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13/02/05 |
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The 'TOGS' /
'TOGS' & Chat /
The 'WAGS'
I spotted the image, above, whilst visiting the 'Walk of fame' in Hilary's Harbour, Perth, Western Australia. Click on it for a closer look.
Monday 29th November Playing with Gordon Smith and Paul Hunt we followed Brian Liddle, Mike Potts, Colin Stevenson and Ken Oliver. We reckon they must have got their trolley wheels stuck in the mud as they took ages to get round! The front nine was won by Mike Potts with19 points, Paul Hunt won the back in 20 points and today's star turn was Mine Potts with an excellent total of 37. I played OK and had a very respectable 33 points and am gradually getting back to somewhere near a reasonable standard of play.....at last! Saturday 27th November I played with Duncan McCree for the fifth time in a row but only because we are paired together in the doubles and we expected to be playing Bill Fletcher and Bob Whitehead in the Frank Graham doubles competition. Alas Bob did not make it and we ended up just the three of us playing our normal 'TOGS' round. Duncan again produced a fine round of golf which yielded 39 points and his reward was to be cut to 9 handicap. I played much better (better than what?) and had to make do with 34 points, while Bill, who was not feeling that great, battled on to the end made a pleasant companion on the golf course as always. We are going to try again next week to play our doubles match, so I will have played with Duncan for six weeks in a row. I rang my bookie mate and he told me the odds of that happening in a field of 19 players is 'a canny few : 1'. Thursday 25th November I enjoy losing to Alan Ross so much that I played with him again today. Actually when the balls came down I partnered John Raffle against Rosco and Le Hunt. In straight forward matchplay it went to the last putt on the 18th green. Rosco sank a ten footer to halve the hole and win the match 1 up. The standard of golf was very high again from all four players. No hole was won in anything worse than par which is always a good sign. We lost the fifth hole even though I notched a birdie. It is stroke 1 on the card, but to a winter green is not too difficult. Le Hunt matched my birdie and as I was giving shots to the others we lost the hole. Wednesday 24th November We had an excellent turnout of 7 'WAGS', plus 2 guests in the form of Alan Ross and Colin Stevenson. It was as good a day as we can expect all winter, no breeze, very mild and the greens extremely receptive. Alan Ross (15hcp) scored a fabulous 46 points which included a blob on the sixth. He won the pot but as he is not a member of the 'WAGS' Duncan McCree with a score of 40 points was declared the winner. Duncan loses 1 shot automatically and an extra 2 shots for his score of 40. His new handicap is 12. Brian Liddle was fortunate to only score 1 point at the eighteenth hole for a total of 39, otherwise he would have been waggled by 4 shots! Back to Rosco. Alan plays with us on Saturday's in the 'TOGS' and won a winter medal a few weeks back with 45 points. He carried that form into today's round and we have to doff our collective hats to a remarkable round of golf. The standard of golf was extremely high today and I came in last with a creditable 35 points. Monday 22nd November Today was positively tropical with the temperature at 11°C. Six of us turned up for a game and I played with Gordon Smith(25) and Alan Ross(15). The others were Ken Oliver, Mike Potts, Brian Liddle and Colin. Yes I know that makes seven of us, sorry about that. Gordon, playing as well as I have seen him in a long time, won the front nine with 20 points and the match with a total of 34. I managed 16 on the back nine to claim my first 'little win' for ages and was pleased with the way I played, which did not have to be great for any improvement. Of the other quartet Brian Liddle had a total of 30 points for the round (there were only 17 holes open) and not much else to report. Nice to welcome Rosco along for a game, he is having a week off from work. Make sure you disconnect the water before you fix the taps Al. Apparently he has got lots of DIY jobs to do this week too. Saturday 20th November On a bitterly cold winter's day it cannot be fair that players have to hang about while players cut across from the 18th green to play the remaining 8 holes of their round simply because they did not wait their turn on arrival as we have to do. I arrived at 9.45am and teed off at 11.05am. Having said that I played abysmally. I started 7 / 6 / lost ball. Using the stableford scoring system I scored (if that is the right word) 8 points on the first nine holes, having 'no returned' my medal card. To end up with 23 points in total signifies something of a comeback, but am not bragging about it. My playing partners did not seem to be affected too much by my play. Duncan McCree (we'll have to stop meeting like this) and Alan Higginbottom played steady golf in the difficult conditions. Since Duncan joined the 'TOGS' four weeks ago I have had the pleasure of his company on each occasion. Bill Fletcher apparently has played in the same group as Doug Walker for three consecutive weeks. I am going to ring my local bookie to find out what the odds are of this happening. |Update - 1000 -1. Wednesday 16th November We had our first official game under our new 'WAGS' format today. I shall post what happened on the 'WAGS' page tomorrow. I have spent too long trying to retrieve my page titles that I am going to sit and relax by watching England lose to Spain in a friendly football international. Lose they did, 1-0. Dave Archbold was our first official winner in near gale force winds with a respectable 33 points, he is 'waggled' from 13 to 12 hcp. As we finished in near darkness it was agreed we meet at 11.45am next week, so that we can be ready to tee off at noon. Monday 15th November There were five of us brave enough to turn out this morning on a very windy day. I played alongside Ken Oliver and Brian Liddle, by the way all three of us are left handed. In the other group were Dave Archbold and Le Hunt, who is also left handed. Four lefties in a group of five golfers must be a little bit unusual I would think. My game is still abysmal and I am not too proud that I cannot report a total points score of 21. If you cannot hit drives on to the short grass in the winter at Tynemouth Golf Course, a score in the twenties is more or less inevitable. No complaints just bad golf. Brian halved the front eight (#4 was closed) in 18 points with the Frenchman, who won the back nine with 17 points and the game with his 35 aggregate. Olly, Archie and I were merely there to make up the numbers. Archie has apparently seen the light and cannot wait to get back out again to put into practice his new backswing. We shall see on Wednesday when we assemble at noon. Saturday 13th November I played with Duncan McCree, Eddy Stothert and Bob Whitehead in week 7 of the 'TOGS'. After eight holes I had the massive total of 9 points and was playing very badly. I ended up with a low score of 27 but was happy at the finish to even threaten respectability. Bob has had a year out from the 'TOGS' in his season as club captain and playing off 4 he scored 36 points, making it all look very easy. As ever Eddy and Duncan were good companions on the course and the three of us were left to trail in behind Bob. For those of you who like these sort of things, Bob was a school chum of Alan Hansen and they both played golf to a very high standard in their school days.
Thursday 11th November
Hickory dickory dock This was the highlight of a game between John Raffle and me. I was giving Raff five shots and was pleased to walk off the 18th all square. The reason for the poetry? Raff said he was aiming for the clock face with his drive at the last and I recited the first line of the well known ditty. He completed the ode with his version which he used to tell his young niece in an attempt to send her off to sleep. Apparently it always ended in failure as he would fall about laughing at the potty prose. Golf can be a serious pastime! Wednesday 10th November On a very dreary, cold and damp day only three hardy souls turned up for our weekly joust. Eddy Stothert, Vic Hillier and yours truly were the protagonists. Stableford scoring using full handicaps, I was conceding one and three shots respectively. After amassing the grand total of 1 point from the first three holes I came in with a total of 30. This was three behind Eddy and two short of Victor's tally. Making me the provider of the refreshments in the clubhouse. Same time next week chaps? Tuesday 9th November I enjoyed a round of golf in the company of Dave Rowntree this afternoon. A fellow 'TOG', Dave plays off 16 and we went all the way to the 18th and halved the match with some good golf. Dave and his wife will shortly be leaving us to start a new life in Florida and will be a big miss when they leave. Kim also plays golf and is a member of the ladies section at Tynemouth. They are waiting for their visas, which should be very soon, and then they're off. Monday 8th November As arranged there were six of us and we split into two groups and played a stableford comp off full handicap. I was the low man off 10 and Ken (how many shots?) Oliver the high man off 26. We play a friendly format: front nine, back nine and the game. Mike (of the yard) Potts with a splendid 20 for the front nine went home happy. As did Ken (half a dollar) Oliver for a stunning 17 on the back nine. My 34 points for the full round turned out to be the best, so I too was delighted. just happy to be there were Brian Liddle, Gordon Smith and Dave Archbold. I must tell you about Archie on the third green. He left a very long putt a very very long way short of the hole and did a Basil Fawlty style thrashing of the car bonnet with his putter in mid air. Olly and I did our best not to laugh, but in the end could not help a little snigger slipping out. All credit to Arch and he saw the funny side too. His putting, alas, did not improve as we went round though. Saturday 6th November The 'Togs' had a 16 man turnout today and we therefore fielded 8 teams in the club fourball better ball 3/4 stableford competition, The results were as follows:-
42 points - David Bavaird & Alan Ross 42 is a good score and I would not be surprised if it was in the 'top 3'. I will let you know after I have played on Monday, we meet at 9.45am for 10am tee off.
Update: 42 was the winning score but Rosco and David had
to settle for second place on countback. Thursday 4th November The weather was so nice I could not resist a game and played 16 holes (2 closed) with John Raffle. For the second day in a row he beat me. I was unable to push him today as I played very poorly. He beat me 3&2.
Wednesday 3rd November Tynemouth Golf Club AGM tonight @ 7.30pm Eight of us turned up for a game today and we split into two fours. I had the dubious pleasure of playing in the company of Archy, Brian Liddle and John Raffle. The other players were Eddy Stothert, Vic Hillier, Ken Oliver and Daz Ridley. I played reasonably well but my 35 points was not good enough to beat the mighty Raff who scored 40 points (there were only 17 holes open). On our return to the clubhouse we decided we would continue throughout the winter, as we did last season, and play as a group collectively known as the 'WAGS' - Wednesday Afternoon Golf Squad. We will have a slightly different format from last year when we used an eclectic system of scoring. It worked very well but we felt a simple 'on the day' match using the Stableford scoring system would be just as much fun. If you are interested in the minutiae take at look at the dedicated WAGS' page on my site. I have posted the details. We will be starting from next Wednesday and will meet at noon for a 12.15pm tee off time. It is not an exclusive group but we have made certain conditions which will apply to casual players. |
This site was last updated 02/13/05
