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Golf 2009-10
After the remarkable successes of 2008-9, Wellington faced the challenge of defending various titles, and confirming the school’s assumed status as the premier golf school in the UK. It was going to be an exceptionally tough task, since the competition at the top of British Schools Golf is of the highest calibre.
The academies of Millfield and Loretto, the other two schools aspiring, or claiming, to be number 1, operate on an entirely different format to golf at Wellington. At Wellington, pupils do golf as a sports option, and golf is coached in games time just as other sports are – by committed schoolteachers with some significant professional help, in this case from Jason Brant and David Rennie. We take this coaching very seriously and the pupils achieve a huge amount. We have a very small number of scholars, who are here on Golf and Academic Scholarships, because they have made the decision that they want to maintain their golf progress and education alongside the fabulous academic and all-round education that Wellington offers. These scholars are not chosen just because they are good golfers, but because of their character and ambition, both with their golf and in the rest of their life. They are chosen because they are ideal Wellingtonians, and they are fully integrated with the other pupils. The golf team is therefore a very healthy mix of scholars and non-scholars alike. We do not run a golf academy as is normally understood by that term, with full-time teaching professionals, pupils doing sometimes very limited academic courses, and golf lessons being timetabled during academic lesson time in the school day.
Why begin a report on a year’s sport by making such a distinction? It is important to understand that what we are doing with golf here does not compromise the nature of what the very best schools offer, or indeed, the essential DNA of Wellington itself. Neither should it cause any of these three outstanding golf schools to be labelled in such a vitriolic way by those who hanker after that, perhaps imaginary, bygone Corinthian era when all public school golfers wore cricket shoes and cords with their school shirts (untucked, of course), only played golf as their 4th sport when time allowed, and arrived breathless and late having rescued their dusty clubs from a long-forgotten cupboard. Academic lessons and curricula are delivered in a thoroughly professional way these days, and it is entirely appropriate that other areas of the all-round, “Eight Aptitudes” education should be equally excellent.
At the start of Michaelmas, there was little to indicate how difficult it would be to retain the various trophies. Millfield brought their best team to The Berkshire to try to avenge previous losses. Only two matches went past the 16th, and a 7½ - ½ drubbing was simply a reflection of some excellent Wellington golf. In the return fixture at The Players Club in Bristol, the match was tighter but we still managed to win 4½ - 3½, after a 20 footer for a birdie at the last enabled Ed Peters to beat his England U18 opponent. Later in September, however, in the West Sussex Schools Invitational, a degree of untidiness in the Wellington short games, allied to an excellent performance by Epsom, caused us to tie for the Benka Bowl (scratch trophy), and to lose it on countback. The scheduled fixture against Epsom at Walton Heath a week later gave a hugely determined Wellington team the chance to show their true standard. 6-0, with the narrowest victory being 3&2, was more like it.
Wellington then defended the Independent Schools Strokeplay Cup in October at The Shire. In 2008, we had won by 10 shots, and a particularly polished defence in wet and windy weather, on a golf course with many hidden hazards, brought a 16 shot victory. Team members were Ed Peters (71), Jordan Mann (75) Alex Peters (76) and IMH (73).
During February half-term, we embarked on the second Winter Training Camp to Pinheiros Altos in Portugal, benefiting from the kindness of Brian and Sally Evans, loyal parents of Max (Hg 2002) and Thom (Hg 2003). Brian is Director of Golf at Pinheiros, and our thoughts were far more with the family than on golf, arriving as we did, just in the aftermath of Thom’s terrible injury playing for Scotland. We are all relieved and delighted that Thom will recover, and wish him and the family all the very best. The training camp itself was an excellent platform for the rest of the year.
The Gerald Micklem at Woking remains a true highlight of the year. By agreement with the other schools, and out of deference to the history of the event, Wellington does not field any scholars who join after the third form. Nonetheless, with some younger players given the opportunity to compete in a big event, Wellington again proved victorious. The final margin of victory over Harrow in the final was 5-0, but three of those matches were close, and the result was never as comfortable as it sounds.
The biggest event of the year was in April, when we were attempting to retain the Independent Schools Cup at the National Finals, this time at Oulton Hall in Leeds. Wellington ‘A’ team (Ed Peters, Alex Peters and Jordan Mann) had qualified as the previous year’s winners, while the ‘B’ Team (Heidi Baek, Murray Rose and Sam Williams), won through the regional rounds to give us two teams at the finals. The strongest competition came from Millfield (combined handicaps of their three players +4), and Loretto (combined handicaps +5). In the event, neither team played consistently enough, and although Heidi Baek had one very solid round of 68, we came 3rd and 4th overall. To give an idea of the level of competition, Millfield won with a cumulative total of 13 under par over two rounds: Max Smith, their captain and the best U20 player in England, shot 68-65 (-10) on his own. It was no disgrace to lose to that kind of golf, but Wellington could still have pushed them far closer.
In the summer, Wellington won through to the HMC Foursomes Finals again, this time held at Craigielaw, hosted by Loretto. With three of our most experienced and best players unavailable, it was another great chance for the younger players to compete. We lost narrowly to Millfield in the final group match, which was effectively the semi-final. They went on to lose equally narrowly to Loretto on their home course. The pairs were Sam Williams and Murray Rose; Ed Peters and Charlie Coleman (who were unbeaten and played superbly); and Cameron Farmer and Maxime Saxena (who competed brilliantly despite being 4 years younger than most opponents).
We also enjoyed some superb matches against adult opposition, with those against the OWGS (both social and Halford Hewitt hopefuls!), The Berkshire, and North Hants being especially memorable. The hospitality and kindness extended to the Wellingtonians would only happen if those clubs enjoyed the fixtures as much as we do, and we hope to continue them into the future.
As previously recorded, Jason Brant continues to teach our best golfers to the highest of standards. His capacity to help good players both to become exceptional, and to understand and own their own game, is unparalleled. We believe strongly in an Athlete-Centred approach to coaching, which may sound obvious, but most golf coaching is extremely coach-directed. It is crucial to enable players to learn to take genuine ownership of their own game, so that they do not become dependent on anyone else. “Golf for all” also remains a big part of the programme here, with dozens of pupils and staff learning the game for the first time under David Rennie’s tutelage. In his final year in the Beresford, Tim Head has continued to provide endless enthusiasm and support for golf at Wellington. Most importantly of all, Rob Collins and his team have taken the course to an entirely different level this year. The quality of the greens and fairways has been exceptional, even though the course has seen more use than ever before.
David Rennie also organised the inaugural Hendo Cup, a “Pro”-Am and dinner at the end of the summer term, for which the Wellington Golfers acted as the professionals for their amateur partners (parents and friends). It was an amazing event, and your correspondent was touched by the gesture of naming the cup after him.
In external competitions and representative golf, there were many successes, and I can list only a few here:
· Ed Peters won a scholarship to Purdue University near Indianapolis, one of the most prestigious golf universities.
· Alex Peters won the Daily Telegraph International final in Abu Dhabi by 5 shots, among several other tournament successes, and played in the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy.
· Heidi Baek came third in the same Daily Telegraph final, and won the Suffolk County Championship by 14 shots with a final round of 66.
· Alex and Heidi were both full members of the England Womens Elite Performance Squad, and represented England at the European Championships.
· Jordan Mann was selected to be captain of the BB&O elite squad.
· Murray Rose won the College Championship (The Allom Trophy) with an excellent score of 69.
· Tommy Jolowicz won the handicap trophy (The Easton Tankard) with 41 points.
· Charlie Coleman became the youngest player ever to win the Coombe Wood Club Championship with 73+62(!) = 135 gross
· Maxime Saxena was selected for the EGU Regional Squad.
· Freddie Edmunds (OW) was awarded a Golf Scholarship during his first year at St Andrews University.
· Ed and Alex Peters (both Nottinghamshire), Heidi Baek (Suffolk), Jordan Mann (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire), Murray Rose (Suffolk), Sam Williams (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire), Chris Thomas (Surrey), Cameron Farmer (Hampshire and IOW), Archie Presley (Surrey), Charlie Coleman (Surrey) and Maxime Saxena (Sussex) all played county golf.
Team:
E.A. PETERS (Bn - captain), A.R. PETERS (Hn), J.N.MANN (Bl), H.J. BAEK (Hn), M. Rose (M), S. L. Williams (Hl), R. Wibbels (M), C. Farmer (Bn), C. Thomas (A), S. Dovey (L), A Presley (L), C. Coleman (S), M. Saxena (M), M. Penny (Hg), S. Wilkinson (Hg), D. Cooke (A), J. Tuckwell (Bl), J. Bamsey (A), T. Ryan (M), A. Dallamore (Bl), G. Bodvarsson (Bn), C. Sedgwick-Dwane (O), C.F. Henderson (Bn), O.S. Keene (Bn),
Golf Full Colours in BOLD CAPITALS, Half Colours in bold.