Kent Golf Limited
Women's County Match Week report
Date published: 12 Jul 2024
Photo L to R: Tim Milford (Coach), Nicola Smith (Sittingbourne & Milton Regis), Lucia Masding (Knole Park), Ellena Slater (Kings Hill), Millie Thompson (Sittingbourne & Milton Regis), Nicole Amos (Littlestone), Ally Kutz (Prince's), Danielle Thwaites (Boughton), Marilyn Brown (County President)
Kent women’s first team travelled to North Hants for the South Region County Match Week. Our week had a bit of an unfortunate start as the Team Manager and Coach Steve Mitchell was forced to pull out with a serious back injury. But such is the support the County has from their coaches, Tim Milford stepped in to replace Steve.
Sunday morning the Kent team headed to the beautiful North Hants Golf Club – a journey of which 75% was in road works and 50 mph limits. Team and group photographs done, quick lunch, and get ready for the practice round, however, the weather decided otherwise and the heavens opened. Some greens began to have lying water and the members playing their Captain’s Day competition were called in. Practice time was set back, but we did eventually get on the course. So far so good, but not for long, and when we were at the farthest point of the course, thunder and lightning struck, but thankfully passed over quickly and we were able to continue.
Dinner at the golf club and off to find our hotel – fortunately just 2 minutes drive from the golf club – and we settled in for an early night ready for breakfast at the golf club and an early tee time the next morning. 1.44am and the fire alarm went off and we spent the next 20 minutes outside the hotel waiting for the fire brigade. There was no fire, but it was not exactly a false alarm as we subsequently found out it was triggered by a resident vaping – a practice not allowed in the hotel. Back to bed after the hotel was checked by the firemen who could identify which room had activated the alarm – thankfully not one of our team!!
Our first match against hosts Hampshire, in gloomy and chilly conditions, got underway. 2 foursomes and 3 singles. Close fought matches resulted in a halved result 2½ - 2½. We were second off in the afternoon against Middlesex, which meant some of our players had nearly 3 hours for lunch and a very late finish. A narrow loss with tight matches going all the way. 2-3. A little disappointing.
Dinner at the golf club and back to the hotel to catch up on sleep and prepare for another early start, this time against Sussex. Heavy rain during the night and the course was playing very long, but the team were determined to overcome yesterday’s disappointment. Drizzle blowing in and out and the temperature dropping, everyone battled well and we came with the win 3-2.
Another long lunch break as we were second off again, but this time the elements were a little more hostile with much heavier and persistent rain. Again, a really tough match against a very strong Surrey side, we went down 2-3. This turned out to be the best score against Surrey.
The team of 7 Kent players bonded so well and played and fought for each other which made the few days a very happy time. The squad was just the 7 players required for the competition so they all had to play every match and they did so with great enthusiasm in the indifferent weather conditions. The County could not be more proud. The weather was not only wet but chilly as well – not what is expected in July – which made their efforts so much more commendable. We played our 4 matches straight, our rest session being the final morning. As we were packing the clubs away on Tuesday evening, the weak sun made its first appearance of the week!
Many thanks to the caddies, friends, families, and supporters of Kent Golf for travelling to support the team. Thanks to County Secretary Sarah MacDonald, who supported on Monday, and her Assistant Hannah Eves, who supported on Tuesday. Special thanks to Tim Milford and Steve Mitchell for their work with the team. Steve, a very frustrated coach lying on his back messaging for scores throughout the day and sending words of encouragement, and Tim for being there, popping up with words of advice when things were getting tough. You are both amazing. Thank you.
All matches at County level golf are tough and even though some of the results may look as if the matches were easy, it was far from the truth.
The photos in the album show the team in their new Flairway Golf kit, kindly sponsored by Protosheet Engineering. Thank you.
Team sponsor:
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