Nothing less than gold will do for Bermuda’s golfers in Jersey next week.

Will Haddrell, the Bermuda captain, has set the high standard for his team and believes they are fully capable of defending the title they won two years ago.

Bermuda have won the team event at three of the past five games, and with Haddrell, Mark Phillips, Jarydd Dillas, who won silver in the individual competition in Bermuda, and Damien Palanyandi finishing in four of the top five spots in the Amateur Stroke Play Championships the squad is in fine form going into the competition.

“This is arguably the strongest team we’ve had,” Haddrell said. “On paper it’s shaping up well, we can all go low, and we’re all pretty consistent, so it’s going to be fun. It’s nice to be putting our strongest team forward, sometimes in the past we’ve been a little bit more developmental, but it’s nice to go with the best we have right now.”

Haddrell is under no illusions as to the size of the task Bermuda face at the NatWest Island Games, the location makes it more accessible to a larger number of teams, and as a result the Bermuda captain expects this year to be the toughest competition for some time.

“You’re going to get all the big UK islands, which are traditionally strong golfing nations. It will be a good test, and there are some England A squad-type players on the men’s side, so it will be fun to put ourselves against them.

“But, collectively, I think anything less than gold for the team would be disappointing.”

Haddrell will happily sacrifice the chances of individual glory next week, and said the focus would be on what was best for the team, an approach that does not necessarily come naturally in an individual sport such as golf.

However, the Bermuda captain has no concerns about his players’ ability to play for one another, pointing to the fact that all played college golf in the United States to a high level.

“I’d rather us come fourth through eighth and win the gold team medal, then one person win and us not win the team gold,” Haddrell said.

“That’s the whole thing about the week, is playing team golf; being aggressive, but not making huge numbers that are going to hurt the team score, thinking about not just yourself, but the team overall. There is a balance between the two, but we’ve all played college golf and so we’ve all got experience [of doing that].”

With three out of four scores counting towards the team total every day, Haddrell said that the players would need a different mindset than if they were competing for themselves alone.

“A lot of the time, when you get down and out on your own round sometimes you give up, here, you never know if you’re round is counting when you’re playing. There aren’t scoreboards up everywhere, you never know when you’re out of it. Your score might be counting so you need to keep on for the team, even when you think your score is counting you may not be, so you need to keep going lower and lower.

“It’s an interesting dynamic and it’s a slightly different approach and it’s more of a measured approach.”

Haddrell is also expecting a good week from the women’s team, who finished fifth in Bermuda in 2013.

Ebonie Burgess, Katrin Burnie, and Elizabeth Parsons return to the side with Linda Down winning her first cap for her country next week.

“The ladies team are looking pretty good,” Haddrell said. “Linda’s excited, she’s been on the verge of making the team for a few years and she came third or fourth in the order of merit, so she’s earned her place. I think she’s excited to show that she can put some rounds together.”