Day 231 - Kingswood

At the beginning of the year, I decided that it would be appropriate for me to seek to say thank you to the men who serve on the Men's Committee and invite them out for a golf day together. This is something not uncommon at other clubs but has not been the norm at Burhill (at least since I have been on Committee!).  I first made the suggestion in the Spring but finding a date that worked for all proved to be a challenge and we had to go all the way into October to agree one... and then the Vice Captain had to pull out as a result of a rescheduled board meeting... aargh!

As things turned out, it was not only the VC who was absent but also two others (doctor's appointment & work commitments...), which meant that we were only scheduled to be nine on the tees this morning.  We had agreed to meet at 09:00 for coffee beforehand but a major incident on the M25/A217 intersection meant that at the allotted time there were still four of us (yes, including the Captain) who hadn't arrived.  Fortunately, the emergency services cleared things up promptly and we all made it to Kingswood Golf Course on time.

We had invited Pip Elson to join us today as he had been on the Men's Committee when the idea was first mooted and it was great that he was able to join us for the day.  I had decided to go for a team game, with the make-up of the teams to be drawn after play to keep things interesting.

As we teed off, the heavens opened and for the first hole or two, the conditions were miserable. Fortunately, the clouds lifted and, for most of the rest of the game, we played in good autumnal weather.  Kingswood is a long course (especially if you favour the heavy rough...) and all were delighted that we were put on the yellow tees for the day.

Once all the scores were in, it turned out that the scores were pretty close but the clear winners, by 3 shots, were the grouping of Duncan, Jan and Colin.  Bottles of wine all around!  A good carvery lunch followed, with the usual golfers' desserts, and all washed down with a particularly robust Rioja as recommended by the waiter.  All in all, a great day out and to be repeated next year (please, Steve!).

Day 230 - Snobs

Apparently, in years gone by, there used to be an annual match at Burhill between the "Giants" and the "Dwarfs" but this fell into abeyance. Two of the members who remember these matches (Geoff and Hugh) decided to seek to recreate the conviviality of these games by setting up a new fixture: the "Snobs" versus the "Yobs".  This was to be played between two teams, the former made up members who were educated at public schools, the latter who went through the state system.

The first fixture was played today and I was invited to play for the Snobs.  The two teams met up at the Club at 1:00 pm, to tee off at 1:30.  I was in the first group off, partnered with Mike against Ronnie and Graham (otherwise known as Big G).  We set off in splendid sunshine and were briefly optimistic about staying dry for the round... until we got to the second hole that is....  After that, it was a question of "umbrellas up, wets on" and then "umbrellas down and wets off" - all of which made for a very disjointed game.

The match itself was a tight one: Ronnie plays of 8 and is a very canny player and he and I squared off for much of the game, with our partners coming to the party at crucial times.  By the time we got to the 18th tee, the match was all square and by the time we reached the green, all four of us had longish putts for (nett) pars and we all agreed that decided that we would take the half: a great way to finish off what had been a very convial game.

As we got back to the Clubhouse, we all realised quite how wet we were, but we could not really complain as we have had weeks of great golfing weather of late.  After the match, we all met upstairs for tea and sandwiches as well as to hear the result - on this occasion, the Yobs had beaten the Snobs by 4 to 1.  Maybe we shall do better next year...?

Day 229 - Polesden Lacey

A good day for fishes, amphibians and parched lawns, but not for venturing out on the golf course... There was a Monday Stableford for those who needed their fix (and apparently some people scored well too!) but I managed to resist the temptation!

Instead, after a brief visit to the dental surgery, Mrs L and I decided to make use our our lifetime National Trust memberships (thanks again, Mum and Dad!) and pay a visit to Polesden Lacey. 

The motivation was to see the photography exhibition advertised on their website but when we got there this roved to be somewhat minimalist: 11 photos of autumnal colours, all of which were pleasing. 

Far more interesting was the look around the house itself: it was clearly one of THE places to be in the early 1900s. Lots of photos and a few magnificently decorated rooms gave you some perception of what life was like for those living here.

That being said, the two highlights of the visit for me were the excellent pianist playing Chopin and the opportunity to play some billiards on a full-size table. The latter was particularly welcome given the preponderance of "Do not touch" signs all around the rest of the house!

Day 228 - Burhill Challenge

Woke up this morning to check out how much clearing up had taken place the previous evening: answer not a lot... and by the time the first bodies appeared, it was time for me to head off to the Club for today was the occasion of the Burhill Challenge. This is an annual competition played every year between the 10 clubs of the BGL Group, and on this occasion there was also a team made up of the General Managers of the Clubs.

It was played on the new Course, which was in great condition though the speed of the greens certainly proved to be too much for some - at least according to the chat in the clubhouse afterwards!  I was playing with Ian, Kate and Carol, representing Abbey Hill, Ramsdale and Redbourn respectively.  I am not quite sure where my golfing brain was to start with but after 5 holes, I had recorded 0,0,1,1,1 for a total of 3 whole points. What my playing partners must have thought was going on, I have no idea. I managed to hit bunkers on virtually every hole and also 3-putt whenever the opportunity arose.

For a while, I was seriously worried about recording a score at all, but did manage to pull things back together, courtesy in part of 2 birdies, and ended up with what was a very respectable 32 points (make that 29 over 13 holes!).  My playing partners had some troubles on the greens but Ian in particular, playing off 9, was exceedingly steady recording a fine 38 points.

We had a very pleasant lunch afterwards, with the Burhill team joining up at the table.  Everyone had tales to tell and even the home team had struggled on the greens, some more than others.  When the scores were read out, it appeared the team had not done too badly even if we had not managed actually to win.  What good hosts we are!

Arrived home to discover that my favourite European golfer Thorbjørn Olesen had managed to win the Dunhill Masters to secure his Tour card for the following year. Ever since he had a 6th place finish in the 2013 Masters (when I had put a few pennies on him to finish in the top 10!), I have enjoyed watching him play: I shall have to back him next year now...

Day 227 - 13-33

Today is the occasion of the annual match vs St George's Hill: we usually play an A (scratch) match and a B game on the same day, one team home and the other away.  I had been scheduled to play in the second game, home at Burhill, but opted not to for a variety of reasons and managed to find a replacement. I look forward to finding out how hey got on: of one thing I am certain, they will have had a chilly start though the sun did come out later on.

My reasons for not playing were threefold: general over-golfingness, continuing toothache and the fact that my son was coming home with 10+ friends for his birthday party. The latter required all hands on deck to get the house ready as they were also planning n sleeping over. And a very pleasant time as had by all: the sun eventually allowed croquet to be played and the opportunity to sit outside, though it got much colder later on.

By then, we had finished the bbq and had done our best to support Scotland vs South Africa, to no avail.  Despite our support, the evening match went no better and by half time, things looked pretty gloomy: could we really come back from a 14 deficit?  Despite flattering to deceive for a while, the answer was no.  Somehow losing to the Australians is particularly galling.  Where is the next RWC?

Day 226 - Banstead Downs 2

8 days: 8 rounds of golf, but given how wonderful the weather is, who can complain? Actually, I can - or rather more accurately, my body can!  I was back at Banstead Downs with Bryan today for our very late match against Paul and Colin in this year's How-did-I-Do competition. The closing date for this round was a couple days ago but the organisers (kindly?) allowed some flexibility as there was not a single date when both of our opponents were in the country in September. Bryan and I both thought that we should have been conceded a walk-over, but at the end of the day, the reason for entering these competitions is to play some competitive matches, so no real complaints.

Our opponents played off 7 and 12, but after the first half they had managed to go around in level par - and, in truth, should have been at least one better. We were hanging on by our fingernails (mostly due to Bryan's play, I should admit!) and were just the 2 down at the turn.  We managed to get it back to 1, but a number of killing 10+ foot putts by Colin during the round proved to be too much. By the time we had finished the 16th, we had lost the match and it will be Paul and Colin heading off next week to the regional finals.  Shame...  but there's always next year!

We had a pleasant drink in the sunshine afterwards - fascinating to hear about Pauls' future son-in-law: Nick Easter, who is back in the England line-up for the big game against Australia tomorrow. The nerves are jangling already...

Back to the club this evening for the first Bridge Supper of the season. We were playing with Brian and Margaret and had a very pleasant game. And if the Captain could remember some very simple instructions, we would even have won the slam pot...

Day 225 - XL Club

A couple of months ago, I received a charming invitation from Burhill member Geoff to be his guest at the Autumn Meeting of the XL Club: he wanted to thank me for my efforts as Captain this year.  A few questions followed: 1) what exactly is this society, 2) where was the golf to be played and 3) in what format?  In reverse order, this turned out to be 36 holes of Foursomes on the Red and Blue Courses at the Berkshire and the XL Club has nothing to do with Extra Large clothes sizes, but rather was set up for former cricketers aged over 40 (XL in Roman numerals).

I arrived in plenty of time (the M25/M3 were behaving) to have a classic English breakfast to start the day and the we were out on the Blue Course at 09:15.  Our playing partners for both the morning and afternoon rounds were Richard, a member at St George's Hill, and Tony, from Tyrells Wood.  I very much enjoyed hearing from Tony about the wine tours company he and his son have set up (and as soon as I got home, I looked them up at http://www.smoothred.co.uk/ - what a fun business!).

Geoff and I played very steadily in the morning: off a combined handicap of 11, we scored 35 points with only one "blob". The course was in great condition and, once we had survived the daunting opening 210+ yard par 3 first hole, seemed to suit our game well.  Yes, of course, we left some points out there but were still well satisfied.

A classic Berkshire carvery lunch followed: a tasty starter, followed by a succulent roast beef with all the trimmings and finished off with treacle tart and ice cream, washed down with a fine red Rioja.  All of this meant that we were perhaps a little slower to our afternoon tee time than had been intended... but we weren't the only ones!

Despite the extra ballast we were carrying in the afternoon (and maybe because of the Spanish red we had ingested?) we started off very fast out of the blocks and by the end of the first nine had already racked up 21 points.  We couldn't maintain this pace though and rather faded towards the end: the wine had worn off.... but still racked up a creditable 33 points to give us 68 for the day.

Somewhat to our surprise, this proved to be easily the best score of the day and we ended up the proud winners of the Rolles-Stollery salver and a pair of splendid XL crystal glasses each. What a great ending to a wonderful day!