Aldwickbury Park Early Birds

What a day to switch to the white tees!! It was a beautiful morning with blue sky and some cloud but a cold feel in the air due to a rather brisk north-westerly wind. I was out with the early 3 ball and it seems we may've had the best of the weather given that the rain was starting to fall as we loaded our clubs into our cars.  The club management have decided that it's time for the white tees to go out so as is tradition with the Early Birds we switched from the yellows. This combined with the strong wind and rain later in the round resulted in some pretty poor scoring. Pete Creighton went off injured during the front 9 so his card is void leaving us with 13 players for our official round this week. The scores were, I believe, the worst we've recorded with an gross average of 100.7 and average stableford of 24.54!!  Only one birdie out there this week for Steve Brewerton on 18. Steve hit driver off the tee into a strong wind and probably a 7 iron from about 100 yards to ju...

  Yes, spring is finally here it seems! After a little bit of switching due to late drop-outs we ended up with 12 players starting the round today in near perfect conditions. Little to no wind, some very warm sunshine and only slightly soggy fairways. The greens were to prove to be a little inconsistent but all in all it was great to be out and it should be noted that Pete Creighton also thought it was spring enough for pineapple shorts so Pete's legs were also loving being out!! Only two birdies today: James (18) and Pete Creighton (9)  Well done gents Roger Gibbs only managed 9 holes today, clearly not yet 100% recovered. It was good to see him out and about and I'm sure he'll be back in the swing of things sooner rather than later.  Our winner today, Brian Geddes, carried on where he left off last week and shot 21 on the front 9 despite a rather dramatic blob on the fourth hole and 16 on the back 9 for a Lythgoe matching 37 points. The highlight was a chip-in for par o...

Inspired by 5 of 13 players getting 12 on the front 9 and a further 2 players getting 12 on the back 9 this week combined with the sticky muddy conditions we still find ourselves playing in despite the beautiful spring like weather that greeted our start this week. It was nice to be out playing and not worrying about waterproofs and umbrellas for once. The scoring didn't really reflect the benign conditions with the average gross score 93.8 and the average stableford score 29.38.   For those of you hat don't have kids less than 20 ish years old this is an image from Disney's "Home on the Range" which is apparently where Andy prefers to play his golf having beaten James comprehensively at Redbourn range following last weeks suspension of play. He followed up with a marginal win this week on the course but no prizes in this two horse race.  5 birdies this week: Pete Laurence (17) Coenraad (3) Jock (11) Richard (8) and James (11) Well done gents. Our winner played wi...

  Another grey and gloomy day at Aldwickbury with fine misty rain threatening for the first part of the round. Incredibly warm for this time of year, the course was open and it wasn't raining so we'll take those breaks. A good turnout today although JJ planned six holes only and Duncan only managed six holes. Seeing JJ is a sure sign that winter is nearly over but Duncan would've been wiser to stay in bed it seems. Both are not included in the scoring on medical grounds. So 15 started and 13 finished the round. There were only 3 birdies today, judging by the lip-outs in our group there may've been many more from the 44 pars on the day that could've crept in. We had 2 chips hit the middle of the flag and lip out plus several lip outs which should have dropped. Still, that's golf! Birdies for Pete Laurence (14) Richard Hyne (4) and James Miller (10) Well done Gents The winner today, Peter Creighton, took full advantage of the benign conditions in order to post a s...

Well it was quite cold this week and that made for some quite random golf. The first hold didn't bode well for Duncan and I as he did his usual grass cutter to the top of the fairway and I sliced into the trees on the right, clearly we both needed to warm up. We found my ball in the leaves with no real back swing. Foolishly I tried to take a shot but managed to bury the ball somewhere directly in front of me. Sadly Pete Laurence didn't follow me in this week to find my ball. Hey ho. Only one birdie this week and it goes to Peter Creighton on 3. Apparently he chipped in from the bunker, clearly preferring that shot to taking relief for the out of play bunkers. Still, no pictures on the scorecard hey Pete? Well done! Scoring was very difficult in the conditions with good shots being punished for accuracy (hitting the green) and some middle of the fairway shots bouncing unkindly left or right to finish in the deep rough. Average gross score was 95 and average stableford was 27.69,...

You may recall some time ago me using this picture (or a similar one) to illustrated Roger Small's action each time he placed a ball on a tee having damaged his back. Well, Roger is in the news again, this time for happier reasons although I'll open with a story which has required a bit of research to clarify rules.  To say that Roger was smashing the front 9 on Saturday is an understatement, he had 17 points after 7 holes despite blobbing the 5th hole. The wheels came off a bit off the 8th tee where he found the rough then in his determination to get over the bunker, found the bunker, then.... well, you get the picture.  So, as Roger stood on the 9th tee he was no doubt battling with the emotions from the previous hole but Roger being Tiger like as he is put the last hole behind him and focused all of his might on smashing the ball into next week. The result was nothing if not spectacular, the ball was missed entirely but the wind generated from the power of the swing caused ...

  A token guard of honour from myself and Tony to send James on his way for the last round of the year. Congratulations James on a great year of golf! In the week I put in some extra investigative work to discover James' secret and I can reveal that at this time of year it's simply a matter of play whenever you can and don't be deterred by the conditions. Rain, sunshine, wind.... moonlight!? Yes, here is a pic of James teeing off under the moonlight on Friday morning. A determined golfer indeed. This week there was a good turnout despite the constantly dreary conditions of late. We had 17 players turn out although I took an executive decision and discarded John's score as he clearly didn't make the front 9. Martin Deery made the front 9 but I'm assuming he didn't finish the back 9. Slightly better scoring than last week with stableford average of 27.75 and gross average of 95.6. We did have 7 players with 30 or more this week but the range for those players ...