Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

Finally, we're allowed indoors to meet with our friends and family, share food and drink and hug each other and then out comes the sunshine! We shouldn't complain, it's been a long time coming and looks like we have a bank holiday with good weather. We were short on numbers today with a few of our number opting to play in a match and some drop-outs.  We had the pleasure of Andy in our group today and he was sporting a new putter. It was so new that he still had the plastic cover on it. It's probably just as well as he was NOT the same Andy that turned up last Saturday. His driver seemed to be working ok but the putter was definitely not. It's easy to forget the things that Andy says, particularly as he says so much, but today I'll focus on the first tee. I teed off first and hit a very high drive down the middle of the fairway (yes, down the middle!!) Pete complemented me on the drive saying it looked good, Andy didn't agree, "Did it though?" said ...

  Yes it's been great weather for ducks and the course was a little less than firm under foot today. Thankfully the rain stayed away for the morning allowing us to bumble around the course.  Early in the morning a strange man was found wandering around the golf course by the first group. They approached him cautiously as he seemed a bit lost and out of place but as they got closer they realised it was Martin Lythgoe, not some homeless person. Martin had previously planned to play elsewhere, favouring the company of others rather than the early birds but this was cancelled due to course conditions, at least that's what Martin's new friends told him.... Some birdies on the board to talk about today including two worth a mention. The first one was from Roger Small who found the bottom of the green on 14 then putted the ball all the way up the hill and found the hole, just. The second was Richard Hyne who hit the flag on 18 with his second shot with the ball dropping down for a...

Before we get to the golf this week a shout out for Chris who is in good spirits despite what he is going through. Best wishes from all of us Chris, we look forward to seeing you soon. On other matters the BJ B&B scandal this week has prompted me to come out and say that the extension on my house, the repairs to the driveway, the patio, the gazebo for the cooking area, the garden furniture and the pizza oven were sadly all paid for by me. Some would argue that as I was working in banking at the time of earning all the cash to pay for this that the money was stolen from the poor but that's an entirely separate scandal. I did of course explore ways in which others could pay for it but the crowd funding efforts netted £0.00 and my winnings in the swindle just didn't cover it. Perfect conditions for golf this week with very light winds and sunny spells. Not the blue skies promised by my weather app but no sign of rain. I personally experienced the worst round since lockdown and...

TRIANGLES Yes that's right, Triangles!! It was a triangle themed day today. On the second hole after some fairly conventional approach shots, Paul G and Martin D were assessing their distance from the hole.       "Is it you or me?" asks Martin     "I think we're about even" suggested Paul knowingly     "that's an  isosceles triangle" Paul added happily     "so my angle is 60 degrees then!" said Martin as he prepared to take his shot     "that would make it an equilateral triangle" chucked Paul     "If I miss the put I'm blaming you" said Martin Martin went on to put out for par! Other talk of triangles came from the first group where lucky Tone, obviously excited by the fact that the world snooker championship started today, was using his knowledge of angles to bounce of the sides of the course back into play. This would've resulted in a win had Tony's luck not ran out part way through the round! Contro...

Several months of being unable to play or play only in 2 balls and 9 holes and finally at Saturday that somewhat resembled a normal swindle. It was refreshing to be out and about with someone other than my family or colleagues and it was great to be out on a dry, if somewhat chilly, Saturday morning. The golf was surprisingly good for the most part. James Miller started his usual march towards the Gross Eclectic title with a birdie on the 1ST HOLE! Coenraad was on fire, fresh back from boot camp no doubt although he's playing that one down at the moment. I started with a solitary point on the first so all normal there. Andy started well also with a par on the first but his game deteriorated after that.  On the 3rd hole Andy found the bunker at the front left of the green then scrambled it out of that bunker straight into the bunker to the right of the green. He nearly put it straight back into the first bunker on the next shot but was saved by the second cut. I think he found Sand ...

  "Oh Pooh!" said Coenraad "What's wrong Coenraad?" said Pooh "My Umbrella you stupid bear!" said Coenraad "Don't know about Antipodean, Anti-social more like!!" exclaimed Pooh "This is fun!" yelled Tigger gleefully "No it isn't" screamed Piglet, holding on for dear life Yes it was rather a blustery day and from what I could see as I came out of the Sauna this morning it was a very wet a windy morning, not ideal conditions for a game of golf. I stayed away this week due to my unfortunate mishap in the week. Feels much better each day although the pain can be a bit tedious still. At times I was rather happy to be signed off this week. I assume that Tony wasn't feeling so lucky today and decided to stay at home. The "Pooh" allegory above refers of course to Coenraad chasing his umbrella across the 4th and 5th fairways this morning, would have paid to see that Coenraad! Thanks to the anonymous tip from a...

The Annual Early Birds Christmas Cup set off in typical Christmas Cup conditions, grey and cold with a chance of rain. The players though were in good spirits being allowed out for only the second week since lockdown II. Light winds and boggy conditions would make for an interesting day on the course. Thanks to Jock Hunter, winner of the last two Christmas Cup competitions, for organising the competition including some fabulous prizes. It's a shame the Christmas dinner will be an Easter affair but this has been a fudged up year and having our Christmas Turkey at Easter will seem in keeping with the crazyness we've had to endure this year. Well done Jock. Agreeing things at the 11th hour is the fashion these days so it seems only right that we didn't finally agree the rules for the game until the first group were on the tee. Fairways and bunkers preferred lies otherwise all standard rules apply. Seems we've been taking lessons from BoJo in this regard! This report wouldn...