County of the Year 2026

Cole Self (Ringway) is through to R2 of the R&A Boys' Amateur Championship with a 3&2 win over Germany's David Suentzenich this morning. Well played!

Cole Self (Ringway) is leading The 2026 R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship after two rounds today! Good luck tomorrow, and good luck to Dean Lenahan (Wilmslow) who also made the cut today.

Fabulous performance by @shane35556 Shane Clayton (Delamere Forest) at Conway / Faldo U16's. 3rd by a shot. Well played! #conwygolfcub #faldoseriesgrandfinal

Stamford Golf Club could not have been more welcoming, what a great club to hold a matchplay event on, Cheshire Boys and their helpers arrived in glorious sunshine with views in every direction and although their clubhouse does not usually open on a Monday, they were there to greet both teams with bacon baps. Their Club Captain Clive (featured in photo) came to do the starting, though he sadly had to rush off and missed some outstanding golf from the 20 young men out on the course. The foursomes started badly for the home county and at one point Cheshire were behind in all 5 matches, but there were some great fightbacks, with Captain Matty Griffiths and Joseph Dodd-Berry scrapping hard for a half on the last green, Ellis Courtnell and Wilf Simcock as well as James Clark and Josh Hockenhull both won 2&1. Then Jack Barnes and Callum Woolley came in with a win by 3&2 to give Cheshire a comfortable 3.5:1.5 lead at lunchtime. With help from Peter Barber as our coach the boys set off again in the afternoon but once again as their matches passed the halfway stage it was not looking good for Cheshire. However, having lost the first 2 matches, Joseph produced a wonderful finish on the 18th to put Cheshire marginally ahead. Things then went bleak with only Josh winning from the next four matches to finish leaving Cheshire trailing by 6.5:5.5. However, the last 3 matches featuring Jack Barnes, Callum Woolley and Lawson Yates all went Cheshire’s way giving them victory by 8.5:6.5. Thanks go to the parents who enable the boys to get to these matches and all those including our President Marjorie Griffiths who came to support, also to Mark Smith the Stamford Club Professional who helped in so many ways on the day and as Andrew Henshall the team manager put it, after the match: “Cheshire now have the opportunity to be Northern Counties Boys League Champions for only the second time if we can beat Yorkshire over at Wheatley Golf Club on Monday 17th August.” A great win against wonderful opponents and friends from Lancashire Golf who are back to being a hard team to beat after a couple of fallow years. Well done to all the team!

Morgan Bollan competed in her third Home Internationals representing Wales this week 👏🏼 Morgan enjoyed another strong week, contributing points in both foursomes and singles for Team Wales. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England — Both foursomes and singles matches tied 🤝 🇮🇪 Ireland — Wins in both the foursomes and singles ✅ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotland — A foursomes loss, followed by a singles win in the afternoon to round off a great week 👏🏼 Morgan finished the week unbeaten in all three singles matches with 2 wins and a draw, continuing her unbeaten record in International and Women’s County singles matches this season.

6 girls of the Cheshire Girls Junior Jamboree team battled hard over 2 days at Scarcroft GC in the Northern Junior Girls Jamboree. The first day was a singles Stableford competition, with all 6 scores being added together to give a total team score. The first day was very windy with showers. Add in a very bouncy course and it proved really tough with most competitors finding it hard to score. Top performers for Cheshire on the first day were Jamboree Team Captain Isobel Smith with 39 points and Olivia Smith with 35 points. The second day was foursomes matchplay, a new trial format for 2026 instead of the usual singles matchplay. It proved to be a great format for Team Cheshire with Captain Smith and partner Keira Saunders bringing in a superb 7&5 win. That was backed up by another fantastic performance by Oliva Smith and Isla May Handley who earned a hard fought draw after a ding dong battle against a fierce Lancashire pairing. Cheshires final pairing of Emma Barnes and Ewana Praveen again turned in a great performance, battling back from 5 down to lose only 3&2 on the 16th hole to a tough Northumberland pair. Whilst our Cheshire team gave their best over the 2 days, it was Cumbria who took the trophy, much to the tears and delight of their Junior Girls Manager. Huge thanks go to our players who behaved impeccably on and off the course and our county officials, Julia Wilkinson, Marjorie Griffiths, Den Burchell and Christina Hornsby without whom this trip wouldn't happen. Here's to next year event at Houghton Le Spring, Durham.