Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

  Chip 'n was the name of the game today with at least 4 players deciding that if the greens are going to be quick, why bother using them at all! My chip on the first started things off, a perfect drive down the middle coming to rest in the rough just beyond the path, a slightly wayward pitching wedge pin high to the right of the green sitting on a nice hard piece of dirt and a perfect chip that bounced once and rolled in at pace. Jock found himself in the rough near the tree just shy of the green on 8 and did an almost identical shot. Both shots for were for Birdie. Later in the day Roger Small "rocketed" a chip in on the 5th and Martin Deery holed from 50 yards on the 12th. Both of these remarkable shots were good enough for 3 points each making at least 15 points without use of the putter! The conditions were quite tricky, especially for James it seems who shot around 15 shots over his average round. Hitting the fairway gives no certainty of a straight bounce and many ...

  It's official, summer is here finally! On course this means that the ball is rolling on, the rough is long, the greens are fast and scoring is more difficult for most. Add to this a bit of wind and you can be sure that average scores will be lower.  I was out in the earlier group today so no anecdotes from Aldwickbury to share except perhaps how many puts Martin Lythgoe nearly sunk. He missed at least half a dozen, with about 3 coming up around 1/2 inch short and the rest touching the edge of the hole. If he had sunk 6 of these it still wouldn't have been enough for 1st or 2nd place from his fellow early starters.  The average stableford score this week was better than last week at 29.33, perhaps demonstrating that we're getting used to the course conditions. 8 out of the 16 players managed 30 or more and JJ was on course to do so had he been able to complete the full 18 holes. Our average gross score was a respectable 94.7. There were 5 birdies this week: Peter William...

  Gordon the gopher broke his silence this weekend and went on record to state that he allowed someone to insert a hand in order to get off the blocks in the early stages of his career. He said "things were just different in those days, you did what you had to in order to get on television even if it left you with long term issues. I mean, I struggled to walk most days but how else was a gopher going to get a decent start in life." Disappointing revelations indeed! In other news, the turnout this week was low and so were the stableford scores. Only 3 golfers managed the heady heights of 30 plus. Wayward shots were punished with thick rough or thick woodland areas and the bunkers still need some work to get back to somewhere near playable. On the plus side, the greens are nice and short and were rolled before play so were very quick. They were a pleasure to play but difficult to score on with uphill shots coming up short and downhill shots flying on past the hole.  There were ...

  Yes it's that time of year, spring is nearly over and Summer is setting in. The golf club are letting the rough grow and we've had loads of wet weather to ensure that we have the thickest of rough! As this reporter wants to look at ways to make compiling the report more straight forward, I asked Chat GPT to tell me about the rough... The rough in golf is an area of the course that is covered with longer grass and is usually located beyond the fairway. It can make it more challenging for golfers to hit their shots, as the ball may get caught in the grass and require a more skilled shot to get back onto the fairway or onto the green. Encouraged by the speed of response and the apparent awareness of Chat GPT on the subject of the rough I decided to ask Chat GPT "How do avoid the rough in golf?" Chat GPT had to think about this one for about 30 seconds before responding  Avoiding the rough in golf can be tricky, but there are a few things you can do to minimize the risk...

The weather was colder than forecasted.   A bitter wind blew slightly Westward and I wished I’d put my Hatton. I was glad I’d had some hot Porridge in Harlington which was worth the Price.   Coenraad said it would warm up later and I thought, what a Retief I’m getting Goosebumps.   It’s gonna be a cold Day.   Martin arrived in shorts, a Strange choice I thought.   Your hair looks nice Martin.   Thanks, I’ve been washing it Daly.   Doesn’t that make it Fuzzy?   Na, I use the good stuff, you can’t put a price on the shampoo.   By contrast Richard was Bland.   Look he’s Donned old shoes.   What’s that?   Nothing, I’m only Joaquin. On the tee I thought - I feel confident, I could succeed, I hope I don’t Faldo.   Then I hit A-lazy-ball rather than a Severe-Ball-on-steroids but I wish I’d hit it Langer.   Coenraad Tugged it in the Woods.   Then Martin teed up and I said come on, Seamus with your Power and he s...

  As King Charles and Queen Camilla were receiving their crowns, some of us early birds were involved in our own procession in the rain. The rain pretty much started when we started and carried on for the whole morning, it was mostly light but it did result in a bit of dampness. Rain aside, there was little wind and the conditions were good for scoring. This was reflected in average scores being back to 30+ for the first time in a while (30.55) although the average gross was up at 95.5 probably due to the absence of a few lower handicappers.  It was great to see JJ back with us now that buggies are allowed again, welcome back JJ. Birdies today were scarce with only Peter Creighton (17) and Peter Laurence (16) bagging them. Well done Both.  Our king for the day is Peter Creighton with 39 points. No doubt his birdie on 17 helped (it wasn't decisive) and I understand that it was 30 yards from the fringe at the top right of the green so technically 0 puts for that one Pete. W...

  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 pleasur...