Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

  Yes, this was the weather situation as we teed off this morning, it was wet, wet and wetter! Although for those of us non fair-weather golfers, the reward for going out was about 7 holes without rain! It was raining lightly for a couple of holes then let up for the rest of the front 9 before it gradually got heavier and heavier throughout the back 9. As I write this missive, it is near pitch-dark at 15:53! A typical new years eve I guess.  It was suggested that today it was like millionaires golf but it was immediately pointed out that it was nothing like that as millionaires tended to play in fair weather conditions on immaculate golf courses. Well it was like millionaires golf in one regard, there were VERY few people out playing today. We went out in 3 groups today having several late drop-outs. 11 intrepid early-birders started and finished the round today with POTY to play for the last group went out seeking glory. It was a bit tense to start with with Pete Laurence emp...

Christmas eve 2022, no more lockdowns, no more social distancing, our first "normal" Christmas since before we knew what Covid was. What better way to kick off the festive season than with a near perfect round in somewhat sloppy conditions.  Yes, this report is dedicated to James Miller who managed to go round the course in 72 (+1) Duncan was keeping an eye on his brother as he posted his scores on this round, calling out that he was -1 after 8 holes but he didn't call out that he was -2 after 6 holes but dropped a shot on the tricky par 3 7th hole! This was the only blemish on his front 9 which included 2 birdies and 6 pars.  James went on to post 7 pars on the back 9 with 2 bogeys on 12 and 16. I'm assuming there were chips involved on these holes James? So -1 out and +2 in proving that the back 9 IS harder than the front 9! (discuss)  Well done James, others did play but even the best of them didn't come close today! There was talk that perhaps James should be ...

What better weather for the Christmas Cup than sub zero temperatures, no wind and a chilly sunlit morning. IT WAS FREEZING when we started and the ground never defrosted for the entire round. This made for some very entertaining, if somewhat frustrating, golf shots. Hit the fairway and watch it run for miles, hit the green at your peril!  13 players started this year, with Richard Hyne deciding that playing in these conditions was not going to be fun. The hardy 13 started out at 08:28 and the first four ball were the first to discover just how hard the round was going to be when they hit the front of the first green only to see the ball nearly off the back of the first green! You needed a hole made by someone else in order to be able to insert a tee into the tee box and in the shade it was COOOLLLLDDD!! So we all settled in to our "rhythm" and tried to ignore the score! Paul Gardner's game was clearly made for this weather. The gentle tap tap down the middle of the fairwa...

  Given the week of weather we've had plus the promise of more wind and rain to come this weekend, I think we were pretty lucky this weekend to have such a calm day. Some, of course, were luckier than most and amongst the lucky today was one of our "luckiest" golfers (as per Lucky TonE definition that is) James Miller. On the seventh hole he hit a lovely draw (hook?) which came up just short of the green. He decided that a chip was the right way to go and proceeded to knife the ball hard enough to go through the green and into the rough, luckily though the ball bounced once and rocketed off the flag into the bottom of the hole. From certain bogey+ to birdie in less than a heartbeat. Compare that to my almost perfect tee shot on 3 which I managed to 3 put to go from birdie chance to bogey in more than a heartbeat, should've used my wedge rather than the putter perhaps!! Birdies today for James and Jock, both on 7. Well done both. Reasonable scores generally today with ...

On the eve of the 2022 world cup in November!! Well there is so much wrong with that statement but it seems that everything is topsy-turvy these days and having a major football in the winter shouldn't really surprise us should it? Pete Creighton achieved something quite remarkable today. He hit one of his best tee shots of the day off the 13th tee, finding the flat area to the right of the fairway before the hedge. His second shot managed to clear the hedge but his club didn't survive. He went on to score par with a wonderful up and down. Sadly this was the ideal club for the 14th hole! The pic below shows Pete holding his newly forged 1/2 club!   Birdies today for Lucky TonE (17) Andy Simpkin (16) Pete Laurence (8) Steve Reynolds (3) Pete Williams (17) and yours truly (7) Well done all! Our average scores were better thanks to the favourable conditions. Average stableford ws 31.67 and average gross score was 90.1 Our winner today Jock Hunter managed +9 gross to score 38 point...

  Some people say "low handicap golfers are lucky!" some say "the more you practice the luckier you get" some say "depend on the rabbits foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit!" whatever some say I say that Pete Laurence was NOT lucky on Saturday. In fact on the first hole he hit a fantastic drive down the middle of the fairway and we couldn't find the ball, no luck there. He also hit the tree to the left of the fairway on 4 and we couldn't find that ball, no luck (or ball) in site there!. You can see by his front 9 that he wasn't lucky starting his round. The key for me in posting an eventual net par round is that he persevered. Of perseverance people say "The only guarantee for failure is to give up" and "A bend in the road is not the end of the road" and "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" I thought I'd open with these words this w...

  What a miserable day on the golf course. It rained, it stopped, it rained some more.... and some more. Well it could have been worse I suppose. Quick report today as I'm sitting here in my disco gear waiting to head out for a party. One birdie for each day of the month so far today. Roger Gibbs (14) Andy Simpkin (1) James Miller (9) Richard Hyne (4) and Steve Reynolds (16) Well done gents! Our winner today finally put two 9s together to score 38 points. Roger Gibbs went out in 18 and back in 20. Nice Round Roger, bet that felt good! Well done, a long overdue victory! Andy Simpkin pipped Jock Hunter on countback to take second place with 35 points. Unlucky Jock! James Miller took the front 9 with 19 points, he looked like he was going to take overall victory today but came unstuck (again) on 18! Well done James. Back 9 went to Roger Small with 20 points. Well done Roger! Soggy old course this week but I assume we'll be off the yellows next week which should make it a tad easie...