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!