We played for the Spring Cup on Wednesday, and although the forecast promised an array of showers, the concept of it being Spring ensured that there was no doubt that we would play. Of course, in the event, the forecast proved to be totally wrong and we enjoyed good Spring golfing weather.
The thought of it being Spring also seemed to encourage two of our recently bionically-enhanced members to take new strides, or perhaps steps, in their return to fighting fitness – MikeW went round in a buggy for the full 18 holes and Peter R actually walked the whole course. A 3rd member of the Bionic Guild, Mike S, turned up for lunch, having been delivered by his in-house chauffeur, complete with crutches and a fetching pair of stockings maybe, but demonstrating a fine degree of mobility.
Three of the playing members, Stuart, Alan and myself had invested a full £5 in the competition fee for the mid-week Stableford confident of seeing some small return on our investment only to be informed, on the 1st tee by MikeW that the current leader in the clubhouse had 42 points (playing off a handicap of 1). It was unfortunately too late to demand a refund so we set off in search of scoring a 2 on a Par 3 somewhere to recover some money that way.
Stuart decided that because the 3 of us would have to putt out, it would be sensible for us to play together as a group and follow behind the other group which thereby comprised PeterR, PeteF and MikeW. The three of us got off to the usual inauspicious start by launching big high drives in the direction of the plantation down the right-hand side from where we all managed to scrape Sixes for Onesies. We more-or-less repeated this fine performance on the 2nd but then managed to steady the team ship and reached the turn with Alan on 14, Stuart on 15, me on 16 and a team score of 38.
The opportunity to score a 2 on a Par 3 somewhere had already been totally wasted by me on the downhill 8th where, despite being in the middle of the green, I gave the putt such a rap that it shot straight over the hole to end up 5 feet past and then I missed the return putt. To be fair, the greens resembled Bournemouth Beach with the tide out. They had been heavily tined and them liberally coated with sand. Apparently this had not phased PeterR at all who sunk everything within 15 feet on his way to 21 points on the front 9 and a big lead in the battle for the Spring Cup.
We were of course blissfully unaware of Peter’s performance and rather more concerned with our own battle for supremacy and, in this context, I was n’t sure whether to be delighted or not when Stuart scored a 4 for 4 points on the 11th – I had no idea that his BB handicap had reached the stage where that was possible. It was, of course, good for our team so it would have been cavalier to complain despite the fact that it drew him level with me.
Chicken-counting is a bad habit on the golf course and I had been guilty of it at least once earlier in the round when I had assumed that I would easily sink a 30inch putt and while looking for it to hit the back of the hole, of course pulled it well left. I then repeated this bad habit when I hit my second shot on the 14th onto the apron at the front of the green and, while strolling up to the ball, had already mentally recorded the 3 points which would then be followed by 3 points on each of the next holes thus enabling me to catch and overtake Stuart while also doing my best for the team of course.
Of course none of this came to pass and the denouement in the clubhouse, where we were joined by MikeS and Ashley in fetching cycle kit, revealed that Stuart had won the Spring Cup with 34 points closely followed by PeterR with 33 and PeteF with 32 and then Alan and I on 31 with MikeW a little behind.
The team scores were tied on 38 points each on the front 9 but Team Stuart scored 41 to Team Peters’ 35 on the back 9 to claim most of the BashCoins.
Longest Drive was easily won by PeterR on the 6th, NP by Richard on the 8th and NPin2 on the 18th by Stuart who rather cruelly thereby snatched the prize from the Comeback Kid, MikeW.
I did wonder when I reached home in a heavy shower how Ashley had fared on his return cycle ride.
