All 16 participants arrived in good time for coffee and a bacon roll despite traffic congestion on the A1 following a nasty accident near Wittering.

Unfortunately, our Chairman, Les Wells was unable to partake due to a wrist injury. There was some speculation as to how he incurred such an injury but playing too much golf was thought to be the likely cause. Brian Bates was therefore in charge and distributed the score cards in his customary efficient and courteous manner.

Les had made it known that Stoke Rochford is one of his favourite courses. The course is very challenging particularly for those who even have the benefit of a high handicap allowance. Many of the tee shots demanded length as well as accuracy otherwise a severe penalty awaited a poor shot.

In my capacity as the Match Reporter, I requested a player in each of the 4 groups to let me know of any incidents which would merit reference in this report. However, only one incident was brought to my attention which satisfied such a test.

My thanks to Jim Daley for sharing the following incident with me. He explained that he had driven his ball on the 16th par 5 straight onto the green! However, the green on which his ball came to rest was that of a nearby Par 3 which was almost at right angles to his tee box. Fortunately, his ball missed the players on that green and who had no connection with our Society. One of the potential victims of being hit by Jim’s ball approached him in what at first appeared to be a hostile manner. However, it transpired that he simply wanted to hand Jim a signed card which he had found on the course.

He correctly suspected the card belonged to one of our Members and knew he could “bank” on it being safely returned to its owner. It could be said that this gesture was much to the “credit” of the finder of the card.

The lost card was in fact a Bank Debit Card in the name our Roy Fletcher who was playing in the last Group. The Bank Card was duly handed back to Roy in the Clubhouse but with Members first thanking him for their drinks which possibly may have been financed by the use of his card. No doubt Roy will check his Bank statement!

The star performer in the last Group was Graham Tooke. His driving was a joy to witness. He capped his display by winning the nearest the pin competition. Graham will be particularly chuffed that his excellent performance has been reported because his brother, who lives in New Zealand, apparently reads our match reports. No doubt Graham’s brother will spot that Graham has closed the gap on the leaders in the race for the Follies Trophy. It looks as if we are again in for an exciting end to the season!

The highest stableford score was achieved by Richard Cheng with an excellent score of 37 points. Richard had also put himself in the position of being the likely winner of the nearest the pin award until Graham produced the winning shot.

In second place was John Dexter with a score of 35 points. He achieved this commendable score without the help of trees unlike when he played at Ramsey Golf Club when hitting trees often resulted in keeping his ball in play.

Third place went to Martin Zebedee who continues having a successful season. Both Martin and Graham scored 33 points but Graham would have won the golf ball on count back had he not opted for the large bottle of Port being the prize for nearest the pin. As we know, it is our custom that Members should not receive two prizes in the same competition. Thus, Graham had made a snap and unselfish decision to ensure that he would not deprive Martin of a brand new golf ball.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 8th September (Venue to be confirmed). Fingers crossed that the weather will prove to be as perfect as we had at Stoke Rochford.

Geoff Delany (Match Reporter)

The last Group comprising Roy, Colin, Graham and the Match Reporter

16 members had a very pleasant competition at Ramsey. Les had again arranged for a sunny afternoon. How does he do it?
The greens were in reasonable condition, but play was held up on a few occasions by dog walkers and a family outing using the footpaths that crossed the fairways.
There were a few notable incidents.
Ramsey annual bar maid quote: When told we were upstairs, Geoff Delany pointed out the Gents sign on the door leading to the stairs and said to the Bar Maid “no women allowed upstairs” to which he had the quick response “would you like some ladies upstairs”
Trevor Chapman kept saying that he hated the course as he played into the trees on up to 20 or so occasions but not many of his balls bounced back onto the course, many going out of bounds but he still managed to score 27 points.
John Dexter was competing with Trevor for tree strikes but most of his came back onto the fairway. He even managed to hit a telegraph pole and claimed a free drop.
Darren Pears made a birdie on the 16th giving him 5 points.
Richard Cheng also made a birdie on th 18th. His tee shot landed in deep grass on a sloping bank and he played a great 2nd shot to within 5 ft of the flag.

Follies Champion matchday 4:

3rd place – Graham Tooke with 38 points
2nd place – Darren Pears with 38 points (on count back)
1st place – Dave Ballard with 40 points.
Nearest the Pin – Kevin Hingle. The only player to find the green even if it was 30 ft from the flag.

Onto the next outing – Thursday 24 August – Stoke Rochford Golf Club

Our thanks to Colin H for the report plus photos of all players!