In the words of another well-known saying about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, MikeS, who suffered 100% saturation during last week’s deluge at Huntswood, arrived fully bedecked in his wet weather gear at Huntswood yesterday. Given that the temperature soared and the sun shone mightily, I can only hope that he had something slightly more appropriate on underneath as I imagine that he had to hop around somewhere on the course again to remove his trousers.
Seven other Ballbashers turned out for the 6th eclectic and they were indeed rewarded with perfect golfing weather. The balls fell and after some confusion in my mind due to the late arrival of Rob and the desire not to have a lone walking BB accompanying the 2 buggies, the first team of MikeS, PeterR, Nick and JohnS tee’d off followed by PeterF, JohnT, Rob and myself.
There was a distinct sense of deja vu when various of the drives crashed into the trees on the right-hand side but at least the ground was dry and it was also an unfamiliar green colour.
Our team progressed steadily round the front 9 with nothing special to report – we picked up 3 points on most holes , ending with 24. The total could have been higher had Rob not been suffering with his putter. He was driving well, hitting his second shots well but when presented with the task of completing the final couple of yards out of, say, 350 something obscure happened with his direction control. It’s a mystery why this happens and Rob for one would welcome any sensible suggestions for a resolution.
When I tried to claim during the denouement that we had missed out on at least 18 points from just-missed putts, the opposition had the temerity to say that they could probably claim the same!
After a very slow start to the back 9 from the 3-pointer scoring angle, we accelerated to finish with 25 points for the back 9.
The aforesaid denouement took place on the new side patio where we enjoyed Huntswood’s excellent chicken, bacon and avocado salads amongst other equally-good fare. The quality of their service and food could hardly be better and they also totally honoured the credits we carried forward from our rained-off session last week.
Nick announced that, on the front 9, his team had scored 15 points. Trying not to sound too triumphant I announced our score of 24 – the front 9 was ours. He then announced that they had scored 38 points on the back 9 – this was greeted with massive incredulity by our team – “oh, you mean that’s the total for your whole round” – we said. “Oh no, they replied – that’s our back 9 total thereby giving us 53 points altogether which beats your 49 we think?”. Which of course was true and so we congratulated them on their victory.
As for the Eclectic Table, PeterR added an extra point to his total to give him 54 points and a 4-point lead over JohnS who added points to his total to reach 50. Behind them, there is a raft of Ballbashers within striking distance, should they be able to manage to score birdies galore in the final round of the Eclectic in October.
