The blonde Golf thread

[Kev B]

Good round today. Best I've shot in years.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[typhoon13]

Is that mini digger searching for your golf ball

Mizuno bag, at a guess circa turn of the millennium ?

[Kev B]

Is that mini digger searching for your golf ball

Mizuno bag, at a guess circa turn of the millennium ?

Good call, bought in 2004 along with the irons I'm still using. Will get round to getting another bag soon. Playing 6 times a year until recently didn't justify a new one. It's very tired now isn't it.

[typhoon13]

As long as you get out be competitive and have fun that’s all that matters,

Doesn’t matter  what sent up you have

[Kev B]

As long as you get out be competitive and have fun that’s all that matters,

Doesn’t matter  what sent up you have

Indeed. The bag is getting a bit of wear and tear though. I feel a birthday present coming on .😁

[typhoon13]

As long as you get out be competitive and have fun that’s all that matters,

Doesn’t matter  what sent up you have

Indeed. The bag is getting a bit of wear and tear though. I feel a birthday present coming on .😁

You only have to miss one of your many holidays out and you can have a new everything

[Kev B]

As long as you get out be competitive and have fun that’s all that matters,

Doesn’t matter  what sent up you have

Indeed. The bag is getting a bit of wear and tear though. I feel a birthday present coming on .😁

You only have to miss one of your many holidays out and you can have a new everything

Life balance Trev, it's tricky. 😁

[typhoon13]

As long as you get out be competitive and have fun that’s all that matters,

Doesn’t matter  what sent up you have

Indeed. The bag is getting a bit of wear and tear though. I feel a birthday present coming on .😁

You only have to miss one of your many holidays out and you can have a new everything

Life balance Trev, it's tricky. 😁

I don't blame you, enjoy

[tikay]

I suspect that Golf Stories are a bit like poker "flop stories" & bore everyone to tears, but I promised to keep you informed, & I said that I WOULD do better.

Well it's been a busy week of golf, so here goes...

(bear with me, I type slowly).

[tikay]

MONDAY


Wollaton Park with karabiner (Ralph) & Red, plus one of Ralph's friends.

I'll write further in due course about Wollaton itself, for now, suffice to say it's just wonderful.

 It sits just off the Nottingham Ring Road but the moment you go through the gates it's a different world. The entrance driveway goes through an avenue of majestic trees, very old & beautiful beyond words. I was curious as to their age, so researched Wollaton Hall & it appears to have been built in around 1580, so those trees in that avenue of trees may well be 450 years old. I wonder if the man who decided to plant those trees (probably Sir Francis Willoughby) ever realised how beautiful they'd look in a few centuries time?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wollaton_Hall

The Course is populated by all sorts of wildlife, but principally Deer, of which there are two distinct types, Red Deer & Fallow Deer, all of which are surprisingly tame, & you can get right up close to them. (Though NOT during the rutting season). Red Deer are rather plain, about the size of ponies or small horses. Fallow Deer are much smaller, with swishy tails, & are sort of mottled, they are what, I suppose, the cartoon "Bambi" Deer are modelled on.

Anyway, to the golf.

The final scores were 29, 30, 31 & 32, & I was the 32. Aided, I must add by fluking a 20 foot putt from the fringe on the last hole, & of course I was the highest handicapper by some way. So I never really won as such, but thanks to Golf's clever handicapping system, I get the win. And pay for the drinks. (Pot of tea).

Having played even worse than usual since Vegas, I was quite encouraged by that. I'll always be hopeless, but I can do better than I have of late. So I was actually quite pleased.

I've always been hopeless at all ball sports - football, cricket, snooker, golf, but it's never stopped me enjoying them.

[tikay]

TUESDAY


Tuesday we played Breadsall Moorlands, the (relatively) easiest Course on my roster. Opponents were Jamie Moult, Red, & the local Jacket Potato King, aka Bozz.

Played better again, & as we stood on the Par 4 18th Tee, Tom & I were tied for the lead, with Jamie 2 points behind. Think I had 30 points at this stage.

Tom pulled his drive miles left, way OOB, landing in the GreenKeeper's compound with a satisfying thud as it hit the roof of the Maintenance Shed.

Pinged my drive into A1 position. What could possibly go wrong? A perfect 2nd shot too- well almost perfect -  which landed just shy of the Green & then oh-so-slowly trickled into the run-off area & then into the bunker. 4 increasingly agitated thrashes later it was still there.

Golf is hard.

[tikay]

WEDNESDAY

Rushcliffe, just Tom & I. This will be the venue for our Golf Day with the lads next week.

The improvement continued, it's a tough track but I hit my tee-shots as good as I ever have, all straight, no shape, no duffs, though still woefully short, as always.

And mainly thanks to that I scored 35 Stabbo points - my best in yonks - & went round in 99, my first sub 100 round since pre-Vegas, when I had been regularly in the low 90's. I even shot 3 shots lower than Tom GROSS (he shot 102) & in Stabbos I shot 35 against his 23. (His handicap is 9 shots lower than mine). And to cap it off, I finished Par - Bogey - Birdie, & I doubt that's ever happened before. Bet I've not had more than 3 or 4 Birdies in the last 12 months.

Golf is easy.

[tikay]

THURSDAY


Breadsall Priory, which is a really tough course for me, partly because it's so hilly, & some drives need to be longer than I can manage to be in the right position for 2nd shots.

The crew was JAKALLY (Neil Giblin), bookiebasher (Jim), Tom & myself.

My main memory is how well Mr Giblin played. Think he plays off about 7 but he shot 4 over Gross I think, 74 or thereabouts. It's so lovely to see someone hit the ball that well. He's been a great mate to me down the years too, despite an unfortunate incident of my Captain's Day at Ormonde Fields ~25 years ago when, apparently, I banned him for some misdemeanour or other.... After that, he worked for DTD for many years, & he was a good customer Next Door & even came to Vegas with us one year. He's just been on a turbo diet & somehow managed to lose 4 stone in as many months.

As for me, well my improved form continued, & I started 5/3, 4/3, 5/3, 7/2, 5/3, as good as I've ever managed on Priory, & everything was going swimmingly. And then, guess who turned up?

[tikay]

And after that it was just a series of blobs (5 I think) & 1 pointers & I ended up with a paltry 25 points. 

Bit disappointed in myself, the round sort of got away from  me & by the time we went up the 18th I was a beaten man. I don't mind being up against it, quite enjoy it actually, but I don't like myself when my head drops.

Golf is hard.

[tikay]

FRIDAY

Jim, Tom, "Knighty" (non-blonde) & me.

The least said the better, pretty much everything went wrong & it was all a bit of an anti-climax & farce really.

Rob ricked his back, trapped a nerve or something, & had to walk off, & we were a 4 ball in against a whole bunch of 2 balls, who we kept letting through.

After a great start I kind of lost my way again, think I ended up with 26 points, & I believe Tom did even worse (23?) though of course off a 9 lower Handicap he scored better than me by some way in Gross terms. Tom had one of his moments again though.

One 2 ball we let through included a chap I know well, a Member, I've played 3 or 4 rounds with him & his wife, in fact Tom was with us on one occasion too. He's a retired Independent Pharmacist, sold his business recently, so he's well-loaded, a Pharmacy is like a money printing press these days. His wife is a retired School Head Mistress, & both of them are Indian but as is usually the case they speak impeccable English. However, folks from different cultures phrase things differently, & one must make allowances.

Excellent social skills in this case, & good convo starters - how are you?, do you live locally?, been playing golf long?, - that sort of thing. No normal person could possibly take offence. 

And for whatever reason, Tom took against Pharmacy Bloke. He - Tom - really is spectacularly grumpy on the Golf Course.