Those of you lucky enough to have been mucking out the stables at the Windsor Royal Horse Show tonight would be forgiven if you thought that you had caught sight of the Cheshire Cat. Sadly I have to put you right on that score – the enormous grin stretching from ear-to-ear was in fact, in all probability, attached to the face of Mike Waterhouse – well it was certainly very visible when he left Temple this afternoon.
And that was despite the rain. At least 4 Ballbashers wimped out when they saw the weather forecast – I hope that they enjoyed polishing the brasses or whatever other gainful employment the General Manager found was a priority needing their attention. The other 4 who played – namely Alan, MikeW, JohnT and myself thoroughly enjoyed the game even though it rained incessantly for at least 15 holes.
The balls fell so that Mike and Alan were partners playing against JohnT and myself and also playing for Summer League points. Our tee-time at 1:08 meant that we were able to enjoy a pre-match coffee in the bar plus a cheese roll and also the pleasure of Bill’s company who appeared in shorts, no socks and flip-flops looking for all the world as though he was just off to the beach to catch a wave or two. He assured us that this garb was the result of the fact that he is finding it difficult to get or keep his trousers on- an old excuse, if you ask me.
Nick also appeared beforehand to let us know that conditions looked a tad slippery for a chap with a pulled something in his leg.
So off the the 4 of us went and there resulted the ding-dong of a game to cap all such ding-dings that had gone before. After 6 holes we were all square but then I par’ed the 7th to put us one point ahead. Alan scored 3 points on the 8th having failed to reach the green while I only scored 2 having been on it. But the smirk was wiped off Mike’s face when JohnT rode to our rescue with a 4 for 3.
However the smirk was back in evidence when somehow from not being in any kind of contention they both scored 2 points on the 9th while I, who was on the back of the green in 3, took 3 putts for 1 point and it was a draw.
Fast forward now to the 14th green where JohnT popped in a very nice 5 for 3 points, and the 15th where I scored 4 for 3 points and John and I had a 4 point lead overall. I had been playing very straight down the middle due to a slow back swing which I have adopted to nurse my hernia along for the moment. Mike even suggested that anybody carrying a hernia should be docked a couple of shots off their handicap – this could have led to some unseemly discussion about the relative handicap weighting of all of the various afflictions that us Ballbashers now have to bear but luckily there was a very tight competition to be focussed on.
Standing on the 16th tee Mike and Alan suddenly woke up to the fact that they were getting hammered and this seemed to spur them into action. Mike scored a 3-pointer versus our 2 and our lead was now only 3 points. Alan then declared that he was going to score 6 points on the next 2 holes – this was so opposite to what he had been achieving to-date that John and I just disregarded this assertion as so much hot air and halfway up the 17th it looked like we were correct in our thinking when, from about 140 yards out, Alan put his ball about 4 feet from the pin. He converted this for 4 points versus our 2 and now the lead was just one point.
Standing on the 18th tee, we had to look up the Ballbasher website to verify that I was correct in saying that my handicap was 16 and therefore I was entitled to a shot much to Mike’s disappointment. However they became happier when I ballooned my drive and John was short as well and they both drove very well.
However we all eventually arrived on the green about 10 feet from the pin with Alan, John and myself there in 3 and Mike there in 2. Alan went first and sunk his putt for a 3-pointer thereby exceeding his previously mentioned assertion that he was going to score 6 points on the last 2 holes. However I matched that with a 3-pointer of my own which cut short their celebrations. Now Mike stood over his putt and focussed very hard before rolling it into the centre of the cup for a birdie and 4 points.
The match thereby finished all-square. The rain had stopped 3 holes ago but we were so wrapped up in the competition we hardly noticed. We all enjoyed the game but perhaps none more so than the Cheshire Cat.
The league results were Richard (38), Mike (36), Alan (29) and John (25).
