I had wondered whether a vest was necessary at Temple yesterday but left it off and settled for a thick long-sleeved shirt as appropriate wear for a Frostbite League game. In the event it was so warm that I would have been better off just wearing a vest. It was very definitely the first day of Spring which I guess was appropriate for the last Frostbite game.
Alan was sitting on top of the League at the start of play but he had joined the snowbirds in Florida so was limited to sending us an email in advance which listed the sequence that he wanted all of us contenders to finish in so that he could win the trophy in absentia – none of us were inclined to pay any heed to that!
Unknown to Alan, and very definitely complicating the issue, was the fact that, because we needed to get some proper Temple competitions under our belt in order to enter an even properer Temple competition, Mike W and I had to play off the White Tees. We suggested to Mike S and Peter R, who were the other BBs playing and also were in contention for the Frostbite, that they might like to join us playing off the Whites.
Fat chance of that you might imagine and you would be correct! Mike S did not get to be Captain of Industry by kowtowing to any fancy charitable whims and he was n’t inclined to start now. It is the case that Temple is only 500 yards longer off the white tees but it feels like 500 yards per hole and that very definitely proved to be too big a mountain for Mike W and I to surmount. At the end of the game we gently enquired as to how many shots they would be inclined to add to our handicap to take account of the 500 yards – you would think that 4 would be about right given the average distance of our shot-making these days – however our opposition thought that Zero would be about the right answer and there being no BB precedent for this problem, that is what it would have to be.
So off we went with MikeW and I frequently tee’ing off in another county while MikeS and PeterR chatted happily somewhere near the Ladies’ Tee (sorry, to be PC, I should say Red Tee). As mentioned above, the weather was fabulous, but the ground was still soft with not much run so MikeW and I enjoyed no assistance from there. The 9th hole is a Par 5 off the Whites and a Par 4 off the Yellows – the last time we played off the Whites we both came to rest in the thick grass on the back of the Yellow Tee – this time we did a bit better and were at least level with the Yellow Tee but, given we had to hit our shot from there off the ground rather than a tee, we lost yet more ground to the Yellow Couple.
But, hey ho, we had made our bed and had to take the consequences.
After 9 holes, MikeS was on 17, PeterR on 14, me on 13 and MikeW on 11. The denouement in the clubhouse revealed that Mike S had got to 30 and the three others were all tied on 26. This had the effect that Mike enjoyed a clear victory in the Frostbite with 22 points to Alan’s 20 and MikeW and my 19.5. There is a moral in this story somewhere if you care to dig.
As far as the BashCoins were concerned we had paired each White with a Yellow and the result of that was that MikeS and I won the front 9 and overall and MikeW and PeterR won the back 9.
Once again we were joined in the clubhouse by more non-playing BBs than had played – in the persons of Stuart, Ashley, RobA, PeteF and Bill. Elsewhere RobM and Nick had had to pull out of golf on the day because of sundry afflictions. It may be that there are currently only 7 BBs fit enough to play – could it possible that we will eventually reach a point whereby one BB is sent out to play say 4 holes before re-joining the rest in a clubhouse luncheon club?
