The day started with an apparently closed up Bar and Lounge, however, the elusive staff at Tydd St Giles GC eventually delivered to us a welcoming Bacon Bap and Coffee. This whilst Trevor Chapman gave the poor woman the Spanish Inquisition treatment about whether the Ham which was to be his post-match dinner had been boiled in Onion Water! Thankfully it had not and this article’s writer was assured a lift home!

The Follies Members gathered around the first tee and noted the absence of a Follies shirt on newbie Member Alan Carpenter who, being clad in a Green Polo Shirt (rendering him all but camouflaged in the tree-lined fairways), put the blame for his lack of follies attire squarely on the shoulders of Les whose absence rendered him unable to defend himself.

At the appointed Noon hour the first group teed off and golf ensued – well a good attempt was made by all anyway. Quickly off the anecdotal blocks was Jim Daley who, upon the event of swapping cards for scoring purposes, declared ‘I’ve lost my scorecard!’ Nice going Jim! The card turned up some 4-hours later when Alan Carpenter declared it had been found abandoned on the course.

Highlights from the course, as with our outing at Blankney, involved plenty of wildlife. A large hole in the fairway bunker on the 2nd had a notice against it stating there was a Badger residing in it!

Andy McHattie bagged himself a Net Albatross – a rare beastie indeed – when he magnificently birdied the stroke index 1 ninth hole with a monster drive, super 2nd and then a 9-foot putt for a birdie 3, less his 2-shots, so effectively a net Hole in One on a Par 4. Five points thank you very much!!

A duck was also clearly heard to laugh uncontrollably when Graham Tooke topped his ball along the fairway after a full backswing.

Once the first two groups had completed their rounds and assembled on the patio there was time for at least two pints before the trailing groups wandered on in.

Not that there was any shenanigans going on at all but Trevor was heard to say, with scorecard and pencil in hand, “Jim, what did you have on 8th and 9th” !!

Nor was any eyebrow even raised when, after six of us on the patio shouted to Alan Carpenter to show him where exactly his second shot had landed in the trees adjacent to the Green, he then casually lifted the ball to inspect it!! It was noted he then chipped gracefully onto the green and putted out for a Par.

Honours at the closing dinner went to Dave Harrison for the Nearest the Pin on the 4th hole and to Graham Tooke for the Nearest the Pin in 2 on the 15th.

The overall placings went to Alan Carpenter who took 3rd place with 31 points (Dave Harrison having had 32 points but already a prize-winner) and Andy McHattie and Andy Izod both having 36 points, the latter winning on countback with 20 points on the back 9. (Ed’s note – upon further examination of the scorecard, Andy McHattie’s actual score is 35).

Report by AI – no not that AI, but our own Andy Izod.

Andy Izod setup the connection for this course, so thank you. Also for supplying 2 prizes for nearest the pin on 7 and 16. The latter of which was a 190 yard monster that we amended the rules to record not only nearest the pin but also nearest the green to ensure a winner. Good foresight as no one hit the green and Les was 20 feet shy of the surface to pick up the prize.

It was noted that Roy did not have any birdies – but his trolley made the sound of a flock of swallows all the way round. To the shops for some WD40 for Roy.

The usual Bottle prize of Port was nicely taken by Richard Parker.

Robin Watts returned to the fold after an absence of 10 years and technically is a defending champion from 2015. He also offered great knowledge of the local wildlife pointing our hares, woodpeckers then the David Attenborough moment of identifying a weasel – apparently easily confused with a stoat, black tip on the tail being the giveaway.

Back to Golfing matters. Jim Daley had a great round and could easily have found a podium finish had it not been for 4 non-scoring holes. Man to watch for the rest of the year on this form.

Blankney was a demanding test and as a par 72 featuring four par 5 holes the top scores were impressive. 3rd place to Paul Flanders 34 points including 2 non-scoring holes. 2nd Place Trevor Chapman 35 points also 2 non-scoring holes. 1st place Dave Harrison with a super 38 points and setting an early pace on the leaderboard following his Rookie of the Year award last year.

A few photos from the day of Jim, Alan and Robin:

We quickly move onto Tydd St Giles at the end of April for our next test.

Report by Les Wells