Unfortunately our Roving Reporter was not able to attend today as he was testing positive for you know what! Although a bit drained I can say that John is on the way to being his normal self! See you soon John!
In his absence it falls to me to precis the cock-ups, moans, shouts of joy (not many of those), and the swearing (lots of that)!
Since they removed a lot of trees and took the course back closer to the original design Cuddington seems to have got easier, with the winning score usually well under handicap, and this year was no exception. Despite them remodelling the 8th, and therefore having to split the 17th into 2 holes to give us a full 18, it was still a challenge to some. It also made for some rather intricate and interesting card filling in as hole 17B had to be scored in the 8th hole position! Confused! Yep, so were many, but I'm happy to say that only one person cocked the score card up didn't they Steve!
Aside from this little issue, all was going well until one of the staff came up to us at 12:30 asking when we were going out to start playing. It transpired after a few short minutes that what he was trying to tell us was that they had our tee-times booked for 12:30 where as we were all getting geared up to start out at 1pm. Thankfully most of the players had already turned up so after a quick dash to the cars for the bats, we were able to get out not long after 12:30. This rush did see the Captain leave his groups cards behind in the clubhouse, so those on the 1st tee had to dodge his buggy as he swiftly came back from the 1st green to get the cards he'd left behind. A big thank you to all the players for getting there at the meet time, and for coping with the rush as best as could be.
Aside from the Captain, all seemed to fair ok with the rush and the 1st tee saw some stonking shots, with no warmup and no practice. It is Bunkers after all, who needs practice! Well for one, me, as I hooked my first tee-shot, lost it, dropped (as per Bunkers rules), shanked it, lost, it, gave up and walked to the 2nd tee!
I'm pleased to say that I wasn't the only one making a fool of themselves on the course as we found out later with the Fines Master doling out a large number of awards - edited highlights being:
- Luke for his repeated sarcastic comments that Captain was playing like a prat
- Dave Flynn for having his trousers tucked into his socks
- Phil 3 holes in a row, shanking fairway irons, and still paring the holes!
- John F for wearing a bobble hat with his shorts
- Steve for trying to bribe the fines master by offering him his posh pencil
- And on the subject of pencils, Darren for having no lead in his
- Luke, again, for using the hairdryer
- Luke for reminding Colin to miss the bunkers
- Tony P for hitting his approach shot on 17B to 8ft from the 10th pin!
- Tony, again, for his phone going off whilst on the 17B tee (maybe that's why he went for the wrong green!)
Many others got stuffed up, but couldn't read the writing on the dobs cards, so the rest will have to stay unknown for now!
Congratulations to all the winners and despite the rushed start, the weather held off and all had a great day. As per normal at Cuddington, the food after was very good.
Congratulaions to first time winner Luke, receiving the trophy from Captain Shorter.
Editor: Frazer Webb