JJ Cup 2023 - 21/22 April at The Belfry

 

We waited a little longer than a year this time, 13 months in fact, but it was not such a long wait as the 2 years where AndMe Simpkin was custodian of the JJ Cup. In a break from recent tradition most of our troop headed off for a special away weekend at The Belfry. Reviewing the slope and scorecards prior to the trip and taking a look at the pro visualizer link provided by this year's organiser (AndMe) left us in no doubt that we should definitely doubt our own ability to master these courses.

Friday as we set off up to the midlands for Day 1, the weather was sketchy to say the least. Heavy rainfall was forecast overnight Thursday and well into Friday morning. It didn't disappoint and the rain made for difficult driving in more ways than one. 

Most arrived in good time, presumably fearing being stuck in traffic and missing their start times. Unfortunately JJ himself was unable to join us due to course conditions being unsuitable for buggies but we were promised the pleasure of his company for dinner. 

Our first tee time was at 11:30 so we gathered near the first team a little ahead of this time for the obligatory warm-up routine on the putting green. 

So one man down, we set off around The Brabazon

The course started with a simple par 4 playing from an elevated tee then back up to a well protected green. From what I recall, that was the ONLY simple hole on the course. Water featured heavily and the course collected plenty of balls from our group. There were hidden bunkers, hidden brooks, totally unexpected bodies of water, tight tree lined fairways and some long and interesting (challenging) par 3s. As if the course wasn't wet enough, it had been raining heavily all morning and the going was soft! 

Pete Laurence put his back out on the first hole resulting in a retirement and what I imagine was a painful trip back down the M6/M1. This was a great shame as not only was Pete in great discomfort, he's also one of our better scorers of late and we were therefore more likely to see poor average scores. 

The scoring was poor despite the higher than usual number of shots available to all players. It was a stunning course but perhaps a bit too daunting for the average Early Bird. Of the 234 holes played, we had 0 birdies or better, only 26 (11%) pars. We had 82 (35%) bogies and 126 (54%) double or worst. Of course now we've played it once we'll smash it next time!!

Worth a mention was the 18th hole. A signature hole if ever there was one! A challenging tee shot over water for the first shot, followed by a challenging second shot over some more water for the second, or as most opted for a lay-up followed by the final approach shot. Roger Gibbs and Roger Small both opted for the latter and proceeded to find the water regardless....twice! So 4 Roger balls sitting in that particular pond!

Our winner on Friday was Duncan Miller. Duncan managed 31 points, the only player to break 30 in fact, to take the swindle prize. Nice one Duncan.

Second place went to Lucky TonE with 28 points. I think that could be the worst score for 2nd place on record, well done Tony! 

The front 9 went to Roger Small with 15 points. Well done Roger.

The back 9 went to Peter Creighton with 15 points. Well done Peter.

It should also be noted that the winners all scored 15 points on a 9, no-one else did!

The rooms, food and service awaited our attention next and were far less disappointing than the golf. The rooms were good quality and the food was the best sampled on an Early Birds trip to date. Martin Lythgoe and AndMe Simpkin were both making the most of the facilities and were down in the main bar until around 2am, no doubt quite a few quid lighter. 

Paul Gardner drew the sweepstake at dinner, a fairly new tradition encouraging us to want others to do well. 

Saturday and time for the PGA National. A seemingly more straight forward course with far less water but not still plenty of hazards. JJ yet again was unable to play due to lack of buggies so had an early trip down the M6. We also lost Pete Creighton's friend Jack who sadly had a family emergency and had to leave on Friday night during dinner. This meant we were yet again down to 13 early birders with 3 groups of 3 and one group of 4. 

The conditions were better than Friday with no rain in sight and the promise of some spring sunshine but there was a brisk wind to contend with (which we seemed to play into all the way round) 

The course was fairly straight forward and yielded generally better scores for most. We even saw some birdies: James (17, 18) Steve Brewerton (11) Duncan Miller (12) and Martin Lythgoe (3) Well done all!

Average stableford score was up to 28 with nearly half (6) of the group scoring 30 or better.

Our winner had the best front and back 9 (16 and 21 respectively) and shot 37 points overall to take the JJ Cup. Well done Coenraad, a great round.

In second place with 34 points, James Miller made a late push with +3 on the back 9 but it wasn't enough to catch Coenraad. Well done James, not bad considering you were carrying a painful shoulder injury!

Not front 9 or back 9 for this competition of course, instead we had the longest drive and nearest the pins. 

Nearest the pin on 3 went to Martin Lythgoe. NTP on 11 went to Duncan Miller, Longest Drive on 17 went to James Miller despite the injury. Well done all!!

Finally the wooden spoon went to yours truly. I had a couple of low scoring rounds despite some reasonable golf, that's the way my year's going so far. 

Despite the challenging golf I think a great weekend was had by all those who managed to stay the course. Well done Andy for stepping up and organising this year, these events take some work to pull together and this one was a triumph.