Dee and Ray's Trophy

 Dee and Ray's Trophy

On Saturday 26th April we held this lovely Trophy competition, a drawn 3 person scramble of high, medium and low handicaps!

We had 15 ladies available to play which was fabulous - the most we've had in ages!

The rain of the previous day and overnight meant we had to tweak the arrangements slightly to ensure use of the buggies was safe, but we were able to get out on the course and enjoyed a fun and challenging round. 

It was lovely to have Poppy and all the family there - it was the 30 year anniversary of the competition so it was an extremely special day.

We enjoyed fabulous food!

And the drinks went on Rob's tab!!

It was a fairly close contest  - with only 6 points between first and last!

Poppy introducing the family

In second (on countback from Fran, Jenny and myself!) were Hilary , Lindsay and Chris D  with 67 points, birdieing the 4th.!

In first place with 65 points were Fiona, Ros and Sue S who birdied the 2nd and 5th!

Winning Team

Well played all!

Poppy, as she has in the past, gave us all a crystal... it is a special competition.

The Family also played their own competition following the ladies...with the awarding of the Right and Left Shoe of Dee!

Altogether it was a lovely day.

Many thanks to Di who worked out all the handicaps for us; made the unexpected last minute adjustments and entered the scores for us too. Thanks Di.

Final thanks again to Poppy and Rob and the whole family for making this day such a special one.

First League Match of the Year

 Cape v China Fleet

Early Wednesday morning 7 of our ladies were heading up the A30 through horrid drizzle for our first League match of the year.

We all arrived in good time and had coffee and some had a snack before we started play!

5 of our ladies received shots, it was just Hils that had to give shots!

By the time we teed off  we were blessed with glorious sunny weather and we were all in our tee shirts! The course was damp in places so it was winter rules... and they had had lots of rain overnight so several bunkers were GUR along with areas of the course where new pipe work had been installed. 

The course was busy so we all had some waiting to do but all in all it wasn't really a problem. In general the course was in great condition, including the velvet-like greens.

Sorry there are no pics...I'd left my phone in the locker room!

China Fleet is a long course with some fascinating and challenging holes...several of us left balls in the lake!!! 

It was a very close match. Two games went to Cape; two were all square after 18 and we lost three, so China Fleet ran out winners 4 games to 3. Such a close match!

Well played the whole team and many thanks to those who drove. Our next match is also away, this time at Carlyon Bay so not such a long journey!

Roll on game number two!!

Thursday 24th April

This was 5 clubs and a putter but because of the match the previous day there were just four players who had the energy to play so they played an informal front nine holes.

Eggstravaganza!

 Eggstravaganza

Saturday 19th was our Easter celebration and 12 ladies played.

Hils was busy buying a selection of Easter eggs for us and the prizes were given in place order.

It wasn't the easiest of conditions but Fiona came in with a fabulous 37 points...winning the big Lindt bunny easter egg!

In second place was Lyn with a lovely 33 points and in third on countback was Claire with 31 points.

Conditions weren't the easiest by any means but it was good to get out there and have 12 of us there and everyone winning something wherever you came!

Di joined us too which was great.

Next Wednesday is the first of our league matches away at China Fleet!

There were various activities at the Club to mark Easter and to raise funds for Lafrowda...I had family down so was limited in what I could do...but hopefully a really good time has been had!

Sat 12th and Thursday 17th April

 Sat 12th & Thursday 17th

Saturday dawned wet and windy and it was decided to cancel any formal competition...a wise decision as the weather was really unpleasant.

It was a shame - especially as the new terrace is up and running now - looking super.

The wet terrace!

                                        Thursday

Thursday was a completely different kettle of fish! Sunshine and blue sky!

We played an informal competition with two mulligans. We played in twos and it was lovely fun being able to replay a shot when you'd messed up! 

Sometimes a shot was awesome on its own...for example Fran's shot out of the big bunker in front of the 18th...the ball embedded itself in the face of the bunker not far below the lip... for myself, I thought I'd never get that out! But Fran did it first go! It was very impressive - I should have taken a photo, it was an almost impossible shot!

Our winner was the birthday girl Liz with 19 points (including two blobs!).

In second place was Fran with 18 points  and beyond that it was a close run thing with 17 and 16s.

It was lovely to have Marion back playing and to have Di join us for coffee afterwards.

Over coffee we decided that next weeks format on the front 9 would be 5 clubs and a putter.

Thursday 10th April

 Thursday Front 9

Today we played a pairs aggregate on the Front 9. There were four pairs who were able to play (several are away at the moment) and despite the chilly wind it was lovely out on the course!

There are encouraging signs of growth on the greens which is fantastic to behold...the course seems to be better every day.

A foolish jogger running down the third!

In first place were Liz and Chris D with a combined score of 35! Well played both! I believe it was the 5th hole where Liz found herself sat in gorse to play her shot...but it didn't seem to affect their score! Well played!

Fi and Antoinette were second on countback with 30 points. 

We had a discussion after play about the format for next week and the chosen one was a mulligan. So next Thursday on the Flat Back we will have a couple of mulligans each. 

New Captain

 New Captain

Saturday 5th April was the AGM and the New Captain's Drive In. The weather was extremely windy but  the ladies collected around the first tee with whistles and saucepans to create a noise to welcome our new Captain!

Brian P took a video for us!

Hils hit a fabulous drive...towards the out of bounds down the right hand side near the corner but it was  judged just in bounds by Brian P who was acting as the arbiter in all decisions.

The winning square happened to be mine which was a great surprise!!! Great shot Hils and a good amount was made for charity.

The Drive In was followed by the AGM where the formal handover took place;

New Captain Hils

 Various pieces of business were done including making Thursdays a more informal opportunity for playing golf  but also the announcement was made of the retirement of our Lady President Lyn!

Lyn has held positions of responsibility since the club was first born and decided recently that it was time to stand down and pass the baton on to another. 

Andy invited Di to fill the role, with all her experience with handicapping and all that she has done for Cape in general it was an easy decision. Congratulations Di!

 Happy retirement Lyn along with huge thanks for everything you have done for us over the years - you are a star. 

There was also the presentation of various trophies that didn't happen the other Sunday.

Fi with Carallack Trophy, Godolphin Goblet and Phillip Nett Salver

Sue with the Polglase Trophy, Vets Vase and Birdie Trophy

Chris winning Dee and Ray Trophy

Well done all!

Afterwards a few intrepids went out to play a few holes on the new back nine. It was too windy though! 

However it was lovely to share super food once again afterwards - it is really appreciated.

Bowood Away Days

 Bowood Away Days... Sunday 30th March

Sunday dawned early (the clocks had changed!) and bright! Beautiful sunshine accompanied us on the drive up to Bowood where we all met in the bar area for coffee and maybe a snack before we had a little putt on the interesting putting green, teeing off at 11.10!

Putting green with a challenging slope!

It was so lovely to meet up with folk we hadn't seen for a while especially to have Val with us. 

The bear overseeing the first! 

The course was opened in 1992, built on what was the oldest Deer Park in the West Country! 

Several of us had either only played the course once or never played it so the first round was a learning or reminding process! It's a long course, big fairways, lots of space, many bunkers and lots of water!

All three balls on the green on the par 3 2nd!

What a fabulous course it is - and in super condition. We all struggled a bit with the pace of the greens either too long or too short but we had some great scores in...notably from Sue S who carded 42 points!

From the third fairway looking back at the second green.

The course is long, with many trees, ponds and primroses! Sometimes we were closer to these than we would have liked!

Sometimes we were even in them!!!

There are many holes with doglegs and it was not impossible to be  heading in the wrong direction ...we knew better the following day!

15th looking back towards the tee

The water on the 15th collected one of my balls...we kept a record of such lost balls of course and all had a go at guessing how many would vanish from our lives...  the winner was Lyn who had the closest guess of 27...we in fact only lost 22 balls this year!

The wind was chilly but it was lovely to sit outside in the sun for a while as everyone came in.

Later we all met in Hils' room for pre-dinner drinks

Lovely to have Tonia with us this year!

Then we headed down for our evening meal... we ate in the bar area as they had been so busy with Mother's Day!

All I'm going to say is that Sue - our star player of the day - got very cold and we needed to wrap her in a shawl to stay warm... what happens on tour...stays on tour!

Monday

We woke to an even better day - blue sky, sunshine and hardly any wind!

The first tee shot of Monday!

It really was glorious again...this is a fabulous course!

2nd green

5th fairway!

Sometimes we were lucky...like this shot which fortunately did not go in the water!

Sometimes the marker posts got in the way...or this happened!

Silly billy!

There were some fabulous shadows...

...and the trees are largely still bare though there were swelling buds.

Heading up the 18th

Once we were all finished we had a snack and some drinks outside...this time it was much warmer without the wind...and we all caught the sun!

Who is hiding behind the umbrella?

There she is!!

Once again we met up for drinks at Hils and then down for presentation of the prizes from both days!

From Sunday...nearest the pin on the 2nd and longest drive on the 7th were won by yours truly!

 Hilary had arranged for Hidden Pairs on the first day... in third place were Val and Lindsay

3rd Place

In second place were Fran and Sue...

2nd Place

And in first place because of Sue's amazing 42 points...were Sue and Ruth!

On to the prizes from the Monday... longest drive on the 7th was Fi...

...and nearest the pin in two on the 6th was Hils!

For the individual trophy we had to use countback to decide 3rd and 4th...with Fran in fourth place with 34 points...

In third also with 34 points was Fi!

In second place with a fabulous 38 points was Lindsay!

2nd place

Our winner was Lyn with a superb 41 points! Well played Lyn...fantastic!

What an absolutely fabulous weekend we had!

Huge thanks to Hils for all the planning; to mother nature for the weather; to Di for coming and joining us on the Monday afternoon to process the cards and to everyone for making the weekend so much fun...