Fixby's Stellar Year

By Chris Stratford

Huddersfield Golf Club brought down the curtain on a summer of outstanding success by completing a clean sweep of all the scratch competitions on the Halifax, Huddersfield and District Union of Golf Clubs’ calendar.

On the same day that Adam Walker was becoming the second Fixby member to claim a Yorkshire championship in 2021, Aron Schnacke and James Skirrow lifted the Halifax-Huddersfield foursomes title in the final at Crosland Heath.

Walker had partnered Schnacke through the earlier rounds, but naturally, after qualifying, prioritised the final of the Yorkshire match play championship at Rotherham, in which he defeated Shipley’s Max Berrisford.

This he had preceded with victory in the union’s individual stroke play championship, for the PS Cockroft Trophy, as well as winning the individual match play crown, the JR Crawshaw Trophy, by beating Huddersfield clubmate Harry Mowl in the final.

Fixby claimed the Founders Trophy for success in the scratch team championship through the efforts of Josh Morton, Tom Green and Mowl at Dewsbury and prevailed for the 11th time in 13 years in Division One of Halifax-Huddersfield’s Scratch League.

Walker, in tandem with Louie Walsh (PICTURED WITH YUGC PRESIDENT CAMERON THOMSON) added further gloss by securing the Yorkshire Inter-District Union Plate, between them returning a four-under-par aggregate, the lowest 36-hole combined total from a union pairing at the Yorkshire Amateur Championship at Alwoodley.

This enabled Halifax-Huddersfield to get their hands on the Plate for the first time in their history.

Charlotte Heath had brought international recognition to Fixby in the summer by being a part of Great Britain & Ireland’s team that took on the USA at Conwy, in Wales, an event shown on live TV, and Dylan Shaw-Radford augmented his Yorkshire Boys’ title success by becoming English Boys’ County Champion of Champions at Woodhall Spa (see p14).

Charles Webb and Frank Greaves, meanwhile, represented Yorkshire Seniors as the White Rose won the Northern Counties Golf Union Seniors’ title for the first time since 2017.

Huddersfield’s Director of Golf, Brad Tupman, commented: “The success of Charlotte Heath getting into the Curtis Cup team, which surely must make Charlotte Fixby’s greatest ever amateur, I know the club as a whole are immensely proud of Charlotte and many members got to see her play in the tournament at Conwy in September.

“It is incredible that we as members are getting to see history made right in front of our own eyes and we all wish Charlotte the very best.

“On the men’s side, Adam Walker winning the Yorkshire match play championship fresh off being only the fourth person ever to win both the HHDUGC elite majors in a year, to Dylan Shaw-Radford’s double of Yorkshire Boys and then to become Champion of Champions.

“Add to that the scratch team so ably managed by James Skirrow won the scratch league and Scratch Team Championships and the HHDUGC scratch foursomes and it’s been quite a season.”