2010 - County Junior Team

Dorset v Hampshire v Sussex

Eastbourne Downs GC 31 August 2010

As its name suggests, Eastbourne Downs is a down land course high on the hills overlooking Eastbourne and other East Sussex towns. It also overlooks its local sister course, Royal Eastbourne. The fairways and greens are undulating and usually windswept. However the day was sunny and the winds light.

Foursomes

The result of the morning's foursomes match was a 3:2 win for Sussex. As the points scheme awards 2 points for a win and 1 point to each side for a half Sussex had gained 6 points to Hampshire's 4 for their morning's efforts.

Singles

These commenced at 1pm after all three teams had enjoyed a light lunch. The boys went out in threes, each playing the other. This format presents a few challenges in accurate record keeping, concentration and care when awarding a "gimme" putt. The actual match results for Dorset v Hampshire are tabled below. Suffice it to say that Sussex beat Dorset 13 points to 7, and halved with Hampshire. This meant that Sussex beat Hampshire 16:14 overall. As may be seen from the table below the singles match against Hampshire was close, ending with a 11:9 point win for Hampshire.

As may be seen from the above the scores were very close. Robbie Mabb and Billy-Joe capped a great season by getting the double against Hampshire and Sussex. Although Hampshire won the shield, retaining it from 2009, it was a great match.

Thanks are due Sussex for their excellent hosting of the event and the club for allowing us to play. Ian Clark stayed virtually to the very end, leaving only to take Harry Mann to Southampton AFC where they lost 3 - nil to Swindon! Grateful thanks also go to Dawn Wilkinson, Steve Howlett and Derek and Lorraine Bugden for their support throughout the match. We look forward to 2011 when Hampshire hosts the event at either Waterlooville or Liphook.

For the full triangular score sheet click here.

Juniors v Dorset Captains Ashley Wood GC 3 June 2010

Dorset 5 - Captains 1

Various difficulties in raising a team were overcome by including a number of Under 14s and a local lad, Jake Dunstan. The match format was 4BBB with ¾ of handicap difference and was played of the back tees. The match got under way at 10.28 with Sonny Wilkinson and Spencer Rumble. They annihilated their opponents with Spencer dropping only 5 shots. John Legg and yours truly were also given a hiding by the two Alex's - Alex Shenton dropping only 2 shots in his very first visit to the course.

Harry Mann and George Carroll had a cracking match, being two down with five to play, securing a win by one hole on the last putt. Tom Parsons and George Seed also had a great match, losing only one down to an inform pair - Jim Allen and veteran Bill Morris. The triumph continued with Rob Condliffe and local recruit Jake winning 4&3 in another good match. Finally Ollie Hayter and Ryan Warrener secured an excellent 2&1 win bringing the final score to 5:1 for the Juniors.

The Dorset Captains have now halved three matches and lost eleven in the 14 year history of the event. Always played in excellent spirits, the boys being complimented on their courtesy and good manners. What was most interesting was the quality of the games of the Under 14s and Alex Shenton who was in that group only last year. This augers well for the future of the County Juniors. A fine win in excellent weather.

For the results of individual matches click here.

Under 16's v Cornwall Yeovil GC 02 May 2010

Dorset 3 - Cornwall 6

Yeovil greeted us with threats of rain and a cold northerly wind. The clubhouse changing rooms were being renovated so there were no showers and two outside loos. The match was played in parallel with an Under 14s. It was a friendly with the Under 14s playing their first match in the new league. The Newton 9 hole course was the venue for the foursomes and proved to be just as tricky for the U61s as for the U14s. The result was the same too. Harry Mann and Nathan Lake met an inform pair losing 3&2 over the nine holes. Alex and Archie did well to secure a 1 up win and Tom Parsons and James had a scrappy last two holes to finally close with a half. Their opponents used the old measurement for the 9th instead of their eyes and shot into the river at the back of the green. Nevertheless their chip-in 4 was enough to beat an awful five to win the hole and an unexpected half.

Following lunch and on to the main course the team embarked upon a case of the "one ups". Alex was 4 down and fought back to lose only by one. Archie achieved a creditable half. Harry Mann was also 4 down with 5 to play and still lost by one. Nathan Lake had a tight match all the way to lose by the same small margin. Tom Parsons was his usual tigerish self and plugged away to a fine 2 hole win. Finally James Tibbles overcame his morning's poor play by valiantly holding his opponent to another one up win. As one can see the singles were remarkably close.

As a result the match could have gone either way very easily. As with the Under 14s the 3:6 final scoreline does not reflect the closeness of the individual matches. As it was a friendly and, with other competing events such as the Longmore Shield and Hardy A matches, it was difficult to get a fully representative side for this friendly. Hence the inclusion of Archie Harding as an under 16! What the match did show was that one or two of the more recent Under 14s are progressing well.

Our next Under 16s involvement is on 30 May at Exeter Golf & Country Club when we competer in the SW Under14/Under16 event. We shall need to be a shade stronger for that! On the whole a good day was enjoyed by both teams.

For the full match scores click here.

Four Counties Tournament - Bude & North Cornwall GC 6 - 8 April 2010

The junior squad went to Bude in high spirits after a successful warm weather coaching trip.  The practise went well aprt from the rain at the later stages. The strokeplay competition got under way with Ferndown pair Sonny Wilkinson and Harry Mitchell along with Robbie Mabb from Weymouth all coming in with 74.  Harry Shaw who was carrying an injury shot 75, the two best scores came from Cornwall and Devon players with a 69 with the Devon lad coming out on top in the playoff and Cornwall took the team strokeplay shield.

For the full Individual results click here.

For the Team Shield results click here.

The match play got under way with the team playing Somerset and with our top players being out of sorts saw us go down 4 - 3 the highlight was a good win by Harry Mann.

Somerset Result click here.

The next day we went out first against our hosts Cornwall and again we lost 5 - 3 with Harry Mann again securing a point along with Sonny Wilkinson.

Cornwall Result click here.

The final match was against Devon who had the strongest side at the event with there highest handicapped player off 1 so we went in as under dogs but the team dug deep and with some great play stunned the Devon playerssecuring a very creditable win 4-3 with the more senior players securing the first 4 points and claiming some good scalps along the way.

Devon Result click here.

Crane Valley as have most other courses suffered from some extremely cold and wet weather. Though a touch soggy the course was in pretty good condition but the greens were, not surprisingly, a little bumpy. Bright sunshine prevailed but with a strong cold wind.  As we did last year the match was played as 4BBB with ¾ of the handicap difference as the allowance.

The Crane Valley GC Hardy ‘A’ side made the most of it, running out winners 4 -1

Full report and match scores

Juniors v Weymouth GC 28 February 2010

The match was played as 9 holes foursomes followed by nine hole singles off the stick. In the foursomes Mitchell & Howlett, Mabb & Shaw and Wilkinson & Bugden were all square with Bowes & Steward winning 2 up and Courtney & Robson winning 4 & 2 – a great result over 9 holes. The singles...................................

All the match results and full report

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