Temporarily (I hope) off golf while my left knee recovers, I am unable to report on the full round of 18 holes played at Temple on Wednesday by a full’ish house of 8 Ballbashers. But having decided to join them over lunch, I was able to arrive in time to see them all play the 18th. The viewpoint is excellent as the drives are clearly in view as are the approach shots and the putts.
The first group included the rarely-spotted JohnH who played by far the best drive of the eight on view – a long distance straight down the middle but like five of the other players, he left his subsequent wedge-shot short of the green and, in the end, had to settle for a 5 for 2 points when he must have been thinking that a par was definitely on the cards and maybe something even better.
Stuart also hit a good long drive but, playing out of the semi-rough on the left-hand side, he was unable to control the spin and hit his approach shot about 50 yards beyond the green in the direction of Marlow. A good recovery shot from the churchyard enabled him to also score a 5 for 2 points.
The player with a drive in the least prepossessing position was possibly Mike S whose ball was below the new mounds decorating the right-hand side of the fairway. But, undaunted as always, he hit his next shot high in the air towards the top of the green on the left-hand side. From my grandstand seat I was the only witness and I saw the ball bounce along the ridge above the green before catching the downslope in exactly the right place from where it rolled down gently to finish no more than 3 feet from the pin. Needless to say he sank the putt for a birdie.
Golfers have to be of an optimistic nature to keep on playing the game but everybody can get down after a poor round. I am inclined to the view that you only need one good shot like Mike’s in a round and every other bad shot gets blanked out of your memory as you replay this magnificent shot time and again until it becomes the only thing you remember about the round. Then back you come, confident that you may possibly be able to hit 72 such shots in one round.
In Mike’s case, he had already scored two other birdies on his way to a winning total of 37 points. That was followed by Rob (34), Stuart (31), Nick (28), JohnH (24), Roger and JohnT (23) and Pete (15??).
Sadly for other teams, Mike and Rob were paired together and won all of the BashCoins with 20 + 25 = 45.
JohnH and Roger had 35, and Nick/JohnT and Stuart/Pete had 33.
And the 37 came from a guy who is deliberating the relative benefits f either getting another new knee or a prosthetic hip. The more metal the man gets the bette he becomes. RELENTLESS.