Another win for Paul with a solid 83 of 16 for a net 67, which is one under the CSS off the yellows so should earn a nice 0.3 reduction and take his playing handicap down to 15.
Unfortunately it looks like everyone else who played will probably get a 0.1 increase, which means Fordy (25) and Ron (9) will get an extra shot next week.
Paul wins again with an excellent 81 off 16 giving a net 65. Its about time the handicap secretary heard about this run of form and docked him severely.
Round 1 of this summers OOM was played on the 10th June with Paul scoring an outrageous 43 points, off an equally outrageous 16 handicap, to win by an equally outrageous 8 points from Terry, Ron and Stan.
Round 2 was played on 17th June with provisional reports published but subject to amendment if the HowDidIDo results are different from those declared yesterday.
Same as the summer order of merit, so its best 10 results that count.
Points awarded will be as follows (as per club order of merit) :
1st – 25 points
2nd – 18
3rd – 15
4th – 12
5th – 10
6th – 8
7th – 6
8th – 4
9th – 2
10th – 1
As there is no publication of results on howdidido we will not be using countback to split players scoring equal stableford points so winter league points will be shared. e.g 2 players both score a days best score of 38 pts. Each will be awarded (25+18)/2 = 21.5 pts.
Points will also be awarded in 5 (or more or less club) challenges and pairs and team comps. e.g. a winning pair will both get 25 pts. If the result was as per Weds when 2 groups tied for the lead on 42 pts (still a great putt on the last Stan) then each of the 4 players will score (25+18+15+12)/4 = 17.5
Again any comments are welcome (albeit some will be ignored)
Some winter golf suggestions for discussion for when the dreaded winter greens arrive.
Comps.
We can play a variety of pairs and team comps, but for all we keep individual stableford scores to allow for handicap adjustments. We’d ignore any 5 (or more or less club) challenges, or any kind of match play event.
8 Ball Winter Rules
Handicaps
To ensure fair play across the winter we need to introduce a handicapping system which reflects an individuals score on the day in relation to everyone else, and is then adjusted accordingly.
To do this we are going to introduce the ASS (Average Scratch Score), which will be calculated by finding the average stableford score across all of the players who play in the Weds morning comp, this will then be used as the baseline by which to determine handicap reductions.
Anyone scoring 3 pts less then the ASS will receive a shot
Anyone scoring 5 pts less than the ASS will receive 2 shots
Anyone scoring 7 or more pts less than the ASS will receive 3 shots
Anyone scoring 3 pts more than the ASS will be deducted 1 shot
Anyone scoring 5 pts more than the ASS will be deducted 2 shots
Anyone scoring 7 pts more than the ASS will be deducted 3 shots
The bandit of the week will be deducted a shot
The donkey of the week will receive a shot (unless NRing)
As an example, from Monday.
Steve B (31) – 29 pts
Ron (8) – 33 pts
Mike (9) – 36 pts
Paul (16) – 45 pts
The ASS would be (29+33+36+45)/4 = 35.75 rounded up to 36.
Handicap adjustments would be :
Steve B – 31 + 3 (for being 7 less than ASS) + 1 (for winning the donkey) = 35
Ron – 8 + 1 (for being 3 less than ASS) = 9
Mike – 9 – remains the same
Paul – 16 – 3 (for being 9 over the ASS) – 1 (for winning the bandit) = 12
Hopefully this will equalise the handicaps pretty quickly and hence share out the spoils over the winter.
Comments gratefully received as long as they don’t mention everyone playing off scratch, 3/4 handicaps, shortened course, flower pot holes, bias towards lower handicaps etc 🙂
Today was the last midweek comp of the year with possibly the worst turn out of the season due to several of the 8 ballers having buggered off to far and away places to get some sun in.
Luckily for us after the early morning frost and fog cleared a truly superb sunny autumn morning greeted us. It was by no means great golfing conditions as the course was very wet and the greens spongy, but all that did was give us a good excuse to play some garbage golf.
Unfortunately the match report has to be short tonight as I’m writing this with a cup of tea in hand in a motorway service station. My dad has been taken I’ll so I’m on my way down to see him in the morning.
There were however some notable golfing highlights:
Stan losing 2 balls on the 7th
Stan getting the lowest front nine score, possibly ever.
Stan forgetting to sign his card until prompted by me to ensure no dq.
Steve knocking in a birdie 2 to secure some balls and then immediately smashing one oob on 12 to reduce his net gain.
The look on Tim and Alan’s faces as they raked in the cash. Tim 4 wins, Alan 3. The other being won by me with 2 truly sensational shots on 8 to take the nearest the pin in 2 (or was it that anywhere on the green would do)
The look on Stans face as he paid out large numbers of pound coins once again.
But the highlight of the day was by far the point at which Stan picked up his first donkey of the season. Well done sir, a great effort, the week away from playing golf truly paying dividends.
Well done to Tim, who took the Bandit trophy with a poor, but better than the rest, 33 pts. Mike 32 and John 31 completing the leaderboard.
Final oom table tomorrow and its squeaky bum time to see who comes out as the champ for this year.
Happy golfing all
Today’s report starts with a mention of P Diddy’s horsefly incident on Monday which had Tim sniggering for ages afterwards in the clubhouse as he recalled what was a classic 8 ball moment. Paul was about to tee off on 15 (?) when he felt a horsefly land on his hand. Various attempts to swat it away failed as it kept returning. Having finally got rid of it Paul again settled down to tee off only for the fly to reappear again. They are persistent little sods but this actually wasn’t the case. What Paul had assumed was a horsefly was actually a piece of cotton from his clothing which was resting on the back of his hand every time he went to tee off. Delboys’s “Paul you plonker !” might well be appropriate here.
Back to today.
John was on birthday duties meaning the planned doubles match was abandoned and 11 balls ended up in the hat for the all important draw. The ball for Mike was a hasty substitute as at this point Mike was sat outside Stan’s house to execute the pre-arranged pickup however Stan wasn’t there as he’d decided to walk to the club. Best not try that tomorrow Stan as its a long walk to Hopwood.
The draw produced the following groupings :
1. Paul, Fordy and Stevie B
2. Mike, Stan, Andy and Terry
3. Tim, Alan, Marc and Stan 2.
With the halfway house closed today, getting a little bored with this, the pork pies, picnic eggs and cookies were duly distributed. Steve had kindly knocked up a huge batch of bacon butties which were consumed pre-round, and were excellent. Well done Steve, great effort that and much appreciated by all.
Prior to the first group teeing off we took advantage of John’s absence by making a whole host of rule changes safe in the knowledge that there would be no complaints like last week. After a brief discussion the decision was made to play the Nearest the Pin in 2 on 8 rather than 4.
Andy set the early standard for the day by failing to reach the stream from the tee, but a few good whacks later found himself with a nice wedge into the green with Stan’s ball pretty close to it. Stan knocked a lovely shot to about 10 feet and this rapidly developed into a challenge and assertion that Andy would knock it nearer. To be fair his shot was a beaut but unfortunately proved to be further away than Stan’s at which point Stan proceeded to remind him of this for the next couple of holes.
Mike and Stan had birdie putts. Stan rolled his nonchalantly in to ensure a minimal financial loss over the course of the round whereas Mike’s putt was close but no cigar, which was unfortunately an early indicator of more woeful putting to come.
The 2nd produced a whole spectrum of golf shots from the group, mostly poor, including Terry blasting one into the trees on the right which looked a certain loss but which was easily found, Stan wasting an excellent drive by knocking his 2nd straight into the left fairway bunker, Mike getting to the bottom of the slope in 2 but then thinning a wedge off the back of the green.
We noted that the nearest the pin on 3 marker was unused but that was no great surprise when it became apparent that it was the dreaded white tee, white flag combo of 203 yards. Mike ended up with the only shot to hit the green but it was nowhere near, a 3 was scrambled.
The real action of the round occurred as the 2nd group got to the 4th tee to find Paul and Fordy now playing on their own, with Steve’s buggy abandoned and him trudging back to the pro shop to get a replacement. This gave group 2 a bit of a problem as we had to waste a bit of time to delay the 3rd group so that Steve could return with a new buggy in time to join us and continue in the comp. All 4 of us teed off and then Andy and Terry continued to finish the hole with the plan being that they would join up with Paul and Fordy. By the time Steve was on his way back and terrorising the rollup who were coming down the first, the last 4 ball had joined us and were giving us a right gob full about delay of play, being late for work, or was it really a possible restriction to only 3 pints before work ?
Eventually Steve caught Mike and Stan and they continued as a 3 ball.
As we got to the 5th tee the balls of the group behind were already whizzing to the 4th green and I’m sure I heard mutterings about slow play from those w@%&£rs up front, but I couldn’t be sure. At this point it was obvious that Paul and Fordy were going to continue on their own, with Terry and Andy playing as a 2 as well, which was sure to have the group strung out over the whole course, how wrong we were.
Stan’s woes started on the 5th. Having scored 8 pts up to then he seemed on good form but having got onto the green in 3 he managed to produce a display of putting which easily ensured a first blob. The first putt hadn’t started to slow as it screamed past the hole and a further 3 attempts were required to register a first blob of the day. Despite again being just in front of the green in 2 Mike once again failed to get up and down.
Steve played his first shot of the day off the 6th tee, which would be surpassed later in the round, and it was one of pure quality. He’d parked his buggy well to the left of the tee but as you all know Steve’s alignment with his driver is interesting to say the least. Feet point 45 degrees left usually results in a shot that goes 30 degrees right in a way that defies the laws of physics. On this occasion the alignment was even more extreme, about 60 degrees left which resulted in an interesting sort of chip shot that ended on the 5th green, I would say closer to the pin than all 4 of the last groups balls but that would be harsh. He picked up and dropped off the green and proceeded to dispatch a fairway wood into the jungle behind the 5th green. It would have taken a full archaeological survey to try and find it.
Stan laid up, chipped over the water and made a nice up and down from above the right greenside bunker. Mike ended up making par from just off the back of the green after a screamer of a 3 hybrid proved a little too much club.
Another pulled 2nd put Stan in the left greenside bunker which resulted in another blob and Steve managed to play the whole hole through the trees on the right before planting his 7th in the right greenside bunker and promptly picking up. Mikes excellent 2nd from the right rough over the greenside bunker to about 10 feet should have earned some birdie cash but again the putting was woeful.
The Nearest in 2 marker unused after Fordy missed the green and P Diddy’s 2nd just rolled through the green meant possible readies on offer. Only Mike took advantage of this with his second just clearing the greenside bunker leave another birdie putt which again was missed in style. Stan got onto the front in 2 first, and hence mentioned that he was at one point leading the Nearest in 2 comp, but hit the worst putt of the day which only got halfway to the hole and another 3 putt beckoned.
Mike’s round started to unravel on the 9th as his drive found the trees on the right, a hack out leaving an easy 6 iron to the green, but this too was dragged left leaving a really tricky shot over the greenside bunker and despite hitting a decent effort it resulted in another missed putt and a 6.
Stan’s tee shot on 9 was probably the widest that I’ve ever seen. He started the ball off well right as is the norm, but this one stayed right and even started to fade further right ending up on the 6th fairway. About an hour later he rejoined the group on the green to add a few points to the card.
On the 9th Steve hit another unbelievable shot. His tee shot drifted right towards the willow tree and somehow he managed to play a fairway wood that shot straight across the fairway but didn’t actually get nearer the hole. Still can’t think how that is actually possible but Steve managed it with style. Mike’s drive had followed Stan’s over towards the 16th tee and having watched Stan hook one across the fairway into the left rough decided to take on the stream from 165 yards away from the deep rough. Looking back on this it was a ridiculous shot to attempt but a fairly decent contact sent the ball on its way towards the green, we saw it bounce twice but it looked ditch bound all the way. Stan played a lovely recovery shot onto the green but was again let down by a 3 putt. In the end Mike’s ball had cleared the ditch on the bounce and ended up halfway between the ditch and green. For once a decent chip and putt and he walked off with a par.
None of us hit the green on 11 but as we stood on the 12th tee Alan hit a delightful tee shot on 11 which missed the pin left by 6 inches and ended up 2 feet away. This was duly converted for a birdie and some free balls. Good effort.
Stan’s driver continued to play up on 12 as he again sent one out to the right which didn’t come back as usual, and was lost in the trees. We also nearly couldn’t find Stan’s 2nd ball as it clearly hit the fairway but was nowhere to be seen. Luckily we found it fully plugged in the fairway well within the 3 minutes allowed.
The 14th was uneventful with none of us getting anywhere near the green.
Steve produced some stunning stuff on 15. Stan had already predicted a 7 before we got to the tee, as Steve had already had about 7 7s in the round. He did make that 7 too but the fact that he hit is drive to well before the ditch, decided to lay-up to the ditch with his second, his third bounded about a foot over the ditch and he still made 7 was quite remarkable.
Mike beat Paul’s longest drive marker on the 16th but this comp was taken by Marc from the last group.
The rest of the round finished uneventfully except for another wonder shot from Steve. His tee shot just cleared the path by the 17th but was right behind the trees and rough between 17 and 18. Stan and I wondered what Steve was going to do and he duly pulled out his 7 iron and knocked one over the crud onto the fairway. Again no idea how he did it but it looked far to close to use such a low lofted iron.
Having recovered Steve’s buggy from the 4th tee, Fordy managed to fix it and we were all done by the time the slow play moaners finished, good job we didn’t let them through.
Tallymaster did his usual totting up with his new Harry Potter wand pen with the outcome being:
Front 9 – Tim
Back 9 – Paul
Overall – Paul – 36 points
NP3 – Mike
NPin2 on 8 – Mike
NP11 – Alan
NP14 – no-one
NP17 (carryover) – Paul
Longest Drive – Ma
Birdies – Stan, Tim and possibly a few others.
Paul’s 36 was still holding 3rd place when Ron & Chris finished later in the day so it might be another invitation to the presentation evening for Paul. Well played sir.
The win will take Paul to the top of the OOM with 1 comp left to play in 2 weeks time.
A final mention for Tim’s new claw putting grip, which I was chastised for not mentioning last week, was obviously working well as he’d knocked in some good points on the front 9.
No comp next week as its greens priority.
11 extremely keen, but bearing in mind the weather conditions obviously stupid, 8 ballers turned out this morning for the latest midweek comp, medal off the whites, also featuring a doubles knock out semi-final between last weeks qualifier winners, Stan D & Fordy v John and Mr Comedy Trousers. Mr Benson, was definitely conspicuous by his absence having firmly committed to playing today whilst enjoying a few pints after our knock round a lovely Clitheroe course yesterday, in excellent weather. Perhaps an early doors knock at Sale in driving wind and rain didn’t appeal, no idea why that may be.
With the halfway house sadly closed today a plethora of picnic items supplied by P Diddy and Mike were distributed pre-round.
Stan 2, Alan and Mark had the honour today after a reduced random ball selection due to the doubles semi final taking place, with Mike, Paul, Ron and Tim as 2nd up. Competition markers restocked with new paper inserts and away we go.
Now you wouldn’t have thought teeing off from the 1st would cause such discussions but immediately following group 1’s departure Tim trotted off to the Yellow tees to get group 2 underway. Having been kindly ticked off by Ron and pointed to the White tees a discussion took place as to whether the first 3 had played from the Yellows or Whites. Tim proceeded to do an inch by inch check (not quite on hands and knees) of both tees looking for evidence of footprints on the tee to answer that question. This was inconclusive so again it was left to Ron to point out that there were no infringements and hence no DQs.
Nothing else of note except to say that Mike missed the whole of the right rough this week, but also the fairway, and landed up an inch from the left hand bunker, not been over there for a while.
After scrambling a par on the first with a half decent lengthy putt Mike then undid all of that good work by crashing his tee shot off the 2nd tee straight right into the trees for a 3 off the tee. The resulting 7 all but ending his chance of a decent score.
No takers for the Nearest the Pin on 3 meant an early rollover and on to the 4th for the Nearest the Pin in 2, to make use of the new blue marker.
Unfortunately as the 2nd group approached the green it was obvious that the blue marker was still in the back of Stan’s buggy. At this point we had to decide whether to continue with the original comp even though the first group may not have marked a 2 shotter, or cancel the comp and reschedule it for later in the round. Despite Mike being on in 2 we decided to play fair and move the comp to the 8th instead. More of this later.
Still on the 4th Tim’s 2nd found the front right greenside bunker. The sand had been compressed by the rain and to be fair to Tim this is the trickiest bunker shot on the course even with decent sand in the bunker. Now less of the excuses. The sequence was (I think) as follows :
Attempt 1 – stayed in bunker
Attempt 2 – Out of Bounds
Attempt 3 – Out of Bounds
Attempt 4 – stayed in bunker
Attempt 5 – Out of Bounds (by this time Ron had gone out on to the footpath in order to speed up play – sorry Tim.
Attempt 6 – stayed in bunker and was rapidly picked up and moved to Tim’s pocket.
What the final score may have been is open to debate but it was getting perilously close to Stan 2’s current 15 record.
Halfway down 7 we went across to the first group to say that the nearest the Pin in 2 was now on the 8th and they should mark there nearest shot on the green. Stan 2 was unnecessarily apologetic, as to be fair I hadn’t bothered to tell him there was a new marker in the bag to use, albeit thinking about it picking the 4th hole for the comp last week and forgetting this week rendered any excuse fairly futile. The marker was tidyly placed to the side of the green and didn’t require moving by group 2 either, We went across to group 3 to explain to them about the change of comp location, only to face a volley of abuse about changing rules halfway round. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but when the phantom rule changer (you know who you are !) is the one moaning then there isn’t much sympathy. I’m guessing when the doubles match reached the green they regretted their outburst as the cash was there for the taking. John made birdie on 8 (the only one of the day) so I’m guessing there is a golfing god as the original moans saved us all some cash.
On 11 Stan 2 had to return back to the green to deposit the marker as there had obviously been no decent efforts. Mike and Ron hit the green but it didn’t matter as Stan took the rollover. Tim hit the shot of the day on this hole. Having judged the rain, windspeed and green wetness, visualised the shot, a high fade over the middle bunker, landing softly and releasing out towards the pin, to be tapped in for birdie, he stepped to the tee with confidence, fairway wood in hand. A hefty swipe, the ball sailing under the wind towards the green but unfortunately hitting one of the red ladies markers and pinging back towards us. Luckily the trousers rounds your ankles for the rest of the hole rule wasn’t invoked due to the adverse weather conditions.
This proved lucky for Mike as he topped his tee shot on 12th and ended up at the top of the steps well short of the ladies tee. Paul boomed one off the tee down the left side but the jury, or should that be drury, were split on whether the ball had reached the out of bounds ditch or not. With no provisional played the 4 ball trooped off to try and locate it. After a good search there was no joy, apart from one fully embedded ball that wasn’t Paul’s, so he was forced to retreat to the tee to hit another. This duly arrived and prompted another search 20 yards back down the rough level with where the 3 off the tee landed on the fairway. We still couldn’t find it but Paul, on his way back to his bag, did find his first in the rough, it too being fully embedded. I would guess no more than 30 minutes had passed since the original tee shot, but played continued.
Luckily Tim had spotted where Mike’s ball had landed on 13th as Mike had no idea and thought it was in the water beyond the bridge. This was at least 30 yards too far as the ball had pinged back off the tree. Just preceding that Ron and Tim had crossed the bridge in the corner only to be bombarded with a shower of golf balls being thrown back from the farmers field. Bag pockets refilled with free balls and they were off again.
On 14 Mike was gutted to see his ball land on the green but further away than the marker (Alan again on his favourite hole). He then promptly picked it up and put it on the side of the green having forgotten that there was a 4 ball behind. We then spent 5 minutes trying to find the hole that the marker had come from. As it happened he had shown great awareness of the quality of play behind as no-one beat Alan’s marker.
The 16th was however the highlight of the round, well for Tim, Ron and Mike anyway. We all parked our trolleys to the left of the green and putted out. When coming off the green Paul was heard to ask “Where is my bag ?”. We all looked around and sure enough there were only 3 there and the 4th was nowhere in sight. Had someone come on and nicked it, had he left it further down the hole. A quick search provided the answer. The go button had obviously been knocked inadvertently and his trolley has ploughed straight through a flower bed before spilling its contents into the hedge by the footpath and falling on its side. The 3 walked off and left Paul to it, a bit harsh probably, and within 30 minutes he was on the 17th tee to start playing again.
No-one matched Mark’s effort on 17 resulting in some cash going his way.
Following Tallymaster Terry’s efforts (I’ve no idea why this is funny Paul but Stan asked me to put it in the report when we played yesterday) the results were as follows :
Front 9 – Mark
Back 9 – Ron
Overall – Mark and Ron tied on net 69 so no winner
Nearest the Pin on 3 – no-one
Nearest the Pin in 2 on 4/8 – no-one
NP on 11 – Stan (rollover)
NP on 14 – Alan
Longest Drive – P Diddy/JB/Terry
NP on 17 – Mark
Birdies – John on 8
Well played to all but especially to Ron and Mark who both shot nett 69s in some truly awful conditions so congrats to both and well done on your handicap reductions.
PS – Forgot to mention Tim’s 2 carbon copy drives on 5 both of which found the Mersey on 5, however they were still better than my tee shot in 16 which found the 9th fairway, albeit they were at least still in play.
2 comps to go, Stableford off the Whites next week.
Well done to Stan D and Fordy who defeated John and Clown Pants on the 16th to progress to the final where they will play the winner of Steve B & Ron vs Tim and Tallymaster.
A record turnout of 14 for this mornings midweek stableford off the yellows, which incorporated the qualifying round of the 8 ball doubles knockout : Stan & Fordy v Stan 2 & Mike.
Early drizzle soon disappeared to leave the doubles qualifier to tee off in half decent conditions. Levelling handicaps meant Mike started off scratch (I’d really like to be able to say that every week but on the quality of todays play I can safely say that I won’t be saying it again unless I’m the lowest handicapper in any future 8 ball singles or doubles matches), Stan getting 3 shots, Fordy 13 shots and Stan 2 15 shots.
Just to prove last weeks huge slice to the right was no fluke Mike surpassed it with a truly woeful effort which cleared the right hand bunker and found the ditch. Stan 2 hit the tree just beyond the ditch on the right but managed to clear it. Some mixed golf later Mike found himself just off the green in 4, Steve on in 4 with a shot. Mike got down in 2 for a 6 and Steve contrived to 3 putt to leave it all square after 1.
On one of only 3 holes where Stan got a shot he managed to hit one of his worst tee shots leaving Fordy to play the hole alone. Mike was on the bank in front of the green in 2 but his delicate chip on to the green wasn’t that at all and went 30 foot past and 15 foot right. He got down in 2 but Fordy’s 6 with a shot ensured the match stayed all square.
None of us hit the green on 3, leaving Mark T to snaffle some cash for the Nearest the Pin comp. 2 3’s and 2 4’s meant this hole was halved too.
The newly introduced Nearest the Pin in 2 comp on the 4th added further spice to what is already a tricky hole. Fordy pulled his 2nd shot through the tree line and out of bounds, and was truly distraught at the loss of his trusty Taylormade TP5 ball which had survived 3 rounds, but alas was now lost somewhere near the 5th tee. Stan hit a delightful 2nd onto the green but not inside the marker. Mike’s 2nd looked good from the fairway but despite an optimistic measuring exercise with the flag (must get a tape measure like Paul 🙂 ) his shot was a good 4 inches further away than P Diddy’s excellent effort. Stan produced an equisite putt which looked to be missing all the way but collapsed exhausted into the top of the cup for an excellent birdie, Mike’s birdie putt grazed the hole thus giving the Stordy partnership a 1 hole lead.
Fordy had a few bunker issues on 5 giving Stan 2 the chance to nick the hole with an excellent 5 to level the match
The 6th produced some more magic from Stan as his second shot just cleared the left bunker in front of the green and despite landing on a 45 degree downward slope managed to stay out of the bunker. His chip to 3 feet and subsequently converted par putt meant the lead was back to 1.
Stan followed this up with a desperately poor 2nd shot on 7 which went straight right towards the 8th tee, then hit it in the bunker meaning a fairly regulation par 4 from Mike levelled the scores.
The 8th proved to be the first nail in the coffin of Mike’s attempts at a decent score in the midweek comp. A tee shot right into the trees was followed by a chip out that went nowhere near as far as it should. It did, not by planning, leaving a perfect 56 wedge distance to the pin but unfortunately his 56 wedge shot was garbage and found the greenside bunker via the bank behind it. Stan 2 was struggling with his chipping from the back of the green and the hole was easily won with a par from Stan to put them 1 up again.
The run of won holes from the 4th continued as the 9th was won by Mike and Stan 2, with a par 4 from Mike. A nice drive, an average 2nd to just in front of the right greenside bunker was followed by an awful chip that finished 25 feet from the flag and just off the green. A great, if somewhat lucky, putt found the cup for a par to take the hole and bring it back to all square.
Was there to be a halved hole on 10 ? No not a chance. Mike hit an overly ambitious 2nd from the deep rough and picked out the ditch with pin point precision, resulting in a 6, whereas Stan’s 2nd from the fairway cleared the ditch but was well left. Another excellent chip and putt for par meant he an Fordy were 1 up over breakfast at the halfway house. More excellent sausage barms all round setting us up for the last 8 holes.
Stan 2 scuffed one which just cleared the stream on 11, his 2nd was still short of the green ruling him out of the hole. Stan hit his bunker shot into the next bunker in front. Fordy’s bunker shot from the middle right bunker stopped within a foot of the hole, Stan’s 2nd bunker shot was just inside that. Mike’s bunker shot was perhaps a little too pacey but found Stan’s ball with precision hit it, and stopped dead by the hole to ensure that the hole was halved. Mark T took his 2nd Nearest the Pin of the day
Stan and Fordy’s lead was extended to 2 on the 12th as Mike and Stan traded 5’s but this was one of Stan’s shot holes so a net 4 took it.
The 13th also went Stan and Fordy’s way courtesy of Fordy’s 5 which beat Mike’s 5 as Fordy had a shot. Fordy’s 3rd shot was a towering 3 wood from the fairway which rode the wind and faded onto the front corner of the green, and yes he had played for it. 2 putts later and the hole was won.
3 down with 5 to play and Stan 2 duly handed over the captains armband to Mike and promptly told him to stop faffing around and play some decent golf. Mikr found the green on a par 3 for the first time on the round but it was Stan 2 who got down in 4, with a shot, to take the hole and reduce the deficit to 2. Terry won the Nearest the Pin with an excellent effort.
It was Stan who dealt the killer blow on 15 by playing a chip and run from the front of the green to 2 feet thus ensuring a par. Mike managed to get up and down from the left of the green but the lead remained 2 up with 3 to play.
No-one got anywhere near Ron’s majestic Longest Drive marker on 16, with Mike failing to make the fairway having smashed his drive straight into the floor about 4 inches in front of the tee and only bouncing forward about 60 yards. Stan 2 helpfully said just play it as 435 yard par 4. To be fair it was good advice and after the 4th shot Mike had a 15 footer for par but contrived to make a 7. Stan 2 and Fordy shared 7’s to make the match dormy 2.
With Terry’s nearest the pin marker no more than 10 feet from the pin the chances of surpassing it were slim. There were great shots from Fordy and Mike but neither were in with a sniff of beating Terry. With Steve having a shot on this hole the writing was very much on the wall and so it proved to be as Fordy coolly made par, which Mike matched, but this was enough to win the match 3 up. We’d shaken hands on a 2 & 1 win on the 17th until we realised that Fordy had a shot and hence it was a 3up win.
Well played chaps, an excellent game which masked the fact that we all played really poorly in the midweek comp.
Good luck to Stan & Fordy in the next round as they take on John & Andy with the winners to play the winners of Tim & Paul v Ron & Steve B in the final. Rumours abound of at least 1 of these matches being played next week.
In the midweek comp P Diddy won with an excellent 39 pts, which looks like it may be good enough for 3rd in the midweek comp and a handicap reduction, and will take him to the top of the 8 ball OOM by 3 points. Ron was 2nd with an excellent 38 pts which unfortunately probably won’t get a reduction. 3rd place was shared by a number of 33 point scores.
Wild celebrations ensued from Tim in the clubhouse as he found out that Stan 2’s 23 points meant that his miserly 26 pts didn’t take the donkey award.
Special praise too for P Diddy who took his Tallymaster notebook and pen combo, as selected by Caroline, in good heart. So much so that I will be expecting to see it every week. Well done mate, good effort.
Ron, Terry, Mark T and P Diddy himself took the majority of the spoils with each full participating player shelling out roughly £15 this week due to extra comps and loads of birdies. Must do some practice before next week and also refill the pound bag in case of another poor effort.
The morning started with another organisational fiasco. Stan thought Tim was picking him up, Tim didn’t know he was, resulting in Stan still being at home as the first tee-off approached. Initially it was 8 of the 8 ballers trying to win the Waterfield Cup, but in an exceptional piece of generosity we invited Adam to join us as he didn’t have a playing partner, resulting in 3 3 balls, and a directive to Adam that he could only enter the overall comp as we didn’t want to give him loads of cash like last time.
Mike, Alan and Ron made up the first group. Tim decided that he wanted a quiet round on his own so offered to accompany Stan 2 and Andy who were sharing a buggy. This left Paul, Adam and Stan D to tee off about 10 o’clock when Stan finally arrived.
Mike managed to break is first fairway hit streak in spectacular fashion as he carved one out near the 18th fairway, a sign of things to come.
1st – woeful all round, some good approach play ruined by poor chipping and worse putting
2nd – woeful all round, poor drives, iron play, chipping and putting.
3rd – no-one near the green but Ron conjured up a stylish par after a nice chip on.
4th – Ron again with a stunner of a bunker shot from the front right which glided out of the sand, bounced, checked and settled 6 inches from the pin for a tap in par. Also an excellent piece of bunker raking which will feature later.
5th – Mike nicely on in 2 but managed to 3 putt. Ron knocking another par (3 in a row) and Al talking about consistent golf, unfortunately this meant a string of double bogeys.
6th – 3 decent drives, 2 greens in reg, 1 lay-up, 3 pars. Quality.
7th – made to look really difficult by all
8th – pars all round but only Al played the hole the right way, fairway, green, 2 putts.
9th – probably the worst hole between us. Mike found the trees to the right, hacked out, missed the green, terrible chip, 2 putts. Ron was 15 yards short of the green in 2 and made 6 thanks to a chip which rolled 3 times further than it should have leaving him in 3 putt territory.
10th – 3 drives in a line across the fairway. Ron laid up before the stream (no idea why it was only 150 yards away) but still managed to chip on a hole the putt for a par. Mike hit his best shot of the day a 3 hybrid pin high and made par. Al laid up, chipped on and made par too. Pity we didn’t do this on every hole.
Proper sausages back on the halfway house menu were greatly appreciated and were by far the highlight of the round so far. These delicious breakfast barms were preceeded by another mixed bag of tee shots, none of which troubled the green. Ron and Al got down in 3 with some nice recovery play.
No dramas on the 12th. Left, centre and right tee shots from the group on 13 leaving some interesting 2nds. Al’s tee shot look a sure fire certainty to be on the right side of the fairway but when we got there had nestled by the base of a try. Lucky lefty meant he had a shot without the tree getting in the way but still managed to produce an ugly thin shot which just failed to reach the stream in front of the green. Ron’s 2nd did find the stream eventually as it bounced back and forth down the gully until finally splashing down. Al approached his next shot with trepidation. It needed a low runner to clear the stream, go under the overhanging branches and nestle near the pin. Unfortunately it was chunked and failed to make the stream by about 6 inches. a nice chip out and putt limited the damage.
Whilst teeing off on 14 were we treated to a shot of the day contender from Stan 2. From the lay up area before the 13th winter green, Stan managed to produce a Tiger Woods-esque stinger which kept 3 feet off the ground cleared the stream, kept under the tree, rolled through the rough and over the bank on to the green. His playing partners tried to play down the sheer quality of the shot but the advanced group saw the prowess that Stan has fine tuned over his illustrious golfing career and congratulated him accordingly.
Al was the only one of the group to hit the green on 14 and duly made par. Rapidly running out of handicap shots Mike played an awful second after his awful first had hit the trees to the right, and cleared the green, the 3rd was a bit better and he walked off with an ill deserved 4 after a nice downhill 10 footer hit the bottom of the cup.
On the 15th we were treated to a truly stylish way to make a par. Al hit a stunningly straight drive over the trees to the right and onto the middle of the 13th fairway, a nicely crafted mid iron shot sailed over the trees and just short of the green, a chip and a putt later and the par was made. Mike and Ron who’d both hit great drives down the correct fairway couldn’t quite work out how they’d both walked off with 5’s and Al got a 4. Its a funny old game as they say.
Ron’s longest drive mark on the 16th lasted 2 shots. Mike missed the fairway to the left for a change but Al screamed one past his marker to take the Longest drive. Ron made a standard, and well played 5. 3 to the front of the green and nice chip and run and a putt in for par. Mike missed the fairway left, hit his second under a tree on the right, his 3rd hit the tree near the bunker on the 5th, his 4th rolled on to the bank behind the green and he walked off with a par having (luckily) holed a 50 foot downhill putt.
Ron managed to hit his first par 3 of the day to set a mark that Al couldn’t beat, albeit it was still an excellent tee shot. Neither got the birdie and free balls, but both walked off with pars. Mike flew the green, took advantage of a lovely lie in the bunker to the front of the 4th, courtesy of Ron’s excellent bunker raking a few hours before, and managed to get up and down for a par.
Al had a bit of a mare down the right of 18 after a hooked tee shot towards the first fairway (think about it he is a lefty). However his approach shot onto the green was fantastic, albeit that Ron and I had no idea where it had gone until we got to the green. Ron was unlucky to find the bunker to the left of the 18th. He hit an excellent shot out, marked his ball and promptly forgot where it was. After Alan had knocked up Ron merrily trooped off down towards the front of the green only to be called back to where his marker actually was, about 15 feet short of the pin. Mike massively misjudged his putt across the slope that got nowhere near the hole and rolled about 6 foot down the hill. Fortunately a half decent putt salvaged a par.
We agreed between us that the combination of heavy downpours, flys, mosquitoes, horseflys, early tee offs, stan being late, loads of grass cuttings and no fairway run were the main contributors to our poor scores and that it was definitely nothing to do with woeful driving, poor fairway wood and iron play, bad chipping and worse putting 🙂
The tallymaster duly arrived in the clubhouse and the finally results were :
Front 9 – Tim – net 34
Back 9 – Mike – Net 33
Overall – no winner – Paul, Tim, Mike – all net 72
Al – nearest the pin 14 and longest drive
Tim – nearest the pin 11
Paul – nearest the pin 3 and 17
Birdies – Tim x 2, Stan 2 and Paul.
Unfortunately Andy doesn’t feature on the birdie list despite being 4 feet from the pin on the 1st in 3, unlucky, but a par on the first is better than I managed.
Be interesting to see what the winning score in the midweek comp and the Waterfield Cup are. My guess a net 66 winning the midweek comp and a net 68 the Waterfield Cup. Winners Mr Edge for midweek comp and Mr Rains for Waterfield Cup.
8 Ballers 