Last updated on April 21, 2021
The 10 Ballbashers playing at Temple today arrived resembling to all intents and purposes a group of schoolboys about to take their Maths GCE for which they felt sadly ill-prepared. The thought of recording scores in a correct format was bad enough but the idea of submitting their score to some remote and Great Authority was beyond the pale and, moreover, having to putt out was quite enough to shatter any dream of a good result.
But, as it transpired, all of this fear and trembling was completely unnecessary, as, with some (quite legal) help from friends and a willing focus to tackle the job in-hand, everyone sailed through the exam with flying colours.
I was playing as a partner to Mike W with the other pair comprising Peter R and Rob A. The casual reader might conclude, having looked at our scores, that only Mike played a reasonable quality of golf. But this was very definitely not the case. I have never witnessed Rob get so many good tee-shots away down the fairway with a driver in his hand. Peter also played beautifully off the tee for the most part and, while often shorter in distance than the others, I also only cocked up the Par 3 tee-shots.
Rob was also competence itself on the greens with his putting and it is difficult to recall any of us missing a putt within the standard BB gimmee distance. Why then, you might ask, did 3 of us register final scores in the 20s’ rather than 30s’. Here I can only speak for myself and my problem was that I thinned virtually every chip I played to such an extent I am surprised that I did n’t end up with 2 hemispheres for a golf ball. The result was a string of good positions turned into 5 for somethings which is just not good enough when you have to par at least 6 holes.
Mike played very well and included a 3 for 4 on the 6th in his front 9 score of 20 points which included a blob on the 9th. As a side note here, we are all looking forward to the achievement of Mr Cripps’ plan to move the 9th forward about 200 yards.
After the game was over, we helped each other with HowDidIDo and then set off home straightaway in compliance with Rule 19 or whatever it is. But we had really enjoyed our chilly day at Temple. Short reports from the other 2 groups follow below after the scores which were:
Teams: MW/RC 23 + 17 = 40, AR/NT 15 + 23 = 38, PR/BF 18 + 20 = 38, PR/RA 20 + 15 = 35, MS/JH 16 + 17 = 33.
Individual scores: PF (37), MW (34), AR (30), JH & PR (28), NT (27), RC & RA (25), BF (14).
From Nick:
“On the 17th I missed a putt that would probably have been a Ballbasher gimmee – it cost us the match! Alan was very sanguine about it. Pete played some excellent golf and with a little more luck could have reached 40 points, Alan’s graceful drives were, at times, a wonder to behold… he makes it look so easy! We got round in just under 4 hours including a 5 min or so stop at the halfway hut, which was around 30 mins quicker than last week.”
From Alan:
“Just to add to Nick’s observations………….
He nearly killed himself at the first, I think, when a powerfully hit shot by player A hit the tree 3 yards ahead of him and ricocheted back at him about 9 inches above his head at great force. Also there was a sudden fight between the trolleys at the third when Pete’s remote controlled trolley spontaneously attacked Bills trolley. No humans were nearby and it was all quite vicious.”
From JohnH:
“Roger and John T couldn’t play today so Mike S and John H paired as a team and went out with Mike Padfield who kindly stepped in at short notice and was great company. In fact there isn’t a lot to report, we both had pretty average rounds Mike finishing with 23 points and myself with 28 ( needless to say Mike Padfield came in with 33 points).
I managed to achieve a personal best on the par 3 5th. With my drive finishing just a few yards short of the green but on the downward slope I was already visualising a 3 for 3 or maybe just a measly 4 for 2 points. Unfortunately the approach putt finished agonisingly close to the top of the slope on the edge of the green before slowly making a u turn and rolling past me to end up further from the hole. Maybe I should settle now for a 4 for 2 points? ……well you know the story, four more putts later I was recording a six for nil points.
Mike was as ever covering for his partner and came in with a cheeky 5 for one point and off we marched too attack the 6th hole where we managed a rock steady one point for the team between us. Heads down and onto the 7th tee, only 12 more holes to go!
Mike and I are looking forward to next week when having studied the playing styles of the winning golfers at the Masters we feel the golf Gods will be looking down favourably on us. Or maybe not?
Onwards and upwards as they say.
