Friday 31 March – Spalding Golf Club – Ham, Egg & Chips after Golf – £30

Monday 17 April – Thorney Lakes – breakfast on arrival – £30

Friday 19 May – Oundle Golf Club – Bacon Roll Coffee / Tea on arrival – £30

Friday 30 June – Elton Furze Golf Club – Golf only – £22

Friday 14 July – Ramsey Golf Club – Tea/Coffee Bacon roll on arrival – £25

Thursday 24 August – Stoke Rochford Golf Club – Tea/Coffee Bacon roll on arrival – £36.50

Friday 8 September – Tydd St Giles Golf Club – Bacon Roll Coffee / Tea on arrival / 2 Course meal after Golf – £35

Friday 20 October – Woolfox Golf Club – Tea/Coffee Bacon roll on arrival – £25

Friday 10 November – Elton Furze Golf Club – Golf only – £22 followed by Fritz Follies Golf Society Annual Supper and Prize Giving 2023 at the Black Horse, 14 Overend, Elton, Peterborough, PE8 6RU

Richard gets the year off to a flying start with the Shirt in Sydney. He confessed to 3 weeks travelling around the North Island of New Zealand and carried the shirt all the way without remembering to take any photos! They stopped for a couple of days in Sydney on the way home and this time he remembered!

Texas Scramble result from Elton Furze in November:

1st – John Dexter / Jim Daley / Trevor Chapman / Andy McHattie with Gross 68 Net 60.60

2nd – David West / Paul Bellinger / Paul Flanders Net 64.2

3rd – Graham Tooke / David Carter / Darren Pears / Graeme Phipps Net 65.3

4th – Dave Ballard / Steve Preston / Colin Humphries / Roy Fletcher/ Net 69.2

5th – Les Wells / Brian Bates / Jon Kelly Net 72.98

Nearest Pin:

David West on the 2nd

Graham Tooke on the 15th.

Dates for your diary:

Friday 31st March – Spalding

Friday 10th November – Fritz Follies Golf Society Annual Supper and Prize Giving 2023

The heldover results from Lakeside Lodge in October were:

1st – 39 points Paul Flanders, an excellent score particularly as Paul started with his customary ’blob’ on the first. Very consistent with 19 on the front and 20 points on the back.
2nd – 36 points Sean Melia, helped by an outrageous 30-40 foot putt on the second hole and 20 points on back nine
3rd – 35 points John Dexter, a great score given the added pressure of playing for the trophy.

Nearest the pin – Carried forward to next time

This left the 2022 Fritz Follies Championship in a tie with John Dexter and Dave Ballard both on 115. One solitary point ahead of Graham Tooke.

This year saw a change of venue with the Supper being held in the Black Horse, Elton. It went off very well with all present enjoying a private room and some excellent food .

Back in June the President’s Cup was won by Trevor Chapman who received the trophy from El Presidente Bernie Fritz

This year’s Shirtie was won by Dave Ballard for his ‘Hippo Hollow’ photo.
The final presentation was the Wooden Spoon and we don’t mention the Wooden Spoon!

Texas Scramble results and photos to follow later…..

Thank for the lovely gift last year of “Afternoon Tea” at The George in Stamford. We saved this for a nice evening with a roaring log fire to complement the lovely surroundings and I must say a wonderful afternoon tea.
My wife as an expert in these things said it was the best she had tasted. So just to say this was very much appreciated.

Les

Dave Ballard reports that this is the 16th green on Sabi River Sun Golf Course in South Africa and yes, that is a real live Hippo watching on! The hole is known as ‘Hippo Hollow’, one you won’t be retrieving your ball from! 

14 enthusiastic golfers arrived for the final qualifying event of this year’s competition at Lakeside Lodge with it still all to play for at the top of the leaderboard.

On arrival at the clubhouse the golfers were welcomed by Brian and Geoff who were taking on the role of hosts for the day in the absence of Les who was on his holidays. The usual pre-round coffee and bacon rolls were thoroughly enjoyed by all.

As the first tee time approached and with most of the golfers on the putting green the heavens decided to open and there was much scurrying for waterproofs. Fortunately the shower didn’t last very long at all and the weather remained kind for the rest of the day, in fact we were treated to a fine autumn afternoon.

Lakeside Lodge is a good complex with plenty of facilities including lodges for those looking for a golfing break. The course provided a fair challenge with plenty of opportunities to score but also opportunities to lose plenty of balls out of bounds and in the water! A further challenge on the day was locating your ball if it landed in the leaves, a particular gripe from some of the golfers! Unfortunately the greens on the back 9 were not as good as the front and Geoff’s description of the course as ‘patchy’ certainly applied to some of those greens.

As master of ceremonies ,Geoff started by announcing the winner of the nearest the pin prize on the 5th hole. Unfortunately however, Geoff explained that not one golfer managed to hold the green, clearly this was due to the difficulty of the hole not the quality of the golfers! Geoff did mention that as they approached the 5th tee Steve Preston got quite excited in that ‘they were in with a chance today as he couldn’t see a marker on the green’. Geoff had to point out to Steve that this was because they were the first group out and no one had yet played the hole!

With all the scores counted in, Geoff announced the final positions, noting that the standard of golf on the day was pretty good. No disasters from the course or the bunkers were reported although there was a rumour of some frustrated club thumping.

The results on the day will be announced at the Supper but we can announce that Nearest the pin is carried forward to next time!!

Many thanks to Brian and Geoff for hosting the day and of course, Les for his organisation of all the events.

The final event of the year is at Elton on Friday 11th of November with the Supper in the evening. Invites should be in your inboxes.

From Tbilisi in Georgia (that’s the one near Russia, not the home of The Masters).

Welcome to the penultimate event of this year’s competition at Melton with still all to play for as it’s tight at the top of the leader board.
A smaller field of players today, only 11, as Steve Preston had car troubles, or was it that he didn’t want to write the report?
Into the clubhouse for the usual pre-round coffee, bacon rolls and banter. Courtesy of Steve a spare bacon roll was up for grabs, which I’m pleased to say Martin thoroughly enjoyed.
The new Follies shirts also arrived. Andy looked very smart in his along with his new(ish) white shoes, nothing wrong with white shoes I might add.

Not too many incidents or accidents reported today but here’s what few there were.
On the 5th, nearest the pin, Trevor got on the front of the green, quite a way from the pin and as expected, was soon beaten by the following group, first Les got closer then Dave West got within a few feet of the pin to take the prize.
On the same hole Martin tee’d off and his ball clattered into a nearby tree, the ball then rebounded back down the path towards the tee box and after 1 bounce, 2 bounces, then off a trolley it came to rest 10 yards behind the tee. Once the laughter had subsided, we stood waiting behind the trees for his next shot, heard the contact and after a few seconds the ball came trickling down the path and ended up alongside the front of the tee box, maybe it was that second bacon roll kicking in!
In the lead group Colin Keal thought he’d claim nearest the pin on the 7th, sadly nearest the pin was on the 5th, nice try though.
No ‘bunker flunker’ today but Darren may have started a new trend of ‘ditch flunker’ with 3 shots to get out of his second ditch of the day.

Tragedy back in the clubhouse where Trevor was gutted to find there were NO CAKES!

With all the scores in Les announced the final positions. Trevor 2nd and Paul 3rd but then a slightly miffed Dave Ballard inquired about his score?
What score?
Ooops, Les apologised and revised the positions and the final standings were

1st – 39 points Les Wells
2nd – 37 points Dave Ballard
3rd – 35 points Trevor Chapman

Nearest the pin – Dave West

Well done to everyone, hope you all enjoyed the day.

Top of the leader board has now gotten even closer, anyone’s trophy.
1st = John Dexter 115
= Dave Ballard 115
3rd Graham Tooke 114

Les reminded me that there is also a trophy for ‘Rookie of the Year’ up for grabs and this too is very close with Paul B, Darren and Andy still all in the mix with just the one event to go.

Clearly a lot riding on the final event of the year which is on Friday 14th October at Lakeside Lodge, Pidley.

That’s near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire Trevor.
Good luck to everyone.

Thanks again to Les for organising these events, a lot of work both behind the scenes and on the day.

Due to email issues Les was not aware that due to 21 Follies wishing to play this event, best attendance for some years, a few more tee times were required from his original booking back in November. Unfortunately the Club did not have consecutive tee times available so the first 2 groups were required to tee off earlier than planned. However, this was soon sorted when Les arranged for our groups to stand back and let the member group in the middle of our tee times go through at the first opportunity. A further issue arose when trying to book a buggy for Roy Fletcher and Colin Humphries, there were none available! Apparently the Club had 6 new buggies standing idle that 1 member had block booked for the whole year and refused to let anyone else use them! How strange and selfish is this!

Anyway, with these issues out of the way the 21 Follies arrived in the sunshine, but with it not being too hot and there being very little wind, it was ideal conditions for a round of golf. After the traditional meet and greet session together with bacon rolls and coffee, the event got underway. The course was in great condition considering the drought conditions this summer. It presented a different challenge to recent events and that is good to have a mix of courses throughout the year that may suit the games of the lower handicappers more so than others. 

Some outstanding moments from the day:

Paul Flanders had a nervy start to his round, in particular taking a massive swing and pirouette sending the ball a couple of feet to his left hand side. He did recover to card an 8 going on to a respectable 33 points on the day.

During each event there is normally one runaway trolley to report, and it was Roy’s turn this time. However, as there were no buggies to hire, he certainly can be forgiven for this. In fact he and Colin must be applauded for walking one of the hilliest courses we play without any moaning, comment or even heavy breathing, unlike Jon Kelly! A regular banana break and some of Colin’s wife’s ginger cookies helped them to skip round the course like young bucks!

Dave Ballard and Graeme Phipps both hit the green on the nearest the pin par 3 12th hole. While Graeme was using a rake to measure which ball was closest to the pin and Dave was retrieving his putter ready for his attempt for a birdie, John Dexter takes his second shot, only to shank it straight into the chest of Dave. Ouch! After much measuring, Graeme concedes the distance to Dave. Unlucky Graeme, Dave got the prize, but you got the birdie! 

Certainly 4 or 5 holes required long and accurate drives, evidenced in particular by Colin Humphries, Roy Fletcher and Andy Mchattie seen searching in the hay on several occasions!

As some of the greens were lightning fast, Gabe Stokes thought he might dampen his putt by leaving the cover on! Not sure this will catch on Gabe, but may lengthen the life of your putter! 

John Dexter sets himself for his drive, the club is on its way to the ball but no, it hits the ground hard before connecting with the ball. Onlookers watch on in amazement as this creates a great draw shot that travels some 200 yards, ending up in the middle of the fairway! Not one for the text book, but very effective none the less.

Finally and probably the best of the day, Trevor Chapman staking his claim for the annual bunker flunker award on the par 3 12th. Unfortunately his tee shot crept into one of the two green side bunkers. However, he then managed to visit both bunkers a total of 4 times which involved 9 bunker shots finally escaping with the use of his putter! To vent his frustration, he then proceeded to kick the rake out of the bunker! 

Some nostalgia from the day:

Richard Parker noted that his playing partner on the day Paul Flanders had recruited him to Pearl some 25 years ago this month. Les Wells then recruited him to the Follies at a Pearl training course the same month!

To celebrate his return to the Follies after a 29 year absence, Sean Melia donated a prize for nearest the pin in 2 on the 13th hole. Clearly Sean has been a very busy man! 

On the day:

1^st Darren Pears 39 points

2^nd Graham Tooke 38 points

3^rd Les Wells on countback from John Dexter 36 points

Nearest the Pin on the 12^th – Dave Ballard, 3 feet from the hole just edging out Graeme Phipps by less than a handle of the rake.

Nearest the Pin in 2 on the 13^th – Richard Parker, 6 feet from the hole just edging out Les Wells and Dave Ballard by a few feet or so.

Well done Darren, first win in your rookie year. Be prepared for a cut in handicap as a result!

Fritz Follies standings top 5:

John Dexter 115

Graham Tooke 114

Dave Ballard 112

David West 108

Roy Fletcher 108

Great looking leaderboard with 14 players with an aggegate of 100 or more this season from their best 3 cards. With just two rounds to go (Melton Mowbray and Lakeside Lodge), should be an exciting finish to what has been a great season of golf, helped by the wonderful weather we have had throughout.

Our next meeting is Melton Mowbray on Friday 23rd September, look forward to seeing you all there.

Reporter Dave Ballard

Paul’s a lot more popular than I ever thought!