Our annual match against West Hill took place on Monday 31st July. There had been strong demand for this fixture and West Hill kindly allowed us to expand the size of the team from 10 to 12 on this occasion.
As ever, the match was played on a course in excellent condition: even if the weather was not quite as good as last year, everything went splendidly. After the morning matches saw the XL match behind the pace (the score was 1-5), the combination of an excellent lunch and a stern talking to from the match manager led to an improved performance in the afternoon but the 3-3 result was not enough to force the win and the home team emerged victorious by 8 matches to 4.
In addition to the splendid golf, there were two other highlights to report: at the end of the golf, the 5th Test match at the Oval was delicately poised and most players spent the remainder of the afternoon, nursing their drinks, reliving their fine shots whilst at the same time keeping an eye on one of the mobile phones showing the cricket… The England win late in the final session was met with a loud cheer!
The other event of note was a fine Hole in One by new XL member Peter Oakes. This was recorded on the tricky par 3 7th hole (see picture above). The only slightly less good news to report is that, on this occasion, Peter was playing for his home team, West Hill….
Martin Lawrence, Match Manager
