BALDWIN – RICHARDS FOUR COUNTIES BOYS TOURNAMANT 2025

The Worcestershire U18 boys’ team arrived at the picturesque Forest Hills GC early on a gloomy spring morning. The tournament is played over 2 days and involves playing 8 singles matches against each of the other counties that include Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire. 

Four of the squad were making their debuts in the tournament and 2 were making their county debuts. The team’s first match was against a solid Gloucestershire team on Wednesday afternoon, there were a few tight matches, but Gloucestershire ran out winners 5.5 – 2.5.

The second day started in high winds, and grey skies. An overnight rethink on the playing order was made to try to get Worcestershire back into contention. It was a strong spirited performance by the team against a good Warwickshire line-up, but again, the tight matches favoured Warwickshire who managed to run out winners 5.5 – 2.5.

Unfortunately, this meant Worcestershire were unable to win the trophy as staffs had won both of their matches. Despite this the Worcestershire boys were determined to end on a high, The playing order was reshuffled for a third time to try and get us that elusive win, no matter how hard the team fought it just wasn’t to be with Staffs comfortably running out winners 7.5 – 0.5.

That meant Worcestershire finished fourth overall with 3 defeats, congratulations to Staffs for winning the tournament.

I would like to thank Gloucestershire with the organisation of the event, and especially Dean for his efforts in bringing it all together. The hospitality at Forest Hills Golf Club was excellent and my thanks go to the catering staff and the grounds team for producing the course in excellent condition. A special thank you to John Whitehead, not only for his support but for also acting as starter for the first days play. As always, my thanks go to Alex Band for his continued assistance and energy with the team and to County secretary Ian Griffiths for attending the event and offering his support that was much appreciated.

We all look forward to next year’s event, which, will be hosted by Warwickshire.

Kevin Fee

U18s Team Manger