Day 346 - A Small World

A few days ago, I had planned for a quiet day today having completely forgotten that I had promised a friend, Duncan, to host a colleague of his who is looking for a golf club to join in the Surbiton Area.

This is how I found myself acting as part tour guide, part ambassador for the Club and part Captain on a Saturday morning.  Duncan and Matt had driven together and were waiting for me in the Lounge when I arrived. Introductions over, we decided to head out for some golf.  Given that Matt wanted to see what Burhill was all about, we opted for 9 holes on the Old first, and then play the New later.

Given that the conditions were not great, we decided to play a Skins game but halfway through it was clear that the 18 handicap we had allocated Matt was probably not quite enough: he hasn't played for a number of years and, despite all the length and strength that you would expect from a 29 year old, will need to take a few lessons if and when he joins.

After the first 9 holes, we walked around the Clubhouse and did a tour of the practice areas (very impressed they were!).  Then we proceeded down to the New Course and played holes 1 through 9 there in what ended up in being quite pleasant winter sunshine.  Duncan won the game on the last hole after he and I had been pretty evenly matched throughout.

Next stop was lunch at The Green - a very quiet and empty Green for a Saturday lunchtime, it must be said.  Lunch was filling and good value though and I think that Matt was impressed with everything he saw, and I am sure he'd fit in very well if he decides to join: on vera!

A view across the Zugersee

Actually that should be: wir werden sehen...  We discovered through lunch that both Matt and I had lived in Zug, Switzerland, with his house being quite close to where we had lived, albeit with a 20 year gap!  Matt had also married a Swiss girl he met out there and clearly spoke fluent German.  With that and his oil trading background, we had plenty to talk about...