Not only did we have bacon butties, each containing a massive chunk of ham hock and onion chutney, and then walk about 2000 yards less than we normally do, but, after golf, we were also served delicious scones with jam and clotted cream accompanied by tea in china teapots. Sunningdale Heath definitely comes close to meeting the Ballbashers criteria for an ideal golf course.
Admittedly four of the Par 3 holes are over 210 yards which is pushing it a bit for most Ballbashers off the tee, but then Peter R did drive 241 yards to the 11th hole which is exactly 241 yards long. He just missed the 2 for 5 points but happily settled for a 3 for 4 points. This was definitely the champagne moment of his round as he elsewhere struggled with is radar which was tending to lock onto something at 40 degrees to the right – usually a pine tree.
We transpired to be 9 in number which made for a good team competition in which we counted the two best scores on each hole. The draw was made including a radical new innovation which had the buggy riders also drawing for partners and the teams transpired to be MikeS, JohnT and Alan, followed by RobA, RobM and JohnS who were in turn followed by PeterR, JohnH and myself.
They have changed the position of the 1st tee so that it is on the other side of the road, no doubt much to the relief of the residents who live up the road who have had to run the gauntlet of flying golf balls when off to the town for their morning croissant. As a result the hole is now 60 yards nearer and the chance of slicing the tee-shot into the mansion on the right-hand side is much reduced. However it does still require a straight tee-shot and our team were happy to come off the green with 5 points.
On the 2nd hole which is a 180 yards-long Par 3 we all scored 3 points and life was looking very rosy. However it is fair to say that my partners then deserted me for the next 6 holes during which I scored 12 points while they mustered 6 between them. I don’t like to normally record these sort of things as it seems churlish, but it was very noticeable. We were quite happy during this fallow period but some of the language was not the sort that the founders of Sunningdale Ladies Course probably expected to hear ringing round the pine trees and across the heathery sward.
Things picked up thereafter and not only did we have the above-mentioned Peter’s exploit on the 11th but JohnH followed that up with a champagne 3 for 5 points on the 13th which is a very tricky hole. Although it is the devil’s own job to get your ball out of a clump of heather, it did look very pretty all out in lustrous purple. We could see the big boys’ course next door through the trees at times and there seemed to be huge carries over hundreds of yards of heather – luckily we did n’t have to face that otherwise we may not have had the balls to get round.
Last time we played at Sunningdale Heath JohnS won all 3 NP prizes which was a new record. When we encountered his name on the 1st marker which was on the 5th he had thereby won 4 in a row and we wondered if he was going to repeat his feat but it was not to be and JohnH and RobA won the other two.
The denouement (over the cream tea – how civilised!) revealed that the results of the team competition could not have been closer and no BashCoins will change hands:
MikeS, JohnT and Alan 45 + 37 = 82 (won the front 9)
PeterR, JohnH and Richard 36 + 47 = 83 (won the back 9)
RobA, RobM and JohnS 44 + 43 = 87 (won overall)
The scores for the Harleyford Plate were also close:
Richard (41), RobM (36), Alan and JohnT (35), JohnS (34), RobA (31), MikeS and JohnH (30) and PeterR (26).
We promised the very friendly and helpful staff that we would be back next year – they almost looked pleased.
