Lamborne once again was the venue for our Stroke Play Event. The weather looked threatening but apart from a couple of short periods remained dry. The thunder and lightning fortunately could be heard and seen but stayed far enough away.
As usual the course was in good condition but did suffer from the heavy rain storms the day before, with some large puddles on the fairways and the bunkers proved very mixed. The greens were very fast and the borrows subtle and I am sure, like some of my playing partners, saw borrows that were in the opposite direction to that which the ball took!!
After some last minute changes the order of play was adjusted to suit changes in requirements, the one positive was Captain Beard would not be driving a buggy so all trolleys were safe.
From the course:
Dave Sturgeon on the 2nd hit a sharp draw into the trees, a loud bang was heard and then a ball emerged to end up in the middle of the fairway.
Prev took a bunker shot, then taking evasive action managed to get out of the way of the returning ball.
Paul Risk's Tee shot hit the ladies marker and ended up further away from the hole than the original tee box.
The bunkers played a major part in several players games, yours truly found at least one per hole, sometimes more. In particular on the 9th pushed my drive to the right to the fairway bunker, next found a green side bunker only to thin the next shot only to hit the pin square on and drop on the green otherwise the opposite bunker was awaiting the ball. Alan Suttcliffe spent time playing in one bunker moving sand out of the bunker but alas not the ball!
Derek Carter became attached to one bunker rake as he was seen walking off carrying it. Obviously thought the next bunker would not have one.
Derek managed to 4 putt on one hole from just 3 feet away!
As usual at our stroke play event, the number of strokes per hole is limited to 10. This year the number 10's recorded on all cards was 10 (a bit of symmetry here), but mention has to go to Alan Wood who managed a run of five 10's on holes 5 to 9 as so was our 10's winner of this year.
A sample of the fines:
Bryan fined for forcing Captain to walk - changing order of play.
Dave Flavell for praising Bryan's shot on the 17th only then to watch it land in the bunker.
Ian T for not getting the trophy to Captains standard of shine.
Frazer for sounding like an outboard motor on one green - putt putt putt putt!!!
Alan Wood for not winning - captain had him in the draw!
To the results:
Nearest The Pin: Tony Browne
Nearest The Pin in 2 shots: Dave Sturgeon
Nearest The Pin in 3 shots: John Sweeney
Longest Drive: Chris Turvill
Strongest Man: Dave Flavell
3rd Place - Bryan Carter
2nd Place - Mark Turvill
1st Place - Dave Wood
Again the order of Merit went down to the final event, Frazer had an outside chance but the main contest was between Bryan Carter and Dave Wood. Both had low scores to be dropped but as long as Bryan came second or 1st Dave could not catch him. So the result came down to Mark Turvill, who did not realise it at the time, but by beating Bryan into 2nd place by 1 shot meant Bryan came second by 1 point to this year's winner Dave Wood - congratulations to him - first year with the society and he's walked away with almost all the silverware!
The photo shows Captain beard presenting the trophy to Dave. Well done Dave.
Roving reporter: Ian Turvill