Wednesday 31st January
Not the Winter League
So despite cancellation of the Winter League PM yesterday, several turned up to play as normal. In truth as 18 holes were open it technically could have been played...as sun shone at 09:00 but how quickly things changed. temperature was supposed to be 8 Degrees but felt like minus 8 in the bitter wind and we were hit with several heavy downpours and even the 'white-stuff' at one time.
Having 40 Seniors out in that would have made quite a mess of the course and certainly left our mark.We'll try again on Monday.
Poor old James was nice and warm at home when he was 'begged' to come and join us to make up the numbers as Keith, Alan, Nobby , Tony etc all voted with their feet.
No sooner had James arrived than the heavens opened.
and the sky blackened...
We passed Alan, John E and Clive from the early Birds who were just playing 9 holes. Quite a few others played 9 holes, but we never saw them.
So the Draw was made and Farmer Bob elected for a 3-ball scramble.
Martin Leigh, Mark Cording and Bryan Frost led the way as mark put his drive over the corner to set up a Birdie on the First. Back to earth with a bump as a Bogey & double followed. Unfortunately Bryan was reaching for his nebulizer by the 5th and was finally defeated by the bitter wind and had to retire. Martin & Mark continued as carded 4 birdies and a back 9 of 32 to set the target.
In the event it proved too difficult to calculate a meaningful score, so they were withdrawn from the Comp and refunded their Money. Bryan still had to get more drives in and how do you factor that in with handicap adjustments ?
Mike Hone, Dicky Hall and John Pearce had low expectations , which proved correct as they came last again ( 3 in a row for Pearce)...Out in 40 and back in 34 gave them a Nett 68.3 . The Damson & Vodka helped, but no-one was enjoying those conditions.
We were followed by a Star Team, as Chris Gengell relentlessly put his Yellow Ball in great positions. Coupled with James Siabi and Martin Bargery - they had all the Firepower..but didn't sink the Putts. Out in 37 and back in 33 they set the target for the remaining Team.
Chris shaved the pin on 16th with his tee-shot but with standing water around the pin - the 2 was not to be and they walked off with another Par.
That just left Nick Hill, dragging Roger Davis and Bob Barrow around with him. Once again they failed to hold Par on the front 9, dropping a shot on the 6th which was playing very long into the bitter wind. Another dropped shot on the 15th, (which every other Team managed to Par) - was balanced by Birdie on 18th thanks to a wonder-chip from Nick. So out in 37, back in 34 gave them a low enough Gross to just clam the Nett win by less than 1 point.
No-one managed a '2' and with 8 Birdies it was decided to hand the residual £13 back to the Treasurer for the Captain to allocate to his Charity efforts.
Well done to Bob & his team for their Generosity, although Roger was distracted by a bowl of chips and still is not aware of what happened. Thanks to Mark & Martin for accepting Bob's tricky decision on their card.
No-one managed a '2' and with 8 Birdies it was decided to hand the residual £13 back to the Treasurer for the Captain to allocate to his Charity efforts.
Well done to Bob & his team for their Generosity, although Roger was distracted by a bowl of chips and still is not aware of what happened. Thanks to Mark & Martin for accepting Bob's tricky decision on their card.
or maybe it was a little short....
