The Welsh
Meet took place on the 10th and 11th of September at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.
A cheerful lunch of soup and sandwiches set the afternoon fourballs in motion,
with players focussed and ready to face the 30mph westerlies.
True to its threat, and in an attempt to force a
retreat, the darkness above unleashed a prolonged torrent just as the lead
group cleared the first green. Faces were stung, bodies toshed through, and
balls swatted from the sky - but we were no schoolgirls at play! By the
sixteenth, it was clear that our collective October spirit had prevailed, and
the battle was won. Perhaps in tribute Andrew Cox’s commendable 31 points on
debut, the clouds parted, and our return home was bathed in the most glorious
of hues. Indeed, there can't be many more beautiful finishing holes in world
golf than the eighteenth at Porthcawl, nor better hot showers to follow.
Dinner, dormies and breakfast carried us into a
bright dawn, with sunny skies welcoming the morning's foursomes, impressively
won by Graham Dunbar and Ed Fane in a stiff north-westerly.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the staff of RPGC
for their outstanding hospitality and look forward to seeing more OHGS members
at this exhilarating course next year. Interestingly, keep an eye out for it
next summer, when it hosts the Women's Open.
James Rugg
