Junior Booklet 2016
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
GLAMORGAN COUNTY GOLF UNION JUNIORS’ ORGANISERS’ MEETING 2016 PYLE & KENFIG GOLF CLUB WEDNESDAY 2ND MARCH 2016 GLAMORGAN COUNTY GOLF UNION Annual Meeting of Juniors’ Organisers Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club Wednesday 2nd March 2016, 7.00 pm AGENDA 1. Introduction by Roger D Jones, Juniors’ Chairman 2. Roll Call of Clubs Attending the Meeting 3. Juniors’ Chairman’s Report 2015 (pages 2 - 5) 4. League Secretary’s Report 2015 - Gareth Jones (page 7) 5. U12s Squad and Teams’ Reports (pages 12 - 19) 6. Simon Swales: Aspects of Coaching 7. Any Other Business - at the discretion of the Chair ITEMS OF INTEREST i) Glamorgan Juniors’ Coaching Structure (page 6) ii) Composition of the Juniors’ Leagues 2016 (pages 8 - 9) iii) Juniors’ League Rules (pages 10 - 11) iv) Fixtures 2016 (page 21) v) Glamorgan Juniors’ Championship Results 2015 (pages 22 - 24) vi) Glamorgan Juniors’ Match Play Championship Results 2015 (page 25) vii) Child Protection Statement (pages 26 - 27) viii) Entry Forms for Glamorgan Juniors’ Spring Meeting 2016 (pages 28 - 29) ix) Entry Forms for County Junior Championship 2016 (pages 30 - 31) x) Glamorgan Parental Consent Forms (pages 32 - 33) xi) SWBGA Events 2016 (pages 34 - 35) xii) Officers of GCGU with Responsibility for Junior Activities (page 36) 1 Chairman’s Report 2016 In last year’s report I commented on the declining number of youngsters playing golf in Glamorgan. Although there is much to be positive about in the qualities of our teams and individual achievements, this trend has continued and the evidence suggests that it has not yet bottomed out. For reasons which are still unclear, golf has declined in popularity as youngsters embrace sports which are currently considered to be ‘sexy’, eg cycling, exhilarating, eg surfing, or effortless, eg playing with their Xboxes. Once again, I have to appeal to our constituent clubs to address this issue with an even greater sense of urgency. Complacency will only lead to inexorable decline as the laws of economics will dictate that weaker clubs will have to cut back and may even face closure. Squads’ Results The Under 12 autumn / winter coaching programme involved 32 boys in 3 squads all coached by Keith Williams at the Vale of Glamorgan. During the summer we held four 9 or 10 hole competitions that made up the Under 12s Order of Merit. Sam Peet (Pyle and Kenfig) won on his home course and at Pontardawe; Alex Williams (The Grove) won at Brynhill, and Sean David (Pyle and Kenfig) took the honours at Maesteg. The Order of Merit Plate was secured by Sam Peet with Tom Savill (Glamorganshire) in second place. The Under 12 County Championship was a full 18 hole event held at Maesteg in September and with a score of 87 Sam Peet won by 3 strokes from Dylan Thomas (Pontardawe). My thanks go to former Welsh international Matthew Peet for managing the Under 12 programme in recent years. Clearly Sam and his brother Tom have inherited some impressive golfing genes and we will watch their progress with great anticipation. Matthew has decided to assist in running the Under 14s; his role has been taken by Paul Melding (Neath) and I’m sure we wish him great success. The Under 14 team had an excellent year. Ably captained by Myles Prothero (Maesteg) they drew with Worcestershire at Morlais Castle, lost narrowly to Wiltshire away at Bowood, defeated Somerset at Tall Pines and were leading against Gloucestershire at Aberdare when the weather intervened. Of the 15 players who represented the county in 2015, no less than 10 are available this year and 5 next year, so we can face the immediate future with a degree of optimism. The Under 14 County Championship took place alongside the Under 12s at Maesteg in September and the winner was Lewis John (Whitchurch) with two excellent rounds of 75 and 76 from Tom Peet (Pyle and Kenfig). The Under 14s Order of Merit comprised 9 events around the County of which points accumulated at the top 7 events counted. The winner was Tom Peet with Lewis John in second place, followed by Jacob Harrington-Wara (Cardiff), Myles Prothero and Dylan Thomas. 2 Without doubt, Tom Peet provided the outstanding individual performances of 2015: he won the Welsh Under 13 Championship at St Mellons with a score of 76 and followed this up when becoming the youngest ever winner of the Ben Williams Trophy at Whitchurch in August with a 73. As a matter of interest, brother Sam was runner-up. It is a great pity that Matthew and his wife Penny restricted themselves to only two children! In recognition of his progress, Tom has been selected to play for Wales in the Quadrangular Tournament in Ireland later this month. My thanks go to Roger Chaffey for managing and taking ownership of the Under 14s in 2015 and I know that he is looking forward immensely to the challenges of this year. The Under 16 team had an excellent season, beginning with a 12-3 victory against Worcestershire at Morlais Castle. This was followed by a 12½-2½ demolition of Somerset at Pyle and Kenfig, a convincing win against Gwent 9½-5½ at Bryn Meadows and a 10-5 victory against Wiltshire at Chippenham. However, in the final match, and deprived of three regular players, we lost 9½-5½ to a powerful Gloucestershire side at the Vale of Glamorgan. Consequently the Under 16s came second in their Channel League. In the SWBGA U15 / U16 inter-county championship at Tredegar Park we won both sections comfortably with Jamie Pickering (Royal Porthcawl) winning the individual with a score of 73. Unfortunately the Welsh Boys Under 16 inter-county event was cancelled due to lack of interest (and is, of course, confirmation of golf’s current problems). The Under 16 Order of Merit was won by Kurtis Harrington-Wara (Cardiff) after a season- long tussle with Sam Mayer (Whitchurch) which went down to the last counting event, the Ben Williams Trophy at Whitchurch. My thanks go to Martin Price (Glamorganshire) who has managed the Under 16s with great distinction. Martin has been the driving force behind almost all the changes which have transformed both Under 14s and Under 16s golf in the county, particularly the introduction of Order of Merit events. David Watkins (Southerndown) will replace Martin and he will, no doubt, attempt to emulate Martin’s achievements. The Under 18 team continued to excite and disappoint in equal measure. For administrative reasons, matches tend to be played in the congested August period and this impacts on selection. For example, against Wiltshire at Whitchurch in August, Steve Joseph made over 20 phone calls before being able to field a team. The players excelled and lost narrowly 8-7 - against the English County Boys’ Champions! Then against Somerset at Isle of Wedmore, having halved the foursomes, we won all ten singles for a remarkable 12½-2½ victory. Conversely, against Gloucestershire only two weeks later, we lost the singles 8-2 to suffer a heavy 10-5 defeat. In the final match against Gwent at the Gower Golf Club the result was a halved match - an appropriate end to an inconsistent season. Perhaps the best example of this inconsistency came in the annual Severnside Tournament hosted by Worcestershire at the Moseley Golf Club. We defeated Gloucestershire 5 games to 2 games. Then we beat Gwent 4-3, before losing 5½-1½ to Worcestershire who had lost 3 both their previous matches 6-1! Gloucestershire therefore won the Severnside on a countback and we were left to reflect on a lot of poor decision making. My thanks go to Jordan Golley (Clyne) who captained the Under 18s admirably and also made his debut for the men’s Channel League team. Jordan came second in the Under 18s Order of Merit behind the winner, Matt Roberts from the Vale of Glamorgan. Sadly, John King, the Under 18 manager and for many years a great supporter of Junior golf in Glamorgan, has finally decided to retire. He will be missed. However, he hands over to Steve Joseph, who has provided wonderful support in recent years. Individual Performances The Spring Meeting was held at Coed-y-Mwstwr where the overall winner was Sam Mayer with an excellent score of 72. The top 16 were then eligible for the Junior Matchplay Championship, which was held at Caerphilly Golf Club in July. The tournament had to be played over two weekends due to inclement weather and culminated in a final between Matt Roberts and Luke Colwill (Neath) with Luke emerging the winner by one hole. The quality of the match was outstanding and included 9 birdies and 2 eagles. The County Junior Championship was held at Mond Valley and was won by Kurtis Harrington-Wara with a score of 147 strokes, 4 in front of Jamie Pickering with Harry Frazer (Pennard) in third place. The team event was won by Neath represented by Elis Hopkins, Ryan Nedza and Dylan Matthews. The Junior League in the East was won by the Vale of Glamorgan and in the West by Neath. In the final played at Royal Porthcawl in late October the Vale triumphed by 3 matches to 0. Indeed, Neath deserve sympathy for their travails that week: playing in the Welsh Club Junior Championship at Builth Wells, one of their players signed for the wrong score. This meant that they were relegated to third place, 3 strokes behind the winners, the Vale of Glamorgan. I’m sure that we all wish the Vale the best of good fortune when they play in the European Club Junior Championship in Spain.