April 2018 Match Reports
Friday 4th May 2018
Match Report - Seniors Scratch Team
The first match of the season saw the team travel to Ferndown for the first round of this year’s Parkstone Trophy. Even with the addition this year of several newly qualified 55 year olds, the format of 36 holes scratch foursomes is always a challenge but, after a tense finish, a very good 6 – 4 victory was secured.
We now face Brokenhurst Manor or Hockley in the quarter final.
The following week we entertained the BB&O Seniors County team on the Blue course.
In previous years, this match was played as Foursomes to help both sides establish pairings prior to their seasons matches.
However, this year, the Ashley Brewer (BB&O Capt.) requested that we play 4BBB scratch matches, so to even up the teams, Frilford requested that we play some 50+ players instead of 55+... This proved to work very well!
Our new Frilford players included : John Kennedy: Simon Murdoch, Andy Elmey and Mark Herbert (who represented BB&O in the second match which he won)..
Additionally, on the morning of the match, we were asked to find a player for BB&O because one of their players was taken ill overnight, so Steve Naylor kindly stepped in and in fact won his match against Frilford.
The result was a competitive but friendly 3-3
Mark Stokes
Captain
Woburn (Home) 28th April 2018
In view of the non-stop rain on Friday 27th, the Woburn captain half expected the match on Saturday to be cancelled, but we were all delighted that it was played. The greenkeepers had done an excellent job (as usual) and the course was in great shape. The Woburn team were full of praise for all aspects of the day and particularly appreciated the food and friendly/professional service provided in the Clubhouse, so my thanks and those of the team go to all involved.
Woburn sent a strong team and this was reflected in some of the scoring on the day. Ed Tilley and myself had a most enjoyable close match which ended in a draw and there was never more than one hole in it at any point. Paul Robinson & Glyn Hall had the challenge of the day with many of the holes being halved with birdies or nett birdies and although they were only two over between them, they went down 5 & 3. One of their opponents playing off 5 was 7 (yes SEVEN) under the card after 13 holes!
Keith Maddin & Paul Daffern made the most of their local knowledge and played some very good golf to produce a 5 & 4 win and this was followed by a close game for the ever-reliable paring of Clem Brohier & Simon Jones, who also delivered a victory with a 2 & 1 win. Interest then heightened for the last two matches as this could swing the result either way and the pair of Shaun Gavaghan & Neal Reid provided an impressive 5 & 4 win for Frilford. The final pair was Colin Berry & James Bowler, James had already played 18 holes in a singles knockout comp that morning, and unfortunately after a close game they came in with a 2 & 1 loss.
It was a pleasure to captain the team for this match and thank you to all team members, overall, it was a great day and resulted in a 3½ to 2½ win to Frilford.
Derrick Neal
Match Captain
Beaconsfield (Away) 14th April 2018
Following several weeks of rain, it made a pleasant change to be teeing off in warm sunshine at Beaconsfield Golf Club. An initial shortage of one player on our side was fortunately made up by Trevor Wood, coming in at (very) short notice (1 hour!) to complete our team of five pairs.
I led off and was fortunately paired with James Bowler who played to his handicap around the difficult course. I managed to par the odd hole and as a result of receiving 6 shots from our hosts, we ran out 4 and 3 winners, much to their dismay. Keith Maddin and Glyn Hall were our second pairing and after going 3 down early on, honours were fairly even before eventually being beaten 3 and 1 by their opponents. Clem Brohier and Peter Lockett had a very close game with both pairings playing very good golf, eventually finishing 1 up on the final hole.
Gordon Moore and Ian Payne were our fourth pairing and again enjoyed some fine golf before being beaten 3 and 2. So, all to play for with our last pairing as overall scores were level at 2 - 2. Trevor Wood arrived in the nick of time and paired Alex Lowe in a very close match. We were 1 down going down the last, but our pairing won the 18th hole to halve their match and the overall score was also tied at 2.5 – 2.5. Beaconsfield have a strong record of winning their home matches so overall a very good effort by Frilford to halve the match.
Paul Daffern
Match Captain
