After months of preparation and planning by WO2 (AQMS) Lee Wright, the day finally arrived on 26th June for 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Golf Society (13AASR GS) to depart the UK for Portugal on Ex BIRDIE 22. This would be the 1st Golf Tour in the history of 13AASR, this combined with the social limitations due to COVID, I would say excitement was an understatement. The transport was packed and after a swift docs check we embarked on our journey from Colchester to Stanstead airport. Check in and bag drop was smooth and there were no ques at security which gave us plenty of time to grab a breakfast before the flight. We finished breakfast and grabbed a drink, only to find out the flight has been delayed for 3 hrs!
After a light snooze during the flight, we arrived in Faro airport, met with our transfer driver, and headed towards the hotel. The delay at Stansted had a knock-on effect with timings for our 1st team bonding event. With no time for a shower, we dumped our bags into our allocated rooms and headed towards Golfland for food and our 1st round of golf to practice on Trackman simulators, playing the world-famous St Andrews course.
Day 2. Reveille 0800 for a light run along the beach before the the 1st match, held at Silves Golf resort. At Silves golf most holes have mountain views overlooking palm trees and olive groves, making for superb senary with authentic Portuguese smells coming from the local cork factory. As our 1st round out on a course, this was more a practice to shake off the cobwebs rather than a strict competition. The match was won by WO2 (AQMS) Matt Baron with a stableford score of 30, closest to the pin was Lt Oli Measey and longest drive SSgt Lewis Haddon. A few refreshments later, bouncing between watering holes, we soon arrived at Golfland for our 2nd team bonding event – minigolf.
Day 3. Tee off was scheduled for 1106Hrs at Vale de Pinta Golf. Eager and raring to go, 13AASR GS commenced a pairs competition. A technical, challenging narrow course led to multiple lost balls and one frustrated officer, Capt Joseph Jenkins, who lost a total of 15 balls in a single round of golf, mainly in the water on hole 5. Overall winning pairs team was WO1 (ASM) Guy Sargeant and Lt Keiran Garroway scoring a combine stableford score of 80. Closest to the pin was again Lt Oli Measey and longest drive WO2 (AQMS) Matt Baron.
Day 4. Tee off at 1048hrs at Alto Golf, 13AASR GS vs Golfland GS. Alto golf has long rolling fairways that provides plenty of forgiveness which suit big hitters however most holes are situated on elevated greens, making it challenging to finish unless you are on top of your short game. The scoring system used was Stableford, allowing our golf team to finish ahead of the local players by the smallest of margins – thanks to WO1 (AMS) Guy Sargeant for carrying the team with his handicap of 40!
Day 5. Back to Vale de Pinta for our final round against Carvoeiro Golf and Country Club, again using the Stableford system. The Captain of the club, Ian, happened to be retired RAF who organised a team of retired Army and RAF members who now live Portugal. This led to good conversation and competition throughout the day which ended up in Ian’s privately owned villa situated on hole 3. Whilst enjoying his excellent hospitality with BBQ food and drinks, short speeches took place as well the prizes. Overall 13AASR GS lost to the local veterans but this was expected due to their local knowledge of the course and years of playing!
Day 6. No more golf. Everyone was exhausted from walking the hilly courses in the midday sun and welcomed a relaxing day by the pool as we waited for our evening flight back to Stansted. Overall results for the combined golf between members of 13AASR GS were:
Closest to the pin won by Lt Oli Measey x 2
Longest drive won by WO2 (AQMS) Matt Baron x 3, SSgt Lewis Haddon x 1
Overall winner (Stableford) won by WO1 (ASM) Guy Sargeant
2nd place Lt Keiran Garroway
3rd place Lt Oli Measey
Pairs winners WO1 (ASM) Guy Sargeant and Lt Keiran Garroway
Ex BIRDIE 22 was thoroughly enjoyed by all those who took part. The team bonding events provided a structure for the evenings along with and some golf practice with the simulator and minigolf. The four rounds played at picturesque golf courses with ideal weather conditions have set up members of 13AASR GS ready for the remaining Corps events for this 22/23 golf season and beyond.
