A Small White Ball and Several Big Sticks: Sun 11th May 2014

With M. I had told M's better half to tell M to leave his driver at home. This turned out to be bad advice (for me!).

This was the first time this year that we had played at Dummer. (Must check this - yep 31st Dec 2013 was last). For the record we paid for our own 22-50.

We had enough time for 14 balls each and a bit of putting before our 3 o'clock tee time. We had given the last pair (a Dad and his Lad) a couple of holes start and we never caught them. There was no-one in sight behind so it was one of theses rounds where no-one else could be blamed.

The weather was sunny but it was very windy. M started the 1st with a duff that landed on the fairway. But still won the hole. On the 2nd M's great tee shot ended up in the ditch. One all. The 3rd and 4th were won by M with great 3W from the tee. On the par 3 across the lake I got onto the green and had a biddy opportunity (that I missed, still an easy par!). So after 5 M was up by 1. The next 2 holes for me were spoilt by visits to 3 bunkers and M went ahead by 3 and this is how the first 9 ended.

The wind was very strong and I found it difficult to manage (thats my excuse anyway). On the 10th I got 1 back so it was M leading by 2. Then I had 3 holes with various self inflicted problems and M continued to play well. On the back 9 M won 7 and I won 2. So in the end it was a convincing victory for M (his 3W was working pretty well) and the Geller Trophy returns North.

My scores are click here.

I payed the price for messing up 6 holes and only managing proper golf scores on 5. My first mess was on the 1st where I went over the back due to the wind behind. My second mess was on the 6th where I got in the fairway bunker on my 2nd shot and then went over the green. On the 7th I almost got to the green but ended up in one bunker and got out only to land in another. On the easy 11th I went down the left and into the trees. On the 12th I hit a wind assisted ball into the next field. On the final hole I got over the lake only to roll back into an unplayable position and needed a penalty. Fixing most of these would save in the region of 7 shots and they would give a much more respectable score.

As usual great fun. Its not about the winning after all?