On Saturday, the Juniors played their first competition of the 2023 season and it was great to see 15 Juniors taking part across our three divisions.

Our Juniors have been playing a lot of golf and made a lot of progress over the winter, and this was demonstrated in the scoring. The nine players in our 9 and 18-hole divisions being a combined 58 under par and 5 under nett only being good enough for 6^th place over 18-holes! Excellent golf all round and there have been some well-deserved handicap reductions following the weekend results.

In the 18-hole division Austin Rogula came out on top with an incredible 57 nett, a result which has been coming given Austin’s recent form and progress over the Winter. Gross scoring was also impressive throughout the division, with our Junior Captain Lewis Foxall scoring an excellent 79, Theo Khalifa scoring 82 and Thomas Harvey recording 42 for the front-9.

There were only two entrants in the 9-hole division due to holidays and other commitments, however scoring was still competitive with both players beating their handicaps in what could be called ‘The battle of the Archies’. Archie Clacher, one of our new members making his competition debut, came in first with an excellent 27 points over Archie Knight with 20 points. The 9-hole division will be scored on a stableford throughout the season.

For 2023 we’ve introduced a new short course division and it was great to see 6 keen, young entrants for the first competition. There were smiles all round and the Juniors all had a great time, they did really well for their first time out and we hope to see them all again next time. Whilst the purpose of the division is giving the younger juniors opportunity to take part and have fun enjoying their golf, the score of Theo Dawson can’t go unmentioned. Theo made 2 birdies and a par over the 9-holes, almost as impressive as the fist pump that followed the birdie on the 9^th hole. Fabulous to see!

Finally, on behalf of the Junior Section, a massive thank you to the Greens Team for all the hard work which went in to having the course open and in great shape following the recent bad weather, allowing the Juniors to play under qualifying conditions.

Matt Pickin, Junior Organiser