Despite the paucity of buggies at Temple today, 10 Ballbashers turned out to improve their eclectic scores in glorious sunshine with no wind to speak of. As I write this I have yet to find out if anyone did improve their scores though at least one pair were taking that mission very seriously.
The balls-throw went without any serious hitches and the groups were MikeS & PeterR (sharing the only buggy) & Richard and RobA followed by Stuart & JohnS & MikeW who were, in turn, followed by Alan & Bill & RobM.
There are 2 quite polar approaches taken by eclectic competitors. Some turn up with the league table printed out with all of the opportunities to improve their score (from 0, 1 or 2) clearly marked so as they reach an opportunity hole, their hopes rise and their adrenalin starts to flow. On the tee, their faces assume a look of total concentration, their back swing is a thing of ferocity, as is their down swing. Then the golfing gods take over and the ball follows whatever track they feel appropriate for their poor victim. The upside of this approach is that when they have passed 5 shots on a hole without reaching the green, they can pick up in the sure knowledge that they cannot either improve their scores or contribute to the team’s score.
Such a pair of golfers were MikeS and Peter today who could be heard quite clearly in their buggy discussing their targets for the next hole as though some form of AI would help them achieve their objectives.
Then you have the more casual even ignorant golfers who have n’t the slightest idea of where their opportunities to improve their eclectic scores lie. The downside of this approach is that it is quite possible that every hole is such an opportunity so there can be no relaxing at all. On the tee, their faces assume a look of total concentration, their back swing is a thing of ferocity, as is their down swing. Then the golfing gods take over and the ball follows whatever track they feel appropriate for their poor victim.
Such a pair of golfers were RobA and myself who completed our rounds none-the-wiser.
Along the way though, we did discover an excellent tip for Ballbashers having problems hitting the ball consistently well off the tee. Unlike those many YouTube videos offering you such cures, this tip comes completely free to subscribers to this channel. This trick was discovered by RobA. He found that if he removed his sunglasses before playing his tee-shot, the ball would sail down the middle a humungous distance but, if he forgot to remove them, the ball would be topped into the rough in front of the green. So the clear recommendation from this experience is that you should turn up to play golf in serious sunglasses i.e. they turn the midday sun into midnight, and then remove them before every tee-shot. You will then be surprised to discover the little round white ball at the far end of your club.
By way of proof of this concept, I can offer you an image:
After the golf we enjoyed our usual craic on the terrace and the team scores were revealed to be:
Stuart/JohnS/MikeW 2 + 4 = 6
Alan/Bill/RobM 4 + 8 = 12 (won the back 9)
MikeS/PeterR/RobA/Richard 7.5 + 7 = 14.5 (won the front 9 and overall)
The eclectic scores will posted asap.
