FIPPA - a World of Pitch and Putt

European Team Championship 2007
The Last Putt - that wasnt...

What you are reading is not a blow by blow account of the recent "5th European Team Championship", (if you need that, go to Michael Murphy's excellent piece on the PPUI web-site), and it is certainly not an official, detailed report on the event. It is a few heart-felt reflections, jotted down during a wonderful holiday in southern Sardinia by a privileged spectator. It was a great event and Pitch and Putt made yet another historic step forward in its international development.

Assembling well over 150 people in a luxury resort on a Mediterranean island and ensuring that close on 100 players and coaches, (don't forget the ladies!), were on the first tee at the right time on the right day was a major logistical feat that our Italian/San Marino hosts successfully carried out with barely a hitch. It was a magnificent event and I came away literally uplifted by all that I had experienced and learned during these few days, so rich in poignant moments. As I would like to finish on a high, I'll start with the down side!

EPPA had requested tee-boxes or mats be provided for the event and this was not the case. The organisers had informed EPPA in May that they had been unable to obtain satisfaction on this point, but the Board of EPPA kept on hoping for a last minute solution and insisted on having the boxes. In the final count, there were no boxes and teams were only informed of this situation a few days before the tournament. The grass tees were not too bad but most players would have preferred them to be mown shorter.

EPPA has since debated this question and has decided that tee-boxes are recommended but not compulsory. In future, if mats or tee-boxes cannot be provided for an important competition, players will be informed well in advance and will have time to prepare accordingly.

Ironically, some complaints were aired concerning the enthusiasm of the spectators. The play was so good and matches were often so tight that a clinch putt at a key moment was bound to elicit an exuberant reaction from the crowd of passionate supporters. The problem here is that all the matches are being played at the same time in a very restricted area and a player putting ten metres away to save a hole in the 9th / 10th place final deserves as much respect as the champions.

A semantic misunderstanding of the expression "aggregate score" led to the third hiccup, as the organisers eliminated the sixth score after each round of 18 holes, rather than eliminating the highest 36 hole score, as we have done in the past. This had little incidence on the final result but we need to make sure in the future that the rules are clearly understood by all concerned. EPPA had also catered for the 36 holes to be played without interruption, followed by the Ladies' match and in reality, the two were interspersed.

The final moan is over the presence of a group of activists who decided to use the event to air their political grievances, making sure they would get television coverage for their action. It is a shame for a sporting event of this nature to be marred by such inappropriate acts which detract from what in the past has always been a happy family atmosphere.

As for the Pitch and Putt, it was of the highest quality. The elite of ten nations were present to do battle and more and more players across Europe are capable of scoring low at this enjoyable but mentally exacting sport. In the strokeplay session of the opening day, Fernando Cana from Catalonia ran out a clear winner with two rounds of 48. No fewer than five players, including the Irish double-double legend, Ray Murphy, finished tied for second place two shots behind on 10 under par. Five different nationalities were represented in the top six, reflecting the enormous progress made in our sport since the inaugural competition in 1999.

Not surprisingly, the Irish team played true to form and finished top seed, with all twelve rounds under par, but the Catalans were only eight shots back, thanks to a magnificent team effort in the second round where they shot the lowest 18 hole aggregate of the tournament at 28 under par, eleven fewer than the Irish. A little lower down the table, it is worth noting that the teams placed 4th to 8th finished within 16 shots of each other. Not only are we getting bigger, we are getting better.

The ladies played two rounds on Friday and a final round on Sunday and dazzled us with some fine shots and low scores, the best being Paula Cabella of Italy and Chrissie Byrne of Ireland on 164. The Irish Ladies imitated their male counterparts by taking the trophy in front of the Italians and the Rest of Europe and I hope I won't offend any male chauvinists out there by pointing out that their scores would have earned them fourth slot in the main competition! One of the high spots in the Ladies' competition was the first hole played by Domenica Casali from San Marino – she floated a beautiful shot straight into the hole. I was standing just behind her and I announced the result as soon as the ball left the clubface. Some thought she was the sister of Elia Casali, one of the tournament organisers but she is in fact his mother - Pitch and Putt keeps you fit and young!

The other 155 shots I witnessed off the first tee were mainly good or very good but they produced no other aces and very few birdies; the difficulty of the putting was a common lament among the players. On Saturday and Sunday I switched my attention from the first tee to the 17th and 18th greens and again I had the privilege of witnessing lots of high drama. It began with the foursomes of the Ireland vs. Norway encounter where all three matches went to the 17th green and two of these were decided on the last, with one match squared. Even the top team against the last in the table can now provide close encounters in our European Pitch and Putt, which is great for the future of the game.

The British and the French did even better, with six of the nine matches decided in that zone and a 4.5 for each team. If any one of three or four chips or putts had lipped out, France would have had the honour of losing against Ireland. Britain even developed a taste for close finishes as they reiterated it the next day to salvage another 4.5 after a dramatic conclusion to the Patrick Luning – John Deeble match, which Patrick had seemed to have well under control after the front nine. In all, 56 matches were decided on the last two holes and many on the very last putt. This is competitive Pitch and Putt at its best.

The Pitch and Putt was wonderful – especially if you were just watching! The whole setting was idyllic as the Chia Laguna resort actually manages to embellish one of the most attractive coastlines in Europe. The hotel is luxurious, the staff is efficient and the food excellent. The Sunday evening concluded with a moving presentation ceremony, with a distinctly Irish flavour, followed by a gala dinner of the highest quality. EPPA can extend a big thank you to Elia Casali, Carlo Farioli and the rest of their team for providing us with a memorable experience. They had worked extremely hard for the last few months to prepare the event and they can now rest assured that it was a resounding success. A sincere thank you from all of us in EPPA, especially as we were also able to fit in a very constructive meeting, efficiently presided by our irreplaceable Mervyn Cooney.

At another wonderful tournament earlier this year in Portal del Roc, Eamonn Birchall of PPUI told me that too many players were not doing too well as they were aiming for the pin. Sensing my incomprehension, he explained that in Pitch and Putt, if you want to stop the ball dead and close to the flag, you don't drive the ball in with a downward motion, "You aim for the sky". What better slogan for our game than that! In this respect, the very last putt of three days of intense action was exemplary. Ray "D.D." Murphy had been dormie up from the 16th green against the valiant strokeplay winner, Fernando Cana, which in itself was a fitting conclusion to a great competition. It became an historic moment when Ray, in his role of gentle giant, graciously handed Fernando his ball and conceded the putt for a tie. The large crowd roared its appreciation while Ray just blushed and, true to form, didn't say a word. With role models like this, we can carry on aiming for the sky.

John Hudson


Patrick Luning; Ray Murphy; Joël Dehove


Domenica Casali; Tracey McGrath; Joletta Ottens


Chia Laguna

Full results - here