Our seventh golf society day of 2025 took place on Friday, 26th September, at the scenic but challenging Rutland Water Golf Club. Despite it being late September, we were incredibly lucky with the weather. It was cloudy but thankfully dry, providing reasonable conditions for some good golf !!! and allowing all teams to finish before dark.

Attendance & Amusing Incidents
It was a great turnout of 14 players, especially considering it was the Ryder Cup week! We were sorry to note the absence of our current leader, Dave Harrison, who is away in Europe with his racing team.
It was good to welcome back Yim Kong and Steve Walker after lengthy absences this year. Unfortunately, Sean Melia was unable to play with a rather unique injury — a toe injury resulting from a dropped ice cube! We all wish Sean a very speedy recovery as he is heading off on a long holiday in the Far East soon.
Yim Kong almost missed his tee-time, turning up late after trying to catch the start of the Ryder Cup, and had to settle for a cold bacon roll!
Geoff Delany provided some pre-round entertainment. He confessed to considering donating his golf clubs to the dump en route to the course, despairing over his recent form. Thankfully, he decided to give them a stay of execution! Geoff also recounted his recent (brief) experience with a golf simulator: a £10 attempt at playing Bethpage Black that involved more complicated button-pressing than actual swinging. After 8 frustrating shots, he called it a day!
A special mention must go to Colin Humphries, who demonstrated moments of brilliance by scoring an impressive 5 points on the 6th hole with a superb birdie 3. Colin’s day was one of two halves, amassing 21 points going out but only 10 on the back nine.

Results of the Day

A huge congratulations go to Geoff Delany, who put his self-doubt aside to secure a fantastic 1st place with 39 points! Geoff was delighted, noting he was “on the fairway and green all day,” a feat he claimed had “never happened before.”

1st – Geoff Delany on 39 points
2nd – Martin Zebedee on 35 points
3rd – Graham Tooke on 33 points (won on count back from Alan Carpenter and Jon Kelly)

The Nearest the Pin prize on the 4th hole was fiercely contested, with the shots of Richard Cheng, Yim Kong, and Steve Walker all having to be carefully measured. Ultimately, Steve Walker was victorious, taking home a nice bottle of port.

With only two more outings to go, the overall Leaderboard is incredibly tightly packed at the top. The race for the 2025 Champion is wide open!
The top 3 after Rutland Water are:

• Dave Harrison (117 points)
• Trevor Chapman (115 points)
• Andy Izod (109 points)

Next Outing
Our final society day of the year is scheduled for Friday, 24th October 2025, at Woolfox Golf Club.
See you all there!

Report by Richard Cheng.

Not long to get your entry in – here’s the latest from Jon in Thailand:

The Follies have been going to Ramsey for about 30 years but that didn’t stop Jon’s new car’s satnav from taking him down a dead-end to a very nice children’s playground in the centre of Ramsey. Switching to Les’ memory, we soon found the Golf Club and its overcrowded car park. Jon and Les remembered that there was some parking beyond the clubhouse towards the 18th green so we squeezed the car down a very narrow path into the newly formed beer garden! A quick 13 point turn on gravel and we were back in the full car park and were happy to park on the road. Colin H had a similar experience but may have turned his car round in 9 or 11 points.

A smaller than usual group of 11 Follies gathered at Ramsey Golf & Bowls Club in bright sunshine though some rain was threatened. The course was in great shape, the greens in excellent condition and the bunkers all had consistent sand which is a first this year.

We stayed dry until the 14th/15th holes when the heavens opened for about 10 minutes. After much doning of very expensive looking wet weather gear, the clouds passed and the sun re-appeared and we finished in the dry.

I fear Les will have to re-think Nearest the Pin. Not for the first time, the prize had to be rolled over as no-one hit the green on the chosen Hole 2. Maybe for the first time, the prize had to be rolled over again as no-one hit the green on the chosen Hole 7. Finally the 25th attempt between us managed to hit the green on the chosen Hole 13 and Graham Tooke took the prize.

Follies Trophy:
1st – Les Wells with a 35 points
2nd – Richard Cheng 34 points
3rd – David West with 32 points

All in all, another very enjoyable Follies outing. Despite Trevor declaring that he’s never playing Ramsey again – the same comment we have heard for the last 3 years – I’m sure we’ll all be back again next year with a new idea of how to play the par 3 2nd and win that bottle!

The next round sees us at Rutland Water Golf Club on Friday 26th September.