Master of Languid’s FA Cup triumph

Last updated on September 15, 2023

Yesterday we played for the FA Cup at Temple – a different choice of course from normal in that we have normally chosen the hardest course we can find, and typically that was when we were on tour. Memories surface of Les Bordes where JohnH scored 1 point on the front 9, The Isle of Purbeck where JohnS lost a ball which we knew for sure had only travelled 1 foot in front of him, a course in Spain where we played through several rocky canyons with the ball bouncing merrily from rock to rock and Broadstone last year with it’s huge bunkers.

Anybody scoring better than 30 points at any of those courses was pretty well guaranteed to win but yesterday we were playing at Temple, a course with which we are all very familiar and scoring was at a different level entirely with 6 out of the 11 players making 30 points or higher, including considerably higher.

To avoid several minutes of stress before playing, I had pre-drawn the allocation of tee slots and partners in a blind draw in which the only constraint had been to avoid having the buggy riders ride with the same person that they had ridden with last week. I have to say that the close team results suggest that the draw worked out very well and all teams finished within a reasonable time of each other.

The weather turned out to be perfect for golf – pleasantly warm with no wind – and with the normal mix of balls to the right and left of the 1st fairway, JohnH, Nick and I led the day off. We were followed by Alan paired with RobM playing with PeterR partnered with Bill and they were followed by MikeS/JohnT playing with Stuart/RobA. The three of us in front were not held up by anybody and we cruised round in 3hrs 40mins never seeing any of the guys behind us – a totally relaxing way to play golf.

Last year Nick had come to the conclusion that every part of his game was acceptable apart from the drive element so he had gone for the normal solution of buying a new driver and a couple of lessons and the result has been a total improvement off the tee. Unfortunately the rest of his game seemed to have gone in the opposite direction, particularly the fairway wood element and, most noticeably, putting which was always a reliable strength. The solution would appear to be buying replacements for the other 13 clubs in the bag and 2 lessons per club – he should escape with something less than £2000 if he’s careful. Somehow his 12 points on the front 9 did not reflect the quality of his tee-shots.

JohnH was playing some of his wonderful trademark iron shots where the ball goes a country mile and was showing that , with more regular games, he will become a force to be reckoned with. I had the classic game of two halves, scoring 20 points on the front 9 which included 5 x 3-pointers and 1 blob – and I thought at the time, that probably put me in contention – it did but it did n’t last. Unfortunately the blob was on the 9th hole and was a harbinger of things to come on the back 9 where I lost a ball in the woods to the left of the 14th fairway and, following Keith’s missive about dodgy practices once again taking place in the woods along that stretch adjacent to the A404 layby, I did n’t want to penetrate too far in the woods so-to-speak. I eventually scrambled to 35 in total.

First to arrive back to join us for tea on the terrace was Alan, aka the Glasgow Cat, who could not restrain a slightly self-satisfied grin and also a cheeky suggestion that when Peter R fetched the Eclectic Marilyn from his car to present it to himself, we should all look horrified at the transformation in her new racial identity brought about by Peter’s paint job. He also asked the barman to hide Nick’s favourite sponge cake before Nick went to buy a slice. The Master of Languid was clearly feeling in confident and impish mode.

The denouement revealed why but it was a very tight finish:

Alan (39), Stuart (38), PeterR (37), Richard (35), RobA (31), MikeS (30), JohnH (29), JohnT (26), RobM (25), Nick (24) and Bill (23).

The team scores were equally tight:

Alan & Rob M 20 + 25 = 45 (winning a nett 8 BashCoins each)
MikeS & JohnT 22 + 15 = 37 ( winning a nett 2.5 BashCoins each)
Stuart & RobA 20 + 22 = 42
PeterR & Bill 20 + 20 = 40
Nick/JohnH/Richard 19 + 19 = 38

LD winner was Nick showing the power of his new driving.
NP on the 8th was MikeS
NPin2 on the 18th was RobA about 3 feet from the pin (those of us observing from the terrace thought incorrectly that it must have been his 3rd shot at least – very wrong and verging on impudent).