With the heat of the previous few days easing, the 27 holes were much easier to manage, even without buggies. (East Berks only has 2). Greens and fairways were in great condition but very tricky and difficult to avoid the dreaded three putts, putts, putts!
A good friendly club and a highly efficient and friendly starter who did his best to get us off as soon as he could for both the morning and afternoon sessions.
Michael P. of course received a fine for teeing off before the official starter had given his instructions. Chris T arrived on the 1st tee without a ball. What a shower we must have looked!
The day started well for almost everybody except Alan B who's face was a picture (unfortunately no cameras were allowed in the club house) when he realised that not only had he forgotten his clubs, but had also forgotten his change of clothes. A set of junior borrowed clubs from the pro shop and various items of clothing from Paul H calmed him down somewhat. Later on his playing partners needed danger money playing with him - at least a dozen shanks and he became our junior champion.
Flip flops (again) in the clubhouse incurred a fine both for Alan B and Matt T. Dave F had no pink or white shirt. Could be something to do with Beardy arranging to pick Dave F up and not reminding him. Coordination was out of the window.
Frazer W featured high up in the naughty step ranks with taking his driver onto the practice putting green, sitting down before the Captain at lunch (mind you the Cap wasn't even in the building), farting, swearing, playing a practice round at the Drift which was shared by Colin T, John T, John F (I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them), Dave S and Paul H. Dave S for stopping after 14 holes of practice round and having a nice beer. (Well worth the fine I hear).
Ray S used his powers of persuasion to blag a pair of desserts at lunchtime and got one for the captain as well. So both got fined!
John F didn't see the gorgeous bird when everyone else did, so got fined! He also managed to fill in the scorecard incorrectly and/or totalled it wrongly....as did Peter C, Chris H. and the Captain.
Paul H as we all know broke Ian T. at Hindhead, but then missed the next event so was not just fined for the carnage he caused Ian but was fined for avoiding his fine!
There was a lot of discussion about the individual choices for the 4 club challenge in the afternoon. Some chose wisely while others found themselves in places where any club would not work. The hickory clubs came out on a short par 3 and a longest drive. Congratulations to Matt T. and Paul D. who managed great shots when others floundered. Time to retire the hickories for a while though I think? (Editor: Agreed, especially after my afternoon score!)
Morning - 18 holes:
Nearest the Pin in 2 - Hole 4 - Nobody
Nearest the Pin - Hole 9 - Chris Turvill
Nearest the Pin in 3 - Hole 16 - Paul Healy
Nearest the Pin - Hole 18 - Ray Steele
Strongest Man - Alan (Junior) Brunton - net 87 Strokes
Winner: Paul Healy - net 70 Strokes
Team Winners: Team Aardvark - Darren Anderson, Colin Turvill and Dave Flavell
Afternoon - 9 holes:
Nearest the Pin - Hole 5 - Matt Turvill
Longest Drive - Hole 8 - Paul Donlevy
Strongest Man - Frazer Webb - 8 Points
Winner: Paul Beard - 19 Points
Team Winners: Matt Turvill, John Furness and Alan Sutcliffe
AM Winner Paul Healy below in photo with Captain Dave Shorter.

PM Winner Paul Beard with Captain Shortie, sorry Shorter!
Congratulations to all the winners though - a great day was had.
Given the exploits and high standard of play so far during this season the Bunkers Committee are considering negotiating with the R&A to modify the following Rules of Golf:
Rule 2.d.6 (b) A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. This is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game. The player must estimate the distance the ball would have travelled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there.
Rule 4.c.7(h) If a putt passes over the hole without dropping, it is deemed to have dropped. The law of gravity supersedes the Rules of Golf.
Rule 5 Putts that stop close enough to the cup that they could blow in, may be blown in. This does not apply to balls more than three inches from the hole.
Rule 7.g.15(z) There is no penalty for a ball in a water hazard, as golf balls should float. Golfers should not be penalized for manufacturers' shortcomings.
The committee will provide an update on it's progress with the R&A prior to teeing of at the next event at Sandford Springs!
Roving reporter: John Thorp