“An excellent report from our self-named “temporary, junior correspondent””.
Matchday 2 of The Frostbite League dawned just as cold as Matchday 1 but without the sunshine, underscoring the relevance of the events name. Curiously nine Ballbashers had indicated their enthusiasm to play four days earlier but come tee-off there were only four hardy souls playing- Mike Smith, Michael Waterhouse, Robert Mandeville and Alan. It transpired that Michael W and Robert had even gone out to play a round at Temple the day before, clearly anticipating taking the league by storm.
We had a quick medical report from Michael W who, it seems almost 2 years after his knee replacement surgery, still has pain in his new knee. As a result he sought a second opinion from another surgeon. This top surgeon had many syllables in his surname so to make things easier(for Mike), and in a friendly fashion, Mike suggested he just call him Sam! This is not the level of familiarity such surgeons are used to but in Mike’s view Sam seemed agreeable. At the end of the session Sam indicated he would not recommend going into Mike’s knee again and basically wanted to have nothing to do with that knee. The other three of us concluded that the surgeon did not really like being called Sam!
We teed off happily anticipating our drives bouncing down the fairway to the green. They did throughout the round bounce but not necessarily in a straight line which is pretty much what happens on a links course. Mike S powered his way through the first two holes and with his partner , Rob, created alarm in the minds of their opponents, Michael W and Alan. This lead to the last two concentrating on their golf and coincided with a highly unusual frailty in Mike S’s play.
We are all familiar with Mike’s routine on tees. A powerful practice swing with an audible swish followed by the actual drive followed by silence if it is good or a shout of “tossxx” if it has not gone where he anticipated os “sxxx” if it is worse. Sad to say the Ballbashers playing today were exposed to a more elevated level of expletive!!! It is fair to say Mike also had more than his fair share of bad luck such as hitting the water drinks fountain beside the seventh green(however the obstacle was only 2 yards from where Mike initiated his shot and was by no means in line of sight).
By the time we reached the turn in the team competition Mike S/Robert had 14 points and Mike W/Alan 20. One always hopes for a fresh start when beginning the second nine but it was not to be and the second nine point score was Mike S/Robert 18 with Mike W/Alan scoring 23. That meant totals for the match of 32 to MikeS and Robert and 43 for Mike W/Alan who were delighted to win all(but not very many ) bash coins.
The individual scores were Mike S 25, Robert 27, Mike W 30 and Alan 37.
Mike S had committed to going on a Cookham Dean Theatre club bus at 3 pm with Sherry for a visit to the Barbican and a performance of “My Neighbour Totoro” by The RSC. So while he may end up entranced by the production he may also use the time reflect on how to come back stronger next week.
Because of his thespian pursuits he was unable to join the rest of us for lunch but we were delighted that Pete F, Bill and Stuart did join the lunch club. It was a pleasure in particular to see a cheerful Stuart who had just had two treatments immediately before lunch and I understand has been told the indicators are going in the right direction”
Ed.’s note: Another report of this quality could lead to an interview for a permanent position!
