The Caricom cup was the trophy on offer as the CGS travelled to Lilleshall Hall Golf Club set in a quiet picturesque area of rolling Shropshire countryside.

The weather wasn’t looking good as we arrived, it was very cloudy and raining. Things soon changed and the sun came out to add some heat to the event.

The field was 42 deep which included Herval Wray as the sole guest. Herval as been on tour since arriving from the USA, he enjoyed very much his experience with the CGS and took many photos to take back to the states. He was very impressed with the level of golfers we have within the CGS and will no doubt spread the word. “Its a much different experience playing a course like Lilleshall compared to the courses in Florida, we have no trees on our courses”.

This was the CGS first visit to Lilleshall and won’t be the last, the course was excellent and well received by everyone. The the course is located next to the Lilleshall Hall Nation Sports Centre and was the location of the England football academy for many years. For many years CGS members spoke well on the quality of Lilleshall, the CGS finally managed to get it booked and it didn’t disappoint. The front and back nines are a little different the front nine is a little more open with some room for error but the back nine is densely tree lined and tight in places, accuracy on the back nine was key to posting a good score, a good score on the front could easily be undone when playing the back.

The opening hole wasn’t long, it did offer the long hitters an opportunity to go for the green if they were brave enough, but with a green sloping away from the fairway stopping the ball on the green from the tee would have to be some miracle shot. Most of the guys took a long iron or hybrid off the tee to avoid the bunker 265 yards down the fairway. Some hit their tee shot left which ended up in a tree planting area but fortunately for them all tree planting areas signified by blue stakes offered them a free drop which no doubt helped speed up play and prevented some scores from being far worse than the final number showed.

We had a late tee time with the first group going out at 1pm, unfortunately for them they were a three ball and all in buggies which meant once they got going they pretty much flew round in less than four hours which meant a long wait for all the groups to come in before the results would be announced. The good thing is they wouldn’t go hungry since at CGS events we do a rolling meal, so once a group finishes they don’t have to wait for everyone to finish they get to have their meal straight away.

The club was very accommodating, the restaurant staff catering for all the groups as they came off the course had a very good system which meant no long waits for food, the meal was enjoyable also.

On our arrival we were well looked after by a designated member from the club who made sure we had everything we needed. They also managed the first tee, calling out the groups to the tee box to start play, it was well organised.

The standard of golf at a CGS event is increasing all the time and you need to be on your game to win one. There were birdies and eagles dropping all day, with some 18 birdies made on the day with 10 on the front nine. The only eagle made on the day was a wedge shot from 60 yards on the second hole par 5 which went in, Roan McLeod went from one over par to one under after two holes, the eventual winner made one of his two birdies on the very same hole.

The easiest hole statistically was the 18th and the hardest was the 4th which yielded one birdie and 3 pars being the best scores on that hole. It looked like a straight forward hole but it was the the first where the tree’s really started to come into play.

The greens where quick due to the undulations, some very severe slops required prior knowledge of the borrows to score well as you really needed to know where to put the ball to have the best chance of making par or better, hopefully we will play it again next year so some of us get to play it better second time round.

Now to the winners, first its the on course challenges, the nearest the pins and longest drive.

For this event the nearest the pin in one was held on the par 3 16th and was won by DJ Jasper with an excellent tee shot to beat the previous mark. The nearest in two was held on the par 4 14th hole, a drive-able hole and the winner who was on the fringe from the tee was Andy Mack, who was putting to get it close in two and was very disappointed when the putt went pass the hole, however the mark was still good enough to win. Nearest the pin in three was held on the par 5 10th and closes on the day was Carl Douglas who also birdied the hole. The longest drive was held on the par 4 5th hole and this prize was won by Roan McLeod, who wedged it to within 2 feet but missed the birdie putt.

Now for the main points prizes of the day, in third place with a score of 35 Stableford points was Eldridge Cunningham. In the runner up spot with 36 points was Lloyd Thomas who also cleaned up on birdie and school monies.

In the top spot and winning the Caricom Cup with 38 points was Carl Douglas, some solid scoring from Carl who was focused on the day and avoided being distracted by the football academy which is adjacent to the golf course. Well done to Carl who not only won nearest the pin in three but also took home the top honours.

In 4th spot and loosing the 3rd spot on count-back was CGS captain Eddie Wedderburn who also scored 35 points. That 4th spot and his consistent play from previous events means Eddie sits firmly on the top of the Order of Merit table after four events in which he’s placed 4th at every event. That level of consistency means he leads the Order by over 100 points with 472 compared to 2nd place man Keith Salmon who’s on 310 points. There are still five more events so its early days to start calling who will be crowned 2022 Order of Merit champ but things are hotting up.

The next event will be held at Maxstoke Park Golf Club, the home club of chairman Junior Harris, this event promises to be one of the best all season, as Maxstoke is a great golf course with some of the best greens we’ll play all year.