Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

A few admin tasks to start with. One, would all members of the swindle please inform us in good time that they are not playing, one group was left with only two players after a member failed to turn up, we could have gone out as two four balls had we known. Two, please don't send messages on WhatsApp and 05:59 just as the bookers are attempting to book. We missed one tee time today because of it. On the golf course we were down to eight players due to illness, no shows and weather watchers. The weather was actually really good, a bit winding at times but no rain to speak of. Well done to Steve Brewerton who put in a solid round to win on 34 points. Pete Laurence also had a great round going but stuttered over the last three holes. Great front nine by Steve Brewerton with 19 points but as he won 15 points took it. Peter Creighton taking the honours there. Back nine went to James with 17 points well deserved as it contained three birdies. A great chip in by Roger Gibbs on the 5th and...

Today was the Earlybirds Christmas party, pleasant weather greeted the golfers with the Sun actually coming out to warm us up towards the end of the round. The question on everybody's lips was could Paul Gardner win for a third year in a row. Rumour has it he was allowed to win in previous years as nobody wanted to arrange the following year's party. This year Paul was drawn in the last group to make it harder for the other players to watch his score. Paul was drawn with Peter C and Luck Tony. Tony playing a very steady round until he somewhat collapsed on the last, probably worrying that he may win. He managed to grab second place on count back from Roger Gibbs, three player tied on 35 points. Paul tried his best but low scores on 8, 9, 10 and 11 put paid to his chances. Our winner today and with the pleasure of booking next year goes to Coenraad. A solid 35 points to beat Roger G and Tony on countback. Prizes awarded to day. First place Coenraad, winning £50 of vouchers for t...

First game for a while as only five players turned up for the last one due to injuries and expected poor weather. The weather was not as bad as expected and we had a fun 5 ball. Today started foggy but it soon cleared, it remained warm with light drizzle later on. Excellent rounds by both Coenraad and Roger Gibbs to take first and second respectively. James and Duncan managed to win their Foursomes knockout match by 5 and 4. Not often James has a nine shot advantage over his competitors, but they were playing Michael Van Wyk (hc 0.8) and Aaron Ewing (hc 3.5). James then joined our first group on the 10th tee to play another 9 holes. Lucky Tony insisting on playing with a rather knackered ball as he thought it was lucky, luck ran out on the 8th when it split into two. Next week is the Turkey Trott, we have a number of teams entered so hopefully we can have some success. Good luck to all those taking part. The following week is our Xmas Golf and meal with some excellent prizes up for gra...

Today was all about chips, the winner James Miller marveling at how good his playing partners, Paul and Andy could chip. Paul and Andy marveling at how far James can hit the ball, both deciding if they could hit the ball that far they would be the best golfers in the group! Pretty good turnout today, with a few dropouts with shoulder and back injuries, Steve Reynolds pushing through, also with a shoulder injury. The weather to day was excellent, little wind and dry under foot, the greens were faster due the green keepers deciding to iron them before we played.   The average gross score today was 92.79 points and the average Stableford score was 29.86, quite low really considering the conditions. Best gross of the day was from both James Miller and Steve Reynolds with 80. There were 0 Eagles or better today. There were 2 birdies today. Richard Hyne with 1 on hole 5. Steve Reynolds with 1 on hole 8. Our winner today with 34 points was James Miller. In second place on 33 poi...

Congratulations to Andy Simpkin for winning the FoxHunter trophy. I believe that is the fourth time our swindle has won it with James taking the other three. Favourable weather conditions today and playing of the yellow tees resulted in some good scoring. Richard Hyne had an excellent start with 20 points on the front nine, three over par. Unfortunately he suffered 3 double bogies in a row from 13 onwards but still took the best gross score of the day. Congratulations to Peter Creighton with another win this week although he tied on 36 with Paul Gardner and Richard Hyne, Paul taking second on countback. Richard took the Front nine and Roger Gibbs the back nine with a superb 20 points. Steve Reynolds suffered badly on the greens today with nothing dropping for him. Peter Creighton has now moved into first place in the "Player of The Year" table and the "Race to De bar" overtaking Brain Geddes. Five more swindle weekends until the end of the year so there is still som...

A very pleasant day to play golf, a little misty to start with followed by a short spell of light rain otherwise very calm. Many bunkers now in play, more of which later. The course looking splendid however the fallen leaves caused a few issues with lost balls. The ropes protecting the greens and the approaches along with fallen leaves do make the game slower. Very close for the win today with Richard taking the honours with 35 points beating Duncan on count back. The first four player were within one shot of the leader. A lost ball no doubt under the leaves for Paul on the 12th resulted in another missed win. The initial leader board was somewhat different until it was pointed out to Group 2 that many of the bunkers where actually in play, they thought they were all still GUR. Penalty strokes were applied resulting in a change to the back 9 winner. A lesson to be learnt I feel. The club website status page shows the course status so it's worth checking, also the Pro Shop was handi...