Team:
R Willacy, I Westwater, G Hector, G Whalley, T Blood, P Stickler, P Whalley, D Higginson, M Jenkins, D Morgan

Results:
1st Round HH, Lost to Uppingham 3 1/2 – 1 1/2
1st Round Plate, Win against Merchant Taylor’s 2-1
2nd Round Plate, Lost to Epsom 3-0

What another fantastic week where the sun shone all week until Saturday morning.  It was a pleasure to have new blood in the team with Phil Stickler, who has a wonderful swing that can compete with the best of Halford Hewitt players.  Four of us started this week of golf on the Tuesday practice day at Royal St Georges, where we haven’t been drawn at for some years so good to be back.

The rest of the team joined us for the Wednesday practice day.  This year we were drawn to start our first round against Uppingham on the Friday which meant we had the luxury of an extra practice day on the Thursday where we arranged a match against The Leys at Rye golf club.  Unfortunately Matthew Pyke had to pull out last minute due to family sickness and we called upon David Morgan to step in, who wanted to retire as a past member of the team, to which I’m truly grateful for.

As per the last three years our first round against Uppingham was close in practice even though the results say otherwise (lost 3 1/2 – 1 1/2).  One match continued down the 19th and a half was agreed on confirmation that Uppingham had secured the 3 points needed, but this could have gone either way.  Of the three lost matches the other two went down the 18th and one was lost on the 17th.

1st round of the Plate was against Merchant Taylor’s, who were runner-ups in 2009, whom we beat 2-1 at Princes.  On Saturday we were drawn against Epsom in the 2nd round of the Plate, who again are a formidable team, whom we lost to 3-0 and Epsom continued to the finals only to lose to  Sherborne.

Despite the end results it was a successful week and friendships grew and new ones were made.

Team:
R Willacy, I Westwater, G Hector, P Whalley, M Jenkins, T Blood

Results:
Main competition 1st Round: lost to Leatherjackets 2-1
Plate competition 1st Round: lost to Old Cranleighans 2-1
Stableford competition on Sunday cancelled due to unplayable weather conditions.

Most of the team turned up for a practice round on the Friday.  This is the first scratch competition of the season and is ideal as a warm up for the Halford Hewitt.  Weather for the Friday and Saturday was good, which was a complete contrast to last year.  First  round was drawn against local side Leatherjackets.  First round of the Plate was against Old Cranleighans.  Overall the golf was ok but reflected the rustiness of early season golf.  The result was disappointing but good competitive matches were had.  On Sunday the weather was atrocious which resulted in abandonment of the stableford competition.

Another year passes missing the cut!  Always next year again.

Team and Results:
R Willacy/I Westwater [27pts]
G Hector/G Whalley [23pts]
P Whalley/T Blood [21pts]

Total team score 71 (cut 74)

Eleven OT’s turned up for this annual get together playing for the Fairwater Cup and generally catching up with each other.  Some started with lunch first followed by golf in the afternoon.  A great day had by all and scoring not too bad.  Congratulations to Greg Whalley for his 33 points and this years winner of the Fairwater Cup.

Attendees & Scores
G Whalley 33pts
R Willacy 32pts
G Hector 31pts
I Westwater 31pts
P Whalley 28pts
G Boyce 27pts
A Horne 25pts
T Davidge 25pts
R Norris 19pts
D Murrell 19pts
G Morgan 14pts

Following on from the Brent Knoll Bowl the scratch team congregated on the Kent south coast for this years Halford Hewitt competition.  We brought the weather with us from Somerset and most of the team arrived for the Tuesday practice round, which hasn’t happened for a while.  Unfortunately the extra day’s practice didn’t not help our performance!  However, on a positive note two of our pairs did go down the 18th and Pete Whalley/Dave Higginson won their match, which ends a draught for Pete who hadn’t won a point since joining the team (about ten years ago!) but has always been close.  So champagne was cracked open to celebrate this momentus occasion.

Team:  R Willacy, I Westwater, P Whalley, D Higginson, G Whalley, G Hector, D Morgan, T Blood, M Jenkins, M Pyke.

Results:
1st Round Main Competition v Radley Lost 4-1
RW/IW Lost 1 Down
PW/DH Won 1 Up
GW/GH Lost 1 Down
DM/TB Lost 4-2
MJ/MP Lost 4-3

1st Round Plate Competition v Chigwell Lost 2-1
GH/TB Lost 3-2
RW/IW Won 3-2
PW/DH Lost 3-2

Despite the poor weather in Somerset B&BGC was in good condition and not too soggy!!  The usual Taunton team turned up for this annual competition (in fact we had too many players!).  The results were disappointing but once again the team had a great, competitive weekend.  Congratulations to Pete W for his second shot to the 18th, which he holed for an eagle, and walking away with the loot.

Team
Willacy/Westwater
Hector/G Whalley
Blood/P Whalley
M Jenkins

Results
Main Competition 1st Round lost to Burnham & Berrow GC [2 – 1]
Plate Competition 1st Round lost to Warwickshire Bears [2.5 – 0.5]
Scratch Stableford – 69 points (3 pairs)