Wiltshire Captains v Somerset Captains

At Chippenham Golf Club

Wednesday 6th September 2017

The day arrived with sunny spells, fair weather cloud and a cooling breeze. Would it continue? Yes, one of the few match days in the 2017 season without rain. Chippenham G.C. hosted this home match, the condition of the course, food and general hospitality being second to none. Many thanks to the current club Captain Paul Lye for deputising on the day as match secretary, a new experience that seemed to have a beneficial effect on his putting.

Sussex sent a touring side and having played at North Wilts the day before they had another match against Somerset the following day. There were some sore heads prior to the match and we discovered why. Their team bonding event the night before involved the consumption of a bottle of expensive malt whiskey amongst other beverages. The choices of desert hinted at a different story, Sussex favouring cheese and biscuits whilst Wiltshire preferred chocolate sponge with ice cream. Perhaps we were up against a motivated unit of highly tuned athletes?

Early results were encouraging. The opening pair of myself and Paul Lye were never behind but the result was not determined until the last hole. Paul’s putting was exceptional, missing very little from four to 15ft. Then two up after two. Thereafter the results swung in the favour of Sussex and Captain Brian and myself waited nervously for the final pairs. A halved match, not quite enough so Sussex ran out winners of a close match 4 and a half to 3 and a half.

Judging by the laughter and post-match banter a good time was had by all. A fitting end to my final match as Captain, it has been a great year of golf with wonderful support from the Exec. Committee, webmaster and club reps who all performed sterling service pulling teams together, organising home matches and putting in match reports. I made a point of recognizing you in post-match speeches and would like to say another heartfelt “thank you” again here.

David Ruffett.