Leicestershire & Rutland V Northamptonshire Friendly Match 6.4.25

This year we reinstated the friendly match against Northamptonshire County Ladies 1st team. We decided upon a slightly different format in order to establish and experiment with new foursomes partnerships. This proved highly beneficial for both teams as we played foursomes in both the morning and the afternoon sessions, neither team could field the same pairs in the afternoon each player had to be with a different partner.

The match was away at Collingtree Park Golf Club, the weather was beautiful but the wind proved to be very tricky, the course was in superb condition and the greens were rolling nicely. Only a few of our ten players had played the course before and after the morning session we were 3 – 2 down to Northamptonshire. Two of the matches went down to the wire and finished with a friendly half on the 18^th.

In the afternoon our foursomes pairings were strategically formed using the yardage data from Ping and placing pairs together to be able to play the same way as they had in the morning, therefore even though you were with a different partner you were teeing the same holes. That way you could use any knowledge about yardages on Par 3s that was gained in the morning to our advantage.

During the afternoon session we did not loose a match, Ellie York and Beth Johnson along with Lisa Porter and Tracey Bates halved their matches which gave Northamptonshire their 1 point and all the other three matches won securing Leicestershire & Rutland 4 points.

The overall score was 6 – 4 to Leicestershire & Rutland.

All of the matches were played in great spirit and there was a brilliant team atmosphere, this fixture was a huge success for both teams and will continue next year 2026.

DATE: Sunday 6^th April                   

HOME TEAM: Northamptonshire     AWAY TEAM: Leicestershire & Rutland

WINNING TEAM:  Leicestershire & Rutland 6 - 4