Playing with the bigger boys - Voucher drought looming

Wasn't the Open brilliant? Despite the myriad tasks waiting for my attention, I spent most of the last four days when I wasn't actually on the course glued to it. It would have been brilliant if Lee Westwood could have pulled it off - is he the unluckiest golfer ever? That bunker shot he played on the 18th on Sunday was just astonishing. Once he missed the last putt and couldn't win it would have been a good story for Tom Watson to have come through, and all I can say is that Stewart Cink has no idea of a proper sporting narrative.

Thrilled as I was to reach the dizzy heights of an 18 handicap, there was an important point that I had failed to grasp, that an 18 brings me out of the calm and benign seas of Division 3, and into the clutches of the tigers of Division 2...For anyone who doesn't know, club men players are divided into (in the UK) three divisions based on handicap - Div 3 is 28 - 19, Div 2 18 - 13 and Div 1 12 and below. The Division you play in determines how quickly your handicap drops when you play well, and of course the Saturday competition prizes are divisional.

I've had a good run, I've won over £200 this year in pro shop vouchers as my handicap has been dropping, but I can see a voucher drought coming now. The wind was howling on the course on Saturday, so much so that on our 202 yard par-3 17th I was 10 yards shy with a driver, when on a still day I would take a rescue club or even a 5-iron (still chipped up and made the putt for par though!). I ended up with 90 gross for 72 nett (one over). Now, in Division 3, the windy conditions meant that 90 for 71 off a 19 handicap was good enough for 2nd place (I couldn't help noticing) and a £40 voucher, while my brave 90 off 18 was only good enough for 16th.

Off 20, I would have won the division. Off 18, I'm buying my own balls and socks again...