood Courses Set The Stage
Players took on a hybrid layout across the championship Lee Westwood Colt and Filly Courses, a fitting stage for a day built around friendly competition and fundraising.
Close House has long understood that golf is at its best when the setting does some of the talking. Here, the courses provided the backdrop while the players supplied the enthusiasm, the occasional moment of brilliance and, one imagines, at least a few shots later described with heroic editorial licence.
The format kept things lively, social and competitive without forgetting the central purpose of the day: raising awareness and funds for the life-changing community initiatives delivered by the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation.
Walton And Joynson Team Take The Honours
There was, of course, a leaderboard. Golfers may be charitable, but they are not saints.
The winning team of Steve Walton, Max Walton, Peter Joynson and Henry Joynson claimed victory with a superb Texas Scramble score of 19 under par.
That is the sort of number that causes other teams to stare at their own card as though it has personally betrayed them. Still, on a day like this, the real victory was measured less in birdies and more in the final fundraising total.
More Than £55,000 Raised For Children And Young People
By the end of the event, the 2026 Have a Heart Charity Golf Day had raised over £55,000 for the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation.
For a regional charity event, that figure underlines not only the generosity of those involved but also the pulling power of a well-run sporting occasion with a clear mission.
Close House extended its thanks to the players, sponsors, partners and guests who helped make the day such a success. Behind every smooth-running charity golf day is a small army of organisers, supporters and willing volunteers ensuring the whole thing does not descend into a queue at the halfway hut and a missing nearest-the-pin marker.
Golf Showing Its Better Side
The event continues to show how sport and community can work together across the North East. Golf, for all its peculiarities, has always been good at this: gathering people in one place, giving them a shared purpose, and allowing a competitive afternoon to become something far more valuable.
Close House gave the 2026 Have a Heart Charity Golf Day the stage. The guests, players and supporters gave it the energy. The Sir Graham Wylie Foundation now carries the impact forward.
And that, in golfing terms, is a result worth framing.
More information on the history of the Have a Heart Charity Golf Day can be found here:
https://closehouse.com/golf/our-history/have-a-heart/
More information on the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation can be found here:
https://sirgrahamwyliefoundation.org.uk/about-the-foundation/
