IT has been a busy few weeks for members of Surrey’s 1st team squad, both locally and internationally, and it is very nice to be able to report that the result of all this golf is overwhelmingly positive. 

The major headlines have been made by Max Williams (Cuddington) and Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale) as they prospered on the international stage. 

Max triumphed in the Qatar Amateur Championship for the 3rd time in a row, having won the title in both 2009 and 2010, and will now go on to play in the 2012 Qatar Masters on the European Tour Schedule alongside some of the world’s finest. 

This is clearly a particularly impressive achievement from Max, is a great start to the year for him and will hopefully act as extra incentive, if any were needed, for the rest of the squad to focus on the season ahead. Many congratulations must go to him.  

As if that wasn’t enough, three other Surrey players were in the Qatar field, Josh White, Curtis Griffiths and Matt Chapman, and all of them finished in the top five. Josh and Curtis were T2nd, and Matt was 4th. Impressive stuff.

Stiggy made it all the way to the final of the Spanish Amateur only to lose to fellow England international, Laurie Canter.  

Typically for Stig, he offered an honest assessment of the final and readily admitted that the better man won on the day. However he too has shown excellent early-season form, both in Spain, and during his trip to Australia with the England Team in January and February, where he helped England to a 13-5 win over Australia to retain golf’s version of the Ashes, winning all three of his matches. 

A total of four Surrey players were present at the Spanish Amateur and Steve Brown (Wentworth) also played well to make the latter stages of the event.

Much closer to home, the 1st team has played matches against Sunningdale, Royal Wimbledon and Walton Heath. Since Royal Wimbledon is my home club and county players always play for their home club when the county team visits, I ended up playing against my own county team, so could legitimately claim to have been on the winning side regardless of the result! 

Happily, all of these fixtures resulted in wins for the county side and the team continues to build excellent momentum at an early stage in the year.

Many readers might question why a county side would play matches against club sides, when, on paper at least, the result should be a foregone conclusion. 

Well, there are actually a number of compelling reasons. Firstly, these games serve as an excellent way for the players to get together and develop as a team rather than a group of individuals, which is a powerful factor in the way any sports side performs. 

Additionally, as was the case in the recent game against Walton Heath, it provides a valuable opportunity for me to see some players that I might want to know more about before the competitive games come around in May.  

So far this year, I have picked a number of players from the U-18 squad, all of whom have impressed me with their various abilities, and I can therefore make more informed decisions should I need to call on any of them during the year. 

It is also the case that all of the club sides we play in the friendlies can field excellent teams who, in recent years, have either won the fixture, or come very close to doing so.

Sunningdale in particular has a very strong playing membership with many past international players who relish the match, and there isn’t a single player in our first-team squad who wouldn’t gain some valuable experience from the fixture.

The next few weeks will see the last couple of warm-up games, as well as an important training weekend before a slight lull in county golfing activity as a team. 

It is therefore particularly important we use these games wisely and continue the build-up to the season. Only two friendly games remain before the competition starts. 

One is against Wentworth, who can count four first-team squad members within the club so that is likely to prove a particularly difficult but useful fixture.