We all arrived in Porthcawl at lunchtime on Monday to be greeted by a very light SE wind and cloudless blue skies with bright, warm sunshine – golfing heaven! Following a light lunch of excellent sandwiches (and bowls of the largest chips most of us had ever eaten), we headed off to the 1st tee for our semi-final against the Grancogs – an amalgamation of the Grannies GS and the sadly now defunct Incogniti.
The XLGS, with a good combination of single figure and mid-handicap pairings, prevailed 3 – 1 to book our place in Tuesday mornings final. We fielded two players new to both the XLGS and Porthcawl and they acquitted themselves well, with a little guidance from their partners who had more experience of playing at Porthcawl. In the other match the Free Foresters overcame the MCC who were fielding a number of faces new to this fixture and the course – something their MM Giles Brealy will probably not be doing again next year!
All of the teams then enjoyed our usual excellent dinner, wine and general bonhomie, which continued well into the evening in the historic RPGC clubhouse. My thanks to all of the RPGC management and staff who always look after us so well. I’m pleased to report that, this year, there were no serious overnight injuries incurred by the XLGS team in the Dormy House; apart from one or two slight hangovers at breakfast the next morning.
For the Decanter match on Tuesday morning, it was a bit windier and overcast with the wind now coming from the West rather than the SE. Robin Jones of the Free Foresters had kept the same pairings that defeated the MCC surprisingly easily on Monday. The XLGS had re-arranged our pairs as always but we were not able to reproduce the same form across the board as on Monday. However, thanks largely to Stephen Chappell and Bill John who were never ahead until the 18th green, we managed a 2 – 2 draw to retain a share of the Decanter just as the sun broke through the clouds to shine on all of us again. In the battle to avoid the dreaded Wooden Spoon, there was an interminable wait over lunch for the last deciding match to finish – no names etc!! Eventually it turned out that Giles (much to his great relief) had shuffled his MCC pack sufficiently well to ensure that Greg Lock of the Grancogs went home with it this year.
Royal Porthcawl was again in excellent condition for the time of year. However, due to the AIG Women’s Open being held there in July, many of their treacherous bunkers were out of play undergoing repairs in readiness for the ladies; and the greens, whilst still very playable, had been overseeded and so were a bit slower than normal. None of this work lessened the enjoyment of playing such a wonderful course, in fact some of the bunker “drop zones” presented a more than equal challenge to the bunkers themselves!
My thanks to our XLGS team of Mike Johnson-Hill (Captain), Stuart Adams, Stephen Baker, Stephen Chappell, Bill John, David Lancaster, Paul Shepherd & your truly. Thanks also to Robin, Greg & Giles and their teams for ensuring that this match was played in the same excellent spirit as always – highly competitive but very sociable. Long may it continue.
Stuart Bowden
Match Manager
