Essex Youth Shield Handicap Competition

Benton Hall have been entered into this year's Essex Youth Shield Handicap competition, which is a county team competition for junior golfers with handicaps of 36 of lower.

The competition begins with a league stage with five games being played between March and the end of June. The top two teams in each league progress to the quarter final knockout stage. A team that wins three or more individual matches within a match is awarded two league points or progresses through to the next round if the match is a knockout tie.

Each game involves five singles matches played in exact handicap order. This means players are matched against those with the closest handicap to their own. Matches are played using the full handicap difference between the two handicaps so, for example, a 22 handicap would get 4 shots when playing against an 18 handicap. Those 4 shots would be taken on the holes that match the Stroke Index number on the scorecard (e.g. 1, 2, 3 and 4). All other holes are played off scratch (no shots for either player). Individual matches cannot end in a tie, so if a match is level after 18 holes then it goes to a play off with play continuing from the 1st hole until one player wins a hole. Handicap allowances begin again in the play off, so players receive the same shots in the play off as they did during the 18 hole match.

A team can only play a match if they have a minimum of 4 players and if a team does not fulfil a fixture then they will be removed from the competition and their results will be removed.

If both teams have a sixth (or seventh) player that is not playing in the match then these players may play each other in a reserve match, but this result will not count towards the overall match result.

Essex Golf Union Youth Shield (click this link for full details of the competition, including league tables, fixtures, results, reports, etc.)

Youth Shield Competition Conditions (click this link for full competition rules and conditions)

League Matches - to be played BY the following dates

• Sunday 12-Apr - League Match 1 (home or away)
• Sunday 26-Apr - League Match 2 (home or away)
• Sunday 10-May - League Match 3 (home or away)
• Sunday 24-May - League Match 4  (home or away)
• Sunday 28-Jun - League Match 5 (home or away)

Knockout Stage Matches - to be played ON the following dates

• Saturday 18-Jul - Quarter Finals (netural course)
• Saturday 15-Aug - Semi Finals (neutral course)
• Sunday 13-Sep - Final (neutral course)

Benton Hall have been drawn in Zone B and will play matches against the following clubs:

• Chelmsford
• Colchester
• Colne Valley
• Forrester Park
• Frinton

The draw will be published during the w/c 2nd March. This will determine the order of matches and which matches will be played at home and away.