Club Championship
Sept 4th and 5th was the weekend for the Covid-delayed Club Championship.
It had been decided at the last AGM that in the light of so few entrants we would hold it over two days instead of the 36 holes in one day.
And it certainly made a difference! There were 17 entrants this year - we had had only 6 last year!
We were blessed with glorious weather, the first of the ladies on the tee were Hilary, Sue S and Fi.
It was lovely to be playing in sunshine with blue skies and just a gentle breeze.A medal always seems to bring a little tension to the body and this one was no different!But some good shots were hit... below two tee shots were on the green on the 13th.
But errors were also made... a three off the tee for me on the third when I lost my drive into the rubbish on the left of the tee, but altogether a steady round of golf.A Nett 73 was a common score but Judy went one better with a Nett 72 to be top of the Nett charts on the Saturday!
Top of the gross scores was Hilary by one shot over Fiona and myself with Sue D one shot back.
Gross Result
Sunday dawned just as beautifully and we were allocated our tee times according to our gross scores.
Hilary, Fiona and I were out in the final group, knowing there was only one shot between the three of us!
Hilary was ahead of Fi and I by one shot.
Game on!
Now I must apologise for the rest of this post as it becomes personal (at Captain Blight's request!)
We were all a bit nervous; we missed putts we would normally have hoped to make and I managed to put my drive on the second right behind the wall and could only chip out sideways...
...so after a couple of holes Fi and Hils were level and I was behind.
My shot to the green on the third ended up right against the wall at the back and had to improvise a shot with no backswing... Fi also took an extra shot there ... so Hils was back ahead again.
The fourth Fi and Hils parred and I messed up so Hils remained one shot ahead of Fi...and I had lost another shot!
We battled on. Fi had a nasty experience with the wall to the left of the green on the 8th and had to improvise a shot back on to the green... but after 9 holes Hilary had a total of 132, I had 134 and Fi had 136 - it was so close!
We all parred 10, Fi and I parred 11 and we all parred 12... I was only one behind now... and then Hils parred the 13th while Fi and I took 4... so Hils two ahead of me... and I was two ahead of Fi!
Things changed again on the 14th...Fi and I parred it and Hils took 6... so now there were only two shots in it... Hils and I on the same number... Fi two behind!
It was such a close contest!
Hils went ahead again on the 15th... by one shot!
Unfortunately, on the 16th we couldn't find Fi's second shot. Hils had hit the wall and we found hers but Fi's we couldn't find. We searched both sides of the wall but it was nowhere in sight which was really tough.
I missed a putt for a par so Hils was still one ahead going on to the 17th ...
Hils at this point was the only one of us who hadn't had real trouble with a wall... so fate deemed it her turn and her drive went through the green and sat against the back wall... her turn to improvise and managing a great 4, as did Fi. I managed to pull a par out of the hat... so going on to the 18th Hilary and I had the same number of shots...168 with Fiona on 173.
All three of us played well up to the green... but having a sea of faces watching was nerve wracking... we were all short with chips on and then missed putts ...so we all took 7.
Match over with Hilary and I both with 175 shots, and Fi with 180 ..unknown to us Sue D also had 180.
The cards were put in and breaths were held!!
Countback was needed and because of the back nine I ended up winning the trophy!
I have never won a Club Championship so I was (and am) thrilled!
Thanks to everyone for their good wishes... especially to Hilary and Fi for Sunday's round and Judy and Claire for Saturday.
The Best Nett was also an amazing battle...three-way this time - won by Lindsay with Jayne and Hilary beaten on countback!
Apparently there have never been such close contests in the Club Championship, both Nett and Gross.
The Nett Result...
And the Gross Result
Aggregated Gross Result
What an amazing contest all round!Weekend winners... (Judy too)
I am sure there were many other stories to tell over the two days...of errant drives, walls and missed putts... alongside the good luck of putts dropping, fabulous shots and balls bouncing back off a wall into a good place... I'd love to hear them, it was great to be part of such a contest.
Many thanks to Leanne and Andy for all that they do, and to Mark and his team for the fabulous condition of the course.
