Dawson welcomes foursomes return for league title tilt
HAMPSHIRE SKIPPER DESPERATE FOR FAST START TO CAMPAIGN AMID FIXTURE CHANGE
HAMPSHIRE’S golfers face a different challenge at the beginning of their campaign as they bid to reach the South East League final for the first time since 2018.
County captain Neil Dawson has to prepare his team for backto-back fixtures, thanks to a schedule change brought about by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at the beginning of June.
Instead of a traditional curtainraiser against Dorset, the North Hants Golf Club member now faces a tough trip to Kent to open the league campaign on Sunday – four weeks earlier than normal.
This weekend’s long trek to Broadstairs’ North Foreland Golf Club will be followed a week later by the clash against Dorset – when Liphook will stage the first home game in the South Division.
But the biggest factor, according to the senior collections manager at Novuna Business Finance, will be the return to the normal eight-game matchplay format for the first time since 2019.
Dawson is confident four foursomes before lunch followed by eight afternoon singles will only strengthen his team’s bid to win the South Division title come August.
The captain watched his first full season as captain wiped out by the lockdowns in 2020.
He had to be content with playing just eight singles matches in their four league games in 2021 as overnight travel restrictions earlier in the season forced a format change on organisers.
Dawson said: “I really think the removal of the four morning foursomes last year really hurt our bid to reach the league final.
“If you look at our record going back a number of years, we have always been strong in foursomes.
“We sneaked wins over Dorset and Kent last season with just the eight singles, before just getting pulled back by Surrey for a disappointing draw at Rowlands Castle.
“I am confident with the full 12 points to play for, our excellent foursomes partnerships will give us a platform from which to get the three or four wins we will need.”
Dawson’s men have had to accept the change in the schedule and plan accordingly.
The captain added: “The normal date for our county championship clashes with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend, so it has been brought forward a week.
“That means the match against Kent, which we always play on the normal Whitsun Bank Holiday weekend, is now being played this weekend instead.
“There are not many free dates in the amateur calendar to move a county match to.
“It means half our league season will be completed in the space of eight days.
“So if we are to do well in 2022, we need to start well.”
The other problem – apart from being so early in the new season – of having two games before the middle of May, is that all of Hampshire’s young talents currently on golf scholarships in the United States are ruled out of the Dorset and Kent games.
As a result Dawson has been putting his experienced bunch of midamateurs – the over-35s – through their paces using Stoneham’s excellent new practice facilities for monthly workouts since Christmas.
Dawson, who led Hampshire Colts to three successive South East League Finals from 2015-17, said: “Once I knew the dates, I told my squad that we needed to work hard on our foursomes.
“The scoring has impressive in practice.
“The guys have played some good golf but it will be a different matter when the first tee shot is struck at North Foreland.”
Hampshire squad: Toby Burden (Hayling); Martin Young (Brokenhurst Manor); Ryan Henley, Ryan Moody (Stoneham); Tom Robson, Colin Roope, Darren Wright (Rowlands Castle); Mark Burgess, Sam Parsons (Blackmoor) and Luke Hodgetts (Hockley). been really