MANY POSITIVES FROM A LEARNING WEEKEND

Photos of RAF v Lincolnshire County....

Results Sheets....

Buoyant from a great victory against Norfolk County Golf Union in the weekend after their weeks coaching in Spain, the RAF’s Golfers went into their second fixture of the season against Lincolnshire Union of Golf Clubs full of confidence. With the fixture being played at Woodhall Spa, the home of the English Golf Union near RAF Coningsby, the Team Captain Dean Lewis, took advantage of the excellent practice facilities available at the venue. As such a further coaching session with their Coach, Al Currie, in Woodhall’s short game area as well as play a practice round on the day before the fixture further enhanced the aspects of the game the team were working on in Spain.

The early season fixtures against both Lincolnshire and Norfolk serve as an excellent opportunity to introduce young and up and coming players into the RAF squad in order to develop them into potential members of the Inter Services Team. This year has been no exception, with no fewer than 6 of the team being under 30 years of age for the match against Lincolnshire.

A beautiful early spring morning greeted the players for the 5 morning foursomes pairings. It was evident from early on, that Lincolnshire had decided to field a strong team that whilst young, with the majority of their players under 20 years of age, was one which had strength in depth. Lincolnshire took an early stranglehold on the fixture with their first pairing squeezing out a 2 & 1 victory against Daz Gould and his fellow RAF Coningsby partner Aaron Ashberry. Our only point of the morning was won by veteran player Ian Robinson and James Wallis. A balanced front 9 saw them reach the turn all square but a lightening start to the back 9 from the RAF saw Ian and James win 4 out of 6 holes to record a 4 & 3 victory.

In the middle match of the morning the young pairing of Sam Whittle-Tanner and Adam Thornhill hit it off as a pairing straight away and were unlucky to go down in the match early on. However, they showed strength of character to square the match and take their Lincolnshire opponents down the 18^th. Unfortunately, finding the fairway bunker off the tee proved to be their undoing and they ended up losing 1 down. Unfortunately, the penultimate match of the morning was one where the RAF pairing of Steph Usher and Gareth Hopkinson were always struggling to win and they finally lost the match 4 & 3.

In the final match of the morning Captain Liam Pucill, paired with Richie Larratt ensued a close game before their Lincolnshire opponents sunk a 30ft putt to win the 15^th hole followed by the RAF pairing failing to find the fairway on both the 16^th and 17^th leading to two bogies and a loss of both holes thus giving Lincolnshire a 3 & 1 win and an overall 4–1 lead before the start of the afternoon singles.

Hoping to bounce back early on in the afternoon our first two pairing lost their respective matches meaning that Lincolnshire only needed two points from the remaining 8 fixtures to register an overall win. Daz Gould had an excellent match but unfortunately could not overcome his opponent finally losing on the 17^th 2 & 1. Aaron Ashberry, in his second year of being involved with the RAF Team had the daunting task of playing against an ex English Golf Union representative and although he lost he put in a very credible performance finally losing 4 & 3.

Our first point of the afternoon came from Ian Robinson who had a very close game with only ever one hole in it. It was finally won by him with a birdie on the 18^th. Unfortunately, the RAF lost the next three matches and therefore, the overall match. James Wallis unfortunately let his Lincolnshire opponent go out of sight early on before a great fight-back proved not to be enough with the match finishing on the 16^th with a 3 & 2 defeat. It was a similar story for Sam Whittle-Tanner where 3 birdies in 5 holes could not save the match with him finally succumbing to a 3 & 1 defeat. It was yet the same score in Adam Thornhill’s match where early losses in on the front nine led to unfortunately another defeat.

With the fixture already lost it was great to see 3 victories for the RAF in the last 4 matches. Steph Usher, playing some steady golf pulled out a solid 4 hole lead after 12 but, in a valiant fight back, his Lincolnshire opponent kept the game alive until the final hole where Steph was able to seal a 1 up victory. It was a similar story in the final two matches where Liam Pucill and Richie Larratt and both ending up going down the 18^th before sealing 2 up victories. Liam raced to an early 4 hole lead after 5 holes and maintained this for a long period. However, the pressure of having world renowned and former tour caddy Colin Yates on his bag nearly took its toll before he finally sealed victory. Richie played very steady golf and although he was never in trouble over the 18 holes could not extend his lead far enough to finish off the match before the last.

Overall, whilst the result was not as one would have hoped following the previous fortnights win over Norfolk, there were many more positives to take away from the 10 – 5 defeat than negatives, both individually and as a team. Full results..... A couple of the new younger pairings looked very comfortable together and gelled well thus proving the invaluable opportunity given to the team in playing such strong opposition. In addition, many of the matches ended up in only a 1 or 2 hole win for Lincolnshire showing that the RAF Team can match some of the best players on the County Golf scene.

Whilst the golf, quite rightly is the most important thing to report on, special mention has to go to probably the worst performance of the weekend which, it could be argued, stole the show. The newly appointed Assistant Director of Golf had nothing to do other than turn up with the Ensign, Team Sheet and ensure the Team were provided with enough liquid and sustenance for the match, all of which he failed miserably to succeed at. The performance over the rest of the weekend convinced the team that it was justified, in true OJAR fashion, to surmise his performance in a supportive role as ‘could do better’; it is yet to be seen if the ‘Vortex’ nickname will justifiably stick.

The team’s next fixture is against the Civil Service and RAF Golfing Society in late July, but before then there are a number of fixtures up and coming for individuals and units to enter. They are:

• The RAF North, South-East, Central and South-West Championships on May 3^rd, 4^th, 9^th and 12^th respectively.
• The Inter- Region Championships between 6 – 8 Jun at Torksey GC.
• The RAF Championships 29 Jun - 1 Jul at Seacroft GC.

All details and entry forms are available on the RAF GA website.

Words: Paul Mardon