NGL Ladies Vets 1st Team match v Warwickshire

Coventry Hearsall GC 24th July 2017

The final match of the season for the first team was against Warwickshire Vets at Coventry Hearsall G.C. on Monday 24th July. Our match secretary Lema needed to call on several reserves to make up a full team but as the report will show it was made up of some excellent players. The course itself had undergone some work on the greens which left them very difficult to read being full of sand and causing the ball to veer off.

However, our first pairing of Carol Gibbs(Wellingborough) and Gillian Curley (Northants County) soon discovered how to hit the ball hard enough to get in the hole and at the half way stage were 3 up. They continued onto the back 9 with Carol never having played the course before able to gel well with Gillian and to come out winners 5 and 3.

Gill Snelson (Wellingborough) and April Owens (Staverton) came through the front 9 all square, again mentioning how difficult the greens were. Gill managed to putt up to the hole on the 16th to make the match dormie and with April finding the green on the 17th it looked like the match would be over but the Warwickshire pair fought back to win this hole so it was up to the Northants pair to keep fighting and they held on to halve the 18th and stay 1 ahead.

The third pairing were drawn against a very strong Warwickshire pair and Tracy Bishop (Silverstone ) and her partner Yvonne Wilcox ( Rushden) found themselves 3 down by the turn. They managed to pull back a couple of holes but by the 15th the Warwickshire pair had again sunk some difficult putts and won this match 4 and 3.

Maddy Henderson(Kingsthorpe) and Lema Townsend (Wellingborough) played some steady golf and were 3 up by the 9th hole. The 10th hole is a par 3 and proved to be longer than usual due to the wind and as the Northampton pair had had the honour one of Warwickshire pair was able to take advantage and use enough club to find the putting surface.  The Warwickshire pair then started fighting back although Maddy and Lema were not detered and by the 16th hole the match was all square. The 17th hole is a par 3 and Lema drove on to the green and had the pleasure of sinking the putt for a birdie. They then won the 18th and finished the match 2 up.

Match 5 saw Miriam Johnson (Wellingborough) and Heather Williams (Northants County) being drawn against a very long hitting player from Warwickshire however, she was less confident on the tricky greens and by the 9th Miriam and Heather were 4 up. They continued to play well together and by the 16th only needed a half to finish the match winning 3 up and 2 to play.

Kathryn Stronach (Kettering) and Cecilia Edwards (Northants County) had never played the course before and had been brought in to play from the reserve list and proved to be an excellent choice as by the 9th hole they were 3 up. They continued to enjoy the course although at times found the greens difficult but ended their match  winning 4 and 3.

Pauline Hurley and Sue Pawson both from Elton Furze played the front 9 well and were 3 up at the turn. The back 9 is always a little more difficult and as the greens were playing quite slow they struggled to maintain their lead. However, they never gave up and ended the match all square.

Our final pairing were Jean Poolton (Northampton) and very last minute replacement Chris Coles (Whittlebury) who came to the 9th hole all square. Chris had never played the course before and playing with Jean they were able to encourage each other and produce some good golf considering how tricky the greens were and they ended their match 1 up.

This was an excellent result winning 6 1/2 to 1 1/2 showing that NGL Ladies Vets have some very supportive players and our thanks must go to all who played this year or put their names down to play. Congratulations.