Report
Here's Monday's Report... For the 1st visit to Wrotham Heath for 15 years, the 18 fearless golfers were welcomed by roasting temperatures, yellow dusty fairways, hills, valleys & no buggies... however, no sign of Carl despite organising the last two trips, he'd managed to double-book himself & also had omitted to order Tea & Coffee for our breakfast which didn't go down well with the punters! However, we gave a warm welcome to Barry after a 10 year absence & to his son, Will. Bouncy Dave turned up half-way through the breakfast having been delivering Bouncy Castles to whoever shouted loud-off. Dave was even more lairy than usual & made sure everyone knew that they needed to stop Rhod from winning again. However, having cut himself 3 shots, it wasn't likely for Rhod to keep up his recent form. ????
We opted for 6 x 3balls, so that we could have a team comp as well as a speedier round! A remarkably incident free draw ensued & then we were off, to get sun screen & copious amounts of water...
It only took us three holes to realise why Bob hadn't had a career as a topographical surveyor... "Looks fairly flat" were his words as he chauffeured Rhod through to the car park... compare that to the scenes after the round when our more senior & less mobile members were chasing Wrotham Heath's old boys to see if they could borrow their single-seater buggies when we return. Oh yes, it was a common comment afterwards: 'Let's make sure we book this one up for next year again' - apparently they only let 6 societies visit each year, so hopefully we made a good impression. Although, I'm not sure how impressed today's course marshall was... following her advice, on the 10th tee, as to how to best play the 10th hole... she had to witness Tudor slicing his ball onto the 18th green, with his ball ending just a short putt from the hole. Of course, Tudor duly tapped his ball into the 18th hole & claimed the most dubious entry into the 2s comp (of course, we didn't pay up, meaning that next month is a double roll-over in the 2s comp). As if Tudor's debacle wasn't enough, Lord Horsham steps up & "duck-hooks" his tee shot down the 1st fairway... he scampers after it & rather than playing 100 yrds back down to the 10th fairway, he opts to go high over the trees & the practice area (that was the plan anyway!). The ball hits one of the tree trunks plum centre & sails back over his head into a fairway bunker (on the wrong fairway, of course). Taking two to get out of the bunker & then having to negotiate the gentle dog-leg of the 10th fairway, Ian finally passed Rhod's tee-shot on his 5th shot & yes, of course blobbed the hole. ????
Let's get to the results... Ricky kindly claimed the Most Golf title, to save Barry the ignominy after his ten year hiatus. Nearest the Pins were won by: Arthur on the 5th & 12th, Bob on the 7th, Terry on the 14th & Bouncy Dave on the 17th... although Dave soon owned up to crossing Rhod's name off just for a laugh ????
To be fair, Bouncy Dave was very close to the prizes today, missing out on 3rd place by just a point, but alas always a Bridesmaid & never a Bride! In 3rd place was Steve Faulkner with a creditable 34pts. 2nd place was Jon Hunnisett with 36pts, impressive as Jon was today's lowest handiapper, which didn't stop him complaining about the World Handicap System playing him off 8 today & not 9... Jon was even more perturbed when he was beaten by 1 point by one of only two golfers who'd been given an extra shot today following 3 rounds under 30pts. However, today's popular winner with 37pts, was Bob McDougall with his first win since June 2023 at Kingshill. Next time, instead of being given a shot Bob will be cut 2 shots...
Unsurprisingly, the team game was won by Bob, Jon & Tony all gaining £6 off their next BGS day!
Next month we're at Mid-Kent on Tuesday 15th September for a 10am B'fast.
