Dorset County

U14’s with County Team at Remedy Oak – March 11, 2012

Front 9 – Greensomes       

George Davis (c) & Dave Cook    George Carroll & Sonny Wilkinson
Adam Harris & Tom Peacock    Ben Small & Tom Robson
       
Tom Plumb & Jon Welch        Max Bale & Giles Legg (c)
Dominic Dunstan & Robby Mabb    Sam Russell & Harry Mitchell

Back 9 – Foursomes       

George Davis (c) & Adam Harris    Lost 2&1    Dave Cook & Tom Peacock
George Carroll & Ben Small    Halved        Sonny Wilkinson & Tom Robson
Tom Plumb & Dominic Dunstan    Halved        Jon Welch & Robby Mabb
Max Bale & Sam Russell        Halved        Giles Legg (c) & Harry Mitchell

 
An early morning mist quickly evaporated to reveal light cloud cover, and then what turned into a gloriously bright sunny day at Remedy Oak Golf Club.

The team of Under 14’s arrived and hit the range before the arrival of many of the County Team; a sign of the enthusiasm and excitement felt by them all, all of whom were on their first visit to a Remedy Oak. The course was presented beautifully as ever, with a recent dusting of sand to the greens perhaps a blessing in disguise to reduce them to ‘normal’ speed by most standards.

The focus of the day was to put the U14’s into unfamiliar surroundings to see how they would rise to the challenge. Importantly, it was an opportunity to draw from the experience of the County Team, and the boys were encouraged to ask many questions as they went along, and for the men to provide guidance whenever they felt it necessary.

A format for the day was devised to achieve those objectives. A Front 9 where boys would be paired with the men, and play against another pairing in Greensomes format. The Back 9 to be played with the boys paired against the men in Foursomes, with an additional ruling that the boys would be awarded an extra shot should they drop 2 or more holes behind until they returned to 1 down. For all 18, the men played from the back purple tees and the boys played from the whites.

The game commenced with a flurry of excellent drives from the 1st, overseen by the U14’s Team Manager Ian Davis, U14’s Coach Martyn Thompson and the newly-appointed Assistant U14’s Manager, Rob Harris. The sight of seeing all men and boys sporting the same county outfit was most impressive.

The interaction between the men and the boys during the Front 9 was excellent. Discussions were witnessed around strategy, club selection, ball positioning, course management and putting lines, all of which were eagerly digested by the boys.

The Back 9 commenced with the boys’ role changed from that of ‘eager pupil’ to ‘lethal advisory’. The boys looked forward to bestowing any embarrassment they could onto the men. The standard of the junior golf moved up 2 or 3 gears, and the game was afoot.

As the Back 9 progressed, whisperings went round the course revealing that some rather close matches were underway. As the expectant parents peered from the patio overseeing the 18th, there was some amazement that a number of the matches appeared to be going ‘all the way’.

And so it was that the Cook/Peacock combination of birdies always had control over Davis/Harris, but an excellent chip-in for birdy on 18 brought a half to Carroll/Small, and Plumb/Dunstan and Bale/Russell also duly returning well-earned halves for their matches. It was very clear that par-golf (or better) was the order of the day. A wonderful result for the U14’s; a loss by a mere single point.

Chips, sandwiches and much banter ensued over some well-earned drinks. The U14’s Captain, George Davis, thanked everyone for coming, thanked Remedy Oak for their hospitality and thanked the County Captain and Team for making time to play the U14’s, wishing everyone a successful forthcoming season. The County Captain, Giles Legg, responded citing how impressed he was with the standard of golf shown by the young boys, and that we should make this event a yearly early-season fixture.

The day witnessed golf played to excellent standard, in great spirit and friendship, and went a long way towards the ideal that teams are built on shared experienced and shared memories. Clearly some new bonds were formed between the youngsters and the adults.

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