Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

Yes, a perfect day for golf. Light winds, no sign of rain (despite the forecast) and the course in pretty good shape.  Sadly Martin Lythgoe and Pete Laurence both couldn't complete the front 9. Martin was through injury and I'm assuming Pete was the same.  The result of the fair conditions, some fairly decent scoring. Our average gross score was down to 92.4 and average stableford score up at 31.14. No 40 pointers bringing the scores up today and a range of only 10 points between first and last.  Worth mentioning James Miller's gross score of 77 today. Playing to his +6 handicap and at one point didn't look like he was going to win anything. Nice one James, good to see you scoring well.  7 birdies today: Richard Hyne (1, 16) James Miller (1, 17) Roger Gibbs (16) Andy Simpkin (13) and Duncan Miller (10) I'm sure those in the club house were treated to the details of Andy's nearly-eagle! Well done gents. Martin Deery took the win today with 37 points on countback ...

  On the eve of the women's world Cup final the Early birds manage to squeeze in a round in between the rain storms. The conditions were almost perfect for golf if you ignored the stronger than average winds. There was a small chance of rain but the worst of it had already passed us by. The soft ground from the recent rain and the nicely recovered fairways seemed to do the trick when it comes to scoring. The average gross score was down at 91.6 and the average stableford score up at 32.5. Much better stats previous weeks despite the recently treated greens which were extremely slow. 14 players turned out and all managed to complete the round.  There were only 3 birdies out there today: Richard Hyne (18)  Roger Gibbs (9) and Steve Brewerton (9) well done gents. The winner today, playing off 2 shots less than last week but managing the same stableford points is yours truly. Yes, 40 points off 26, sorry gents. Well done me. In second place, with 39 points was Richard Hyne. R...

  We have a new record for the Early Birds, the shortest drive. This picture is of Duncan taking his second shot, with his first ball on the first tee today at 07:48. Technically not the shortest as I think Roger Gibbs and James are both on record as having gone backwards off the tee on separate occasions in the past. Duncan's 4 month lay-off through injury left him so eager to play golf that the excitement got the better of him on the first tee and he swung and managed to somehow push the ball just in front of his tee but still behind the tee position. This was the start of the round which saw a range of golf from a sideways chip from yours truly on 14, a near eagle on 18, Pete Williams nearly skimming the ball over the lake on 10, a shank from Pete Laurence on 12 (yes, a shank!) and more besides. Anyhow, it was good to see Duncan back out on the course even if his golf is still taking a break. Good conditions for golf today when we started out although the wind was picking up tow...

  Well the forecast was quite accurate, rain would set-in around 7am and stay for most of the day..... that's exactly what happened. Despite Martin Lythgoe's constant assertion that "it's getting brighter" and Paul's assurance that it would stop around 10(pm?), it carried on raining all morning. On the plus side, the course was empty apart from a few die-hard's, 8 of which were starters in the Early-birds.  We started as 8 so it does count as an official swindle according to our rules. Controversial perhaps as two didn't finish and one only lasted a few holes.  Scoring was very difficult indeed and the average scores reflected this, Gross 96.3 and Stableford 27, some of our worst scoring. Despite that 3 of our party managed 30 or more and given the small field, they all get prizes.  The winner with 34 points is Roger Gibbs. 34 points would normally not be enough for a win but in those conditions it was a truly excellent score. Well done Roger. Richard ...