Day 167 - Hole in One

Today was the second leg of our friendly match against West Hill - this time at theirs. An early start to be there by 08:00, made all the more tricky for some of the players as they had to avoid the road blockages caused by the London Cycle route. No such problem from Cobham and there is plenty of time for bacon rolls and coffee before my tee time.

I was paired with Jan-Willem, from Burhill, and playing against their Captain and Match Manager. The match was played in good spirits and was progressing nicely until we got to the 7th hole, a 170 yard par 3, though the pin was in to front.  Mark's tee shot headed right of the green, whilst mine looked pretty good off the tee but there was some heather blocking our view... Only a shout from our partners on the green alerted us to the fact that the ball had gone in the hole!  My second-ever hole-in-one - those tees must have worked after all!. 

After that, we also started to play better and were soon 5 holes up. We tried hard to lose from there but our opponents were too kind, eventually conceding the match on the 17th when they played a wrong ball.  We skipped the final two holes to head back to the Club to get the drinks in. I quickly checked the details of my golf insurance policy. I think I should be covered...  The rest of the team had also played well and at the half-way point Burhill were up by 3 1/2 matches to West Hill's 2 1/2.


A quick shower preceded an excellent carvery lunch, with wine and a glass of kūmmel to finish.  What with that, the champagne and the post-golf drinks, the progress onto the tee for the afternoon matches was decidedly slower than had been the case in the morning.    Maybe this was also the reason for the more lacklustre golfing performance as well.  Brian and I were ahead for most of our match but lost the final two holes to end up all square. 

Others were slightly less successful and we ended up losing the afternoon session by 4-2 and the whole day by 6 1/2 to 5 1/2.  Not that anyone was too worried: we had had an excellent day, the weather had been spectacular, the course in great nick and the company most convivial.  This really is one of the best fixtures in our calendar!