Anglian  League Seniors Match v Norfolk

28th June 2024 at Hunstanton GC

A hot, windy, eventful, nervous and ultimately successful 2 days at Hunstanton.

We played a practice round on Thursday afternoon and were presented with a clear blue sky and mid 20's heat, but more importantly the wind was up, gusting to 32 mph. This together with the recent dry weather made the golfing conditions very challenging at the well-presented Hunstanton golf course. Specifically, the ball was rolling significantly on the fairways and approaches to downwind holes were especially difficult.

We stayed at the recently refurbished Golden Lion Hotel in Hunstanton and had a very good meal at Chives restaurant, I would recommend both, where we discussed how best to play the course.

The conditions on Friday were not as warm, however the wind was stronger if anything and thankfully it was in the same direction. We had a successful foursomes result in the morning taking a 3pts to 2pts lead into the afternoon singles. 

We initially increased our advantage in the afternoon with continued strong play from Ian Wicks, Dominic Ralfs and Andy Billson. As the afternoon wore on Norfolk staged a fight back and it came down to the last hole of the last match. Tony Lord had a ding dong battle all day and was 1 down playing the last. The 18th at Hunstanton is difficult at the best of times, this was amplified by it playing straight into the wind, the match situation and the spectating players. He made a great par 4 to halve his match and the match overall. In summary Norfolk won the singles 5.5pts to 4.5 pts for a final 7.5 pts match draw. Credit to all the team to achieve an away draw in very difficult playing conditions.

We were very well looked after by all the staff at Hunstanton whose general manager is Chris White, a former Northamptonshire county player. I discussed the upcoming match with him on Thursday, he said he was torn as who he wanted to win and hoped for a draw, he turned out to be very prescient.

Brendon Moss