It’s an old saying with which we are all familiar and, generally speaking, every week that we play there are so many injured or partially fit Ballbashers on the course, you can’t move without tripping over one, which makes it necessary to beware of everyone which , of course, is wholly impractical.
However this week, one “injured” golfer shone out in the person of Alan. Now some of you may already know that Alan suffers from occasional bouts of labyrinthitis which is nothing to do with hunting down the minotaur or balls of wool but rather entails being overcome with debilitating dizziness when moving around. Having succumbed to another episode at the weekend he was faced with either not playing golf or modifying his methodology.
Having worked out that if he swung too vigorously he would fall over, or if he tried to line up a putt with several movements of the head when over the ball, he would end up seeing several holes and/or balls, he reverted to his languid best which has deserted him over recent months. To the onlooker, it appears that the club hardly moves before propelling the ball miles down the centre of the fairway. He played at Temple on Monday and scored 41 points and Bill and I had the absolute pleasure of seeing him repeat this performance at Huntswood yesterday to score 40 points thereby hurtling up the Eclectic League Table to pose a threat to the current defending champion, Peter R, who is doing brilliantly to hold the lead in his defence of the trophy.
Suffering from a long-term chest infection overlain with a common cold, I probably should not have been playing but the Eclectic is the Eclectic and, including yesterday, there are only 2 games left. Not that I harbour any hopes of winning as 4-pointers are difficult to come by with my handicap, but the whole concept of high-risk biff-bang golf is such fun and provides endless excuses for appalling shots.
I blame my currently over-medicated brain for getting the start time wrong by an hour but luckily I managed to arrive just in time to join the last group on the 1st tee and it was to my great fortune (in BashCoins) that I found myself partnered by Alan and Bill. Not only was Alan playing at the top of his game but so was Bill and they metaphorically carried me round. Of the 53 points in 3 and 4-pointers that we accrued over the 18 holes, I just contributed 10, Alan had 25 and Bill 18. Choosing your partners well is one of the less spoken-about skills in golf!
Altogether 11 Ballbashers turned out to play at Huntswood which was another excellent turnout. Everyone of them harbouring a hope that yesterday would be the day on which he would set a new course record and clinch ownership of Marilyn. I leave it to Bill, the score-keeper, to summarise the results:
“It’s interesting how high scores on the day may not cause as much improvement as one expects, and low scores may create more improvement than expected. This week, Alan smashed it with a total of 40 points and improved by 5 to 51. In contrast, PeterR managed a total of 20 which yielded an improvement of 3 to a total of 53, thereby maintaining his lead, albeit more assailable. Two of Peter’s 3 gained points came from 4 for 4 on the SI 1 on which Alan also got a 4 but missed a 5-point birdie by 1/4 of a ball hanging on the lip. Great stuff.
So we go to the final game at So Bucks in 2 weeks with Alan very much in the hunt after Peter, you standing by with 49 (despite a bad case of the lurgy), and MikeS a somewhat distant 47. I think Peter has an advantage despite Alan returning to his languid self, largely because So Bucks boasts very long par 4s making 3 pointers more of a challenge than at Huntswood for us shorter hitters. Should be good.”
At a team level, there was quite a wide disparity in the scores:
PeterR/RobM/RobA/JohnS 1.75 + 5 = 6.75
Nick/RogerP/JohnH/PeteF 3 + 7.75 = 10.75
Alan/Bill/Richard 7 + 10.67 = 17.67
