Yesterday was forecast to be bright and cool but turned out to be grey and warmer. I had decided on the basis of the forecast to test out my newly acquired fleece-lined trousers which were a Black Friday steal from Mountain Warehouse. The result of the mis-match between legwear and temperature was that I gained super-heated legs which I discovered did nothing positive for my golf – must be some sort of paranormal connection.
It was Autumn League time and 6 Ballbashers turned out to tee off at the unusually late time of 11:48am. Since that meant missing lunch, several of us had acquired a smorgasbord of delights from Countrystore including sausage rolls and bananas. Luckily, although the kitchen was closed when we finished, we were able to add in a desert of treacle tart, sponge cake or mini-croissants when we finished. If Nick had not been layed up, he would have thoroughly enjoyed this part of the day.
The balls fell so that Bill, MikeW and I formed one team and Alan, MikeS and RobM formed the other. Dropping out from the starting line-up on the morning was RobA, whose message from Miami Airport earlier in the week saying that he wanted to play, had caused MikeS to unbook, book, unbook and then finally book 2 adjacent tee-times at the earliest available time of 11:48 and 11:56. As it turned out we needed two whatever so RobA avoided serious castigation when a cold caught on the plane home caused him to drop out. Despite PeterR’s assertion that the air on planes is the most filtered in the world, I definitely have the impression that I catch a cold whenever I fly.
I had n’t played for 3 weeks so I was more than pleased when I hit 3 good shots on the 1st hole to come off with a par and 3 points. Unfortunately this turned out to be the highlight of my round and the next time I achieved anything similar was on the 18th by which time those masochistic golfing gods had decided that I had suffered enough and, anyway, they wanted me back next week for more jolly japes. Plus ca change etc.
My team-mates were not faring much better apart from MikeW’s 4 for 4 points on the 6th and we finished the front 9 with a better ball score of 33 (two scores counting on each hole) which we correctly assumed would not be enough. Concentrating hard we managed to improve on the back 9 to score 34 and, what was more of a triumph, we just about finished in the daylight. With the opposition nowhere to be seen behind us, we wondered if we should send out a search party but then thought better of this plan and retired into the friendly glow of the clubhouse.
They arrived eventually and over a cup of tea and sponge cake, RobM failed to convince us that we should be investing in another ephemeral currency favoured by drug traffickers called something like BitMemes which is some sort of virtual cartoon attached to a BlockChain whatever that might be. BashCoins seemed to be quite a hard currency compared to BitMemes and maybe we should float them out to the wider world and see if they could reach $100,000 each – that would liven up our weekly competitions.
When we compared scores our team was amazed to discover that, after being trounced on the front 9, we had actually won the back 9 and so the damage was only limited to a loss overall and one BashCoin each which, at $100,000 each, seemed quite modest.
Alan, MikeS and RobM 42 + 31 = 74
Bill, MikeW and Richard 33 + 34 = 67
As far as the Autumn League is concerned MikeS put himself totally in the driving seat with an excellent 35 points which was based on 22 points on the front 9 – I thought that he must have been playing on a different course to the rest of us. With one game to go, it is still possible for Alan to overtake him and I could draw but he currently has a clear lead.
MikeS (35), MikeW (33), Richard (30), Alan and RobM (29) and Bill (17).
