As we reach the halfway point of the Junior Newton Shield Handicap league, it seemed a good point to give an update on our progress so far.
The opening tie away to Ralston was a chance to get off to a good start, and that they did. The Elderslie team of Drew Lang, Flynn Thornton, Aidan McGuire and Lucas Leckie won all four games, giving the team a great start to the campaign.
Our next match against Greenock was our only home fixture among the first four, and, having not faced them in the Junior Newton Shield for a few years, they were essentially a new opponent for our team. That said, the team walked away with another four games won, with the night belonging to Aidan and Callan McGuire, who won their matches comfortably against players with similar handicap indexes.
The next two matches were away ties against known opponents, Renfrew and Old Ranfurly. In the past, these clubs have had strong teams in both the scratch and handicap leagues.
Despite facing a tough opponent in the past, our visit to Renfrew resulted in another win, with Elderslie winning three of the four games and halving the remaining game, leaving us undefeated in our first 12 games.
To round off our first four fixtures, we travelled to Old Ranfurly. The night brought some great weather and golf. Lucas Leckie secured our first point of the night with a comfortable 6 & 4 win, giving him three wins out of his three appearances for Elderslie. We won a second game on the 18th hole to at least guarantee a half. With Old Ranfurly winning game three, the final game went down to the 18th. Old Ranfurly took the final game to leave us with a halved match for the night.
This Friday, 5th June, we host Ralston with the team in good spirits following their successful start. After that, we have an away match at Greenock on 12th June, followed by two home games against Renfrew on 19th June and Old Ranfurly on 26th June.
We would love to see members come out to support the junior team in their last two home matches of the season against Renfrew and Old Ranfurly.
