It was time for the FA Cup yesterday at Mill Ride. At dawn we were going to be 8 players but RobA then pulled out and we became 7. Rob blamed his stiff neck on too much swinging – up to that point I had no idea that swinging was so rife on that side of the village and obviously of a very gymnastic variety.
Amongst all of his very close attention to the details of the organisation, Alan had pre-conducted the draw which was now slightly modified as Nick, JohnH and me became a 3-ball playing against the two 2-balls of MikeS & RobM and MikeW and Alan.
Alan and I shared several communications in the days before as the weather forecast wavered between yet another torrential downpour and perhaps some slight drizzle. In the end we took the plunge and stuck to the Mill Ride venue and it turned out that we needn’t have worried as apart from a short period of faint wind-blown moistness it was quite OK.
It is generally the case that when Player B turns up, he only sticks around for a few holes or perhaps the front 9 and then he clearly gets bored with damaging Nick’s scorecard and he disappears off to irritate someone else. Yesterday however, he was more than enjoying himself and stayed for the full round. It seemed that he was missing summer and the joys of sand and water because given just the slightest glimpse of one or the other he scampered off to frolic. He was particularly happy in the sand refusing to come out of it after 2 or 3 increasingly irritated attempts to extricate him.
If there was no sand to be seen then water proved a welcome substitute and it was not unusual for him to want to play in the water with a friend or two. And thus it was that after 5 holes Nick had yet to score a point. Admittedly holes 2 and 4 were closed for drainage work commissioned by the new owners, Maidenhead Golf Club but with only 4 holes left to play, it shows some strength of will by Nick that he managed to reach 5 points by halfway.
My other partner, JohnH, had the day before taken the very risky step of having a golf lesson from the Pro. He had apparently been given 4 things to focus on which, for a Ballbasher is surely 3 or perhaps even 4 too many. I didn’t like to ask him what they were for fear of becoming muddled myself but I am sure that he was putting them into practice as best he could and hopefully he was happy with the outcome especially on the back 9 where he significantly improved on his 7 points on the front.
They were sharing a buggy and slightly pressed by one’s need to urgently buy a birthday card for her indoors and the other’s to get away for a medical appointment maybe to amputate Player B. With holes 2 and 4 closed and the buggy going lickety-spit, I worked out that, on foot, I had very nearly emulated Roger Bannister over the 1500 yards to reach the 5th tee. Luckily I didn’t have to to take too many golf swings to get there.
Despite losing my favourite ball of the moment in the lake before which I had laid up in order to avoid losing said ball, I quite like Mill Ride – it doesn’t have any tilted fairways or nearby motorways and it is generally very scenic. Perhaps Player B shares my view? Sadly we suspect that MGC might put the green fees up – Alan had negotiated a good rate involving another bacon butty and they gave us £5 off each because holes 2 and 4 were closed – a lot of BBs would pay extra for that but, as it was, we paid £35 each.
My two playing partners shot off at high speed to attend their understandably pressing appointments and I played Billy No-Mates waiting for the 4-ball to appear which they did an hour later after an apparently titanic battle culminating in victory for Alan and MikeW on the 18th – always great fun.
The denouement revealed the following scores:
For the FA Cup:
Richard (32), MikeS (29), MikeW(27), Alan (26), RobM (23), JohnH (18) and Player B (10).
The team competition:
JohnH, Nick & Richard: 18 + 17 = 35 (won the front 9)
Alan & MikeW: 16 + 20 = 36 (won the back 9 and overall)
MikeS & RobM: 17 + 18 = 35
NPin2: On the 3rd & 15th – Richard. On the 8th (by sinking it in 2) RobM.
