Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

  Puzzled? That's what Paul Gardner is this weekend. Rather than join us for a cheeky bank holiday Monday round, Paul "has" to attend the international puzzle festival in Harpenden. He says it's for charity but we know that Paul just loves a puzzle! I was a little nervous today after the seventh hole when Tony announced to the group that he would need to slip inside me, I'm not sure what he meant exactly but it definitely threw me off balance a little.  Today the conditions were challenging and some struggled to keep their rounds going. Personally I found the hard ground a long rough a terrible combination on a number of holes and after hitting Roger Gibb's ball rather than my own on the 9th hole my scoring suffered due to this. I was being named Houdini on a number of holes though; on 2 I hit my tee shot into the woods, was helped to find the ball by Richard then chipped out and up and down for a par. Likewise on the 3rd I hit the ball way left and managed a

  Before I get to the golf, I have a confession. No, I'm not a lady but I did enter Martin Lythgoe and I into a mixed pairs competition on bank holiday Monday. Richard Hyne pointed out my misunderstanding that it wasn't a mixed competition (as I'd read) but a mixed pairs competition by asking who was going to be the lady in our pair. Of course I volunteered Martin in his absence for this role, he does look prettier than me after all! (Sorry Martin) Don't worry, there will be no need for testosterone tests on the day, we have withdrawn from the competition and will instead be playing around casually, oops I mean playing a casual round. The weather conditions were perfect this weekend despite the concerns in the week. The rain did arrive at various times in various places but we didn't get any until the round was nearly over and there was no wind at all. Unfortunately the course was rock hard which caused a few problems. Birdies were scarce again today with only Pete

Today I thought I'd share a few images that captured some of the highlights Yes, Dr Doolittle AKA Andy Simpkin - reported as "speaking to the swans" today telling them they are not welcome to join Andy for tees. Were they the same swans that were stalking Pete Creighton on the 10th? Just one of the many bunkers found by Paul Gardner today, at least he got out of this one on the first attempt. The ball landed just out of shot to the right.  And finally where my second shot came to rest on the 12th, a 6 iron from just in front of the hedge in case you're wondering. What a lucky shot! It was a fine morning with sun trying to break through as we traversed the course. The ground was very hard due to the wind and dry conditions over recent days, quite a contrast from last week I imagine. This presented a potential hazard for any wayward shots as the long rough is still somewhere you really don't want to stray at the moment and the run on was significant today.  I told t

It seems I missed an eventful day of golf yesterday while I was away in the east of England. Thanks to those of you who contributed snippets for the report, it always makes this job more interesting to have something other than just scores to talk about.  Firstly let's deal with the Andy Simpkin sideshow. According to my source Andy was nursing a hangover, Andy himself confirmed this fact when he was asked for comment on the day's action. It's a little way off his worst round but it seems he is not getting on yet with those new clubs. Hang on in there Andy, it will come back.  Next we turn to bad boy Froud. It seems that Tony's personality changes when he put's on his wet weather gear. The gear in question which featured in this report a couple of weeks back, seems to turn tony into a foul mouthed, hip hop type. According to my source, Tony popped on the gear when it started raining and immediately said you Mother F**ker. We should check that this type of gear meets