It was the final game of the UK 2025/26 season yesterday with only next week’s Ryder Cup left to complete the season. So it was also the final opportunity to improve our BashCoins balances. Because we had an excellent turnout and a good weather forecast we decided to play for the FA Cup alongside a multiplier (2 best scores) novelty game which also included RobM’s favourite Ferret and Golden Ferret scoring opportunities to provide bonus points.
Of the 10 players, 6 were in buggies which actually simplifies the ball-toss even if it does require some applied geometry to work out which walkers’ balls were closest to which buggy-rider’s balls. The hypoteneuses were swiftly determined and the teams were PeterR, RobA and myself, JohnH, MikeS and NickT followed by MikeW, Roger & RobM who were also accompanied by Bill who was testing out a flaky back.
Our first rare sighting of the day was of JohnH who showed no signs of rust at all despite his infrequent visits to the fairways – he is aiming to play much more so we are warned.
The disadvantage of the multiplier format is that if your best two scores are a 2 and a 1, then your score is 2 whereas if you could add them your score would be 3. It’s even worse if they are a 1 and a 1 and worse still if they are a 1 and a 0 when the result is a blob. In the first 4 holes we were so wayward that we were lucky to post any scores at all and when RobA scored an excellent 4 for 4 points on the 6th, the best that Peter and I could manage was 1 point. Behind us Roger’s team had already scored an indecent 12 points on the 3rd.
My front 9 was typified by my second shot on the 2nd hole where after a respectable drive I hoicked my second so far left I ended up playing my second shot from the middle of the 3rd fairway. Fortunately it was such a bad shot that I had a clear view up the hill to the green and I managed a scrambled 1 point. Coupled with our ability to miss any putt, however close, our total randomness got us to 28 points on the front 9 which we knew, quite correctly as it turned out, was nowhere near competitive.
On the back 9 we score better helped in no small part by Peter scoring the very rarely sighted Ferret on the 16th hole in which he chipped in from 20 yards off the green – it’s amazing how one good (lucky?) shot can make a golfer’s day – it’s very definitely a trick played by the golfing gods. That 5 points coupled with a 2 gave us 10 points on the hole and with motivation flowing through our veins we then added another 10 on the last 2 holes to get to a much more respectable 45 on the back 9.
We were joined in the clubhouse by the also rarely spotted PeteF which put us at 11 BBs in all – an excellent sight improved even further by Nick tucking into the milk chocolate flapjack. Alone at home next week, he will no doubt enjoy a whole range of similar sugary delights of which I, an HbA1c watcher, can only be totally jealous.
The FA Cup competition was very close with RobM emerging as the winner:
RobM (34), Richard (33), JohnH (32), MikeW (31), RobA (30), MikeS,PeterR & Roger (27), Bill (26) & Nick (17)
Given the format, the team scores were amazingly close:
MikeS, JohnH & NickT: 43 + 26 = 69
Peter, Richard & Rob: 28 + 45 = 73
MikeW, RobM & Roger: 43 + 34 = 77
NPin2 balls were won by Richard & RobA.
In the warm weather it was a great way to wrap the UK part of the season with Autumn coming into view.
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