Wiltshire Golf
Tough Day at Swansea Bay
With a sunny weekend forecast for our first Channel League match of the 2025 season away to Glamorgan, we arrived at Swansea Bay GC ready for our practice round and the sun had certainly done its job, with the course looking resplendent in the warm heat.
Full of enthusiasm, banter and excitement, we welcomed Jamie Goult from Cumberwell into the team for his seniors’ debut and gave a special thanks to Dennis Waites from Tidworth who stepped up to the plate to replace a last-minute withdrawal (Dennis had to travel back to Tidworth after the practice round and then back up to Swansea very early Sunday morning to take his place on the tee shortly after 9am!!).
The practice round proved to be extremely worthwhile with some tricky and perhaps quirky holes to contend with in windy conditions. There was even some minor drama, with our own Al Paterson from Tidworth emulating Rory McIlroy. No, not with the level of golf, but after hitting a shot into the 12th hole with his 6 iron there was a loud crack and Al was left, grip in hand and ¾ of the remaining club flying down the fairway!! Andy Hankin from Salisbury quickly ran over to check Al was ok and applied a dressing to one of his fingers which had got caught in the sharp remains of the grip, cheers Andy. :0)
The next day, was a bright (if not chilly) Sunday matchday morning and as the heat ramped up, it became clear from the outset that we were going to have to battle incredibly hard to get anything from the match as the Glamorgan side was full of quality and depth. And despite our best efforts, the morning greensomes were hotly contested, but failed to deliver any points for the Wiltshire side. A quick re-group at lunchtime and we were ready for the afternoon singles. But again, the quality of the home side with their local knowledge shone and although we gave our all, we could we only managed to secure 1 winning point, well done to Al Paterson (beware the injured golfer!).
So, we left Glamorgan licking our wounds and looking towards our next match at home (at Kingsdown GC) against another of the strong sides in the League, Dorset.
Wiltshire vs Glamorgan (Swansea Bay GC, 6th April)
Morning Greensomes:
Andy Hankin/Andy Lake: lost 2/1
Jamie Goult/Al Paterson: lost 3/1
Bryan Lindsay/Martyn Evans: lost 4/3
Graeme Wright/Steve Ballard: lost 1 down
Dave Barbour/Dennis Waites: lost 2/1
Afternoon Singles:
Bryan Lindsay: lost 4/3
Jamie Goult: lost 3/2
Al Paterson: won 5/4
Martyn Evans: lost 5/4
Andy Hankin: lost 6/4
Andy Lake: lost 3/2
Graeme Wright: lost 4/2
Steve Ballard: lost 5/4
Dennis Waites: lost 5/4
Dave Barbour: lost 1 down
OVERALL RESULT: Glamorgan 14 vs 1 Wiltshire
Congratulations to Glamorgan and thanks to Swansea Bay Golf Club for their warm welcome, and we look forward to hosting Dorset in the next match at Kingsdown GC on Thu 22 May.
Dave Barbour - Captain
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