We kicked the season off with our first match against Northamptonshire on Sunday 27^th March at Rothley. We played County match week format of two foursomes matches and three singles matches, unfortunately due to injuries and various other commitments of team players I was players short, so I stepped in at the last minute. Northants fielded a really strong young side, and all the singles players were scratch and better handicaps, so the fact that we had two wins in the singles was brilliant. Holly Waterfield and Katie Underwood won their singles matches and in the foursomes Rachel East and myself won.

Squad  - Victoria Mayfield, Suzanne Pretty, Rachel East, Jo Mayfield, Katie Underwood, Di Miller

Match result a win to Leicestershire 3-2.

Our second match was against Bedfordshire away at Bedford and County Golf Club on the 2^nd April. This was an extremely cold afternoon with a all four seasons in one afternoon, I struggled to get a squad even though it is a combination of 1^st and 2^nd team and 1 junior.

We played two foursomes matches and four singles matches with us winning both foursomes matches and winning 2.5 points in the singles resulting in a win for Leicestershire 4.5-1.5.

Squad - Fran Brimm, Rachel East, Di Miller, Jo Mayfield, Helen Lowe , Moira Page, Paige McManus, Georgia Mitchson.

Great start two out of two matches won!

Our third match was against the County Senior Men at Luffenham Heath on Sunday 12^th April this match is played on the course where our County Championships are held that year. This year we played 10 a side instead of 12 and the format was 4BBB matchplay, last year we got thrashed 6-0 and this year we beat the men 3.5-1.5.

Squad - Karen Haynes Suzanne Pretty, Fran Brimm, Victoria Mayfield, Sasha Weightman, Georgia Mitchson, Jo Mayfield and Katie Underwood.

Three out of three.

Our fourth match was against Warwickshire on Sunday 24^th April at Kirby Muxloe G C this fixture we play 36 holes two separate matches. The squad for the morning was Victoria Mayfield, Helen Lowe, Rachel East, Suzanne Pretty, Ellie York, Georgia Mitchson, Di Miller

Unfortunately, we lost the morning match 1.5-3.5 with Rachel and Di winning their foursomes match and Helen winning her singles match. The afternoon saw some changes to the squad with Karen Haynes and Caz Parkes Walley playing wins came from both foursomes games of Karen and Suzanne and Rachel and Di and Caz winning her singles to give us a win of 3-2 in the afternoon.

Our final friendly match is against Worcestershire on Sunday 29^th May at Moseley G C, with County week being held at Trentham G C on 19^th-22^nd June

Warwickshire 22^nd May

We lost the morning game 3-2 and the afternoon game 3-2. This was our first match against another County and was a good starting block for working out pairings and singles players. Wins came from Holly Waterfield and Eleanor Parkinson in the morning foursomes and Gemma Parkes -Walley with the only singles win. The afternoon saw wins from Ellie York and Kirsten Thorpe in the fours and Caz Parkes-Walley in the singles.

Worcestershire 30^th May

The morning was foursome matches and we only took one point from a possible four and the afternoon was 8 singles matches which we only took 1.5 points out of 8 which was disappointing but four of the matches went down the 18^th and the score didn’t reflect how tight the matches were. The mornings only point came from Gemma Parkes -Walley and Holly Waterfield who won 2up. A special mention for Ellie and Kirsten who were the top pairing and had a fantastic match eventually losing 4&2 with Worcestershire being 5 under par gross for 17 holes. The singles points came from Vicky Mayfield who had a half and Caz Parkes-Walley who had a 3&2 win.  Overall result a win for Worcestershire 9.5 -2.5

Bedfordshire 5^th June

This was a rearranged fixture and unfortunately Bedfordshire struggle to field a 1^st team, so we decided to play some matches off scratch and some were off handicap. We played three foursome matches and two singles Eleanor Parkinson and Vicky Mayfield played Bedfordshire’s top pairing off scratch and won 3&1 with our girls being 2 under par gross. Karen Haynes and Francesca Brimm gave shots and had a great win of 7&5 and in the singles Caz Parkes Walley won 4&3. Overall result Leicestershire won 3-2.

Northants match I

Cancelled as not  enough 1^st team players.

Here are the final results from 2016 North Midland Inter County Week @ Holme Hall Golf Club

We arrived at Holme hall Golf Club on the Sunday, the course was in great condition with the fairways narrow, rough think and the greens running fast and true. We had a tough start to the week when we played the host team Lincolnshire on the first day.

Helen & Caz lead the morning foursomes followed by Jenny & Gemma and then Imogen & Beth. Unfortunately after some close matches we were 3-0 down after the morning leaving a difficult afternoon ahead.

Imogen came up against challenging opposition India Clyburn narrowly losing on 17.

Florence also played well but lost on the 16th.

Caz continued her 2015 form winning on the 17th.

Jenny and Beth fought hard to take their games to the 18th, nanarrowly losing 1 and 2 down.

I played at the back of the pack, winning on the 15th.

The final score was unfortunately 7-2 to Lincolnshire but the score felt like it should have been much have closer.

Congratulations go to Jenny who scored her first hole in 1 at the par 3 13th hole.

Tomorrow we will play the English champions Nottinghamshire for another exciting contest.

Gemma

There are now only 2 Weeks to go before this years county week begins! The team will be travelling to Holme Hall golf club, near Scunthorpe, where Lincolnshire will be hosting the event.

I'm pleased to announce the 2016 County Team:

Beth Acey- Hinckley Golf Club

Emily Dunne- Park Hill Golf Club

Jenny Hall- Glen Gorse Golf Club

Imogen Huxley- Rutland County Golf Club

Florence King- Forest Hill Golf Club

Helen Lowe- Scraptoft Golf Club 

Carolyn Parkes-Walley -Cosby Golf Club

Gemma Parkes-Walley -Cosby Golf Club

Emma Watson - Longcliffe Golf Club

L&R begin the weeks matches against hosts Lincolnshire on Monday, Tuesdays match is against Nottinghamshire followed by Derbyshire on Wednesday, Staffordshire on Thursday and Shropshire on Friday.

Morning tee times start at 8am each day and afternoon matches will finish between 5 and 6.30pm. It's a fantasic event where you will see some exceptional golf from all of the teams so come and support the Leicestershire & Rutland team in your sky blue. 

The team hope to follow in the footsteps of the Foxes and emulate their success by causing our own upset and reaching the County finals #foxesneverquit #fearless

Gemma