So we gathered at Stoke Rochford at the first event since the sad news of Bernard’s passing. 18 took part as we continue his ‘Follies’ legacy with I’m sure the same objectives as have applied since 1977 – friendly competition without taking golf too seriously.

The course was in great shape with its spectacular setting and views of Stoke Rochford Hall, we are here just before their centenary celebrations on a lovely sunny day, starting in the traditional way with a bacon roll and a coffee. A warm welcome to the latest Follies recruit, Yim Kong.

Richard Chang triumphed here last year with 37 points but none of us could live with the pace set by Paul Flanders who followed up his winning 38 points at Ramsey with a magnificent 40 points off his 15.6 handicap. In fact Paul’s only weakness appears to be the first hole as he has failed to score on either of them so far! His round included a birdie but Colin Keal managed three of them! Highest points on an individual hole though went to Trevor with his birdie on the 17th which netted him a cool 5 points.

Second place on the day went on countback to Dave Ballard with 35 points (20 after the turn) matched by Kevin Hingle on 35 but 18 after the turn. It was a joy to witness Kevin accumulate 16 points on the final 6 holes and we wish him well when he represents England in Australia in August.

Give a man a marker post :

Nearest the Pin bottle prize went to Colin Keal with one of the closest I’ve seen in a long while, naturally he holed the putt.

As usual there are some antics on the course to report, let’s start by going back to Paul again. Not only did he accumulate 40 points but he was saved twice! Firstly a passing greenkeeper stepped in to halt Paul’s runaway trolley and then the kind lady at the halfway house carried out running repairs to his detached shoe sole with Sellotape! At mention of the halfway house of course I have to praise the cakes. Now some Society’s fill up the next tee box bin with empty cans…………with the Follies it was full of paper napkins and cake crumbs! I can tell you that the delicious selection of home baked cakes was definitely the highlight of your scribe’s round.

Take note everyone that the bunker flunker award requires everyone to keep taking bunker shots until the ball emerges, no pick- ups allowed. Currently Kevin’s four is the most taken so far but it is still early in the season. Thankfully there is no wooden spoon ‘award’ for putting because having reached the eighth green in 3 but walking off with a 7, I would be in contention!

The longest story of the day belongs to Richard and Jim’s painful description of how they came to play each other’s ball. Neither were contenders for prizes on the day so it is left to the disciplinary panel to decide at a later date on any action to be taken. Golf can be a dangerous game, especially after a shout of “Fore Right” but thankfully Jon’s ball just gently trickled between the shoes of those waiting on the next tee. There are some steep slopes on this course but quite what John Dexter was up to I’m not sure. He reportedly over balanced and fell but thankfully no damage done other than to pride.

An old adage came to mind early in our round – Jon’s tee shot to the par three third was shall we say not the prettiest we’d ever seen but it finished up on the green. So we were reminded that it is not how but how many!

Finally I will leave you with something I did not realise until told recently – when it comes to stroke index they are split over the two nines with all evens followed by all odd numbers or vice versa. Possibly quite interesting but I can hear some of you saying quite useless!

Next outing is at Elton Furze on Friday 28 June where as well as the normal Stableford competition, we will be competing for the President’s Cup – a medal competition with the current champion Martin Zebedee hoping no doubt to triumph again.

RIP Bernie – Fritz Follies founder and champion in 1989.

Report by Graham Tooke.

PS There’s a number of new photos added under the Photos tab.

Les has been sporting his Shirt out East in Bangkok

Jon gets the year going with the Shirt saving lives in Sydney

At last! Our 2024 season finally got underway at Ramsey Golf Club (Friday 28th April) after the cancellation of Matchday 1 at Sleaford due to waterlogging. We saw 17 golfers eager to tee off, all united in their silent intent of laying down a decent score to avoid the end-of-season wooden spoon award!

A very warm welcome was extended to our new members Terry Barber and Charlie Johnson, who carded very credible scores and were extremely amiable company.

The weather couldn’t quite make up its mind at the start: cool overcast, light brief showers, warm sun. This baffled the final group (Colin, Dave, Terry, Jim) who danced their own version of the Hokey Cokey (wet weather gear on/off/on etc and brollies up/down/up etc) before they started. Fortunately for all, by the turn most of us had disrobed slightly and dry conditions prevailed to the end.

The course played surprisingly well in spite of the Spring deluge. Fairways were running fair, bunkers well raked and playable though the greens were a little slow, catching out your reporter repeatedly! BASH them uphill!

Our apparent tradition of a high quota of members’ tee shots off the 1st succumbing to the trees on the left, and the vicar’s garden, was continued. Not to be outdone, although Messrs Daley and Tooke’s drives boomed down the middle of the fairway their seconds were to follow suit, and inevitably 2 blobs followed!

Good golf was witnessed by all, with 9 players recording 30+ points. Our star performer was Paul Flanders who made a clean sweep of the honours. On his way to carding a splendid 85 (nett 68) for 38 Stapleford he also scooped ‘nearest the pin’ 13th with a fine shot to 25’. Well done, and an obligatory handicap review is underway! Paul’s 38 points with 3 birdies is all the more noteworthy given he had bagged only 5 points by hole 4, before the after burners came on. Inexplicably he declined a sleeve of balls for a bottle of gin!

Second place went to Alan Wensak with 35 Stapleford. Third place was a close run thing between Sean Melia and Les Wells, both with 34 points, with Sean taking it on countback.

Particular mention of Terry who didn’t need his putter on the ‘nearest the pin’ having lobbed in from 35 yards! ‘Get in the hole’ and ‘Way to go’, as our American cousins are fond of saying.

Trees may be the bane of a golfer’s otherwise perfect round (and other things) but our final grouping proved the power of talking to your ball in flight, since all, with one exception, popped out onto fairways after striking wood. The exception being Jim’s thunderous heave left off the 10th that was unexpectedly found by Colin walking down the right hand side rough. Some 90 degree ricochet! Continuing praise of Colin, we know he is your ideal playing partner. Apart from being affable and amiable, his eyesight is 20/20, evidenced by finding your scribe’s balls on numerous occasions in the most hidden of places!

The only dark cloud on an otherwise pleasant day was seeing brown sauce applied by some to their bacon butties! One for the Etiquette Committee to rule on, please!

1st Paul Flanders – 38 pts.

2nd Alan Wensak – 35 pts.

3rd Sean Melia – 34 pts. (on countback)

Nearest the Pin – Paul Flanders

Our next outing is at Stoke Rochford on Friday 17th May (13:25 tee off) where shorts and sun cream are confidently predicted in use. FYI Richard Cheng was triumphant here last year with 37 points.

(Jim Daley match reporter)