Day 4 - See Day 3

See Day 3...  :-(

Day 3 - Yuk...

Got home from the Club last night, made dinner (excellent fish stew!) and then collapsed in front of the Tv. Going to bed, I knew something was wrong and have awoken with a raging fever and generally feeling sorry for myself.

A day of rest beckons, though there should be some time and energy to devote to some of the updating that the Members' website requires.

Golf on Friday looking dodgy....

Day 2 - Sunny golf

Spent the morning in admin mode: every year, the Captain pairs up with the Director of Golf and challenges members to a monthly foursomes matchplay game. The challengers pony up £25 towards the Captains' Charity for the privilege, with the most successful pair being awarded a prize at next year's AGM (which seems a long way off at this stage!).

To set this up used to be easy: a notice appeared in the men's Changing Room, punto. Nowadays, it also required the creation of a web page for the sign up, and an email to all members advertising the fact. No complaints though, as I actually enjoy this part of the job!

In the afternoon had a game of golf on the New Course, with five other Disorganised Golfers.  My first this year on this course, but not I suspect my last!  I am delighted to report that my first drive went were it should have done... as did my tee shot on the 18th at the end of the round. Why did I not manage that on Sunday?

The weather we had (see picture) was splendid: no wind, blue skies, sunshine and it's mid-February: more of the same, please...

The Morning After The Day Before

Well, the parking space works!  Spent time this morning writing up the events of yesterday for the Members' website. Not sure how many will actually read it, but it's good to have a record of events. Wanted to go to the Club to thank all those without whose help, yesterday wouldn't have been so successful. 

Also took the opportunity to go over the results from Saturday's Stableford competition. A few No Shows were recorded, which need following up as there is so much demand for spaces. 

No golf for me today but there were plenty of hardy souls getting their daily fix out there!

The Day Itself

Slept badly...kept on waking up and checking the alarm, but eventually arose at 0630 to get ready for an 0715 departure to be at the Club for half past seven.  The first thing on the agenda was to the Grimditch Trophy, for which members signed up and were then randomly allocated to play for either the Captain or Vice Captain in a matchplay foursomes format.  There was a shotgun start at 0830 and I was to play with the incoming Vice Captain against the Director of Golf and the outgoing Captain, Colin.  Suffice it to say that by 1100 we were back in the Clubhouse having been given a proper drubbing by our opponents who could do no wrong...whilst I could!  No thanks to me, the remainder of those representing the Vice Captain performed much better and the result of the competition rested on the scores from the final pair in.  They halved their match which also meant that the overall match was also a draw and honours were shared...  The first time for a while and a great start to the day!

New Ladies' and Men's Captains

After a lengthy bar/lunch break, the next item on the agenda was the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Men's Section.  This is where I was to be formally inducted as Men's Captain, after which there was no going back!  The meeting passed off smoothly, with the new committee being elected nem con and there I was the new Captain of Burhill Golf Club.


I had no time to let this sink in as very shortly thereafter, we had the AGM for Burhill Golf Club.  This was a bigger affair with a very good turnout of members.  The year gone by was reviewed, the new Club Committee elected and plans for the future discussed. the amazing successes of the Club's junior section were lauded and Diana, the Lady captain, shared our decision to select the Princess Alice Hospice as our Captains' charity for the year ahead.

Rolley in action...

The formal stuff over, now was the time for the Captains' Drive In.  Tradition has it that one is supposed to arrive at the tee in style, or at least in a manner that will amuse the onlookers.  This I think we achieved, by the use of Rolleys. As you can see from the photos, these are an upright motorised golf trolley which, on flat ground, actually can travel at quite a lick!  Diana and I managed to navigate our way successfully to the tee of the Par 3 18th Hole of the New Course.

At least it went forwards...

Clearly the pressure of the day, or the gentle barracking from the balcony, was too much and in the end none of the three of us succeeded in landing the ball on the green but, more importantly, we all managed to tee off successfully and hit over the river in the general direction of the flag.  Honours just about intact....


Thence back to the bar and a weight of our collective shoulders: we don't have to do that again!  Time for a drink and a relaxing chat with the many friends who stayed on to make it such a special day.

D-Day minus 1

Had an early start this morning to drive to collect my wife from the airport, which meant that it was not possible for me to play in the morning's Stableford competition at the Club.  I did though have to make a trip to Burhill to complete two important actions:

1) to help Pip, Burhill's Director of Golf, to carry out the draw for the next day's Captain v. Vice captain's competition; this was a relatively simple process with the new on-line booking system, with just some minor tweaking required to ensure that the pairs' handicaps are relatively well matched.  Battle commences tomorrow at 0830 am!


and

2) to make the selection of the Captain's photo that will be framed and take its place in the Captain's Bar for the year ahead.  Not a difficult selection as it was in fact a choice from two photos, both of which looked identical to me...

Either way, this is the mug shot that I shall have to live with for the next 12 months. He chose one with a smile, I see...

D-Day minus 5

The official part of the job starts tonight: as current Vice Captain, I am to host the Men's Committee Dinner to say thank you to the outgoing Captain.  There is, as ever in a Golf Club, a bit of tradition around proceedings... That is to say, the Captain gets to not only invite some guests but also to choose the menu whilst the drinks are paid for by the Committee members.

After dinner, I made a speech to Colin and also presented him with an engraved silver salver to commemorate the year almost finished. I also gave Colin a copy of my brother Tony's book about golf: Hacked Off (available at all good booksellers....).  This should give him some reading material for his trip to Bermuda later in the month

We then moved down to the bar and I had my first glass of Kümmel of the year - and not, I suspect, the last!