Warwickshire Golf
Outstanding Team Performance as Bears win away at Shrewsbury
Venue: Shrewsbury GC Date : 16th May 2022
Warwickshire Team:
Dave Mason and Warren Bladon
Ken Spencer and Roger Neale
Nev Gardner and Shaun Young
Steve Creed and Tim Cooley
Andrew Carman and Peter Gordon
Dave Calvert and Dylan Ward
Warwickshire kicked off their 2022 League campaign with a very tough away fixture against Shropshire and Herefordshire. As only a couple of our team had experience of playing Shrewsbury GC, The Board very kindly allowed us to play a practice game the day before the fixture. This proved to be a very shrewd move as we found that positional play was essential off a number of tees, and the fast greens would pose difficult questions for both teams.
Interestingly, Shropshire decided to spread their ‘stronger pairings’ throughout the order. Warwickshire led out by Mason and Bladon got the first point on the board for The Bears. This was closely followed by further morning victories from Neale and Spencer, Gardner and Young, Carman and Gordon and finally in the morning session, a stunning display from Calvert and Ward to take down one of Shropshire’s marquee pairings 4 and 3.
Morning Foresomes Result: Warwickshire Won 5 matches and Lost 1.
Warwickshire 5 points – Shropshire and Herefordshire 1 points.
In the afternoon we made one subtle change to our pairings order by putting out Creed and Cooley last who would face off against Shropshire Seniors Champion Barry Ruddick and his partner…. The stage was set!
As we had anticipated, Shropshire came out fighting in the afternoon. They secured an incredible win against our first pairing Mason and Bladon by making an unlikely birdie on the 18th from an almost impossible position. Our second pairing of Neale and Spencer had a very difficult task in trying to over come McGarry and Cheese and in the end succumbed to a 3 and 2 defeat. We suddenly found ourselves now all even with our charging opponents, could our middle and back order deliver?
Well, the answer was a resounding yes!!! Fantastic golf from Gardner and Young took us back into a potential winning position, and deliver full points for the team during the day. This was consolidated by Carman and Gordon who ground down their opponents both morning and afternoon as well to bring home maximum points for the day. So, with all but one game left to settle, Warwickshire was guaranteed to at least halve the overall match, but a point from the last match would secure a win. Creed and Cooley duly stepped up and closed their match out on the 17th green to give Warwickshire a terrific and well deserved win
Afternoon Fourball Result: Warwickshire Won 3 matches and Lost 3.
Warwickshire 6 points – Shropshire and Herefordshire 6 points.
The overall result therefore was a Warwickshire win 11 points to 7 points.
My thanks to Shrewsbury Golf Club who looked after us so well both Sunday and Monday. Again, a big thank you to The Board for allowing us to play a practice round which paid dividends on the day.
My thanks to Shropshire and Herefordshire Captain John Williams and his team for their company during the day and for a hard fought match.
The help and support of our President Mark Reynolds is always appreciated, but on this occasion an extra acknowledgement is in order as Mark caddied for Steve Creed in the match and after all Steve’s exploits the week before in The English Seniors Amateur Championship that help was crucial to the team.
Finally, my personal thanks and congratulations to The Team on an outstanding team performance. Every player contributed to the points tally on a course which strongly favored the home side, this in my opinion adds to the significance of our win.
Our next fixture is at Maxstoke Park on the 6th June against Staffordshire.
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Rob Soen
Warwickshire Seniors Captain.
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