On Tuesday, the Balcarras Golf Team  competed in the English Schools Championships at Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire. We set off at 8.30 and made it in good time for the practice round. We played the Bracken course which was just wonderful and the weather played along too—it was beautiful conditions for golf.  After the practice round on the Tuesday we headed off to our hotel in Lincoln. Over dinner we discussed tactics and conditions, setting out our plans for the competition to come.

We arrived on the course nice and early on the Wednesday and the boys warmed up and went through their routines. It was another scorcher of a day and thankfully I was able to borrow some sun cream! This is the third time in a row that Balcarras has made the National finals and we had high hopes of coming away with the trophy. Alas it was not to be…the putts just wouldn’t drop. The pupils should be very proud to be the reigning Gloucestershire champions and I still believe this team could lift the National trophy next year.

Out of a very talented pool of golfers this year's team consisted of Alex Williams, Finlay Richards and Freddie Coombe. They all played brilliantly and were a real credit to the school. The officials from the English Golf Association said that they don’t remember a player being represented at their competition three years running. Special shout out to Freddie for achieving a hat trick of appearances.

I would also like to thank Mr Ryan Coombe for helping me to transport the pupils to Lincolnshire and supervising them with me through the practice round and the competition. I’d also like to thank Mr Perry who runs our golf team and would ordinarily have been the supervising teacher.

I think it is also worth saying that the staff at Woodhall Spa and those from the English Schools Golf Association could not have been more welcoming or amenable.

It was a great competition. Well done to all of our golfers through the 2024-25 season.

Dominic Burke