It was a disappointingly chilly, wet and breezy start to this competition on Saturday and I am sure that some of the girls wished they were elsewhere! Despite the start, the weather did improve but we were all encouraged by the warm welcome we had from the Shirley Golf Club ladies. The front 9 at Shirley is always a challenge but the girls proved how resilient they are and produced some really impressive scores!
19 girls entered the competition with 9 playing 18 holes, 6 with handicaps playing 9 and 4 playing in the Futures group.
Over 18 holes the winner with an outstanding score of 45 points was a very delighted Amelie Stead (Moor Hall GC)! The runner up with an excellent 36 points was Erin Thompson (Copt Heath GC) and in 3rd place Lauren Clarke (Ladbrook Park GC) with 35 points. In 4th place with 32 points was Emily Smallwood (Edgbaston GC) playing in her first competition with us. Click here for 18 hole results
In the 9 hole competition playing off the Red Tees the winner was Georgina Priestley (Stratford on Avon GC) with a brilliant 20 points on that tricky front 9! Runner up was Emilia Sadler (Moor Hall GC) with 13 points and 3rd was Georgia Padgett (Maxstoke GC) with a very tidy 11 points. Please click here for 9 hole results
In the Futures competition, playing 9 holes off the Red Tees to go towards gaining their first handicaps, the winner was Anaya Sukhija (Shirley GC) with an amazing 17 points with Annabelle Maybury (Rugby GC) as runner up with a very good 12 points. We were very impressed with how they battled on in the drizzle and still came in smiling! Please click here for Futures results.
In the final pairing, 2 girls played for the first time with us playing off the Blue tees and Dottie Howe (Coventry GC) scored 19 points and Mairi MacLeod (Lea Marston GC) 17 points! Fantastic golf from 2 very young inexperienced players!
Six girls played in their first Girls Stableford and received their ‘Warwickshire Bear Brooch'. They were Jessica Feng and Emily Smallwood (18 holes) and Sofia Phillips, Georgia Padgett (9 holes) and Mairi MacLeod and Dottie (Futures)
Our thanks go to Shirley Golf Club who gave us courtesy of the course. We are always so very grateful to be able to hold a competition at any club but the support from Shirley and in particular the ladies section was wonderful. With such young girls playing, we like every group playing 9 holes to have an adult with them and our thanks go to Maggie Taylor, Carol O'Hare, Jan Mason and Jude Boots for each going out with a group. In addition the ever supportive WLCGA committee member Debs Reynolds also helped us out as chaperone. They all encouraged and guided the girls and we know that it is this sort of support that brings the girls back for more.
Our particular thanks go to Karen Johnson the Lady Captain who not only sorted everything out for us but acted as Starter on the day. Thank you also to all the delightful and helpful staff in the clubhouse who still found time to look after us despite having a room full of members watching the football!
The competition to be crowned winner of the Stableford Series is very close so I hope lots of girls will enter series 3 in September to make what I think will be an exciting finale!
I would very much appreciate any help any lady can give to act as a chaperone on the course for Series 3 which is at Stonebridge Golf Club on Sunday 1 September. I can promise you a very rewarding day!
Pat Hale