Golf, watching golf, women and Society Golf

Saturday was a pairs competition. Betterball Stableford full handicap. We scored 33 points, and I scored on 15 of the 18 holes. That's all I'm saying...

Sunday, went along to watch Peter play at Hollinwell. This is one of the treats of the year for the juniors. He's already played Sherwood Forest, another fabulous course, and now the Nottinghamshire Golf Club, a wonderful heathland track. He played a very pleasant young man called Lewis, 12 year old 19 handicapper, chatty, interested and keen to play good golf. He was telling me that he had been on a Lee Westwood Academy day and ended up winning a new Ping G15 driver, a putter to go with it and a round with Lee himself at Lindrick. What a great prize! He's had the round - I asked him what Lee was like and he said 'oh, he was really nice. If he thought I was doing something wrong he showed me the right way and explained what he would do in the same situation'. I don't know if he saw my jaw drop! You couldn't buy that, could you? Lee apparently is hugely committed to junior development and good for him.

Now, Hollinwell is one of those places that has a er, traditional approach, as far as the women/men thing is concerned. Women are apparently not even allowed on the premises before 2pm on a Saturday, and there are three bars, one for men, one mixed and one for women. There are actually four, there's an extra little one inside the men's visitors changing room! Rumour has it that a path was diverted so that men wouldn't have to see women walking past on their way to the Ladies changing rooms. I had a free and frank discussion on the subject with a chap in the men's bar. He seemed to think that the 'men's bar' was justified, and indeed that juniors shouldn't be allowed into men's competitions, on the basis that after a week at work, men should be allowed to 'express themselves freely'. I suggested that we should do away with the men's bar and replace it with a 'swearing bar' but that didn't go down well. Isn't it odd that the approach is that the men want to swear, so ladies and juniors should be barred? It never seems to cross the mind that it might be more appropriate, if it's an issue at all, that a swearing ban be put in place so that everyone can enjoy their golf together, but let's not get silly, eh? The argument ranged freely around other issues including dress code, but let's not go there.

One other thing. Hollinwell is so posh that the local Porsche dealership leaves examples of the latest models in the car park. All very nice, and the lads were drooling over the cars, but they missed the best car in the place - an immaculate, beautiful 1964 Aston Martin DB5. Mmmmmmm.

Monday was The East Midlands Packaging Society golf day at Kedleston Park. I chair the Society, so I had the usual job of herding cats to get people onto the tee, back into the bar, then getting on my hind legs to make a speech and thank everyone. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the sun shone, but the weather was fantastic for golf, not a breath of wind. The staff at Kedleston looked after us really well and the meal in the evening was excellent.

I hope everyone enjoyed the day. For the record, the winner of the Norcros Trophy and owner of bragging rights for the next year was Mike Young. Outside the main prizes, we also awarded a 'Longest Driver' award to Steve Fletcher of Manor Bakeries, for coming back (from the Wirral!) after last year's disappointment when the host course put us on temporary greens (a horrible thing, as any golfer will tell you) and having enough confidence in us to bring a group of colleagues; a 'Violence to Local Wildlife' award to Polly Wells for hitting a duck on the lake hole, and a 'Mental Focus' prize to Malcolm Clipson for losing not only his glasses but also a hearing aid. His prize was a bottle of wine, which he forgot.