J.B.Carr Diamond Trophy
Our first match in this competition kicked off at home against Corballis Golf Club on Thursday 9th April at 1.30pm with all five matches being played at home with the visiting pairs receiving a courtesy shot.
Robert and I had a large panel from which to choose and in the end we took the view that we should play our best players on handicap and recent form and those who were most experienced in matchplay.
The Team
Simon Russell & Michael O’Halloran
Kieran O’Byrne & Kieran Brady
Dave O’Neill & Tom Shanahan
Frank Kennedy & John Taylor
Brian Fitzsimons & Danny Buckley
We had a strong subs bench waiting in the wings had they been needed:
Michael Crimin
Brian Nevin
Mark Newman
After some difficult negotiations regarding fixing dates, facilitating practice and sorting out catering arrangements we provided a warm greeting to the Corballis team with tea/coffee and scones and in time we got the match underway. Early signs didn’t bode well for us and despite our players playing good golf we found ourselves behind in four of the matches. All pairs battled hard against excellent play from the Corballis squad however the first three matches lost bringing the fixture to an early close .
The main reason for the loss seemed to come down to two main factors - the very strong wind which took away a good deal of our home advantage and we were giving away 15 shots plus 5 courtesy shots (20 in total) with 11 of these in the first three pairings.
Despite these drawbacks the first two matches were decided on 18 and in the third one, despite the Corballis pair throwing in 5 birdies against us the match was brought to the 17th . It was a valiant Sutton team performance and, upon reflection, we can see no learnings from the encounter except to keep working at our skills and, perhaps reassess choices when it comes to handicap combinations.
We had the post-match meal that went down very well with all. The course was complimented by the visitors with one comment being “the best greens we’ve played on in months”. All diners lauded the catering. On the day we got great support from panel members and other members of the club.
Thanks to all who volunteered for the panel, to all players and subs, to the members who came out to support and from the Manager of Managers, David Carson who helped to smooth out the initial difficulties.