The first Handicap League match of the season was played at home against Gaudet Luce on Sunday 1^st April.

This year’s captain, Tony Willetts selected three players who were playing in this format for the first time (Martin Bower, Joe Harper and Dan Clark).

With no matches being halved and results alternating between either side, the final outcome wasn’t settled until the last match came in.

The first pairing of Martin Bower/Glen Tramaseur fought all the way in their match, only losing on the last hole.

Then came two wins from the pairings of Bob Lucas/Gordon Moraity, who had the biggest win for Cleobury (5&4) and John Westley/Joe Harper (3&2).

Captain Tony Willetts thought it was going to be his day in his match with playing partner Rick Clayton – Standing in the middle of the first fairway, he watched his opponent from Gaudet Luce hit his approach to within just a few feet of the hole. Then after joking with his opponent that he better try and hit his shot inside that …… he holed out ! 

Unfortunately, that was where the luck ran out on the day as Willetts/Clayton came up against a very good pairing from Gaudet Luce, with their 10 handicapper playing to 3 over gross - Willetts/Clayton eventually losing 3&2.

Similarly Robin Craig/Andy Galliard also came up against a Gaudet Luce pairing who were on top of their game and couldn’t prevent another loss for Cleobury.

So with the overall match standing at 3-2 to Gaudet Luce it was left to the final match to decide the outcome.

The ever reliable James Ralph was paired with debutant Dan Clark and they gelled well together, ensuring that they were always on top in their match, before eventually running out winners (3&2) to ensure the overall match was halved 3-3.

After the match, captain Tony Willetts said “Although ideally in this competition, it’s important to win home matches, we did come up against some pairings from Gaudet Luce who played very well on the day, so we can be pleased with a halved match.

It was good to see the new players fitting in so well with the more established players.

Our next match is away against Perdiswell who are a new team to the league and their course is a bit of an unknown quantity for most players – so it won’t be easy, but hopefully with the players we have, we can go there and get a good result”.

The handicap team sign up sheet is now in the changing rooms and also in the pro shop on competition days. The team has been drawn into group 1 with the following teams

* Burlish Park (formally Wyre Forrest)

* Bransford

* Bromsgrove

*Gaudet Luce

* Perdiswell Park

The first match is at home on April 1 against Gaudet Luce. The matches consist of 6 pairs, team kit is black trousers and plain white shirts and if selected and you cannot play the captain requires 48 hours notice.

Please sign up and lets make the 2012 season one to remember!

Captain Willets had this to say on his expectations for the up coming season

‘We have some great players at Cleobury, I want to try and get a squad of 20 together to really challenge for honors this coming season. With some hard work and commitment there is no reason why the handicap team cannot go onto great things’.