Warwickshire Golf
Under 16 Boys v Staffordshire
Well, …. Who would have thought it was the 4th of July – the height of mid-summer.
Simon Taylor (U16 team manager) was unavailable with family commitments so the honour of supporting the boys through this match fell to me.
Going into the match we were somewhat hamstrung by 5 of our more regular side being unavailable too through a mixture of playing at national tournaments or family commitments. Yes, clearly as all the matches are played off scratch this left us with a weakened side on paper, but definitely not in spirit. And it gave boys perhaps on the fringe of the team or from the U14s a great opportunity to level up and see what competitive County golf is all about. No bad thing as it helps in their development for future and keeps our pool of talent spread wide.
Stratford Park is the usual venue for our U16 home matches. As always the hospitality provided, service, food and willingness to support the County is fantastic. The course looked and from the boys comments at the close proved as always a stiff test from tee to green with the added challenge of some significant slopes. Thank you again to all at Stratford Park.
Staffordshire always have a good team, always put up a good test and are always a friendly and well organised side. Our thanks go to Roger, Vicky and Simon.
And so in the sunshine we headed out post bacon rolls to warm up and see the first of the fourballs underway.
Our captain for the day Oliver was paired with our very own pocket rocket and future star Josh. The Boys playing two of Staffs top boys were quickly away, going into an early lead over the first few holes, one they never looked like losing and had the match wrapped up 5&4 in no time.
Following them Sam and Harry took on Staffs lowest handicap in Tom Davies and a new lad to their U16 Louis Cope. A tough match this, which ebbed and flowed, a little down to a little up…. Ultimately resulting in a 2&1 win for Staffs.
A similar story befell the next pair in Callum and Ben. Our current U14 captains and definitely two of our U16s for the future. They battled hard and took their Staffs opponents again to the end losing 2&1 in a match which on paper with handicaps looked to be very one sided against our boys.
Then we turned to Tom and Alfie. Never having met before these pair soon struck up a great dialogue and were helping and supporting each other throughout. Again on paper we had a combined handicap of some 17 shots different to Staffs. And yet our boys dug in, fought hard, lots of fist pumping and bumping going on…. They took the match up 18 and WON! A fantastic result.
Out last pair of Freddy and Anthony were in for a tough day from the moment go. Valiantly trying their best the two lads from Staffs had a combined handicap some 24 shots to the better, were bigger and driving the ball much further. Whilst on paper it looks a heavy defeat it does not tell the tale of how hard these two tried and battled. Well done to you both. Your day will come I assure you when you are walking into the clubhouse having done to a visiting pair what was done to you today. Do not be disheartened.
So, usual quick turn around, light bite, refresh, recharge, stretch and off we go again.
Though whilst the sun and a few scattered showers had blown through during the morning, the afternoon gloom of leaden skies on the near horizon gave warning to the story about to unfold.
Because Anthony and Freddy had been in early, we switched these boys to lead the singles away. And before long Anthony was Up in his match. Sadly, as hard as he could fight he wasn’t able to sustain the challenge and the match ended 5&3 in favour of Staffs.
Having explained to Freddy that the result didn’t matter, and he should focus on how far he could take the Staffs opponent it was like watching a prize street fighter battling to stay on his feet. Even as the match was getting further away from him, he was still managing the odd half and won a couple on the way though ultimately losing 6&4.
Again well done to Anthony and Freddy. A tough day, though you both walked in heads high, smiles on your face and said you’d happily go do it all again.
Then we had Ollie this time facing off against Staffs lowest handicap in Tom Davies. Ollie took an early lead somewhat charged up from his mornings foursomes win, never looked back and quickly ended the match 7&6.
Josh followed playing Alex. A great match this with Josh showing his usual determination, skill and short game prowess led to an early lead and he closed it out 4&2 for a win to Warks.
And so it was during this mid-afternoon, with our Chairman Bob Harrison, our U14 manager Rich Storer and our U18 manager watching on and supporting that we were joined by another member of the cast – Noah. For he decided it was time we need not buggies and trollies but a Boat. For the rains came. And they came… wet weather gear on, brollies up. And then it stopped….and the sun came out. Wet weather gear off, brollies down. And so this cycle continued on and off for the better part of the next 3 hours.
Sadly though with each passing down pour the rain got harder and harder and more persistent.
Sam, Callum Harry, and Alfie were all still out doggedly battling. Sam having taken a good early lead was seeing his margin slip away as his opponent started holing winning putts. Callum another of our future stars plugging away,1up, all sq, 1 up, all sq and so on… Harry making his first competitive outing for the County had gone 4down early on but found renewed focus and grit and hole by hole stopped the loss and then started to chip away, 3down, 2 down, 1 down after 15…. And as for Alfie, well for a lad whose just joined the U14’s he was the picture of calm, well matured long experienced low handicapper. He wasn't phased at all and handled the occasion brilliantly in both matches. Remembering too, we had to explain the rules for foursomes in the pre match briefing, so to win his match with Tom was fantastic.
Tom and Ben were finished having fought hard matches they ended in defeat, soaked and perhaps a little downtrodden but definitely not down heartened. And so it was down to finding winning scores from the remaining four matches in play.
And then this – https://twitter.com/warksjnrgolf/status/1411765299221876740
For those of you without Twitter. Noah was indeed correct that a boat was the ideal vehicle. As the boys headed towards 16, 17 and 18, the greens soon merged into the lake. And so sadly with no chance of the heavy rain ceasing and giving us a break so late on in the day, the decision was taken to call the remaining matches as they stood.
Broken hearted Sam, Cal, Alfie and Harry. We will never know if they could have snatched the win on 18. But well done boys, next time eh!
Result – 5 – 10 loss to Staffordshire.
Congratulations to all the boys from both teams. A well fought match, played in the true spirit of competitive yet friendly golf.
Next U16s fixture:vs Worcestershire August 10 – away at Little Lakes
Richard Clark
Head of Boys Golf, Warwickshire
Created by intelligentgolf version 10.1.2.
