Very appropriate one might be tempted to think and as we got hit by 4 or 5 hail showers on our way round, we were at least pleased that it bounced off unlike rain. Poor JohnS ventured out of winter hibernation following 3 weeks in very steamy Borneo and found himself in 9ºC in a biting north-westerly., To his great credit, he did indeed complete the round.
It was the last round of the Frostbite League and it was already impossible for anyone to catch MikeW so it was merely a question of how far ahead he could finish – bit like where Arsenal almost find themselves.
There being 7 of us on the tee, the balls were thrown and the 3-ball comprised MikeS & RobM & Bill, and they were followed round the course by the two 2-balls of MikeW & Richard and PeterR and JohnS. The course was in the best condition it has been in for weeks and was running very fast which coupled with the strong wind ensured that most of our drives finished right into the right-hand trees from where variable success was experienced.
For the Better-Ball team competition, the 2-balls were playing off the new adjusted handicap of 10% on top of their normal playing handicap. This has been adopted instead of the old approach of reducing the 3-ball’s handicaps as that was just depressing. The 2-balls felt happy with their additional shots – none more so than MikeW who found himself playing off 28 – even though he was my partner, I did feel that put him into the Mexican Bandit class. This did indeed prove to be the case as, between us, we managed to rack up a score of 24 points on the front 9 with me on 20 and MikeW on 19. Our immediate opposition scored 16 and they were very gracious about it.
MikeW continued his scoring on the back 9 showing why he was leading the League while I dropped off except for the birdie on the 14th referred to opposite. That was the scene of the heaviest hail shower and we were not bothered by it again through to the finish. In between the hail showers the sun would come out which meant that the 5 layers I was wearing suddenly felt over the top however better hot than freezing.
The chat in the bar afterwards revolved the process to be gone through for the American President to be stood down on the basis that he might be barking mad. Bill’s soup got cold as he explained that this can only be carried out by his immediate staff, which since they are all inextricably linked to the said individual makes this outcome very unlikely well at least not before the mid-terms when they might worry about their future chances of keeping in post.
The team scores were:
MikeW & Richard 24 + 22 = 46
MikeS, Bill & RobM 19 + 22 = 41
PeterR & JohnS 16 + 15 = 31
The individual scores were:
MikeW (38), Richard (35), RobM (34), MikeS (32), PeterR (29), Bill (19) and JohnS(16).
MikeW thereby easily won the Frostbite League with a perfect set of 4 x 6 points. The rest of us can only look forward to the Ballbasher summer which starts in April when handicap adjustments are with us again.
