The Farnham Putter competition commemorates the origins of the Ballbashers who started over quarter of a century ago playing at Farnham Park on Wednesday evenings after work. Starting at about 6pm meant that it was only around mid-summer’s day that we actually managed to play all 18 holes and then we regularly finished in the dark using our white golfing shoes to guide the direction of the putt on the 18th green.
The Putter itself is stamped with the venerable name of Tom Morris – we do not know if he ever played with it but it has a steel rather than hickory shaft so that seems a tad unlikely. It was bequeathed to JohnS by a grateful patient – that is to say we assume that he was a grateful patient but the act of bequeathing denied us the opportunity to find out. It may of course have been an effort to sabotage John’s putting. No-one has ever attempted to use the Putter in anger – all of the jingling from the attached medallions would drive anyone in close proximity to flee the scene.
Because the Jolly Farmer Golf Society also has an ancient clubs as a trophy – this time a niblick which is awarded for coming last, several Ballbashers have the hooks in position on their study walls or over the fireplace to display such a club. This may be why we had such an excellent turnout of 11 players yesterday, including several returnees from the sick list.
The competition only allows 6 clubs + putter, this being the standard half-set we all had when we started playing. The decision faced by most players on which clubs to leave out of the bag occupied the previous 24 hours. The only exception was Alan who had to decide which clubs to add back in.
The large number of players meant that I resorted to the red, white and blue Lego brick team selection method, believing, incorrectly as it transpired that there was a better chance of a Ballbasher remembering which colour brick he had drawn, rather than trying to identify his ball amongst 10 others. At least only one Ballbasher had trouble with this system which is better then usual.
The 3-ball comprising Roger, Bill and PeteF set off first, followed by the 2 pairs of MikeS/MikeW and PeterR/JohnS, who were followed in turn by 2 pairs of Alan/RobM and JohnT/me. The sun was shining, the temperature warm and Farnham looked in great condition – everything should have been in place for some excellent scoring and with a far restricted club choice, a super-fast round of golf, but what do I know.
Hitting the ball off-line off the tee was not a good idea as the rough was really rough – it comprised thick grass in which a ball disappeared with great ease. And in several cases in our 4-ball, I observed that if the ball was found, then the likelihood was that after the second shot you would be searching for the ball about 1 foot away from where it had just been played.
Mostly it seemed that nobody had any problems arising from their reduced club selection. I know that most Ballbashers are born-optimists (they have to be to play golf every week) but in the matter of which clubs to put into the bag, all of the members of the 4-ball that I was in had chosen the sand wedge very quickly. This was just was as well as we spent many a happy Hamlet moment in the Farnham bunkers, most of which had proper sand in them unlike Huntswood the previous week.
JohnT and I continued in a steady fashion, meshing quite well – particularly when John claimed a 4 for 3 points on the 5th. Our immediate opponents were having what could only be described as a variable experience. Robert’s radar was having one of those glitchy periods when onlookers need to take cover adjacent to the tee and Alan seemed to have left out of his bag whichever club it is that he normally uses for his second shot. After 14 holes JohnT and I were beating them so thoroughly that they decided to have a separate competition between themselves. This seemed to have a real invigorating impact on their golf which suddenly improved beyond all measure. It was quite strange to see them wishing ill on their team-mates’ ball but they seemed to enjoy it and their scoring improved dramatically, so much so that we halved the back 9.
On reaching the clubhouse, we found that the bangers, chips and brown sauce of sainted memory has been replaced on the menu by chicken goujons but Roger did manage to find a fried egg sandwich on the menu but forgot to ask for it easy over with the result that it dripped everywhere. It did seem that everyone had a jolly time out on the course and Bill was once again so pleased to be able to see where his and everyone else’s balls had gone – there’s going to be no holding back when he has the other eye done, he will probably be volunteering for a job as a spotter at the British Open.
The team scores were, as usual, very close:
Roger, Pete and Bill 16 + 18 = 34 (won the back 9)
MikeW and MikeS 23 + 14 = 37 (shared the front 9)
PeterR and JohnS 19 + 16 = 35
Alan and RobM 14 + 15 = 29
JohnT and Richard 23 + 15 = 38 (shared the front 9 and won overall)
Some of the individual scores were close:
Richard (36), Mike W (29), Mike S and Bill (28), PeterR (27), Alan (24), Roger (23), John S (22), Rob M (20) and Pete (19).
NP in 2 on the 5th – MikeW
NP in 2 on the 10th – JohnT
NP in 2 on the 18th – PeterR
(we have decided that allowing everyone 2 shots to get onto the Par 3 greens for NP competitions makes for much for likelihood that someone will manage to do it and thereby more fun for everyone)
