We had another very wet day for the annual staging of this friendly fixture which took place on Monday 9th April. The ladies gave Charlotte Maiden, Amelia Wan, Jorja Newbold, Safi Durrant, Rachael Stevens and Lucy Holbrough course management tips and match play advice as they went around the course.
Thank you to Mapperley ladies for hosting this match and allowing the girls to gain such valuable match play experience.
The MNR Girls' Festival of Golf took place at Trent Lock Golf club on Monday 21st August with over with 100 girls from the 6 counties aged 6-18 taking part in a variety of activities.
The event, now in its second year, proved again what a fun day is had by all involved; a mixture of golf on the course, the pirate golf challenge, a drive chip putt competition and a firm favourite the trick shot show!
I’m pleased to say on the day both the handicap and scratch teams won their final matches of the season, The scratch team 4-1 against Derbyshire and the handicap team 3-2 against Staffordshire.
The win for scratch team meant that they were in the running to win the overall league this year. After a short wait to see the result for Staffordhire who were on the same number of wins prior to the day we discovered they had also won their match. The results were then calculated on game wins and Nottinghamsire managed to finish half a point ahead so won the league for 2017!
Well done to the team this year who was represented by Esme Hamilton, Libby Kilbride, Laura Abbott, Kristina Lazarevic, Sharna Betteridge, Jacey Peacock, Leonie Muir, Charlie Inger, Rebecca Oats, Safi Durant.
The girls handicap team had their first match of the season at Ramsdale on Sunday 8th April. It was a very cold and miserable day but the girls played well in spite of the conditions. The team of Captain Charlie Inger, Ankita Anand, Safi Durrant, Lucy Holbrough and Rachael Stevens battled to the end before finally losing by 3 games to 2.
Our second round match took place at Telford Golf Club in Shropshire on Wednesday 26th July. This time our team played Leicestershire in the morning and Lincolnshire in the afternoon. The heavy overnight rain continued through the first nine holes of the morning round, making conditions very difficult for all players. The sun then came up along with a stiff breeze for the latter part of the round so providing a good all-round test for the team. Our team for the day was, from left to right, Libby Kilbride (making her debut for the Junior team), Esme Hamilton, Laura Abbott, Sharna Betteridge and Jacey Peacock.
The opening match in the morning round against Leicestershire was very tight, with Esme battling hard to gain a half. Libby, Laura and Jacey all played excellent golf to win their matches conclusively while Sharna lost to some very good golf from her Leicestershire opponent. A special mention for Laura, who finished her match on the 10th without dropping a single shot!
The result of the morning round was a win for Notts 3½ to Leics 1½
In the afternoon, the team played very solidly against Lincolnshire with wins for Esme, Libby, Laura and Jacey, with the afternoon score Notts 4 to Lincs 1.
Congratulations to all the team for playing 36 holes on a hilly course in difficult conditions and for playing some excellent golf to go through to the Scratch League Final at Trent Lock on 21st August. Thanks also to the parents who accompanied the girls on the long trip to Telford and to President Maureen Clarke for coming along to support the girls on their day.
Helen Maber
County Captain
The 'Girls Golf Rocks' free taster sessions, for girl golfers, will be available again this year at 4 Nottinghamshire clubs; Norwood Park, Oakmere Park, Trent Lock and Wollaton Park – the format for the sessions is the same as in the previous 2 years. Details can be on the Girls Golf Rocks poster which can be downloaded here.
Additionally this year, there will be two 'Girls Golf Rocks on Tour' events – taking place at Norwood Rark and Riverside Golf Centres. These are open to girls who have attended the Girls Golf Rocks sessions, but also open to other ‘beginner/academy’ style girls from Nottinghamshire.
The Girls Golf Rocks on Tour poster has all the information and can be downloaded here.
The Girls & Intermediate Championships were held at The Norwood Park Golf Club on Sunday 2nd July. There was a high turnout with 31 entries across the three categories: intermediate, junior and 9 hole. The sun was shining and the girls all enjoyed playing the course. Some excellent scores were returned with the ball spotters commenting they were redundant! Congratulations to all the girls!
Our sincere thanks go to Norwood Park Golf Club for hosting the Championship and to Lady Vice Captain Christine Green who welcomed the competitors to the club.
Thank you also to all the volunteers who helped make the day a great success: Joanna Smith our referee, Elaine Mitchell, Carol Houghton, Julie Craggs, Jenny smith, Lynn Buttery, and to the County Captain Helen Maber and the County President Maureen Clarke who presided over the prize presentation.
A hot, sunny bank holiday Monday, 28th August, saw 24 girls compete for the MNR Girls Championship Trophy at Ruddington Grange Golf Club in Nottinghamshire. Morgan Thomas from Beau Desert Golf Club, Staffordshire shot a course record of 72 in the morning to lead at the half way stage. However, she continued to be on fire in the afternoon beating the course record again with a three under par gross 69, giving her a total of 141 for 36 holes to win the Championships. Morgan, playing off 1 handicap, also carded a nett total of 139 to make a clean sweep and win the nett trophy.
Esme Hamilton (Notts Ladies, Notts) was runner up with gross 150, with Ellie Haughton (Greetham Valley, Lincs) in 3rd place on 153. In the Nett competition Courtney Martland (Lincoln GC, Lincs) took first prize behind Morgan with an impressive score of 142, followed by Amelia Wan (Rufford Park, Notts) on 143 and Lauren Sabin (Shirland Derbys) on 146.
The first round matches were held at Holme Hall nr Scunthorpe, LIncs on Tuesday 30th May. There were two 18 holes matches to play on the day against two different opponents, on this occasion it was Shropshire in the morning and Staffordshire in the afternoon.
In the morning the team to take on Shropshire was Leonie Muir, Laura Abbott, Jacey Peacock, Charlie Inger and Safi Durant. The girls all played some great golf and each won their matches. The first match in particular was close with Leonie and her opposition Megan carding 8 birdies between them before Leonie eventually closed the match out on the 18th 1 up.
In the afternoon playing Staffordshire the team had a small change with Rebecca Oates playing instead of Safi. Both players were making their debut in the scratch team. Staffordshire, last years league winners, provided some strong opposition. Jacey put the first point on the board for Notts, then Rebecca and Charlie lost their matches before the last two matches came down the 18th hole. Leonie won the 18th to half her match in her second very close match of the day. Laura was all square coming down 18th and had to make an up and down out the greenside bunker to win the hole, giving the team the point that halved the match.
It was a great team effort from the girls and my thanks also go to the parents who accompanied the girls on the trip.
Emma Howie
Notts Junior Coordinator
Copyright © 2014 - Nottinghamshire County Ladies Golf Association www.nclga.org.uk