Day 165 - Millionaires' Golf

The Lady Captain had requested that we make an early start as she had an afternoon flight to the South of France. It was for that reason that I found myself on the first tee at the Club at the unheard of hour of 7:30 am.  We were playing our latest Jubilee Goblets match - this time against the original competition's winners, Jan and Mary.

It turned out to be a lovely time to play: we had the Old Course pretty much to ourselves, the weather was terrific with nary a cloud in sight and we just whizzed around.

Whether or not it was because of the early time of day or not, this time the Lady Captain and I got off to a splendid start, assisted by some less-than-stellar putting by our opponents. 

By the sixth hole we were 4 up and coasting....briefly....  At that point, the opposition stepped it up a gear and began playing Par Golf, a game with which we are not familiar.  4 Up soon became all Square, and then 3 Down...   Two pars (again!) on the 16th closed it out and we emerged in second place by 3&2.  All good fun, played in fabulous circumstances - real Millionaires' Golf!

We were all done and dusted by 10:30, so still time for a coffee and some breakfast (the Eggs Benedict were excellent!) before the cricket started... 

The rest of the day was spent watching the final throes of Day 3(!) of the Ashes. Things now stand at 2-1 but I have no idea what happens next... Trent Bridge without Jimmy Anderson.. hmmm

Day 164 - Byfleet Bobs

The announcement about the new Burhill General Manager duly came out today: it is to be a certain Matthew Hazelden, formerly a golf professional on the Challenge Tour who switched across to the management side some 10 years ago. He comes to us from a Club in Sussex called Cottesmore - and that is pretty much all that I know.  He will be the 5th GM with whom I have interfaced since I first joined the Men's Committee...

That was the new news today, otherwise it was a normal Vets Club match day. On this occasion, we were the hosts and the opposition were West Byfleet.

The weather was perfect, with just a slightly chilly wind for the first couple of holes and, by the time I came back to my car in the afternoon, the temperature on the dashboard was showing 27°.  That, combined with the fact that Old Course was looking splendid meant that there were no excuses for not playing well.

And play well we did: after 16 holes, I was playing to the equivalent of around 5 or 6 over par, but unfortunately so was one of our opponents (and his handicap was 15..), which meant that we found ourselves on the 17th tee 1 hole down. Then I hoiked my drive left, and my partner, Ian, pushed his second shot right into the hazard.  Not looking good... Fortunately for us though, both our opponents took 3 shots to get down from near the green and we ended up halving the hole. A great par from Ian on the difficult last meant that we had just squeezed a half out of what looked like a certain loss.

Which sounds fine until we discovered after lunch that this meant that the match result was a Burhill win by 7 1/2 to 1/2!  We were the only team standing in the way of what would have been a whitewash. The return match in October will see our Byfleet friends smarting for revenge...

Day 163 - Downhill from here...

Today marks the mid-point of my Captaincy: an amazing thought!  It has just zipped by and it seems a very strange thought to think that it is already halfway through - indeed, as far as the golf is concerned, arguably we are are well past that point as the season is very much front-loaded (not a lot happens from October to January....).  My hope is that the next 6 months are as fun as the last...and that my body holds out!

No golf today, though I did spend time out on the short-game area trying to work on my game around the green.. I watched a YouTube video this morning and this gave me something new to practise. We shall see tomorrow if it actually works!

Playing last Monday in my Flitch match behind a group for whom the repairing of pitch-marks was clearly optional and the restoring of divots never even contemplated, I was intrigued to see some recent correspondence in The Times on this self-same issue. 

Yesterday, a reader had written in to the Editor lamenting the fact that golfers should be penalised when their golf balls land in someone else's divot.  This was followed up this morning with the suggestion shown here.

Earlier this week, I would have preferred a more draconian penalty...

This evening, we had a Club Committee Meeting.  The last before the summer, as we shall not meet again until September. By that time, we shall have a new General Manager in place.  A formal announcement is to follow but you can get a sneak preview of the individual here...

Back home to watch the highlights of today's Ashes excitement from Edgbaston - talk about a rollercoaster!  I don't dare make any form of predictions as to what happens next...

Day 162 - More Wolf

The way I play golf in Florida on our home course there, is effectively in a large roll-up group (although the rolling up is all prearranged via e-mail).  John is kind enough to coordinate the group's activity (John - I'll be back in November!) and he sent me this video today - a great spoof of the sort of commercial we have all seen when in the USA!

Today was a better day than of late, weather-wise, though the wind that was so much a feature of the first half of the year was back in evidence. A morning of chores: a visit to the dental hygienist (the closest thing I shall experience in my life to torture...), a doctor's appointment (to check up on recent blood test: all fine, but please reduce alcohol content) and some time spent pruning bushes in the garden.

At 12:20, I sat down to soup for lunch with Mrs Lawrence and, at 12:21, I remembered that I had a lunch engagement with Miss Lawrence...  I hot-footed out of the house and managed to get there pretty much on time, only just having the time to say goodbye to my wife who is going away for a couple of days of golf with some lady friends from Burhill.  A very pleasant lunch at M&S in Brooklands, which ran on for a bit longer than it should (sorry, P&G!).

The early evening, I was back at Burhill to play 9 holes of social golf with three of the guys who joined the Club at the same time that I did.  We had a game of Wolf (see Day 75!) which remains an excellent way to have a bit of non-serious fun on the golf course.  Drinks and supper on the Terrace required a sweater as the sun, and the temperature, started to go down. 

We left the Club agreeing that we must take advantage of the few such evenings that remain this summer...  next Tuesday?

Day 161 - More Flitch...

Monday, Monday... and a grey day, but at least it was dry!  Morning was devoted to catching up on all sorts of things, with the mowing of the grass remaining an outside option...

We were to meet up at the Club this afternoon with our next round opponents for the Flitch Salver: Chris and Judith Greet (a reminder: this is the knockout for which the only eligible entrants are married couples).  The course was pretty empty (apart from one four-ball who looked as if they had strayed onto the course from an 18-30 holiday camp) and we made good progress.

The match was closely fought: never more than one hole in it either way, with both couples spending times in the lead. That being said, whenever one team went ahead, the other side immediately played a good hole and brought things back to all square.  And so it went on, until we went into the lead on the 17th and all we needed to do was halve the last... which we failed to do! 

So here we were back on the 1st hole again with the match level... Fortunately (for us at least!) we managed to squeak a win on the first extra hole and therefore emerged as victors.

Back home for supper and then an evening in front of the box. Mrs L was busy preparing for her golfing trip on the morrow which gave me a free run of the remote control: University Challenge and Only Connect it was...followed by Penelope Keith exploring the Secret Files of the BBC.  All very entertaining...

Day 160 - New Zealand Shield

The New Zealand Shield is awarded every year to the winner of an 18 hole Stableford competition, played on the Old Course at Burhill. The Shield was donated to Burhill in 1919 and commemorates the fact that, during the First World War, there was a hospital dedicated to the care of New Zealand servicemen, located in the Mount Felix estate in Walton.

The property was first requisitioned by the War Office in 1914: originally containing 29 bedrooms (!) it was converted into a 325-bed hospital by the New Zealand War Contingent Association and was first opened in August 2015. Within only two days of its opening, it began to receive servicemen injured in the Gallipoli campaign.  It continued to function throughout the Great War but then suffered a major fire in 1919.  Today very little remains, apart from a few outhouses which has since been converted to houses. A full history of the property is available here - http://ezitis.myzen.co.uk/2nzgh.html

The competition for the Shield was scheduled for today and, despite the fact that a few less enthusiastic members had cancelled their participation, a number of brave souls made their way to the Club to participate, presumably in the hope that the weather forecast of endless rain would prove to be incorrect.  I was one of those who set out, more in hope than anticipation, as the drizzle had started by the time that i teed off at 9:06 with Steve and Neil.

We pressed on for six holes (and I even birdied the 3rd!) by which time the drizzle had become rain, which had mutated into a real downpour. Great for the gardens but not really suited for the playing of a serious golf competition. 

Once we got to the 7th green and discovered that, with the pin at the top and the balls at the base, the only way to get close to the hole was to use a wedge: putting through the newly formed river on the green was never going to work!  To nobody's surprise, shortly after that, the competition was abandoned due to the course being unplayable.

A shame (doubly so for those who had good score cards going!) but the only option available in order to save the course from damage.  A new date of 13th September has been found for a second attempt at holding the competition... let's hope the weather stays fine then!

Day 159 - Former Captains' Day

Today I was invited as a guest of the Past Captains of Burhill Golf Club. Or, as I prefer to call them, the Former Captains. The format was that those who wished to play golf would meet at the Club for a bacon roll at around 08:30, before setting out to the course. Tbose unwilling, or unable, to play would then join up for lunch.

Teams had been drawn and I was in a three ball alongside my immediate predecessor as Captain and Alan, whom I had never met before. He had been Captain in 1987 and had since left the Club some 20 years ago (i.e. before I had joined). He is a former BA pilot and must have been a very young Captain as he was even now barely into his 70s.  We had a very pleasant game on the New Course and returned a respectable best-2-outt-of-3 card, but certainly not one that was ever going to win anything.

Drinks on the Terrace followed, then a shower and up to the Wellington Room for what proved to be a very long lunch (I wasn't home until almost 5 pm...).  After a three course meal, the guest of the day (that'd be me...) was requested to give a brief talk summarizing what was going on at the Club. I wasn't quite sure what was expected and hope that what I had to say was that which was of interest to the 19 ex-Captains present.

We were out to dinner in the evening, so little time remained for anything constructive... clearly time for a nap! A splendid barbecue outside took full advantage of the summer weather: another dry, warm evening to enjoy. The food was delicious... I am going to have to cut back for the next few days!

Day 158 - Two by Two

Today was always going to be a tough day with first a 36 holes foursomes match planned and then 9 holes of greemsomes, followed by supper... would I survive?

We met up with the Seniors Society at Burhill for our return match (we drew previously in their home fixture at Woking).  Today, I was paired with John, against two charming gentlemen by the name of David and Roger.  The latter was the low handicap player, so I was even to receive a shot, which is always a good start. As it turned out, shots were the last ting we needed: John and I played good, steady, down-the-middle golf and holed a few putts, whilst our opponents didn't... We were soon 4 holes up and then the rain started, on around the 9th hole.  And it didn't stop.  We were getting less and less enthusiastic about proceedings, until a fine par by us on the 14th meant that we had won by 6&4 (or 2&1 as we reported it to Douglas later...) and could make a speedy dash for home.

A long and pleasant lunch followed. We were seated looking out across the New Course and could see that the rain was still falling unremittingly. It soon became apparent that no-one present was up for the second 18 of foursomes and the match was closed, with Burhill winning by 3 to 2. 

As we left, I looked out of the window and realised that we had certainly done the right thing: there were pools of water appearing on the 18th green and the rabbits were lining up two by two.... never a good sign!

Home for a brief zizz, then back to the Club again but this time only for dinner as the golf component of the evening's festivities had also been cancelled due to the weather.  We did though have an extreme;y pleasant Italian-themed dinner and returned home just before 11 having had a splendid evening. Now we need some sun for tomorrow...

Day 157 - Brum

A day in Birmingham today: to get there for a 10:00 start I had to take the 06:26 from Cobham - never an inviting prospect, but at least it was light and the weather was warm and the trains were on time. So I arrived there in plenty of time. Not sure if anyone has been to Birmingham New Street station recently but it is yet another piece of UK infrastructure that is under a massive redevelopment programme. I am sure that it will be splendid when it's finished (and will be a mecca for all John Lewis lovers!), but for now it is a giant building site...

Ofwat meetings took all day and I headed back to London on the 4 pm train. Yup, you guessed it: en route, I received an email from South West Trains that there was major disruption at Waterloo (again..) and that all trains were subject to delay and/or cancellation.  Yet another opportunity to relish the fact that I no longer have by season ticket... I made it home in the end, via the Tube to Wimbledon (always a good option when there is chaos upstream...).

I was hoping that my new book I purchased last night on Amazon would be here to greet me, but there too there appear to be some delays. I purchased the new Ken Brown book on putting after having read the various very positive reviews. 

This is an area of my game that I think needs work (though I note from scanning my new purchase, that it is practice rather than reading which is required!).

Whilst in the US last week I also had a larger grip fitted to my putter - let's see if the combination delivers that which I am looking for...

Day 156 - Social golf

At around 8:35, the front door bell rang and I looked outside to see not one, but two red Teslas on my driveway. No, I had not had too much to drink last night, nor had I put my contact lenses in the wrong way around... My Tesla needs to go back to base for some extra work on it (and to remove a scratch...) and I am being supplied with a replacement vehicle. This is somewhat of a surprise to me as I had only realised last night that this was on offer (I had been busy arranging to take over my son's Honda whilst he in Aberdeen..) and I certainly wasn't expecting that the substitute vehicle would be a Tesla (albeit one with many more miles on the "clock"!).

I noticed today on Facebook that Burhill had made available a whole host of professionally taken photographs of the courses for the world to see: what a great set of pictures, making the all the holes look very dramatic.


I think that you need to be on Facebook to see them all, but have a look below for some examples!

A quick trip up to town for an Ofwat Casework meeting and then back home to spend an hour or so working on some competition set up issues on Intelligent Golf.

The evening saw me heading back to the Club for a meeting of the Social Committee. Our eminent Chair, Lisa, had made the brilliant decision to arrange that we have the meeting outside on the Terrace. I am sure that this helped to contribute to the efficiency of the evening: somehow everything seems much easier when you are outside.

Maybe we should have had more of our Board meetings al fresco when I was gainfully employed...

Day 155 - Morocco here we come?

Not easy getting up this morning: 08:00 Greenwich Mean Time alarm clock call was 03:00 Martin Body Time... but get up I did to report to the local surgery for a blood test.  Results due in a few days.

Then back home for some serious iPad time - I have been sent reams of pre-reading for my two Board meetings coming up and hadn't been able to access them whilst in the US. I managed to get through the first pass of all the papers, but will need a second go before Thursday.  A quick lunch and then off to Burhill.

Together with friend Bryan, we have entered a national seniors competition sponsored by How-Did-I-Do.com. I have entered this a number of times in the recent past but never have progressed very far. Maybe this was going to be the year... 

We met our opponents, Peter and David, who are based at Fulwell Golf Club.   Things didn't start well and Bryan and I duly lost the first hole, then we got ahead by one, but by the time we left the 9th green we were down by two holes.  I had not been playing well, nor had I done a good job in remembering which of opponents was David and which Peter: in the end, I decided that the one with the blue shirt was clearly Blue Peter... only even that was wrong...

After that, I got both their first names right and also started to play some golf: I birdied the 11th to get us back to down one, and then holed my putt on the 12th to tie (again in birdies); we then all tried hard to lose the 13th but failed to do so.  Eventually we got to the 18th tee all square. And then proceeded to tie the 18th itself, and the 19th, 20th and 21st holes.  By this time, I was getting very antsy as I was supposed to be in a Burhill Men's Committee Meeting at 7 p.m. and was clearly not going to make it..  Fortunately a good par by Bryan on the 22nd hole closed thing off and we had won.

I then had to sprint back to the Clubhouse (from just about the furthest point on the New Course) and arrived at the meeting decidedly warmer than I had intended. There was no time for a shower, but everybody was very kind and we had a good meeting with some excellent discussion, if few actual decisions.  For my sins, as the later arriver, I agreed to do the minutes...

Day 154 - Home Sweet Home

A very easy flight back, though not really enough time to get any sleep: by the time everyone has settled down, they are bringing around the breakfasts...  That, and a swift passage through the airport, meant that we were home nice and early.  That being said, energy levels were low as a result of the short night and, by the time the golf was on the box, eyes were certainly drooping.

After a brief zizz, I headed back to the Club in the afternoon to see how the Senior Open Qualifier was getting on at Burhill. There was a good crowd watching, though many of them drifted later into the Captains' Bar to follow what was going on in the Open.

The weather in Surrey (like in Scotland!) had worsened during the day and the scores reflected the more difficult playing conditions.  There were 8 places available for the Open at Sunningdale, but there still needed to be a play-off to determine who could be added to the reserves list.

Not quite a direct parallel with the way the Open Championships finished, but there too they had a playoff.  By the time this was being played, my energy levels had reached the level where I needed to head home and I therefore eschewed the drinks reception at Burhill. 

I had though enjoyed chatting so some of the participants: one, in particular, a pro from Stockholm was waxing very lyrical about the New Course and the facilities in the Clubhouse: "I have played more than a thousand golf courses around the world and the final hole here is one of the very best I have ever seen"...

So it was back home that I watched the final minutes of the 2015 Open Championships at St Andrews. I felt sorry for Mark Leishman, who had played so well during the final rounds, but never really featured in the play-off.  Nice to see a winner though who doesn't drive the ball horrendous distances down the fairway...

Day 153 - Hot Golf

The plan was for an early start this morning: up and out of the rental condo by 06:00. This we managed and Andrew drove us for the first part of the journey: destination a branch of Cracker Barrel near Wilson on the i95 heading north. When we arrived there, we were surprised by how crowded it was but the service was prompt and the breakfast good value and hit the spot.

Next leg was a further two and a half hours, past Richmond, Virginia, to the golf course of Mattaponi Springs. We had located this on the web: one of the top 100 Public Courses in the U.S. and ideally placed, being less than two hours from D.C.

We arrived there in plenty of time to tee off earlier than we had planned. This did mean that we were going out in the heat of the day. And boy, was it hot! We were informed that a Heat Advisory Warning had been issued and we were certainly very grateful for the iced towels being dispensed as we played. 

100 degrees...

The course itself was spectacular, set in the forest with lots of ups and downs. Having a buggy was a must and we pretty much had the course to ourselves (Mad Dogs and Englishmen?). We had a good match which but for a closing birdie of mine could have been very expensive. Andrew shot a record for him 75 and played really well. Considered the difficulty of the course and the weather conditions, this was really very good.

A refreshing beer afterwards was most welcome. Less so was the news that there was no shower available. This was going to be a problem for those other passengers in the BA flight tonight... Fortunately, the staff at the golf course took pity on us and allowed us to use the manager's private shower. Very welcome!

The drive back to Washington DC was painful: lots of slow traffic peppered with a number of minor incidents. We did though make it in plenty of time and were very pleased to discover that we had been upgraded for the return flight home: even though the flight is a bit over 6 hrs, this should mean that we get some sleep...

Day 152 - Fathers and Sons III

Our final day of competition: the Captain's Choice format (Scramble) is always fun and is largely a test of driving and putting. We were playing for the first time at the West Course at Myrtle Beach National. It turned out to be a classic southern US course, with pine trees, water and fast greens where you just had to end up below the hole!

We were playing today with Gary and Charlie, at the fathers and Sons Classic for the first time. They struggled a bit with some of the longer holes, but we had no such concerns as AJ's driver was on top form. We did have to take 6 of Dad's drives which threatened to be an issue early on (do we come in from 170 yards or 100?... again...) but with a bit of judicious selection this turned out not be be a problem.

The first hole - a par 5 - set the tome: AJ drive, Dad hit to the edge of the green, 2 putts: birdie.  After that, the birds just kept on coming, largely thanks to my putter which was simply red hot. One minor bogey blemish didn't help, but an eagle on the 17th (AJ drive+Dad Rescue+Dad putt) was the highlight of the round. In total we shot 64 gross (or 59 net) to record our best ever total in this format in 12 years.

Furyk flight leaderboard

Unfortunately, there were some other very good players out there, which meant that we hadn't done quite enough to get into the prizes, but hey - there's always 2016 to look forward to!  After the golf, we went back to Legends for the prize giving and steak lunch (excellent again - thank you Logan's!) and the opportunity to say goodbye for another year to old friends as well as the new ones we have made this year.

Dinner tonight is at Thoroughbreds for our traditional end-of-competition dinner. Yum....

Day 151 - Fathers and Sons II

Day 2 - sporting our shirts
from The Berkshire

Another early start this morning: breakfast was served at 06:45 and we were out of the condo by 7:00 to head off for the second day's play. Our destination was the Resort Course at Grande Dunes.  This course is one of our favourites in Myrtle Beach: it's always in excellent condition and this year was no exception. The greens were in far better shape than those we had played on the prvious day: yes they were quicker, but much truer too.

The format for today's round was Greensomes (both drive, choose one ball and then hit in alternate shot format), with the extra condition that you had to use a minimum of 6 tee shots from each player.  The latter turned out not to be an issue: after 12 holes we had carried that out, without ever having to choose an inferior shot.  We played very solidly all day: one messed up short par 4 and a couple of putts that maybe should have gone in were the only blemishes. We ended up with a round of 74 (two over par) which was an excellent result and was only beaten by one other pair in our flight.  Still lots to do tomorrow though to get into the prizes...

Our playing partners today were Bob and Grayson West, from Texas, who were playing for the first time. The father, Bob, was a former sports journalist and knew a great deal about the wider golf game; he also it every single fairway!  His son was less accurate and they had to work hard to use the required 6 drives of his...

After lunch we headed back to the golf course: this time for 18 holes of pitch and putt with two other Father & Son pairs whom we had met up with in previous years. It was very hot, but the $1 beers helped keep everyone refreshed.  The par-3 course is a bit ropy but we spent a very pleasant three hours catching up with everyone.

One postscript from yesterday, which I forgot to mention: the surname of our playing partners was Leist. The Dad Joe told a great story: he was hoping to persuade his son's new wife to name their daughter "Tit", as he saw great sponsorship potential. She was apparently less keen...

Day 150 - Fathers and Sons I

Today was the first day of our 2015 Fathers and Sons Tournament, here in Myrtle Beach. We have been coming here for the past 12 years, ever since Andrew was a young teenager. It's a great format: three days of competition (better ball, greensomes and 2-mad scramble), interspersed with skills challenges and a par three competition as well.  You are divided up into Flights, based on your team handicap - we are in the Furyk flight this year.

Our first round was at the Thistle course, across the state line in North Carolina. We had played it before, but there have been some major upgrades since our last visit - see for example the Gents!  What a great idea: something we should also consider adopting at Burhill. All the screens were showing the Open Championships, which we also managed to follow on our way around (we gave up on the cricket...).

The Burhill Team

Our partners were Joe and Kyle with whom we had been paired 4 years ago. Great to catch up with them and also to sport the Burhill colours. Great wasn't the right name for our golf though as we were distinctly average. Our better ball score was 76 (five over par) which doesn't sound too bad, until you see that the leaders after round one managed a gross score of 5 under par...  We did leave a few shots out there but not that many!

Then off to dinner with a Father and Son whom we first met in 2011. We went to Greg Norman's Australian Gill with Josh and Matt: a Myrtle Beach favourite which did not fail to disappoint. Some great steaks and excellent red wine too. Ideal preparation for tomorrow...

Day 149 - North to South

A big thank you to
Scot, Niki, Jackson and Sadie!

Today was moving day...in the sense that we had to get ourselves down to Myrtle Beach from our friends' house in Virginia Beach.  Although there was a potentially quicker alternative via the Interstate, we opted instead for the shorter Route 17. This took us into North Carolina, all the way through the Tar Heel State and out the other side to our destination.

We saw lots of the rural countryside: many porches and picket fences as well as some wide rivers and lots of open spaces. Many of the towns' names betrayed their heritage: Edenton, Jamestown, Cape Colony etc.  We did stop for petrol en route and came across a strange product that took a bit of working out as to what actually was being sold? We ended up deciding that it was a spray to mask your scent when hunting.  We passed on that..

Traffic was light throughout the journey and we made it into Myrtle Beach in plenty of time to check in for the next three days' tournament.  This is the 11th time that we have played in this great Fathers and Sons Competition and memories came flooding back.

This time, we have chosen to stay at the Legends facility - which, entirely coincidentally, is also hosting the opening and closing gatherings for the tournament. This is great as it means we can just walk down from our condo rather than having to drive somewhere.  We checked in at the Clubhouse and within the first 5 mins had already bumped into two father/son pairings with whom we have played in previous years: Jim & Corey and Josh & Matt - how great is that?

Condo looks fine so, after a shower, we headed back out for an hour's putting practice...in the heat (96degF and steamy!).  After that, a quick trip to get some food in for breakfast tomorrow and then to dinner at the Aspen grill - a restaurant we were sure we had not been to before..until we walked through the front door and then recognised it immediately, but certainly worth a return visit!

Day 148 - Tournament Preparation

Tuesday sees us chilling out in Virginia Beach. A lazy jet-lagged morning start to the day, with a delicious breakfast of fresh eggs from Jackson's 30+ chickens. The variety of sizes and colours is amazing...

Then it was time for our first golf of the holiday. We headed to Scott's home course of Heron Ridge. We had played here before and soon began to remember many of the holes. Quite different from Burhill but an excellent preparation for the rounds to come. 

I managed to start the round of with a birdie and soon established an early lead in our skins/bits game but by the end there wasn't much in it, with Scott's brilliant short game and Andrew's length off the tee coming into play. I think I ended up plus $1, but we did cash in on the snake game as AJ managed to three putt a few more times than he should have.

The rest of the afternoon passed by most pleasantly as we sat outside sampling the various local beers, listening to music and watching Sadie chasing the insects. Then it was Pimms time... we had brought a couple of bottles with us and were glad to share the joys of an England summer with our Virginian friends.  We shall sleep well tonight!

Day 147 - A Long Journey

Today was always going to be a long day. We left the house just after 8 and battled with the normal Monday traffic. The car’s sat nav was so insistent that the M25 between junctions 9 and 8 was dire and that we should avoid it entirely, that we did as we were told. Instead, we meandered through Byfleet and Weybridge before joining the motorway was orange. Who knows whether we did the right thing? -  but we got there on time.

Remember the days when Heathrow Terminal 5 was a byword for chaos and confusion? Those time are long gone now: we sailed through check-n, security and then the lounge. Having boarded our flight early we had every reason to be optimistic for a swift departure. Unfortunately, there were climate change protesters on the run way so that was not to be. Eventually, we left.

The plane was an A380, the one with two decks, and despite that was full: why does everyone else want to go to Washington DC on a Monday morning?  The 8-hour flight passed quickly enough, fuelled by lots of in-flight entertainment and one of the new BA specially-ordered meals (good value!).  Immigration and customs were a breeze and we were soon on our way in our rather scruffy Buick Regale.

Our destination today was Virginia Beach, some 3h55mins away according to the maps. In fact it took us an hour or more longer because of the very traffic exiting DC.  This must be a regular feature as an enormous complex of extra toll lanes has gone live since our last visit. At one point we bit the bullet and enjoyed serenely passing the stationary traffic to our right.

We arrived at the Taylors in good time and had a great evening of catching up, pizzas, beer and learning all about the complexities of the choices offered by the latest Lego catalogue from Jackson. And we met Sadie too: a cute little Chorkie (a cross between a Chihuahua and a Yorkshire Terrier!).

Day 146 - Preparations

Due to a bit of a mix-up, I wasn't sure whether or not I had a match this morning. Having heard nothing, I assumed not and so made other plans for the day. I am about to go away for a week with my son, so dedicated the day to a mixture of preparations for our trip as well as spending some time with Mrs L whom we are going to abandon...

Preparations were all that which you expect: selection of team shirts, washing and ironing, cleaning of golf clubs and packing of bags. Every year that we go away, we manage to pack even more efficiently it seems: we shall after all have a washing machine available once we get there.

For our day out, Kathryn and I drove down to Guildford and explored the towpath along the Wey for what proved to be a most entertaining walk.  We walked down in the direction of Shalford until we found a bridge across the river and then headed back towards town.

This is definitely an area to which we shall return - we quite fancy walking all along the river to Godalming and then maybe taking the train back.  It was all very peaceful, with only the sound of the occasional barge chugging by...

Thence home again to watch the final from Wimbledon, which ended up being depressingly one-sided (wish it had been a Murray-Djokovic match-up!) and then the golf from Gullane. The weather at the latter looked better than when I played the course...

Day 145 - Another Challenging Day

It was another gorgeous day today and an early morning start beckoned: we had agreed to meet up at the Club with today Captain & Pro challengers for coffee at 0745.  When I arrived at Burhill, it was clear that we were not the only ones who had decided that today would be a fine day for golf...  I guess that the combination of fine weather, no competitions, afternoon sport to watch etc. had spurred many players into action.

The fact that the 1st tee of the Old was reserved for two Club matches will have aggravated things, but we are blessed with four tees t start off from, so it should be ok, right? Wrong... As usual, one of these was reserved for the first hour of play for 2-balls and, unusually, this too had a bit of a backlog. Once we had extracted a four-ball who had not bothered to check from which tee they were allowed to begin their round, we still had 3 pairs ahead of us when we arrived. Clearly there are some deadlines coming up in some of the matchplay events!  I was asked if, as Captain, I expected to be given priority but these days have long passed...

Eventually, we teed off at around 08:30 (meaning that the Ladies' groups who had the tee reserved from that time were delayed by 10 minutes - sorry!) and after that the pace of play was excellent with the course moving quickly around. The match itself followed a familiar course: we really must stop winning the first hole and establishing an early lead!  Again, our opponents hauled us in with a series of excellent up & downs, and by holing some crucial putts.  We played better than we had done the previous time, but still ended up with the same result: a loss by 3&1.  Next time we play two former captains so we had better get some practice in!

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to watching the Ashes Activity from Cardiff. Somewhat contrary to expectations, it was the Australians who found themselves more than challenged by a very disciplined England team.  Now why didn't I accept that bet from Brian on an England Ashes victory...?

Day 144 - Vets Invitational Day

One of the nicer events we play every year is the Vets Invitational Day: this is when every Club against whom we play friendly matches receives an invitation to enter a three-man team into a Stableford Competition.  These players are then mixed up and a Burhill member accompanies each group to make up a four-ball. At the lunch that follows, there are prizes awarded to the winning teams from the visitors and the home players also have their own team competition. In addition, there are also prizes for the best individual performances.

The weather today was just ideal for golf: blue skies, a few clouds, warm temperatures and a slight breeze. The course too was in splendid nick: no excuses at all for everyone not to record some outstanding scores...or so you would think!

Terry Milson from West Hill
receiving the winner's salver

I was the only non-Scot in my four ball and, once I had got over this inadequacy, we proved to have a very pleasant game. We were one of the lower handicapped groupings which gave us the privilege of starting off from the third tee with nobody else in front. We took full advantage of this, finishing our round in about 3 and a half hours. Sadly though the scoring was not stellar: in my case, the problem was a combination of over-familiarity with the Old Course's bunkers and the inability to hole some crucial putts...plus, of course, my feeling so sorry for one of our group who lost a pink plastic tee on the 17th hole....

A fine lunch followed after which it was time to go home to catch up with the day's sport. Should we watch the tennis or the cricket? In the end, the latter was on the big screen with the tennis on the laptop as the tension generated by watching Murray's game against Federer was simply too much for Mrs L.... This turned out to be a wise choice!

Day 143 - Golf Widower

Many years ago, I can remember watching a television play starring Maureen Lipman. The opening scene showed her and her husband in bed: he was boring her with the story of his golfing day: "On the third, I took a 7 iron for my approach and it bounced into a bunker" etc.  She had no interest whatsoever but eventually decided to take up the game to see what it was all about. You can probably guess the final scene.. they were in bed together, but this time it was the husband who was bored with wife's story of her round... "I hit a great drive on the short par 4th..." etc.

I felt a bit like that today. Mrs L left the house at 9:30 for a match against Roehampton and didn't reappear until gone 6 pm. And I had had to cancel my inaugural appearance in the Surrey Captains' Team against Kent due to my dodgy wrist...

Fortunately, there was lots to do at home: I had my accounts to catch up on (I still use an ancient version of Quicken...), then there was the Friday email to draft and I still had the minutes to write from the last Club Committee meeting.  As far as distractions were concerned, there were lots: the second day of the Ashes at Cardiff, the opening round of the D\Scottish Open at Gullane and of course the latest tennis from Wimbledon.

Clearly multi-tasking was in order...

Finally, I was on dinner duty: I took advantage of the Fish van being in Cobham today and purchased a couple of fresh swordfish steaks. These were perfect for some Tequila-lime fish tacos... followed by some home made raspberry ice cream.  Yum....

Day 142 - Barker Shield

After the exertions of yesterday, offers of a game today were politely rejected... especially as there was some cracking daytime television on offer: first day of the 2015 Ashes Series, Andy Murray vs Vasel Pospisil (if I spelled that correctly..) in the Wimbledon Quarter Finals plus the new government's Summer Budget...

Winner Ron White receiving Shield from Brian Prevost

But first something much more rewarding.

I had been invited to go to the Club at lunchtime to present the prizes for the winners of the Barker Shield. This is a competition only open to those aged 75 and over - and there were also prizes for the over 80s as well.

I think it's great that this section of the Club has their own competition - though I get the sense that the social interaction was just as important as the golf.

As I aid at the time, many of the participants have a ways to go... when were on holiday in our house in Sarasota last year, a resident in the adjacent country club scored a hole in one... aged 103!  We can all live in hope...

Celebrations over, my attentions turned to the afternoon's TV: England cricket at 43 for 3... but ended up 343 for 7, Murray won in 3 straight sets and Osborne produced a number of rabbits out of his hat - all very entertaining!

Day 141 - The Grove

Every year, I have a golf game arranged with three former Shell Trading colleagues. We each take turns to arrange and host the fixture and this year it was Mike's turn. He is the only one still working at Shell (and is very important nowadays!) and he took us today to The Grove, just near Watford.  This is a corporate golf location par excellence.

Not really a members' Club (at least from my impression) it is very slickly run and has a lot to offer the business golfer: great course, with tees to suit everyone, a bit of history (2006 WGC with Tiger Woods), lots of hotel rooms and restaurants, and today at least, an incident-free route via the M25 and some grand weather as well!

This date is always one of my favourite ones in the diary: the golf is played in good spirits, the banter flows and its great to catch up with what everyone else is up to.  The format is pretty much fixed: 6-6-6, where we play better ball with a different partner for six holes, Putting Olympics, Skins and the Zoo game. 

The latter can be particularly expensive (see my experience in 2007 at Wentworth...) and involves a 25p "fine" for each animal collected (Snake=3 putt, Camel=Bunker, Frog=Water, Monkey=Tree, Gorilla=Out of Bounds and Armadillo=Cart Path) - and the player who holds the animal at the end of the 9th and 18th holes gets to pay everybody else for his sins...

This year, everything pretty much balanced itself out: especially after the net winner, Duncan, had used his winnings to pay for the final round of drinks... 

Roll on 2016: Hankley Common here we come!

Day 140 - Jubilee II

Another Monday, another sunny day, another day without having to face neither the M25 nor South West Trains: life is good....!

Today was the day for our second match in the Jubilee Goblets: with the Lady Captain as my partner, we have challenged each of the six best pairs from the original tournament to a foursomes matchplay game. 

This was the second such match and I am afraid to report that we lost again: both Helen and Jonny were too strong for us. Their recipe for success: hitting it down the middle of the course and making few mistakes... not a bad strategy!

It was a fun match, played in excellent spirits with nobody else in sight on the course, and we managed to make it until the 16th hole but then it was curtains.  And the few raindrops that we felt all day were only as we were packing up our clubs, so no complaints there.

Home in time to watch Andy Murray play against the 6'11" Ivo Karlovic in the last 16 of this year's Wimbledon Championships. It looked hard going the whole match through and the relief on the Scot's face when he managed to clinch the 4th set was palpable.

There can surely be few such imposing opponents in the game of tennis...

Day 139 - The Buckinghamshire

After yesterday's exertions, my wrist decided that it needed a rest. This meant that I wasn't able to play in the Men's match versus Remedy Oak, but sent Lawrence Junior in my place. He was delighted to play - and almost certainly acquitted himself better than his father would have done.

So, instead of playing golf, Kathryn and I decided we would go and watch some. Our Head Pro had kindly made available some tickets for the European Ladies Masters, being played at The Buckinghamshire. Today was the last day and we decided to head over there.

Traffic on the M25 was surprisingly busy for midday on a Sunday, but at least this gave me a chance to test out one of the Tesla's more interesting features: the intelligent cruise control. This works a dream, slowing the car down automatically (even to a full stop if required) in traffic whilst also accelerating to the speed set and keeping the programmed distance from the car in front. Memo to self: must be careful not to become too reliant on this!

It was fun walking around the course at The Buckinghamshire, not least because I had actually played the course myself and could just about recall what I had scored on each hole.  We started off watching the group with Charley Hull, but they were desperately slow and so decided instead to move forwards and watch the three ball with Laura Davis in it.

She was anything but slow! Marching ahead of the other players after every shot and displaying a no-nonsense approach throughout. Others took drivers or woods off the tee, but she mostly stuck with her 3 iron, sending it an impressive distance down the fairway. Also noteworthy was her short game: we saw two up-and-downs out of greenside bunkers that any pro, anywhere, would have been proud of. Just before we joined her, she had even managed a hole in one but, despite this, still ended up some 5 holes back: too little, too late!

It was a fun afternoon out though: so much more useful for we amateurs to see the splendid timing and rhythm of these lady golfers than trying to learn anything from most modern male golf pros, who can hit the ball so much harder than we shall ever manage...

Day 138 - Thanksgiving

For many months, we had debated whether or not the Mixed Event at Burhill should be followed by a Ball in the evening. I think it is fair to say that the Club were in favour of the idea, the members less so. And is things turned out, there was no marquee anyway...  What all were keen on though was to find a way of recognising the fact that today was the 4th July, without over-emphasing the fact given that relatively few at the Club actually have US passports...

Out of all those thoughts came the Mixed Event that we played today: a Red, White and Blue themed competition followed by an excellent BBQ of beef brisket (many thanks, Kevin!), washed down with Pimms and with a steel band in the background for atmosphere.  And a great day it was! 

Playing off the Red, White and Blue tees proved to be a welcome distraction from the norm - tough for the Ladies as some of the White tees were quite a challenge and, if you look at the scoring, tough for the Gents too who seemed to struggle to choose which club to tee off with on the holes played off the Red and/or Blue tees.

Everyone (or rather, nearly everyone...Andrew...) got into the spirit of the event by dressing up in some combination of red, white and blue. As a first, this meant that we even had people on the course in red and blue socks (I hope nobody turned in their grave at the thought!) - but it was fun to see how everyone had interpreted the theme.

The weather was fantastic - which meant that for the first time this year, we had players taking refuge inside from the hot sun on the terrace... who would'a thunk it in those cold spring months we had?!

Lastly, an explanation: why the title of today's blog? Nothing to do with giving thanks for the weather, the food or the camaraderie (all good causes though!), but rather a reference to my time at UCLA. When a student, I spent two years living in California in the early 80s. Surprisingly often in late November, I would be asked "do you guys celebrate Thanksgiving in England? ".  Eventually, I decided that the best response was "yes, but on the 4th of July", which usually produced a rather puzzled look...

P.S. Many thanks for the concern expressed today about my injured hand/wrist. It is definitely improving though I shall continue to take it easy until it's completely healed.

Day 137 - Range Anxiety

Decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and give the new car a drive to Lavenham in Suffolk.  According to the on-board computer, I could just about get there and back (104 miles each way) and should return with 12% still in the battery.  The M25 was behaving and I made excellent time.

Time enough to take my mother out to lunch at the local bistro. Sitting outside in the sunshine was wonderful and the prices were at Suffolk rather than Surrey levels. We had a delicious gazpacho, with a sea bream special to follow.  And all through lunch, the car was charging off a 13amp plug in the garage, adding enough miles to make me confident about the return journey to Cobham.

Back for a cup of tea before starting the return journey. Again, all the traffic problems were in the opposite direction - until I reached my exit at  junction 9, when everything looked dire again...

I must say I was very impressed with the battery prediction software: on both journeys, it was correct to the percentage, despite the fact that I had the AC on. This will give me more confidence in running the battery nearer to the limit. Range Anxiety? Moi?

Day 136 - Couch Sports Potato

Not as warm as it was yesterday, and we even had some rain this morning.  Neither though really mattered as today was another day off the course: am pleased to say there are definitely signs of progress with the injured hand though and I remain hopeful that the weekend will see me swinging a club again.

All of which meant that today was an excellent day for doing not a lot!  Instead, started the morning off by watching some of the French Open in Paris. A couple of years ago, Kathryn and I had spent a very pleasant weekend traipsing around the course as guests of sponsor Alstom so it was nice to see the venue again - and remember it is to be the host of the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Then, around lunch time, we switched sports to spend some time watching the tennis from Wimbledon.  The Ward/Vesely match proved to be a lot more exciting than Murray/Haase, but both of these two were nothing like as fun as the Brown/Nadal game.  The tall Jamaican German gave his all and simply blew away the out-of-form Spanish champion.  Great stuff!

And now we get to watch some of the PGA golf as well: good to see three Brits going well and close to the top after the first day.  It would be great if Paul Casey could go one better than last week...

Day 135 - Pearson Final

Phew What a Scorcher! It was hot today... the warmest day ever at Wimbledon, if I understood the news properly. And it was decidedly steamy as I took the car down to Bramley Golf Club to support the Burhill Pearson team.  In the morning, they played their semi-final match against Farnham, interspersed between the other game which saw Wisley paired against Camberley Heath.

I was unable to stay until the end as I had a doctor's appointment, but when I received the text from Gabi telling me that our Ladies had been victorious (by the thinnest of margins, 4 to 3), I knew I had to return to watch the final.

But first I had a necessary, if emotionally painful, task to perform: the combination of the heat and my swollen left hand meant that my wedding ring was far too tight and needed removing. Of course I have taken it off since my wedding 30+ years ago, but I have certainly never been without it on my hand for more than a couple of hours... it does feel weird not have it on!

Then to the final: Burhill Ladies versus The Wisley.  For a while all looked plain sailing with the early matches very much going our way. As the afternoon, then early evening, wore on everything began to look a lot closer, with 3 of the 7 matches finishing their 18 holes all square and having to go back to the 1st for an extra hole and more. 

As things turned out, everything depended on the final match as the scores were tied 3:3.  Gripping stuff.... The final Burhill player, Linda, did a great job to haul things back to be yet another player who squared the match on the final hole.  Unfortunately, it wasn't to be though, as her Wisley opponent played the 19th hole very tidily and managed to hole the crucial putt to give her side victory by 4 to 3.

After the conclusion of the match, everyone looked shattered: playing 36 holes in temperatures approaching 40 degrees, combined with the tension that the match brings, clearly asks a lot. I hope that everyone sleeps well tonight: the whole team can be proud of their achievement. So close....