SWCGA Seniors Championship 2018

High Post GC, Wilts: 26 & 27 July, 2018

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Ron Schroder - 2018 SWCGA Seniors Champion

1. Introduction

•  This fixture involves teams from Cornwall; Devon; Dorset; Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire
• It comprises 36 holes of medal play over two days for which each county nominates a team of eight. Shortly before play starts, each county nominates six players from their list of eight. It is the aggregated scores of those six players which determine overall team performance. Note: each day, counties are able to drop one score from the aggregation of their team score
• The winning county goes forward to represent the SW region at the EG national finals
• There is also an individual competition

2. The tournament

• The course at High Post GC had survived remarkably well given the drought conditions that had prevailed. The greens had been well watered and would hold a well hit iron from the fairway. The rest of the course was hard, brown and very fast running. Its excellent condition was testament to the sterling efforts of the greens staff
• The weather was very hot on both days. On Day 1, a strong wind proved particularly challenging for all concerned

3. Somerset's performance

• Our team comprised: Martin Cashnella (Bath); Danny Dowell (Cricket St Thomas); Paddy Maclennan (Enmore Park); Ron Schroder (Burnham & Berrow); Steve Thomas (Weston-super-Mare); Simon Harris (Bath), James Ward (Oake  Anor) and Kelvin Green (Bath)
• The first six in the above player list were nominated for our team performance
• At the end of Day 1 all team scores were bunched very close together. Our stand out performers were: Ron Schroder (71) and James Ward (73)
• At the end of Day 2, significant disparities in the performances of several counties started to emerge. By some distance, our stand out performer continued to be Ron Schroder who, in adding a 67 to his first round 71 won the individual competition by eight shots
• We had solid performances from both James Ward and Paddy Maclennan who both produced the same 36 hole total of 153. If we had been able to submit two further 36 hole scores of that calibre, we would have finished within a couple of shots of the winning county. Unfortunately, that proved beyond us and we finished 4th overall
• Ron Schroder was in fact defending the individual title which he had won at Orchardleigh last year - a superb performance

The final team scores were:

Dorset: 748

Devon: 753

Wiltshire: 754

Somerset: 762

Gloucestershire: 770

Cornwall: 771

Alex Kidd

Captain, SGU Seniors

31/07/18

Southern Counties Foursomes Qualifier

Fixture Report

1. Introduction
This fixture normally involves Devon; Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Some three weeks' beforehand, Wilts withdrew - and apologised for the failure to notify their decision, apparently taken some months previously
Rick Pillow, Captain of Devon Seniors, who were the host county, designed and deployed a match play triangular format which worked effectively
Our preparation for this event was disrupted by a series of unrelated, individual withdrawals which required us to deploy our reserves in greater numbers than previously
2. Somerset's performance
In the main, our reserves performed splendidly and contributed to a much better total points haul than has been achieved in recent years
Robert Chandler (Mendip Spring) and Jerry Hodge (Burnham & Berrow) provided staunch support to their foursomes combination throughout the day. Unfortunately, the potential impact of some solid play by Neil Whisler was largely nullified by the appalling play of his partner - the writer
We finished only half a point behind Gloucestershire but the runaway winners were Devon who now go through to the national finals at Ealing GC

Alex Kidd
Captain, SGU Seniors
06/07/18

Team to represent Somerset at the SWCGA Championship

Alex Kidd has selected the side who will compete at High Post Golf Club on 26/27 July 

County Colours Awarded

After our splendid win over Glamorgan,  today,  Vice President Geoff Ogden was charged with presenting half and full colours to three players, Ron Schroder received his half colours and Ian Perkins and Steve Francis were awarded their full colours. Left to right, Geoff Ogden, Steve Francis, Ian Perkins & Ron Schroder.

South West Counties Seniors' Championships 2017

Orchardleigh GC, Somerset on 27 & 28 July

This event was played in unseasonably cold, blustery, wet conditions over a course which proved to be an exacting test for all competitors most of whom found scoring more difficult on Day 2

Although these championships include individual prizes, it is essentially a team competition with the winning county going forward to national finals.

All county teams comprise eight players from which six are nominated just before the start of play. It is the aggregated scores of those nominated six players which determine overall team performance. Each day, the best five scores from these six players are included in the aggregation

Somerset's Senior Team comprised:

Ron Schroder, Burnham & Berrow                                             72    77    = 149
James Ward, Oake Manor                                                            75    76    = 151
Simon Harris, Bath                                                                         78    83    = 161
Alistair Johnston, Taunton & Pickeridge                                    84    78    = 162
Danny Dowell, Cricket St Thomas                                                82    80    = 162
Steve Thomas, Weston-super-Mare                                            86    76    = 162

……………………………………………………….

Martin Cashnella, Bath                                                                  75    76    = 151
Peter Davies, The Mendip                                                             76    80    = 156

The aggregated county scores were:

Gloucestershire:               766
Dorset                                  773
Wiltshire                              776
Somerset                            778
Cornwall                              781
Devon                                   782

Performance evaluation

Overall, it was a case of “what if?”

It's quite clear from the scores of all of Somerset's team of eight that the inclusion of the scores of Martin Cashnella and Peter Davies might have significantly improved our overall team performance. That, of course, is hindsight and assumes that any such substitution would have had a neutral impact on the performance of the individuals involved. Such post event evaluations are fraught and are normally carried out - through clenched teeth - by all participating teams

Our highlights were the winning of the individual trophy by Ron Schroder and the sound performances of James Ward and Martin Cashnella

SWCGA Seniors' Champion - Ron Schroder

Alex Kidd

SGU Seniors' Captain

Paddy Maclennan & James Ward have received their County Colours

Having represented Somerset on 10 occasions, Paddy and James were presented with their colours before the home match against Devon. Sadly, the result went against us as we suffered an 8.5-6.5 defeat.

Team to play Devon at Burnham & Berrow

Captain Alex Kidd has named the side who will represent Somerset on 31st May. They will be entertaining a strong Devon side to 9 holes of foursomes on the Channel Course, followed by singles on the Championship course in the afternoon. Devon will be expecting a strong challenge as Somerset will be looking to avenge the heavy defeat they suffered in the 2016 fixture.

Pete Davies is awarded his County colours

After representing Somerset 10 times since 2014, Pete Davies was awarded his clolours after the recent strokeplay trials at Burnham & Berrow . Pete is seen receiving these from County Chairman Tommy Tulk