Hornsea Yorkshire Team Champions

The date of Wednesday, 24 July will be a day that I shall remember for a long, long time and not just for the extremely hot conditions and amount of distance I was about to cover walking round a hilly, testing golf course. It was a 4.30am start to get up and make my way across to Huddersfield Golf Club who were hosting the Yorkshire Union Team Championship in their 125th Centenary Year. The journey across was a damp one with heavy rain falling for most of the way following the aftermath of the overnight thunderstorms. On arriving at Huddersfield just before 7am, the Hornsea team of Matty Raybould, Luke Robinson and Nick Raybold were all on the putting green, practising and trying to achieve something that Hornsea Golf Club had never done before.

With the top 18 clubs in Yorkshire, who had made it through to the top division from well over 150 clubs, as the Hornsea team set off, a finish in the top six would have been a fantastic result but remaining in the top twelve and staying in the first division was really the target. Matty led the team off and from his very first tee shot which ended up in long grass really had to battle his way round to finish with a score of 78 showing some true grit and determination and not wanting to let his teammates down. Luke was out next and played really well for a solid 70, one shot off the best of the morning scores and Nick played well for his 75 but felt as though he had left a few out there. So a morning total of 223. Not a bad effort as temperatures were now becoming a little warm and the course was playing tough.

It was Phoenix Golf Club that came in with great scores of 75, 69, 74 finishing on 218 that topped the morning scores which left them five ahead of Hornsea and Rotherham with Abbeydale, home club Huddersfield, Moortown and Pannal all within a couple of shots.

As Matty set off for his second round, temperatures were now becoming almost as much of a test as the course itself so keeping hydrated was going to play a big part in keeping going. I must confess after watching the Hornsea boys tee off I disappeared to my car for 30 minutes to sit with the air conditioning on to cool down!

On meeting back up with them, they were all playing really well. Could Hornsea Golf Club possibly achieve something that they had never done before? Oh my, it was hot though and just walking round was becoming hard work never mind trying to play in it. How well they did though with Matty 72, Luke 73 and Nick 72 Hornsea had set a great total of 440.

Now, this was now the start of one of the longest most nerve-wracking afternoons I can remember as we all sat watching the scoreboard slowly update. I know many were watching the live leaderboard online by the messages I kept receiving and it just seemed to take forever as slowly more and more teams failed to improve on Hornsea’s overall score. Roughly three hours, we were sat there before we knew we had it won. Hornsea was the Yorkshire Team Champions. It really is quite a fantastic achievement and I am super proud of all the team.

Now, this really was a team effort. Yes, Matty, Luke and Nick played the golf but also doing their bit was the caddies Leigh Gawley, Nathan Wright and Sam Middleton who is also the team manager and does a fantastic job. I must also mention Howard Palmer, who could not attend due to being away on holiday, but over the last, ten or more years has been a big part of this team. He was in contact by text as the afternoon scores came in and I’m sure he was just as tense as we all were watching the scores come in. Also to our Captain Dave who had to rush across to Huddersfield to collect the trophy.

What a day.
Hornsea Golf Club, Yorkshire Team Champions.
How good does that sound?