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Latest news from the Union First Team

For result of Yorkshire IDU Team Championship click here

Sheffied Union v HHDUGC

Sept 4 2011 at Dore & Totley GC

FINAL LEAGUE RESULTS

FINAL LEAGUE TABLE

Final Order of Merit

Sponsored by Parnell Reilly

We entertained Teeside at Halifax and the Teeside team included a lot of the juniors who had played against HHDUGC Junior team on Friday when Teeside clinched the junior league title. The match was played over the Blue course at Halifax which provided a big advantage to the home Union team. Foursomes wins from Colcombe and home club debutant Crawshaw provided the first points for Halifax Huddersfield, Martin & Ingham, Birkett & home club debutant Lander, Stafford & Murphy, & Wilford & Tupman all won their games, together with a halved match from Schnacke & Cryer who were 4 down after 12 holes but fought back to halve on the 18th, Halifax Huddersfield were in a commanding position at half time.

Halifax Huddersfield with the confidence of their last 2 wins, went about their golf in a very professional fashion, although Colcombe struggled with his putting he was too good for his opponent winning 3 & 2. Martin played his usual solid golf round a golf course where he holds the course record and closed out his opponent 2 & 1. Cryer had a really tough match but came through showing what a class golfer he is and can be in the future with a creditable win against arguably Teesides best golfer. Ingham had a battle royal in his match the first 11 holes halved and then his opponent 3 putted the 12th hole for Chris to take the lead, Chris kept his lead to stand on the 17th tee 1 up but lost the hole to a par 3, but a solid 4 down the last when his opponent could only bogey the hole gave Chris a deserved win, Crawshaw built up an early lead in his match to be 3 up after 7 holes and kept the pressure on his opponent finally clinching his match 2 & 1, Lander played excellent golf the front 9 holes to build up an early lead however his opponent produced a birdie barrage on the back 9 holes to fight back and gain a halved match, but Chris should be proud of the way he performed in his first taste of inter district union golf, Stafford won his match 2 & 1 and has become a very formidable singles player also reducing Schnackes lead at the top of the order of merit to only 2 points, Wilford battled all the way to the end losing the 17th hole to go all square but a great up and down from behind the 18th green ensured another point for HH, Tupman wrapped up the match playing the last hole all square but making a great up and down from the back of the 18th green to win the last hole and his match, to ensure the winning result was 25 - 11 in HH favour.

The Halifax course was in excellent condition and certainly helped my team to their 3rd win on the bounce, the confidence is up and we are all looking forward to our last game of the season, although we cannot catch the Sheffield Union I am sure that the way the team are performing that we will put up a good showing at Dore and Totley and golf being the game that it is who knows what may happen, the win did not lift us any higher up the table but at the moment we are joint 3 rd place our highest league position for some time and the highest since my tenure as team manager.

Best Regards
Chris Mear
 

York Union v HHDUGC at Easingwold GC, Sunday August 7th

The Halifax Huddersfield District Union Golf team carried on their winning ways with a glorious win 24 - 12 against the York Union at Easingwold Golf Club on Sunday the 7th August.
The match was in jeopardy on the Saturday evening when the Monsoon type weather hit Easingwold and the golf course was badly flooded, the greens staff, Captain and Vice captain all had an early start on Sunday morning to get the course playable for the match, although the greens were too wet to cut, which resulted in greens like treacle.
The foursomes got underway, and all the matches were close on the tree lined course, Mathew Colcombe & Steve Martin losing on the last hole in the top match, mainly because Yorkshire County player Martin Brown played an exquisies greenside bunker shot to save the hole and preserve York's 1 hole advantage, Aaron Schnacke & Ben Adamson teamed up once again, Adamson hit a fantastic drive down the par 5 eighteenth hole a double dog leg hole to ensure the 1 hole win for the visiting team.
Michael Murray making his debut after his recent PS Cockroft victory at Bradley Park, teamed up with former Todmorden teamate Dave Stafford both played very well to win their match very convincingly. Adam Cryer & Jamie Smith played some good golf to win their match to ensure another 2 points for Halifax Huddersfield, Brad Tupman & Andy Wilford couldn't turn around their match, which left Mark Birkett & Ben Crowther out on the course, a solid par on the last hole secured a halved match and a vital point for Halifax Huddersfield giving them a 7 - 5 lead after the foursomes matches.

Colcombe went out in the first match against Brown, Mathew found himself 3 down after 3 holes but battled back to a 2 hole lead after 12 holes, Mathew hanging on to win the match by 2 holes with a solid birdie 4 on the last hole.
Adamson was 1 up playing the last, but unfortunately hit his approach shot to the last hole out of bounds, handing the hole to his opponent and having to settle for a halved match.
Adam Cryer was always in control of his match, winning his game comfortably, and helping Halifax Huddersfield take a big step forward in trying to win the match.
Aaron Schnacke is gaining a reputation in the IDU league as an opponent that you do not want to be drawn against, he emphasised his good form with a solid 2 & 1 win.
Dave Stafford continued his run of good form with a convincing 4 & 3 win.
Debutant Michael Murray aquitted himself well into the Union team, playing controlled deliberate golf, 2 up with 2 to play Michael had secured the point required for Halifax Huddersfield to win the match, however he had a stroke of bad luck when his approach to the 17th hole ended up under a broken branch which was still attached to the tree, unfortunately Michael could only make a 5 losing the hole, his opponent with the honour on the 18th tee hit a terrible tee shot ensuring that the best he could score was a par 5, Michael plotted his way to the green hitting a rescue club offf the tee, and with a 3 feet birdie put left, his opponent conceded the hole and the match.
Mark Birkett won his match with an exquisite shot to the par 3 15th hole a 198 yard par 3, hitting his ball to 3 feet and converting the putt for a 4 & 3 win.
Andy Wilford was always in control of his game getting a 4 hole lead after 10 holes, and finally winning his match 4 & 3.
Brad Tupman wound up the win beating York playing Captain Jim Batt 3 & 2 securing the Halifax Huddersfield team a 24 - 12 win.

Under very difficult conditions the team performed excellently, their application to the task at hand was very pleasing, and on the back of our home win against the Leeds Union, it sets us up for our next match the last home game of the season against the Teeside Union at Halifax Golf Club on Sunday the 21st of August, it has also given me some headaches as regards team selection, because of the solid team spirit, and the team squad that are all coming together, for a long time we have not played to our potential but I sense that this is slowly changing for the better.

Thanks to our clothing sponsors Glenbrae & Stromberg, Clough Manor for providing our golf balls, and Parnell Reilly for sponsoring the Order of Merit.

Chris Mear
Team Captain

 

HHDUGC v Leeds at West End 10/7/11

HHDUGC entertained the Leeds Union on Sunday and recorded their first win of the season and a first win over the Leeds Union since 2005, and an emphatic win at that by 29 - 7. The foursomes started well with Colcombe and Marsh disposing of former county champions Appleyard and Law by 4 & 2, other wins recorded by Powell & Shaw, Ingham & Martin, Tupman & Greaves, and Schnacke & Adamson, to give the HHDUGC team a well deserved lead of 10 - 2 after the foursomes matches.

We had been in this position before against the Leeds union, and I emphasised in the break before the singles that each individual should take it upon himself to win his match and not expect the job to be done by others. I chose to put the West End contingent between positions 5 -8 to give the team some backbone as well as hopefully winning the match with wins from this group.

Colcombe and Marsh were magnificent in their singles both winning 2 & 1 against very strong opposition to get us off to a fantastic start . their fighting spirit seemed to spread through the team, Schnacke winning 6 & 4, all the West End team recording wins, and with Powell & Birkett winning and Adamson fighting for a halved match HHDUGC won the match very comfortably.

It was a fantastic performance from the team after the disappointment of losing to the Harrogate Union and lifted the team off the bottom of the table. Hopefully we can kick on from here and record some more great results.

CHRIS MEAR - Team Captain
 

The new team strip for 2011. Trousers by Stromberg, shirts and sweaters by Glenbrae

Ethan Shaw (Marsden GC) sporting the new team dress

PREVIOUS RESULTS

Harrogate v HHDUGC

The Harrogate Union entertained the Halifax Huddersfield Union at Harrogate Golf club on Sunday the 26th June on what was the hottest day of the year to date, and it was the Harrogate Union who were the hottest team on the day, in a match that can best be described as Deja Vu. In June 2009 the match was played on the same venue with Harrogate winning that day 24 - 12 after turning round a 9 - 3 deficit after the foursomes. New debutant Nick Marsh, Elland, gelled well with former Union Matchplay champion Aaron Schnacke, Huddersfield to win their foursomes match 5&3,  and another win came from Mark Birkett, Halifax and Ben Crowther, Dewsbury District, winning 5&4. This was the only good news of the morning foursomes with all our other lads losing their matches leaving the score 8-4 in the Harrogate Unions favour. Both the team and I felt that although we were behind we still had a chance to turn the game around after all 2 quick wins in the singles matches and we were level once again. Unfortunately Mathew Colcombe never got going in the heat and lost his match 4&3, debutant Marsh came across the best player on the day Josh Bassitt who was approximately -6 when he beat Nick on the 15th hole. An impressive win by Schnacke 6&5 proved to be only the first points of the consolation points that we got on the day the other wins coming from Dave Stafford,  Halifax West End 2&1, and Mark Birkett 2&1 leaving the match score 26-10 in Harrogate's favour their first win since 2009 when they beat us at the same venue.  Unfortunately we made too many mistakes off the tee on this tight tree lined course where accuracy was at a premium, many times losing the hole because of having to chip out of the trees or taking on the  impossible shot which didn't come off especially when the matches were getting tight and ultimately giving the advantage to our opponents who gladly accepted all our gifts. The next match is against the Leeds Union on July 10th at Halfax West End