Our correspondent’s report on the game is below. But worthy of reflection is Bill’s communique covering the difficulty of creating teams when random buggy sharing plus the need to have at least one non-optically-challenged ball-spotter in the team is taken into account – given that we do not, in reality, have a clue as to who is actually going to turn up on the day until we are assembled at the first tee, no amount of pre-planning, automated or not, is going to solve the problem. Specsavers may be the answer if their advertising is to be believed. There is probably a PhD thesis there for anyone interested in studying the average golfer to determine whether the deterioration in sight is faster or slower than the deterioration in length of hit.
As for the game, Peter R reports:
“Seven aspirants for the Marilyn trophy assembled on a cloudy but humid day at Temple for the third outing in this year’s Eclectic. After a recent really hot spell the air was initially cool but tense as the complicated personal strategies were being hatched on the practice putting green. The course was strangely quiet and we had it to ourselves as we caught up with personal news, the re-emergence of Pete and Mike after medical breaks, and the usual round of health status checks of the assembled athletes – hearing, eyesight, and mobility.
This was to prove consequential as someone tried to sort us into teams. We are not quite sure who, as it seemed at one point that everyone had a go. Firstly there were two buggies, so with Peter sharing with Mike this seemed a necessary pairing of limited mobility, and balls were tossed to sort the rest. This normally resolves the pairings, but when the threesome had been nominated it was claimed that none of the threesome had adequate eyesight to spot a ball beyond fifty yards. So Bill, as Eclectic Grand Master swapped Alan out of the threesome on the erroneous assumption that he too was registered as partially sighted.
As our first tee time came and went, and a detailed briefing was underway to remind everyone who would listen of the Eclectic rules, these seemed beyond the mental reach of some before tee off. Mike could no longer be held on the leash and was off, followed by Peter, Alan, and Nick, who by now had defected to make up a four by default. The threesome was formed of whoever was left, which was Bill, Pete F and John S. From this point on we were at last able to concentrate on the golf.
There were two four pointers on Hole 6 for Nick and Peter and otherwise the team scores comprised a well distributed group of threes across the piece. So, after a little adjustment post the refreshments, the threesome took the first nine by an average of 6 to 5.75 pts per person and the foursome took the second nine by 6 to 5 pts per person, and thus the foursome won overall by 11.75 to 11.0. Plenty of increases on the Eclectic scoreboard and an enjoyable day’s golf. Any further calculations were beyond anyone’s abilities by then, and we await the Grand Master’s cranking of the handle to see who is where in readiness for the next one in the series.
Bashcoin tally: Kitty of 21 Bashcoins, split between Bill, John S, Pete F 1/3, Peter R, Mike S, Alan, Nick 2/3″
