Yes it was the first game of the 2022 Eclectic League yesterday and nine Ballbashers turned out to flex their muscles in an attempt to achieve that elusive 250 yard carry in a straight line down the middle. As usual, 250 yards, straight line and middle proved to be a difficult combination.
I was playing with Stuart and Alan and it is true that Stuart achieved a 250 yard drive straight down the middle of the Par 5 4th but sadly that did not produce the desired end result as he came off the green with a 7 for 1 which, as everyone knows does not help at all in the pursuit of 54 points at the end of the year. To be fair to Stuart he did clock up 19 points on the front 9 which contained a good eclectic mix of 3 and 1-pointers. The back 9 was another story entirely as the 3s were replaced by blobs.
Nick always maintains that you can gauge a good eclectic round by the number of balls that you lost – the higher, the better, as it indicates that you are throwing everything bar the kitchen sink in the pursuit of birdies galore. He apparently lost about 5 balls yesterday but posted 4 x 3-pointers which puts him in a good position in pursuit of the previously mentioned end-of-season goal.
Mind you both PeteF and RobM scored a 4-pointer which are like golden nuggets in this game. Alan managed to develop a liking for coming to land adjacent to any tree he could find. The photo opposite presents his dilemma down the right-hand side of the 6th whereby his perfectly respectable drive finished as close to the back of the tree as it could. I would like to report that he carried out the shot he was sizing up but he’s a a touch more sensible than that and went backwards from where he established a good position for a 5 for 3 points. Sadly he missed that putt and that was the story of our 3-ball’s game – we never got to grips with the fact that summer seemed to have arrived and the greens were a lot quicker as a result.
The denouement revealed that Nick, JohnT and MikeW had scored 21 + 18 = 39 points (in 3 and 4 pointers), thereby taking most of the BashCoins but not the back 9 which was won by RobA, PeteF and RobM who scored a very unbalanced 4 + 22 = 26, all of whom were funded by Alan, Stuart and myself with 15 + 12 = 27.
We were very heartened to be joined by Bill at lunch on the terrace – he was looking quite nimble and is making good progress towards a return hopefully in about 10 weeks.