Last updated on May 21, 2021
“Older but wiser” definitely did not apply today as it was the 3 oldest Ballbashers on the course who persevered through the icy rain to complete all 18 holes – it must have been being born during the war that conditioned Mike, Bill and Richard to live in straightened circumstances and they just dragged JohnH along with them much to his discomfort.
I thought at the time that Roger and MikeW must have read yesterday’s weather forecast when they appeared at the club in shorts – but perhaps they had a hot water bottle stuffed down their boxers? I should imagine that by the truncated end of their round they probably had a team of brass monkeys searching on their behalf.
We were competing for the Farnham Putter and allowed only 6 clubs + putter. Pete F was at least not wearing shorts but clearly his attention span is not what it must have been in years gone-by as he arrived on the tee with all 14 clubs. He had also engaged the club pro in a detailed discussion about the Golf England app and the WHS which, given that we were not about to play a qualifying round probably mistified the club pro as much as it did us.
The teams were Ashley/Rob playing with MikeW/Roger out first, followed by MikeS/JohnH playing with Bill/me, followed by a 3-ball of Nick, JohnS and PeteF.
The first group set off like a train and only occasionally did we catch sight of them. JohnH also started like a train by neatly bouncing his approach shot on the 1st over the bunker to end 3 feet from the hole and a score a par. After 5 holes he had scored a 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 points. Scoring a birdie for 5 points on the dog-leg 6th proved a touch difficult and normal service was resumed.
The rain started in earnest as we played the 6th and thenceforth Bill battled with carrying his pencil golf bag, umbrella and motivation as everything got wetter and wetter. Up until the 7th tee I had been playing absolute rubbish but the heavier rain seemed to suit my game and I par’red the next 4 holes and did n’t drop another point for the rest of the round – I think my strategy was to minimise the amount of time I spent outside the umbrella.
Mike managed to par the 6th and the 15th – both very hard dog-legs, and also the 18th but in between those immense peaks he had some immense valleys.
Still we walked on through the wind, walked on through the rain and our dreams were tossed and blown. John and I thought we saw a golden sky briefly but that disappeared over Slough. We were convinced against our better judgement that Ashley & Co were a couple of holes ahead of us – this misconception was shattered when we were heading out into the country halfway up the Burma Road 16th when we discovered that the group coming down the 17th bore no resemblance to Ashley & Co – not a pair of frozen knees in sight.
We discovered after finishing that they had packed up after 9 holes, Nick and Co had managed 14 holes but were then seduced by the sight of the clubhouse and car park and thoughts of a warm bath. I have to say that our perseverance was not rewarded by the sweet silver song of a lark and we also shot home as fast as possible.
The individual scores were: Me (34), MikeS (27), Nick and JohnH (22), PeteF (20), Roger and Bill (17), JohnS and Ashley (15), MikeW and Rob (14).
The team scores were Bill/me 17 + 19 = 36, MikeS/JohnH 19 + 15 = 34, Nick/Pete/JohnS 22 + 7 = 29, MikeW/Roger 20 + 0 = 20, Ashley/Rob 19 + 0 = 19.
LD was won by Pete, NP in 2 on the 5th by Rob and NP in 2 on the 18th by me.
At least the gardeners are happy.
Recently watching an instructional You Tube video of Fred Couples showing his well oiled swing with a full body rotation on a sun drenched Florida golf course, with palm trees swaying in the breeze, did little to improve my game on the rain sodden, artic wastes of Farnham Park yesterday. Well not for me at least. Walking down the 18th I was comforted by the fact that other Ballbasher’s had also endured the three hour cold shower from the 7th hole onwards and probably like me their upper bodies were covered with a thin layer of freezing, wet ice and they couldn’t feel their hands. Our group came down the 18th resembling Scott of the Antarctic trying to return to base camp. For my part the phrase “ I might be sometime” came to mind and maybe I should have wandered off at that point to end the misery. The amazing thing was that Mike and Richard finished in terrific style with all guns blazing and points galore on the 18th. They both deserve our admiration and a special BB endurance medal 🏅 Bill and I will probably take a week to recover and thaw out but it’s a story we can tell our Grandchildren.” I survived the great Farnham Park soaking of 2021”🥴
When Pete F said, “I can’t feel my hands” on the 13th I also realised we were entering “Scott of the Antarctic” territory… best to turn back for home rather than risk life & limb trying to reach the South Pole’s flagstick. At least I think it was Pete as by that stage I couldn’t see very much at all out of my glasses. The rain really hit us as we teed off on the 10th and from then on our scores collapsed… even though we had “the doc” with us I dread to think what state we’d have been in – mentally & physically – if we’d kept going.