Amazing week for Highwoods golfers

The Ellerslie Lane club is thought to be the first ever to win English Ladies' Golf Union gold and silver medals in the same year and the silver medal recipient is thought to be the youngest yet.

What's more, Chris Coxhead lifted the Sussex Veteran Ladies' Trophy for the second successive year.

"We had three outstanding achievements in a week," Chris said. "This was definitely a week to remember for Highwoods Ladies."

The golden run began on Monday, last week, when Angela Smith and Chelsea Masters took the gold and silver medals respectively in the South East region.

Angela played two-under her 12 handicap at Aldwickbury Park, Hertfordshire, to win by a shot from a field of around 100 players. The highlight of a largely steady round came when she chipped in for bogey on the 13th hole.

Chelsea's story was perhaps even more remarkable since she is just 13-years-old. The Bexhill High School pupil shot an incredible round of eight-under her then handicap of 18 (it has since been cut to 16) at Panshanger Golf Club, also in Hertfordshire. She too won by a single stroke over a similarly sizeable field.

"I don't think we've ever produced a winner at Highwoods before," Angela said, "and they (the English Ladies' Golf Union) said, as far as they could make out, this was the first time two players from the same club had won in the same year. Chelsea is possibly the youngest player ever to have won and we're both extremely excited."

Chris made it a marvellous hat-trick when she played four-under her five handicap at Piltdown Golf Club on Thursday, last week.

The English Ladies' Golf Union medal is divided into three handicap-related categories - gold, silver and bronze - and each category is competed for in four regions around the country (there is no national final).

The finalists are the one and only representative of their club in any particular category. Angela and Chelsea earned the right to turn out for Highwoods courtesy of recording the four best medal scores in their respective handicap divisions at the club last year.