Five Nations Golf 2007
Saturday 30th June
As only Duncan McCree and I turned up for a 10.30am tee off time, the
two of us enjoyed a friendly warm up matchplay for tomorrow's Stansfield
Medal.
That I won the pot of tea is incidental. That I played
better than of late is a good sign, I hope. DMC too played
well and I would be surprised if he does not end tomorrow by being a
single figure golfer.
As for me? If I can get back down to 11 from my present 12
handicap that will be mission accomplished.
Everything depends on the weather which has been dreadful for the best
part of 7 days.
Wednesday 27th June
We managed to play 10 holes before the rain became too heavy.
The Cultured Caledonian, Le Frenchman, Ed Stothert and I came off all
square thanks to my two birdies, although CC and I were 1 down on the
game.
I have to admit at being quite happy to come off the course so that I
could get home and watch the drama unfold in10 Downing Street as a new
Prime Minister took office.
Monday 25th June
Rain lashed the UK today so it seems we were very lucky to play a game
of golf. Le Frenchman, Archie and I only got drizzled on for
the last three holes.
We played 'chairman' and I was totally useless but still in the game
thanks to LF and Arch halving most of the holes up to the 12th hole.
In fact le Frenchy was 1 up.
Thanks to a win by me courtesy of receiving a stroke I took the chair at
the 12th and never looked back, finishing the round with two birdies and
winning the match 3 - 1 - 0. One of my opponents 'claimed a
deafy' on the first so my birdies went unrewarded. No
worries, I feel better about my game now than I did before we started.
One more game on Wednesday before two days in hospital may be the just
the preparation needed for a big weekend to come. It's the 'Stansfield'
on Sunday and 36 holes.
Saturday 23rd June
Medal
I have been on the practice range a couple of times this week and my
irons were working well so when I stood on the first tee this morning I
had high hopes and was feeling good. My playing
partners were the very sociable pair of Bill 'the sheet' Fletcher and
Willy Smith, so no problems there.
My game fell apart on the back nine holes as the rain started lashing
down and I eventually carded a pretty miserable 92 gross for a 71 net
which will result in me being off 12 handicap (11.5 to be exact exact)
the next time out.
Bill did not fare any better and had picked up by the 5th for a 'no
return'. Willy, on the other hand was magnificent.
His front nine of 40 gave no indication of what was to come in atrocious
conditions. The two bogies at 14 and 16 were cancelled out
by two birdies at 15 and 17 and he came back in par 35 for a gross 75
which gives him a 64 net.
To give you an idea how bad the weather was, my bag and clubs are
sitting in the garage as I type, drying out along with my (not very)
waterproofs. Willy played beautifully and deserves to win
the medal when all of the cards are in. If the weather does
not improve any, no-one will get near. Brilliant.
Update result: Well done Willy, he won the 1st
division.
Even more good news - Dave Rowntree, the original 'FLOG' and now back
from the USA as a TOG, shot a net 65 to win the 2nd division, which by
the way is where I am relegated to.
Wednesday 20th June
Eddy Stothert and I were paired against Daz and The Cultured Caledonian
and Ed's halfway total of 19 and mine of 20 gave us an
unassailable lead. So much so that Daz went back to
work.
The three of us continued and Ed came back in 21 and I tailed off with
17 points but all things considered, not too bad.
The most exciting thing to happen, apart from our three birdies, was the
sight of 5 seagulls attacking a heron in flight. Loads of
squawking and feathers flying everywhere.
Saturday 16th June
Captain's Day
Strangely the Captain's Day competition was cancelled last night on the
strength of a poor weather forecast following a couple of days incessant
rain. It turned out to be incorrect and the course was
actually in magnificent condition, the greens were beautiful and the
weather, though dull, was OK.
The competition has been rescheduled for July 21st and the original tee
times still stand. Let's hope no-one takes any notice of
whatever is forecast.
Eight of us turned up to play anyway and I partnered Daz against Le
Frenchman and Dunc and I am pleased to say we relieved them of their
pocket money. In the overall comp between us, Digby's best
mate, Tony Sarginson, triumphed with a very respectable 40 points.
Wednesday 13th June
Rained off in morning. Went and got a puncture instead.
Tuesday 12th June
England v Scotland
Unfortunately this international match had to be cancelled because the
tee is reserved from 9am until 3pm by the good ladies of TGC, it being
ladies captain's day.
My fault entirely. I knew the tee was reserved until 1pm as
is normal every Tuesday because it is ladies day, surely somewhat of an
anachronism in these enlightened times, but I had failed to spot the
other two hour reservation.
I am sure we will get the match played another time boys.
Meanwhile, I offer my apologies for the hassle caused.
Monday 11th June
Foursomes knockout Rd 3
Le Frenchman and I (both off 11 versus Ian Blair and Mick Brodie playing
off 8 & 6 respectively. It's a toughie.
We lost: 2 down. Having received 3 shots we
threw the match away with a couple of howlers.
The first hole is stroke 3 and all we had to do was get a par to go one
up. We were safely on course to do this until we realised
that I had chipped the wrong ball onto the green and we went one down.
We did go to 2 down but got back to -1 going to the 18th.
Unbelievably, with our opponents struggling for a five Le Frenchman
chipped onto the last but again we had played the wrong ball to lose the
hole and the match.
It just wasn't meant to be.
Saturday 9th June
Tynemouth Open
My mate Le Frenchman had tears in his eyes and it had nothing to do with
his onions. We scored 35 points off 3/4 handicap in a better
ball format but my contribution was zilch. Our playing
partners Archie and Duncan fared a little better and came in with 39
points but I reckon a score of around 47 will be required to win.
We shall see tomorrow.
Sunday 3rd June
Foursomes knockout
Playing against Bob Whitehead (5Hcp) and Bob Best (17Hcp) Le Frenchman
and I (both off 11Hcp) won easily 6&5. LF played another
blinder and having seen the current form he is in I don't understand how
he 'only' scored a 66 on Saturday. Obviously when your
playing partners are hurling their clubs into the woods and generally
losing it your concentration is bound to be tested.
My game was generally OK too, apart from missing two relatively simple
putts which would have made the size of our victory even greater.
My sympathies go out to Bob Best who had one of those days, we all have,
when nothing went right for him. If he had been anywhere
near his normal game the match would have been too close to call.
As it is we go into the next round against Ian Blair and Mick Brodie,
both of whom play off single figures.
Saturday 2nd June
The Mould Cup
The Mould Cup will have to wait for me for another twelve months as my
game was hopeless. That I broke 100 was an
achievement.......just. 45 + 49 = 94 (-11) = 83.
My playing partners today were Eddy Stothert and Doug Walker (the last
time I played with Doug he had a hole in one). Ed was as
steady as ever and Doug beat me but only just.
My mate Le Frenchman was the leader in the clubhouse when we left at
3pm. He shot a gross 78 for a net 66. Good golf
mon ami. He is definitely in with a shout and we will find
out tomorrow 'cos we play our foursomes knockout against Cap'n Bob and
Bob Best. Vive Le Frenchman!
Thursday 31st May
I played 12 holes in the setting sun with Le Frenchman and Rosco but
could hardly make a swing as a consequence of bowling 15.2 overs for the
Great Britain Transplant Cricket Club in the early part of the week.
My analysis was 15.2 overs, 3 maidens, 3 wickets for 57 runs and was
worth all of the resulting pain.
Saturday 26th May
We could only score 111 points and finished in 10th
place yesterday which just got us into the prizes. The
'winners' scored 123 points but as they were the group playing in front
of us and holding us up at every shot we are a touch sceptical as
to the validity of their card.
Anyway, we had a good time and shall return again in
the CHUF charity event at Ramside in June. The Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse and all that?
At the evening presentation there was a little bit of
'handbags' which certainly livened up proceedings. It turns
out that the cause of the problem was a non golfer dressed in jeans, it
just so happens that they were ripped jeans but is not relevant, and I
for one would like to see a dress code re-introduced and adhered to in
Tynemouth Golf Club.
The first rule of the dress code would be 'No Jeans'.
By the way I earned a very good living as a salesman
in the 70's for Blue Bell Apparel Inc, better known as Wrangler, and am
not anti jeans in any way. At our sales conferences in
5 star hotels across the world we were not allowed to wear denim when in
the hotels. The reason? They had a dress code.
Try getting into any night club wearing jeans and I
guarantee that a black suited gent on the door will politely refuse
entry. I wonder why that is?
Friday 25th May
Charity Golf Day - RNLI
Wednesday 23rd May
Six of us had a game and the accolades, not to
mention the scone went to 'the man with no name' who I can now reveal to
be The Cultured Caledonian, David Bavaird. Don't ask.
The other four were DMC, Le Frenchman, Daz and the
only one who has a proper name, Gordon Smith. How boring is
that?
Monday 21st May
Two days too late I found my 'A' game.
Playing against Gordon Smith and Rosco I found most fairways and greens
in regulation and cruised to a 2 scone victory. What a pity.
Friday 18th & Saturday 19th May
Five Nations Golf
(Use link above)
Wednesday 16th May
The 'man with no name', Daz and I played a game of
chairman and as always it went to the last. As it turned out
Daz pocketed a quarter of a fruit scone by virtue of 1 birdie otherwise
everything was level. As Bruce Forsyth would say, "Good
game, good game".
This is my last round, I think, before jetting off
for Ireland where I shall be representing England in the Five Nations
Golf tournament. We are staying in the hotel and playing the
fabulous links course at
Portmarnock.
Feast your eyes on this boys.
I also have a practice round lined up on Friday at
St
Margaret's Golf Club, which doesn't look too shoddy either.
By the way, the greens today at Tynemouth were
excellent and the course in general is looking pretty good.
It is deserving of an 8 out of 10 on the Boggy coursometer.
If the scraggy bits around the greens were marked 'GUR' I would have
gone to a 9. It can't be right that we have to play some
delicate little pitch shots off muddy scrapings, can it? In
particular at the 4th, 5th and 6th.
Wednesday 9th May
An honourable draw was agreed on the 18th green
between 'the man with no name' who was my partner against Ed and Raff.
Front nine, back nine, match and birdies were all square.
This sort of golf will soon have the crowds flooding
back to Tynemouth on a Wednesday.
Monday 7th May
Six of us turned up for a bank holiday round of golf
and I was in the company of Le Frenchman and our new single figure
golfer, Duncan McCree. The other three were Archie, Willy
and Daz.
At least I knew I was getting whopped which is why my
back nine score was a totally meaningless 12 points. Duncan
won the back nine, just, with 23 points but it was Le Frenchman who
triumphed overall courtesy of a fantastic eagle two at last to finish
with 41 points.
We had discussed the possible outcomes on the 18th
tee box as LF trailed DMC by 2 points for the match.
He needed a birdie or a pig would fly over the fairway. Le
cochon did not appear, l'oiseau did. Magnifique mon
ami, magnifique.
Saturday 5th May
The Moore Cup
Tootling along quite serenely I came unstuck at the
par three 17th and took a miserable 7 which wrecked my card and I
finished with an 84 for a net 73, which will result in an increase of
0.1. If you putt like Marty Feldman what else can you
expect?
Congratulations to Duncan McCree who shot another sub
80 round and no doubt will be a single figure handicap golfer in the
morning. Great stuff Dunc, well done.
Well done too to Daz who won Div I of the midweek
medal with a 74, net 67. He is now off 6hcp.
Apart from his 10 at the 12th he played OK again
today as did my other playing partner Willy who got back into the buffer
zone following a shaky front nine.
For those of you who don't read my blog but simply
log onto the golf stuff, where were you last night? It was
the TOGS presentation evening and we all knew about it.
Didn't we?
Wednesday 2nd May
Midweek medal
After our excellent performance last night (see
below) both Le Frenchman and I were were very poor. The
adrenalin must have been exhausted and our games were way below what is
expected. Vic, playing in our threeball was even worse.
There is always Saturday to look forward to in The
Moore Cup.
