The answer to this question would be whether the 8th green was and would remain playable with the ever increasing amount water being added by the constant rain. There was one man amongst who was not only convinced that it would, but was also determined that it would. That man was Bob Esslemont the Captain of Coventry Hearsall Golf Club.

On the weekend of the 65th anniversary of the Normandy Landings Bob demonstrated true Dunkirk spirit by personally donning his waterproofs and standing guard at the 8th green 'squeegee' in hand ensuring that every foursomes match could complete the hole and continue their match. Shortly after the final foursomes pairings had played the 8th hole the rain stopped, the golf course began to dry and eventually the sun came out and the afternoon weather became glorious.

Bob is a very rare breed and his determination to ensure that the match could be played was born out his belief as he put it that 'it is an honour and a privilege that the county want to play their matches at Coventry Hearsall and it wouldn't be acceptable to have to postpone the match unless every possible effort had been made to ensure that this did not happen'.

Without Bob's actions I can confidently say that this match would have been postponed and both teams (players and officials) are incredibly grateful for his 'above and beyond the call of duty' actions.

Now that we were playing golf, how were we doing ?

First up were home club pairing Sam Foster & James Bromley who secured a tidy opening 3 & 2 win. Next were Maxstoke Park's Antony Gascoigne & new home club member (and returning to 2nd team duty) Stuart Bloxham, an indifferent game and some uncharacteristically errant tee shots from Gascoigne would see them lose 3 & 2. Handsworth's Karl Smith partnered Ladbroke Park's Chris Freeman to a 2 & 1 victory and were followed closely by the Finham pairing of Charlie Higgens and (home for the summer from his American golf scholarship) Dale Middleton who handed out a 6 & 4 thumping to their unsuspecting opponents.

The early news from Maxstoke Park's Steve Creed & Handsworth's Steve Dyson's match were that they were 3 down early doors and needing to steady the ship, stop the rot, dig deep and stay in the game. This they did and then bit by bit, hole by hole they fought back to get a hard earned half point that would prove crucial to the lunchtime score. The perennial final pairing of Stoneleigh's Nev Gardner & 2nd team captain Pete Clarke were up against the same pairing of S & H captain John McQuillan and his partner Andrew Porter whom they played against last year in the corresponding fixture at Kington GC. On that occasion a closely fought match went down the last only for the S & H pair to win 1 up, this year was again closely fought (if not so high in quality) and this year the match would also go down last and equally disappointingly this year S & H would again win 1 up.

Lunch was taken with the 2nd's holding a slender 3.5 v 2.5 lead.

The afternoon singles saw Sam Foster lead out the 2nd's in a high quality opening match that would result in a 3 & 1 victory. Antony Gascoigne followed and using his driver more sparingly in the afternoon would see-off his opponent for a 3 & 2 win. James Bromley came up against S & H's current form player and try as he always does he would still succumb to a 3 & 2 loss.

Karl Smith (2 & 1) & Stuart Bloxham (an excellent 6 & 4) extended the 2nd's lead to put a bit daylight between the teams and when Dale Middleton came off the 18th green with a closely fought 1 up the winning line was in sight and only 1 point was now needed with 6 matches still to come. The next 4 matches however were not going the 2nd's way and it would need something special to turn things around to ensure that nerves would not become frayed at the tail of the line-up.

That something special arrived on the 10th tee courtesy of Steve Creed, a laser measurement of 185 yards, a check of the wind direction and speed, the choosing of the club (5 iron), a practice swing (or two), a careful look at to what was in front and a mental picture of the shot that was required, a careful placing of the club on the turf behind the ball, feet shoulder width apart, stance checked for direction, a tweak of the shoulders and a final glance at the target, a smooth slow takeaway followed by a hinge and a turn to the top of the backswing (well as near to top as he can get !), a pull from the left shoulder starts the downswing, a simultaneous transfer of weight results in a textbook acceleration of the clubhead towards the ball, contact is made and in Steve's own words 'it was a little bit thin !'.

'Thin' it may have been, but at the top of his follow through (and just about holding his balance and pose) he could see that it was at least straight. That is short and straight!

However in true 'Barnes-Wallace' fashion his 'thin' resulted in a top-spin bounce that saw his ball onto the green and disappear out of sight over the brow of the slope. A sigh of relief, club in bag and off to the green he marched, head down chatting to his opponent, non the wiser.

When somewhere near 50 yards from the green he raised his head to see the pairing in front standing behind the green waving their arms and applauding, after initially being somewhat puzzled it then dawned on him that he had somehow achieved his 3rd career hole-in-one !

Word quickly spread through the field and the thought of Steve's 'Thin Lizzy' providing a 'Whiskey in the Bar' was just the incentive Chris Freeman needed being 2 down on the 16th tee and staring defeat in the face. A birdie at the 16th halved the deficit and a halved par at the next would see him arrive at the tee of the tough finishing 18th needing to win the hole. Holding his nerve and watching his opponent lose his a solid par was enough to secure the half point that meant that the 2nd's could not now lose the overall match.

We now just needed someone to finally get us home, that someone rather appropriately was Steve Creed. Following his hole-in-one exploits Steve couldn't quite shake off his opponent who was 'making a mile of putts' to hang onto his coat-tails. All square going down the 18th, his opponent in tree trouble and chipping his 4th shot to 15ft. Steve, greenside in 2 shots and needing to get up and down to guarantee a win. His chip didn't run-out as expected and the next lagged putt was conceded leaving his opponent a tricky 15 footer with plenty of borrow to halve the hole and their game. Another 15 feet were added to that mile as the putt disappeared, their game may have been halved but the overall match was now won. Well done Steve, now get to that bar !

With the match now won it was only a case of by how many and with points difference being important, the more the merrier.

Captain Pete Clarke would rue a couple of early errors that gave his opponent an early lead and despite 3 back-nine birdies he would lose 3 & 2 as his birdies were matched with some very steady golf from tee to green. Steve Dyson posted another point against his out of sorts opponent with a comprehensive 5 & 3 victory which was matched by Nev Gardner to get his revenge over the S & H captain.

The delicious after-match meal (specially chosen by the Hearsall 2nd team contingent) was taken with the usual clubhouse banter for which the 2nd's are becoming renown for and in which the S & H team played their part.

A round of Glenmorangie was distributed and a toast made by everyone to celebrate Steve Creed's hole-in-one, with the promise that this shall be the last that we hear of it !

Special thanks were received from the S & H captain regarding the hospitality they had received from everyone at Coventry Hearsall Golf Club during their stay (including a practice round on Saturday afternoon) and he further commented that despite being on the end of an 11.5 v 6.5 beating from the Warwickshire 2nd's he and his team had had a very enjoyable weekend.

The 2nd's will be looking to add to this opening success at Kenilworth Golf Club on Sunday 5th July where Staffordshire will be the opponents.