Badgemore Park once again hosted our all-day event. 27 holes of golf on a near perfect day - a short blast of rain in the afternoon did not dampen people's spirits.
30 intrepid golfers started and finished the day some walking all 27 holes others buggied the whole day or the afternoon only. Others pushed trolleys, some had electric and a few carried. One person however, proudly using the most expensive present his wife had brought him, proudly pushed his trolley around in the morning - started ok in the afternoon - well the first hole actually when calamity struck - not 10 yards of the tee - he was partnered by Paul Beard and Dave Flavell who were in a buggy. Dave's Tee shot went a little sideward into the thick bush, much looking found no trace (golden ball - more later), driver Beard jumped back into said buggy and drove - being short (not just eyes) and only just being able to see through the steering wheel, he missed Macca's pride and joy - or actually he didn't. In fact he drove straight over his trolley and clubs. Clubs survived but alas the trolley was destined for the bin - how would Macca explain this to his wife? AGM note: Driving checks to be conducted?
As usual the captain's day tradition of wearing predominantly white or pink shirts stood firm, all players abided although the captains pink was a little bit suspect. Clothing though did bring about some fines - Nigel Warren for the mixture of colours to go with his 'Rat Pack' hat, Matt T for his no socks and flip flops in the smart casual evening attire and Mark T for his Superman socks. John Thorp even got fined for wearing a Tie, tied short as he said it made him look taller!?
On course reports included:
Frazer hitting his only sliced tee-shot of the day, bouncing of the top of a tree and landing next to Prevo (who was in the group ahead) as he was about to play out of a bunker. Frazer was duly fined for missing Prevo!
Ian T & Derek Carter tee'd off on the first into the trees, they playing partner Les drove into the bush and opted to take three of the Tee and still won the hole!
John Thorp went to play of the Reds on the 9th until Frazer suggested the yellows were the Tee of the Day.
Dave Shorter and Derek Carter obviously have woodland friends as both on separate holes (18th and 16th) snap hooked the ball into the trees only for it to reappear in the centre of the fairway, golden ball too!
In the morning, we once again had two holes where each player had to use the Hickory shafted clubs. Everyone please feel sorry for Risky - our only leftie who had to adapt to right hand for these. Only two people managed to reach the green on the Par 3 4th, Ian T winning nearest the pin and then for longest drive on the 7th, Tony Browne managed a very credible drive - probably longer than his shot in the afternoon to win this prize. One notable shot was by our Pro - Chris Hebdon who managed to shank his shot - and to think he grew up playing with this style of club!
In the afternoon, Captain Beard introduced the 'Golden Ball' competition, and gave each team a logoed 'Bunkers Golden Ball'. As mentioned above, his team managed to lose the ball on the first hole (glimpse of their completed, but empty scorecard below), others lost their balls later in the round, Prev on the 16th. Some people were desperate not to lose the ball so they hunted through thick brambles to rescue it - Paul Healy's arms bear the testimony. One group smugly returned the yellow ball to my group with the statement - by the way it was out of bounds!
Now over to the results, firstly the morning 9 hole team event. This event ended up with joint winners as a number of teams could not be seperated on countback, but a word of warning to all in the future, this is not the way to complete a card!!:

The joint wining teams were:
Dave Wood, Darren Anderson and John Thorp
Chris Turvill, Dave Flavell and Paul Beard
Kevin Harris, Paul Healy and Tony Browne
And the Hickory club skill prizes were:
Longest Drive: Tony Browne
Nearest The Pin: Ian Turvill
For the afternoon we'll start off with the team event, with the aforementioned team of Paul Beard, Dave Flavell and Paul Donlevy loosing their golden ball on the first tee shot, but the winners were the team of Bryan Carter, Kevin Harris, Dave Sturgeon and Phil Hopkinson.
And finally to the main event of the day, the singles stableford, with the following winners:
Winner: Paul Healy
Longest Drive: John Thorp
Nearest The Pin: Colin Turvill
Nearest The Pin in 2 shots: Dave Sturgeon
Nearest The Pin in 3 shots: Ian Turvill
Top Guest: Phil Hopkinson
The photo shows our Captain presenting the trophy to 1st-time winner Paul Healy. Congratulations Paul.
Roving reporter: Ian Turvill