There are six counties involved – Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire & Herefordshire.  Each county plays 5 matches, each match consisting of 5 games – 2 x foursomes and 3 x singles.  Matches are played Mon AM, Mon PM, Tue AM, Tue PM, and Wed AM.

The winner of CMW goes forward to National Finals, where the winners of each regional CMW play the same format for a national winner.

A team of 9 was selected to represent Bucks:

Ella Butteriss                                       Beaconsfield

Hannah Cash                                      The Buckinghamshire

Megan Dennis                                    Woburn

Ciara Egan    Woburn

Thalia Kirby          Harleyford

Alice Kozlowski                                  Ellesborough

Georgia Lloyd                                     Buckingham

Grace Rigby-Walden                         Gerrards Cross

Lily Robinson                                      Buckingham

We had a very experienced team this year – Alice was playing in her 10^th CMW, Megan her 9^th and Thalia her 8^th.  Georgia was our only rookie this year.  Unfortunately on Sunday 12^th, Ciara was forced to drop out as she tested positive for Covid, so we decided to go with a team of 8.

The forecast for the week was pretty good, with warmish weather and no rain forecast, so we were looking forward to some uninterrupted golf.

On Monday morning we had our first match against the hosts, Warwickshire.  Lily & Hannah led the team out and managed a 2&1 win and Alice & Grace won the second foursomes 5&4.  Ella played in the first singles match which was quite tight.  Ella was 1 up playing the last where she had an eagle to win 2 up. Megan lost her match against a very experienced opponent and Thalia had a convincing win 5&4 to round off a very satisfying 4 – 1 win.

In the afternoon we played Berkshire.  Ella & Thalia played foursomes and were just too strong for their opponents, winning 8&6.  Lily & Hannah played and won another foursomes match.  Alice won a tight singles match and Megan won her singles convincingly 6&5.  Grace had a very close match and was down for some time, but managed to come back for a half, so an overall 4½ - ½ win.

At the end of the first day, Bucks were the only county to win both matches.

Tuesday morning was our game against Worcestershire & Herefordshire, who were second in the table with a win and a half on Monday.  Lily & Grace played in the first foursomes and lost their match, but Megan & Hannah had a convincing 7&5 win in their foursomes.  Thalia won her singles 8&6, so the overall match went down to the last 2 singles, with Bucks needing to win one of these to win the match.  Ella was 2 down with 2 to play but won the last 2 holes for a very valuable half.  Alice was down at the beginning of her match but came back at the end and won 1 up, so an overall 3½ - 1½ win.

Tuesday afternoon we played Oxfordshire.  Ella & Grace played foursomes and won 6&4, and in the second foursomes Alice played with Georgia.  Georgia said she was very nervous in her first match but it didn’t show in her golf and she and Alice played some great golf and came back from being down early in the match to a 2 up win.  In the singles, Thalia lost by 1 hole, but Hannah and Megan both won their matches quite easily – 6&4 and 6&5.  An overall 4 – 1 win.

With the other results going to different counties, it meant that Buckinghamshire could not be overtaken irrespective of the results on Wednesday.

On Wednesday we played Northamptonshire, who had a very young team.  Thalia & Ella and Alice & Lily won both their foursomes matches convincingly – 7&6 and 6&5. Megan won her singles 6&4 so we all followed the last two singles matches with Hannah and Grace.  Hannah’s opponent holed a 30 foot putt from just off the green on the 17^th , leaving Hannah to hole a 6 footer to win the match 2&1.  Grace was down early in her match but came back very strongly to win 3&2, so an overall 5 – 0 win.

Overall we won all our matches, and out of 25 games played won 20, halved 2 and only lost 3, so a very emphatic win.

Thanks very much to Helen Mines – house mother, kit manager, super-caddie, taxi driver and overall just a great help to everyone.

Thanks also to Lynda Hilton, our County President, another great help and support.

Tony Bowers, our County Coach, who advised on pairings and was our on course advice giver.  Tony is great with the girls and gets a great team spirt.

Thanks to Susanna Mitterer, my Vice Captain who came to support me and the team and also caddied for the girls on Monday and Tuesday.

I also want to thank Leamington & County Golf Club and all the members who came along to ball spot and support.  A special mention to Diana who was our ambassador for the week.

Thank you to all the Bucks supporters who came up to watch – it’s great to see all the red and I’m sure it helped the team seeing lots of support.

The whole event was very well run and we were made very welcome by everyone.  This was my second CMW so I knew what to expect, but I’m not sure if I was even more nervous than last year!

A great big thank you to all the team – the girls were fabulous.  There was a real team spirit and a great sense of fun and enjoyment in the team.  It is great to win, but much better to win when everyone enjoyed the whole experience.

At the end of CMW I was delighted to announce that Hannah Cash, Grace Rigby-Walden and Ella Butteriss had all earned their county colours.  Many congratulations to all three girls.  County Colours are awarded for winning 6 points at County Match Week and National Finals.  Alice, Megan, Thalia and Lily earned their county colours in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019 respectively.

We have now qualified for National Finals, which this year will be held at Stoneham (Hampshire) Denham from 16^th to 18^thSeptember.

The other counties who have qualified for National Finals are: Nottinghamshire (Midlands North), Kent (South), Cheshire (North), Essex (East), and Somerset (South West).  Buckinghamshire and Somerset are the only 2 counties who have qualified this year who also played in National Finals in 2021. 

For full scores please see the Warwickshire Golf web site