Kent Golf Limited
The French Golf Federation once again invite Kent to enter a team of under 15's to compete for their M 15 Cup.
The French Golf Federation once again invite Kent to enter a team of under 15s to compete for their M 15 Cup. This competition was held for the first time last year and took place at Dieppe Golf Club and was scheduled as a 36-hole, six player (four boys and two girls) to be played on 3rd and 4th November with a practice round on Friday 2nd November. Kent was represented by Nicola Smith, Sharna Dutrieux, Barney Foreman, Josh Barley, Richard Cheetham and Sam Stedman.
Our team travelled through the tunnel at 0620 hrs arriving in France to torrential rain which continued to for the entire journey, except for a spell of snow and slush on the high ground above Boulogne.
On arrival at the Golf Cub the rain had stopped and the team were excited to get out on the course for their practice round. Unfortunately their excitement was quickly dashed when their eyes fell on to the 18th fairway which was submerged under a lake of water which covered at least the last 120 metres leading up to the green. Clearly, overnight and that day, that part of France had some serious rainfall which closed holes 4, 5, 6 and 7, which were only good for water sports!
We managed to get our team around the 14th hole practice round without any further rain, however, that was the only respite from the rain until Sunday lunch time.
The overall situation went from bad to worse. On arrival at the ‘Hotel’ we found that instead of a Motel type facility, as last year, we were reduced to the worse kind of Youth Hostel known to man. The rooms were like cells; four bunk beds, a toilet and a shower with a pressure tap which you had to lean your body weight against to get any consistent flow of water.
On Saturday morning the rain had eased to 'light to moderate' with a strong wind, and the 14 hole competition commenced on a course which, in any sensible view, was totally unplayable, with huge lakes on most fairways with casual water covering the remainder of the course, except for the greens, which were actually very good considering the extreme circumstances.
The team played very well in very tough conditions. Barney Foreman and Josh Barley produced Kent’s best score of the day with Richard Cheetham coming in at one shot behind. Sam Stedman seemed to be plagued with a round where the putts wouldn't drop. Sharna Dutrieux and Nicola Smith battled very hard and posted good scores to place Kent in 3rd place at the end of play.
Sunday morning's weather was even worse; the rain was heavy with gale force wind, and very cold. Play commenced at 0830 and by 0915 the referees made the long overdue decision to abandon the competition, much to the relief of Richard, Nicola and Sharna who kept dry in the club house while Barney, Josh and Sam arrived back into the warmth, soaked and freezing cold.
The 14-hole competition was won by Paris, but without a doubt the weather was the true victor of the weekend. However, Henry and myself have nothing but praise for our Kent team. They conducted themselves in an exemplary way throughout the weekend in very poor conditions, both on the course and in the dreadful Hostel. We did not hear a single grumble or witness any reticence to go and play in such vile conditions. In fact, two members from the French Golf Federation made comment to me as to how well behave and polite our juniors were by comparison to some of their juniors.
In short, congratulations team, you have made Kent very proud.
Last but certainly not least, our gratitude goes to Jill (the Jinx) Smith for being the girls chaperone and general mum to us all.
Mike Chaston
U16's Manager
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