Getting towards the end of the season now, so we're looking forward to the winter golf comps. I'm going to be playing with Roy, Eddie and son Peter again, so after my first full year of Saturday comps it will be nice to be a bit more relaxed about the game, I hope.
Last Wednesday I played my first game for the club, as part of the Notts Alliance. The Alliance has been going for over 100 years, and provides an opportunity for club players to compete among themselves and with professionals at courses around the county. It's limited to 16 handicap players or better, and you can be drawn to play alongside professionals from many Nottinghamshire clubs. Lee Westwood and Oliver Wilson, to name but two, have played in Aliance games. We played at Retford, a brute of a course off the back pots. Well, probably not so bad if you can hit the ball straight. It has some interesting tee shots though, through mature woodland, over hills, 270º doglegs and all. I felt as though I played OK, I parred all the par 3 holes, even the 219 yard one and the 180 yard off a precipice! Very easy to get in lots of trouble though, and I had an odd round of 3-pointers and blobs, ending up with 25 points. Normally that would be a disaster, but I discovered that apart from Tim Newham, our pro, I was joint top scorer. I even ended up level with one or two of the pros (OK, taking into account the extra 12 shots I got!). Tim won the entire event with 38 points, well done to him, but we ended up third from last in the team standings.
On Saturday, I almost had a fantastic round. 5 over for fifteen holes. What a shame there are 18 on the course. Two doubles and a TRIPLE pushed me to a gross 83, nett 69 and 23rd place. Still good, but could have been so much better. A poor approach on the 13th and a wayward tee shot on the 14th cost me four shots between them, and they were pretty much the only bad shots I played all day. Shame. Lost the 0.3 on my handicap to take me down to 14.0. I don't think there are enough games left this season to go up even if I have a shocking run in, so I'm likely to be 14 for the winter. Not that I'm complaining - if you'd told me when I started writing this that I would be down from 24 to 14 I would, as football managers say, have taken that.
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Monday, 21 September 2009
FINALS DAY....Gold letters?
Well, what a weekend, building up to Sunday's Finals Day, where I was through to the final of the big singles matchplay competition, the Challenge Cup.
As I mentioned last time, I played in Gary Disney's Breast Cancer charity day, this year being played for the third time in memory of his wife Anita. Really enjoyed the day and went up for the presentation in the evening. Delighted and astonished to discover that the day had raised over £20,000. A fantastic effort, and Gary, his family and the people who helped out with organisation, food, sponsorship and everything else should be very proud of their achievement. Some fantastic pink outfits out there too, and Gary Brown is not only a fine swimming coach, he swings a great mic as a charity auction MC too!
That was Friday. I chose not to play on Saturday, didn't want to use up all my good shots before the final. We ended up going into Nottingham for a look at the Nottingham Food and Drink Festival. I had a fantastic sausage cob...
OK - the big day. Up at SIX am for a tee time at eight. Got up to the club bright an early ready for the Englishman's traditional prep of a few swishes with a six iron and a bacon sandwich. Distressed to find that the kitchen didn't open until 7.30. Peter was acting as caddie, and had diligently been up at 6.15 making sustaining sandwiches for the round. He took his duties very seriously all day and was great, encouraging when I hit some bad ones and giving me a bit of advice when my swing wasn't working as well as it should. Never has a man had such well-polished grooves, either! What a star.
Tony Beech and I had a great scrap all the way round - twice! The final of the Challenge Cup was contested over 36 holes of match play. Hardly any holes were halved - we took turns in making a mess of our shots, but with neither of us giving way we were both playing well under handicap (probably). All square after the first 18, soup and a sandwich, and back out at 1.30 for the second round. I had no rhythm at all at first, and after six holes I was four down and Tony was cruising to an early, easy victory. Seven to 11, though, I turned into Tiger Woods - in the zone! Hit the middle of the green and won 7,8,9 and 11 to get back to all square. We halved the 12th, which I was disappointed with. I hit a wayward approach into the fringe of the green when I should have been close and three putted for a six. Tony then birdied the par-5 13th to go one-up and I knew I was in trouble as he was receiving shots on the 14th and 16th. He duly won the 14th (2-up), I won the 15th but he took the 16th to go to the 17th dormie.
If the match had a turning point it was Tony's chip on the 17th. I had hit a good rescue wood to about 10 feet from the pin, but anyone who knows our 17th will know that you can easily three putt from there. Tony was up on the bank at the back of the green, with a difficult chip down. He hit it very very nearly perfectly, but it just hung up literally 2 inches from running down to the hole. He was then putting down onto the green for three, down in five and we were going up the 18th dormie one. I hit a shocker, in the rough on the right but blocked from the green by a big tree. Tony had gone with an iron from the tee and left himself a shot from a downhill lie across the valley. Unfortunately he found a tree on the left and he had to take a penalty drop, from where he hit a good chip to about 8 feet. I hit my second into a greenside bunker, and then hit the bunker shot into the OTHER greenside bunker. Had to really fight down the sense of having blown it and calm down. I hit the bunker shot of my life to a foot from the pin. Tony missed his eight footer but got the return and I was able to hole my putt to send us down the extra hole all square.
So there we were, all square after 36 holes. I think we were both mentally and physically exhausted by now. We both hit our drives right, but I got luckier than Tony as my drive popped through the tree line onto the practice ground beyond. We both put our seconds down close to the front of the green. I was feeling pretty unconquerable, actually. I was sure the momentum was with me after the last couple of holes. Tony chipped first, to 10 feet or so. I got a little beauty off, it rolled all around the green and ended up lipping out, rolling on to 18 inches. Tony missed the putt, leaving me the 18 incher for the match. 18 inches and about a mile and a half. I had to really force myself away from all thoughts of the win and just see it as a golf shot. It was very, very hard to do, but I just went through the routine and knocked it in for the match.
Oh yes!
To the casual reader, this may all seem a very small thing, but I have worked really hard all year on my golf - I've put hundreds of hours into practice and play. I'm not talented, beyond a basic ability to 'play games' but I wanted to see how well I could do at this frustrating, wonderful sport. I've come down by ten on handicap, won a few quid on the way in competition and met some great people. It was important to me that I put the cap on it with a mention on one of the honours boards, and for it to be the Challenge Cup, arguably the biggest prize in the club (I know the winner of the Scratch Cup might disagree, but that's just one day!) just makes it better.
Wonder what next week's comp is?
As I mentioned last time, I played in Gary Disney's Breast Cancer charity day, this year being played for the third time in memory of his wife Anita. Really enjoyed the day and went up for the presentation in the evening. Delighted and astonished to discover that the day had raised over £20,000. A fantastic effort, and Gary, his family and the people who helped out with organisation, food, sponsorship and everything else should be very proud of their achievement. Some fantastic pink outfits out there too, and Gary Brown is not only a fine swimming coach, he swings a great mic as a charity auction MC too!
That was Friday. I chose not to play on Saturday, didn't want to use up all my good shots before the final. We ended up going into Nottingham for a look at the Nottingham Food and Drink Festival. I had a fantastic sausage cob...
OK - the big day. Up at SIX am for a tee time at eight. Got up to the club bright an early ready for the Englishman's traditional prep of a few swishes with a six iron and a bacon sandwich. Distressed to find that the kitchen didn't open until 7.30. Peter was acting as caddie, and had diligently been up at 6.15 making sustaining sandwiches for the round. He took his duties very seriously all day and was great, encouraging when I hit some bad ones and giving me a bit of advice when my swing wasn't working as well as it should. Never has a man had such well-polished grooves, either! What a star.
Tony Beech and I had a great scrap all the way round - twice! The final of the Challenge Cup was contested over 36 holes of match play. Hardly any holes were halved - we took turns in making a mess of our shots, but with neither of us giving way we were both playing well under handicap (probably). All square after the first 18, soup and a sandwich, and back out at 1.30 for the second round. I had no rhythm at all at first, and after six holes I was four down and Tony was cruising to an early, easy victory. Seven to 11, though, I turned into Tiger Woods - in the zone! Hit the middle of the green and won 7,8,9 and 11 to get back to all square. We halved the 12th, which I was disappointed with. I hit a wayward approach into the fringe of the green when I should have been close and three putted for a six. Tony then birdied the par-5 13th to go one-up and I knew I was in trouble as he was receiving shots on the 14th and 16th. He duly won the 14th (2-up), I won the 15th but he took the 16th to go to the 17th dormie.
If the match had a turning point it was Tony's chip on the 17th. I had hit a good rescue wood to about 10 feet from the pin, but anyone who knows our 17th will know that you can easily three putt from there. Tony was up on the bank at the back of the green, with a difficult chip down. He hit it very very nearly perfectly, but it just hung up literally 2 inches from running down to the hole. He was then putting down onto the green for three, down in five and we were going up the 18th dormie one. I hit a shocker, in the rough on the right but blocked from the green by a big tree. Tony had gone with an iron from the tee and left himself a shot from a downhill lie across the valley. Unfortunately he found a tree on the left and he had to take a penalty drop, from where he hit a good chip to about 8 feet. I hit my second into a greenside bunker, and then hit the bunker shot into the OTHER greenside bunker. Had to really fight down the sense of having blown it and calm down. I hit the bunker shot of my life to a foot from the pin. Tony missed his eight footer but got the return and I was able to hole my putt to send us down the extra hole all square.
So there we were, all square after 36 holes. I think we were both mentally and physically exhausted by now. We both hit our drives right, but I got luckier than Tony as my drive popped through the tree line onto the practice ground beyond. We both put our seconds down close to the front of the green. I was feeling pretty unconquerable, actually. I was sure the momentum was with me after the last couple of holes. Tony chipped first, to 10 feet or so. I got a little beauty off, it rolled all around the green and ended up lipping out, rolling on to 18 inches. Tony missed the putt, leaving me the 18 incher for the match. 18 inches and about a mile and a half. I had to really force myself away from all thoughts of the win and just see it as a golf shot. It was very, very hard to do, but I just went through the routine and knocked it in for the match.
Oh yes!
To the casual reader, this may all seem a very small thing, but I have worked really hard all year on my golf - I've put hundreds of hours into practice and play. I'm not talented, beyond a basic ability to 'play games' but I wanted to see how well I could do at this frustrating, wonderful sport. I've come down by ten on handicap, won a few quid on the way in competition and met some great people. It was important to me that I put the cap on it with a mention on one of the honours boards, and for it to be the Challenge Cup, arguably the biggest prize in the club (I know the winner of the Scratch Cup might disagree, but that's just one day!) just makes it better.
Wonder what next week's comp is?
Sunday, 13 September 2009
FOURTEEN!!!??
Not sure I like this new policy of cutting people on general play. After being in the prizes again last week, I'm down another one. That makes TEN this year. I accept that I was overpriced during the early season, but steady on, chaps. The good news is that Tony Beech has also been cut by one, so the differential between us remains in place for next Sunday's showdown in the final of the Challenge Cup.
Played with Lee, Liam and Chris Bruce this week. I shot 89 for what is now 75 (4 over), which is not a disaster, seeing as I had two eights on the card. Pretty steady apart from that. We all had at least one birdie. Chris, a 7 handicapper, had an astonishing round. Off the tee he was either in perfect position or so far left he was occasionally nearly across two fairways. His approach shots were sheer poetry, though, and he made some great putts, including one for an outrageous birdie on the sixth after a 200 yard approach from at least fifty yards left of where he should have been over a stand of 40 foot conifers. The wheels finally came off for him on the 16th where he lost two balls. You could see what a good player he was, though.
One interesting thing from the weekend - I took the pro's offer up of having my wedges re-grooved. WOW! As long as you don't mind the cover being taken off the ball after a couple of decent wedge shots, the backspin was incredible. Our greens are hard (just up the road there's a brickworks, apparently the clay is perfect for it!) and when they are dry, there's no way you can stop the ball - but you can get pretty damn close with sharp grooves!
I'm hoping to get away this week with working in the mornings, golf in the afternoons and practicing guitar in the evenings. I'm looking forward to playing in Gary Disney's charity day on Friday. His wife very sadly died of breast cancer a couple of years ago and the very young age of 46, and Gary runs this event to raise money for breast cancer charities. This is the first chance I have had to play in the event. A lot of our members are supporting the day, and I hope it raises a good sum.
And a gig next Friday night - The Bricklayers Arms, Ruddington. Rock 'n' Roll 'n' Golf, that's what I say!
Played with Lee, Liam and Chris Bruce this week. I shot 89 for what is now 75 (4 over), which is not a disaster, seeing as I had two eights on the card. Pretty steady apart from that. We all had at least one birdie. Chris, a 7 handicapper, had an astonishing round. Off the tee he was either in perfect position or so far left he was occasionally nearly across two fairways. His approach shots were sheer poetry, though, and he made some great putts, including one for an outrageous birdie on the sixth after a 200 yard approach from at least fifty yards left of where he should have been over a stand of 40 foot conifers. The wheels finally came off for him on the 16th where he lost two balls. You could see what a good player he was, though.
One interesting thing from the weekend - I took the pro's offer up of having my wedges re-grooved. WOW! As long as you don't mind the cover being taken off the ball after a couple of decent wedge shots, the backspin was incredible. Our greens are hard (just up the road there's a brickworks, apparently the clay is perfect for it!) and when they are dry, there's no way you can stop the ball - but you can get pretty damn close with sharp grooves!
I'm hoping to get away this week with working in the mornings, golf in the afternoons and practicing guitar in the evenings. I'm looking forward to playing in Gary Disney's charity day on Friday. His wife very sadly died of breast cancer a couple of years ago and the very young age of 46, and Gary runs this event to raise money for breast cancer charities. This is the first chance I have had to play in the event. A lot of our members are supporting the day, and I hope it raises a good sum.
And a gig next Friday night - The Bricklayers Arms, Ruddington. Rock 'n' Roll 'n' Golf, that's what I say!
Monday, 7 September 2009
How to make a prat out of yourself and why oh why can't I hit a 40 yard shot!?
Didn't play in the Bogey Cup on Saturday. I was innocently swishing my club around in the garden on Wednesday when I felt a muscle twang in my shoulder. Not bad on Wednesday, bloody painful on Thursday and Friday. I thought I could probably play through it but decided that if I left myself not able to play on Sunday in the Mixed Open with the good lady wife I would probably be in trouble.
What oh what do you do on a Saturday when you aren't golfing? I moped about, didn't have a clue what to do with myself, did a bit of work, eventually went to see my dad who has Sky Sports and watched the golf on his telly. Think I'll just play through the pain from now on, Saturdays are just too boring otherwise.
Anyway, dropped Peter off at Wollaton Park GC Sunday lunchtime for his competition (The Henderson and Carlisle Trophy, a junior open) and went up to Mapperley. Made a complete fool of myself in the bar before the round. A chap walked in who I was at school with. Haven't seen him for 30 years. I greeted him with 'Didn't you used to be John Wayne?' He walked straight past me. The penny then dropped - this was Neil Walton, who looked a bit like another lad in our year called John Dwayne. So I had greeted a very distant acquaintance by asking him if he was a long dead cowboy actor. What a dick. Went and spoke to him properly, his face said 'hello mate' but his eyes were going 'what a prat'. Ho hum.
33 points in the comp. 19 on the front nine, and feeling as though we were minorly in the hunt for a prize. All fell apart on the back though. The format was Greensome, where both players tee off and then you choose one of the drives and take alternate shots thereafter. A nice format, especially for mixed comps. Our inexperience showed through though. I'm pretty good from anything over 80 yards where I can take a fullish swing, and OK around the greens, but not so hot from 40 yards away. Julie couldn't quite reach the greens with her approaches, so I had a lot of these awkward chips to play, and left her with some impossible putts. We'll learn. Out of the forty-odd couples in the comp we were about 8th or 9th, so we can't really complain. Just outside the prizes.
I did notice that Neil and his wife had 27 points - he wants to try getting off his horse.
we did have to send our eldest son Tom to pick Peter up. Now Tom's a nice lad, but not sartorially elegant, so we had warned him not to go into the clubhouse. That would have been fine if he could have found the golf course. Not quite sure how he managed it, but we think he ended up driving across the course itself (on roads, don't worry) and Peter had to climb a fence to get to him. Best not to ask, really.
What oh what do you do on a Saturday when you aren't golfing? I moped about, didn't have a clue what to do with myself, did a bit of work, eventually went to see my dad who has Sky Sports and watched the golf on his telly. Think I'll just play through the pain from now on, Saturdays are just too boring otherwise.
Anyway, dropped Peter off at Wollaton Park GC Sunday lunchtime for his competition (The Henderson and Carlisle Trophy, a junior open) and went up to Mapperley. Made a complete fool of myself in the bar before the round. A chap walked in who I was at school with. Haven't seen him for 30 years. I greeted him with 'Didn't you used to be John Wayne?' He walked straight past me. The penny then dropped - this was Neil Walton, who looked a bit like another lad in our year called John Dwayne. So I had greeted a very distant acquaintance by asking him if he was a long dead cowboy actor. What a dick. Went and spoke to him properly, his face said 'hello mate' but his eyes were going 'what a prat'. Ho hum.
33 points in the comp. 19 on the front nine, and feeling as though we were minorly in the hunt for a prize. All fell apart on the back though. The format was Greensome, where both players tee off and then you choose one of the drives and take alternate shots thereafter. A nice format, especially for mixed comps. Our inexperience showed through though. I'm pretty good from anything over 80 yards where I can take a fullish swing, and OK around the greens, but not so hot from 40 yards away. Julie couldn't quite reach the greens with her approaches, so I had a lot of these awkward chips to play, and left her with some impossible putts. We'll learn. Out of the forty-odd couples in the comp we were about 8th or 9th, so we can't really complain. Just outside the prizes.
I did notice that Neil and his wife had 27 points - he wants to try getting off his horse.
we did have to send our eldest son Tom to pick Peter up. Now Tom's a nice lad, but not sartorially elegant, so we had warned him not to go into the clubhouse. That would have been fine if he could have found the golf course. Not quite sure how he managed it, but we think he ended up driving across the course itself (on roads, don't worry) and Peter had to climb a fence to get to him. Best not to ask, really.
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
You can't keep a good man down
Woo-hoo, back in the vouchers again!
Saturday was the Cyril Bradshaw trophy at Mapperley Golf Club, the only one of our 'board' competitions that can be played off full handicap whatever it happens to be. Not that that matters to me anymore, being off 16 (swank). I don't know who Cyril was, or is, but I choose to believe that he was a fine club member who played for decades without ever quite managing to get his handicap below about 24, and so endowed a trophy that he and his mates could compete for. A reminder that a golf club is about much more than the scratch boys. This year won by a 26 handicapper who shot 89 for a nett 63.
However, despite having been viciously chopped to 16, I shot 84 for a nett 68. Level with second place but fifth on countback, and cut by another one to 15!
I chair The East Midlands Packaging Society, and we have a golf day on 5th October at Kedleston Park in Derby. It's a beautiful course and a subsidised bargain at £35 for the round, prizes and a two-course meal (let me know if you want to come and play!). Obviously, in the spirit of professionalism it was important to test it out so played with my Austrian friend Christian yesterday. I shot 87, which is exactly to my new handicap. We had to come off for a thunderstorm at one point. I was playing so well I even marked the ball.
In other news, Julie played in the ladies comp on Tuesday and shot a new record for her, 102. She's only just been playing for a year, and that was good enough to see her handicap down from 35 to 31 (the rest of the ladies had struggled, so CSS was a massive 76!).
Saturday was the Cyril Bradshaw trophy at Mapperley Golf Club, the only one of our 'board' competitions that can be played off full handicap whatever it happens to be. Not that that matters to me anymore, being off 16 (swank). I don't know who Cyril was, or is, but I choose to believe that he was a fine club member who played for decades without ever quite managing to get his handicap below about 24, and so endowed a trophy that he and his mates could compete for. A reminder that a golf club is about much more than the scratch boys. This year won by a 26 handicapper who shot 89 for a nett 63.
However, despite having been viciously chopped to 16, I shot 84 for a nett 68. Level with second place but fifth on countback, and cut by another one to 15!
I chair The East Midlands Packaging Society, and we have a golf day on 5th October at Kedleston Park in Derby. It's a beautiful course and a subsidised bargain at £35 for the round, prizes and a two-course meal (let me know if you want to come and play!). Obviously, in the spirit of professionalism it was important to test it out so played with my Austrian friend Christian yesterday. I shot 87, which is exactly to my new handicap. We had to come off for a thunderstorm at one point. I was playing so well I even marked the ball.
In other news, Julie played in the ladies comp on Tuesday and shot a new record for her, 102. She's only just been playing for a year, and that was good enough to see her handicap down from 35 to 31 (the rest of the ladies had struggled, so CSS was a massive 76!).
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