Scores for Autumn Cup Day 1 Sunday 06 October 2024

The final away weekend of the year for the Aldwickbury Park Earl Birds swindle, fifteen golfers arrived at Donnington Valley golf club, fortunately nobody put Donnington Park into their Satnav and ended up at a race circuit in the east midlands.

Some arrived early in the hope that they could get a breakfast at the club only to find there was minimal hot food available with a bacon bap taking 15 minutes to arrive. Not the best and we should have gone to McDonalds or Greggs on the way down like some others.

In the club house Peter was given the nearest the pin and longest drive markers in exchange for his bank card which was held until the markers where returned. Apparently they get stolen!

The course looked splendid, little did we know what was to come.

Paul "Blofeld" Gardner had updated last year's spreadsheets to support score recording, however James highlighted a small issue with the handicaps which necessitated as last minute update before we started.

James was the first to tee off and sent his drive way down the right hand side over the black and white marker post, alas the marker post was for another hole.

On reaching the green we soon realised that they were nothing like the practice green, they were much faster with many a slope.

On the 5th hole Roger hit a nice approach shot which rolled through the green, his next put rolled off the green, same thing with the next. I am sure he was not the only one that this happen to.

Luck we chose to play off the yellow tees as this was where the white tees were placed on the 6th!

This is where James's ball ended up after his putt from the left side of the hole. It didn't drop.

We approached the 9th, the first of the nearest the pins, it was a very short hole with trees close by down the left side, Coenraad hit a lovely shot in to take the initial nearest the pin, unfortunately he took three putts to get down due to the severe slope and fast green. We later learned that Peter Creighton had taken the nearest the pin but took 5, yes 5 further shots to get it in the hole.

On the back nine 12 and 14 were extremely narrow fairways, James managing a chip in par despite going into the trees on 12. On 12 Roger exclaimed “what was that noise” we replied “that was your ball hitting the trees Roger”.

Next nearest the pin was on 16 a shot to a raised green, not easy to hit but Brian managed to get the closest here.

Longest drive was on the 18th hole, here we found out what the black and white marked on the first was for, it actually marked the line from the 18th tee to the green.

Coenraad took the early honours, even though he hit a tree on the right he was still the only one of the first group to hit the fairway. Jason Landau, the injured golf took the prize for longest drive.

The weather was good with a few rain showers late on, the course stood up well, the greens remained fast all day.

Following the day’s golf we retired to the hotel which was a short drive away. Most went straight to their rooms and joined up again for pre-dinner drinks. 

At pre-dinner drinks, a presentation was made to Brian Geddes for two golf shirts, a jumper and a farewell card. Brian is moving to Devon with this event being his last as part of the Swindle, during his time with the Swindle he has been a great asset creating the suite of spreadsheets we use for Saturday swindle games and for these away weekend. He will be missed but I am sure he will join us for the odd weekend away.

Following the  presentation Paul did the draw for the sweepstake as has now become the norm.

The dinner was a hit for all with some great choices, Martin Lythgoe saying the cheese cake was the best he had ever had.

Following dinner many stayed for a few drinks before retiring to their rooms in the early hours.

Statistics for day 1

The average gross score today was 96.20 points and the average Stableford score was 26.73.

Best gross of the day was from Peter Williams with 83.

There were 0 Eagles or better today.

There were 5 birdies today.

James Miller with 2 on holes 9 and 13.
Peter Williams with 1 on hole 15.
Stephen Brewerton with 1 on hole 10.
Jason Landau with 1 on hole 13.

Our winner today with 33 points was Peter Williams.
In second place on 33 points was Stephen Brewerton.
The front 9 went to Martin Deery with 15 points.
The back 9 went to Jason Landau with 18 points.

Nearest the pin on 9 was Peter Creighton.  

Nearest the pin on 16 was Brian Geddes.

Longest drive on 18 was Jason "I'm injured" Landau.