RAF Representative team vs Lincolnshire County Golf Union, 17-18 Apr 10

This year’s fixture took the RAF Team to Spalding Golf Club to face a youthful Lincolnshire County side. With a number of the Lincolnshire team from last year moving up to the National squads, the Captain elected to field a very young side with only one player over 20 yrs of age; in contrast the RAF side did not possess one player under 20 yrs of age. Notwithstanding that fact the RAF fielded a relatively strong side with 5 of last year’s Inter Service squad included alongside 2 debutants in Paul ‘Oggy’ Compton and Nat Simpson.

The Spalding course was in excellent condition due to the recent upturn in weather. However, having not been able to water the greens due to low night-time temperatures and coupled with some extremely nasty pin positions scoring was to prove difficult.

The morning foursomes were very tight. The first 4 pairings went through 9 holes all square with only the final pairing trailing. Unfortunately, some excellent play on the back nine from the young Lincs team, resulting in a plethora of birdies and even eagles meant that even though the RAF side had put up a strong fight they found themselves 4 pts behind at lunch. The RAF side now had to win 7 of the afternoon singles to avoid defeat.

Once again through 9 holes the first 6 matches were tight with only 1 hole separating each match. Paul Holliday set a fine example at the front by beating the current Lincolnshire Matchplay Champion 2&1. Regrettably, Billy MacLeod, Richie Larratt and Daz Gould all succumbed in close contests in the following 3 singles matches. The RAF Captain, Dean Lewis, put in a gritty performance and recovered from being 3 down with 4 to play to snatch a half on the last; even though he 3 putted the final green his opponent 4 putted! Steph Usher put up a brave fight before eventually going down 2&1. With the match over, the final singles all went the way of Lincs with Iain Graham, Oggy Compton and Nat Simpson losing 4&3 and Ian Robinson, due to a case of the dreaded sh**ks, being defeated 5&4. Full results.

Even though the RAF team had been humbled by a far younger (and more athletic) Lincolnshire side the performance was much improved on the Norfolk match. Many of the matches had been closely fought against high-class opposition. Furthermore, a number of players had learnt that playing County level players was a massive step up and were far better for the experience.

Though the first 2 matches of the season had been a chastening experience, the main focus going into the sharp end of the season has to be to retain the Inter Sevices. It should be remembered that success was achieved last season with similar defeats in the early season fixtures and improved performances as the season developed. Let us hope that history repeats itself in 2010! For a selection of photgraphs, please look in the Gallery.

Words by Sqn Ldr Dean Lewis, Mens Captain RAF