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Cheshire |
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Lancashire |
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Nottinghamshire |
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Shropshire & Herefordshire |
By Mark Shields, Colin Shadbolt & Mike Jones
This prestigious junior competition returns to Cheshire in its 37th year and will be played at Caldy on the Wirral on the 8th and 9th April.
The Tournament is a round-robin type involving the 7 best young men from the four participating counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and a combined team from Shropshire & Herefordshire and is matchplay over the two days.
Inaugurated at Crewe in 1973, the Four Counties has involved many top golfers over the years including Lee Westwood, Nick Dougherty and others. Additionally, see if you can spot the two Ryder Cup players / US Masters Champions in the following 1973 photos:
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Spectators are very welcome. This is a great opportunity for Club Junior Organisers to bring along some of their young men and watch some budding stars of the future.
Mark Shields
6th March 2009
Fifteen
of Cheshire’s most promising young golfers left behind England’s
freezing February temperatures and headed off to Menorca for a week’s
intensive warm weather coaching. Accompanied by team manager Mike Jones
and executive member Chris Peterson, the squad camped at Son Parc Golf
Club where County coaches Alan Thompson and Peter Barber put the boys
through their paces in all aspects of the game. Alongside the coaching
programme, the boys took part in a series of keenly contested skills
tests. The overall winner of these was Josh Evans (Mere). The boys also
played team events with those from the West of the County, captained by
Tom Boys (Royal Liverpool), taking on their counterparts from the East
captained by Josh Evans. In the skills test, the West players came out
on top but in 18-hole Four Ball, Foursomes and Singles matches the East
team was victorious on each occasion. Dominic Barnes (Caldy) had cause
to celebrate when he holed his tee shot on the par 3, 6th hole. Chris
Peterson (an EGU referee) gave the boys valuable instruction on some of
the finer points of the rules of the game. The week was concluded with
the boys competing for the ‘Menorca Championship’ in the form of an
18-hole medal competition. This was won in dramatic style by Mark Geddes
(Prenton) in a sudden-death play-off on the first extra hole from Josh
Evans and Tom Heggarty. At the end of the week, the boys were unanimous
in their appreciation of the programme and the benefits it brought to
their game.
The squad and Cheshire Executive would like to thank Mr. Hugh Brown,
proprietor Son Parc Golf Club for allowing us to use the facilities and
the support his staff gave us in carrying out this activity.
Mike Jones
21st February 2009