Gloucestershire Golf Union
GGU U16's lose to Glamorgan at Pontardawe
The U16’s made the long journey to Pontardawe Golf Club which is in the hills north of Swansea. On arrival they the team were given a large bin of balls to use on the practice range with the instruction “no woods to be used” as there were houses beyond the trees at the far end of the driving range. I am not sure this would have protected the houses given the prodigious distance some of our U16’s can hit an iron!
Pontardawe is a relatively short and somewhat hilly tree lined course with small greens requiring accuracy of shot making. From the highest point on the course there are stunning views in all directions including the magnificent vista of The Brecon Beacons.
The day was cool but sunny as the President of Pontardawe G.C. joined us on the first tee as Jack Douglas and Alfie Pinter led the team away. The morning foursomes did not go well as our team learned their way around the course and the final score was 4.5 to 0.5 in favour of Glamorgan with two of the matches being lost 1 Down.
The afternoon stayed sunny and was somewhat warmer. The Pontardawe President again joined us on the 1st Tee as Billy Walker led the team away. The afternoon result was much better, Gloucestershire winning 6 to 4, with wins for Billy Walker, Alfie Painter, Josh Rigby, Patrick Rabjohns, Olly Walsh and Fergus Mort, this against opponents who generally had handicap indexes 1 or 2 lower than those of the Gloucestershire team. Jack Douglas’s opponent went on a birdie blitz scoring 3 in 4 holes the final one of which he put his tee shot on the wrong fairway, came back through the trees and then hit the pin with a resounding crash from 125 yards with the ball dropping into the hole for a birdie 3!
The damage had been done in the morning and the final score was 8.5 to 6.5 in Glamorgan’s favour. Let’s hope for a different result when the U16 play Glamorgan in a round of the U16 Channel League at The Bristol in September.
My thanks to Clayton Jones the Glamorgan team manager and to his team for playing the match in good fellowship.
My thanks also to all the parents who gave up their day and drove the team to Pontardawe and then mostly supported the boys around the course and also acted as ball spotters.
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Richard Salter - GGU President
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