Even a heavy downpour just before the scheduled start time couldn’t dampen the spirits of this year’s team of enthusiastic players. The rain came and went quickly but while everyone stayed dry, the grey skies and wet sandy greens that remained made for difficult conditions.

The weather forecast probably contributed to a reduction in numbers as our General Manager, Brenden Ellam, hit the first tee shot a little after 6.00pm. Unfortunately, the team wasn’t able to match the spectacular eagle start of last year, and as the seconds ticked by it became harder to see the ball in flight.

Fast forward a few holes and the ball was spending more time in the trees than the fairways – case in point the 5^th where the fairway was finally found after 4 shots in the trees!

It wasn’t just trees that were causing problems – Sue McCahery, alone on the 14^th green because of a last-minute withdrawal, confessed to a certain Club Champion waiting on the 15^th tee that she wasn’t very good out of bunkers. Sure enough the approach shot found the greenside bunker and, borrowing Sue’s sand wedge, JH jumped into the bunker. Accounts vary from here, but safe to say that after 9 attempts the ball was still in the sand and only made the green after intervention from “the hand of god”.

Al “Beekeeper” Parish had 2 tasks – tee shots on the 12^th and 16^th. He swears the shot on 12 was down the middle, but it still hasn’t been found! His tee shot on 16 would have been ok if he could put the ball on the tee – c’mon on Al.

These stories and countless others were shared over many laughs and drinks in the clubhouse afterwards. Alas the record time of 23 minutes from last year was never threatened – timekeeper Phil “Rifraf” Chapman stopping the clock at 29 minutes 2 seconds.

We all look forward to more laughs and a better time next year!

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