West Malling - Wed 22nd Mar 2023

Report

It's March, it's Springtime, surely that means sun... not today at West Malling. After a great breakfast, our 19 golfers were met with grey clouds & drizzle... at least it gave some of us an excuse for some of the duffs & scuffs that were produced...

Anthony Gardiner continued his early season form with a great shot on the 1st Par3 3rd hole, to take the 1st prize of the day.  Today we welcomed back Rob Murphy after a ten year absence... it wasn't the reunion that we anticipated... having left home with the wrong golf shoes, Rob had to wear his trainers to play... everything was going well until he approached the 3rd green.  Maybe it was the shock of hearing that step-son Ant's name was on the nearest the pin marker, or maybe it was the steep, soggy, route that Rob took to the green... whatever the reason, & only Rob really knows, the next few seconds of slipping & face-planting & sliding down the hill ended up with Rob looking like he was half-way through a crazy Tough-Mudder & ended with Rob having to retire after 9 holes with bruised ribs... how fortuitous that Rob had brought a change of clothes!!

Ignoring all the shenanigans going on behind, last month's winner, Gary Fairhall (aka Chopper) was also continuing the form that has seen his handicap drop 0.1 over the past month. With two cracking shots he takes not just the 7th but also the 16th nearest the pin prizes. To be fair, he also had his name on the 18th Nearest the Pin, until his Dad (Arthur), came up with a Magnadoodle 'chip' with his driver off the 18th Tee to pip Gary to this prize.  Today saw the end of the 2's club roll-over with Ant, Jon Hunnisett & Mike Anscombe sharing the prize-pot.

Just 4 points separated the top 7 players, with just 1 point between the Top 3. Count back was needed to determine 2nd and 3rd place on 32pts, leaving one of today's guests: Mark Sidders (a West Malling member) in 3rd place, & Paul McGuirk, returning after a 3 year absence, in 2nd place.  Today's winner was Carl Bolton with 33pts - having impressively kept the same ball all the way around, he managed to put two in the water on the 18th & still walked away with the prize - we'll look forwarding to cutting your Handicap for next month's game. 

Etchinghill Golf Course on Wednesday 19th April with Breakfast at 9am - get the date in the diary.