Another Follies season began at Sleaford with some great weather for March and the course, as always, in fine condition (due to its sand base, I am told).  16 members appeared with a debut (to my knowledge) for John Dexter and welcome returns for the lesser spotted David Oliver, Andrew Bramwell and Richard Cheng. Les had arranged a cracking deal with the course with a bacon roll before the golf and pie and chips afterwards.

Stories were thin on the ground but Les put an early marker down for Bunker Flunker at the 7th.  Several strokes were taken before he gave in and abandoned the hole. The BF committee will sit to decide how many that all adds up to. Les did say “another 2 or 3 inches would have made the difference” – something many men have said down the years.

On Nearest the Pin, Roy was sitting pretty until it was snatched away by Geoff D. in the last group.

The Road to Elton competition (with due acknowledgement to the UEFA Champions League) saw Trevor win the first outing with an impressive 40 points – and I can attest to several putts sliding past that would have made the total even worse better.  Second was Les on 33 points with Jon Kelly in third on 31 points winning on countback from Andrew, Roy and John W.

A special mention to Colin H, who returned early from his 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Derbyshire, especially to play the Follies. We’re not sure if he brought his wife back with him or left her there. Nor are we sure if she is talking to him.

With more orders being taken for Follies shirts and some great dates in the diary, things are on the up for the Fritz Follies Golf Society.

See you at Ramsey on the 26^th.

Impressive early entries from David and Geoff taken at the Dubai Desert Classic Golf Event. Ask them who took the photo of them with the trophy.

Fixtures are out!  See 2017 Schedule tab.

And the 2017 Shirtie is underway . David collected the Shirtie trophy at the Supper in November for his Grand Canyon shot.  Send your entries in as and when.

Another Follies year comes to a close with a very sociable Texas Scramble followed by the End of Season Supper at the Cuckoo.

Scramble result:
Winners – Delany/Humphries/Zebedee/Wakefield net 66

Runners-Up – Phipps/Savage/Bramwell/Fletcher 68

Third (and being a three never had a chance but we’re not bitter) – Wells/Carter/Kelly 69

and Nearest Pin on 5th was Andrew Bramwell

Of course the serious business is how did the Leaderboard end up?
*** Geoff Delaney is this year’s Champion Golfer ***

Despite a few yapping at his heels right up until the last hole, Geoff held on to defy cries of “Stop the Solictor!” Had John W squeezed out another point to his already impressive 37 on the last round, we would have had a tie – great effort John.

So Geoff did the Treble this year – Champion Golfer, President’s Cup and Texas Scramble!

• Our customary thanks to Les for all his arranging and re-arranging of fixtures, people and times. Thanks also to Brian for making our subs and green fees go a long way.
• It was especially pleasing to see Bernie at the Supper when it was annouced that 28th February 2017 is the 40th anniversary of the first Fritz Follies game. Les is already working on suitable events to mark the occasion as well as next year’s schedule. To date, he has two dates for your diary:
  ** Tuesday 28th Feb – an anniversary event on the day itself. Venue to be revealed in due course.
  ** Friday 31st March – 2017 Follies competition begins at Sleaford

With Rutland County being the last round of the year and wanting to maintain the suspense for the Supper, results are not published at this time but David Carter and Colin Humphries were good enough to provide a flavour of last Friday’s proceedings:

Picture two old codgers and a younger one bestriding the uplands of Rutland, playing golf (roughly speaking).  Earlier conversations had been about growing old, particularly sight deterioration, and GD’s liking for the 17th hole at Rutland County.

We ascended to the heights of the 17th tee and GD rushed to take his drive, Roy and I just looked on (nothing else to do).  GD set himself, swung his club and sent the ball zooming off in the direction of Boston (Lincs not MAS) don’t be silly.  It eventually made its way back, bounced on the edge of the green and rolled up to within about a foot of the pin (don’t forget the eyesight problems). Roy and I didn’t know what to do “don’t look at him”; I said “you may be blinded”.  However curiosity got the better of us and we turned – “it was as though the sun had come from behind the clouds” – a beaming face shining out in the dim light that said “beat that”.

Well done GD, nearest the pin again.

Roy and I were so uplifted by the experience we both mishit our drives.

……….

We had a few amusing incidents with Trevor last Friday, he definitely earned the bunker flunker title. He made visits to a lot of bunkers, 4 attempts to play out of one before he picked up his ball and threw it and his club away in frustration. On the 7th green he played out of one bunker into the bunker on the opposite side, he then played out of that bunker and the ball was only saved from returning to the first bunker when it hit the fabric of the flag.

……….

Any last minute Shirtie entries?

See you on the 4th.

Writing the report three weeks after the day is not recommended as a hitherto razor sharp recall of the day becomes a little blunted. Suffice to say that a smaller than usual group of 8 had a lovely day around one of the most beautiful courses we have the pleasure to play.

Picking our way through various wildlife:

and hidden hazards:

(how do you hide a pond that big so that 3 of us ended up in it without realising it was even there until we walked up?)

Fast forwarding to the results:

Colin H won on countback from Trevor C – both on 35 points. Graeme grabbed 3rd with  31.

With one round remaining (Fri 14th Oct), the Leaderboard has Geoff D top with 111 from Graeme P 109, Les 107, Trevor 106 and John W 105.  For everyone else, next year may be your year.

Don’t forget, November 4th Friday – Elton – Texas Scramble followed by Supper and Prize Giving at the Cuckoo, Alwalton.

Presumably today’s low turnout at Belton is because everyone is away posing with their shirt!  I look forward to a deluge of photos soon.

 Les on Mykanos- having a break from organizing golf

Les 3 amis

The Fritz Follies eleven turned up at Old Nene to enjoy a tasty bacon sandwich that set them up for the coming hours.

However the reports back after the completion of 18 holes in pleasant if a little windy weather would make watching paint dry a suitable future pastime with each group saying there was little of note in any group. Despite this we managed to squeeze these snippets from each round.

The highlight of the first group was a near hole in one by Geoff Delany but not on the nearest the hole option and Dave West said the whole round was uninspiring but then he was playing with Delany and Delany Solicitors and Accountants Ltd.

The second group got off to a flying start with a superb par by Brian Bates but his bravado waned by the fourth hole when he took four to get off the tee area. However all was not lost and he recovered to score respectably despite having the same problem on the 13th which those who know the course is the same hole on the back nine. An early tactic of this group was to take the arboreal route particularly Martin Zebedee but others were also to follow suit.

The last group probably had the more entertaining action. Colin Humphries followed Martin through the tree route and Les managed to go into the reeds on hole 1 and hole 10 which again you will now realise is the same green front and back nine.

Pride of place this trip goes to Trevor Chapman again who enjoyed a record series of bunkers (7 reported) plus using his iron to alarming effect on hole 4/13. When we say iron we are not talking about his clubs but rattling the iron bridge with his tee shot. To finish off he took an interesting tactic to disrupt his opponents by trying to behead Colin Humphries. Trevor is planning his course of action for his next round to get a hat-trick of Follies course leading features.

Final result was Les in third with 38, Geoff Delaney second with 39. The winner taking full advantage of his Bermudian practice session was Geoff Liscoe with 43 but as with the triangle it will probably never be seen again.

First time visit for the Follies to Tydd St Giles, recommended last year from several members. Located in the wilds of Wisbech perhaps many can be forgiven for having difficulty finding this remotely placed course, or perhaps some may deserve special mention.

Is it Pidley St Giles, Giles St Pidley, Lakeside Tydd, I’m sure it has Pidley or Lakeside in the address somewhere.

Trevor: Well I’ve been sitting here for ages and no one else has turned up, I know ring Les and see if I can help them find the course. Hi Les, where are you

Les – Just going through Wisbech approaching Tydd.

Trevor:  I have been here ages, easy journey via Huntingdon to Lakeside Lodge, but nobody else here

Les –where! Did you say Lakeside Lodge?

Trevor  – Yes, Lakeside Lodge. Whoops, Sh#*

Realised at this point he was sitting in a Clubhouse at a course not on the schedule, miles away from where he should be. So many locals in the Huntingdon have seen Trevor’s lovely car touring the area….

Well, fair play to Trevor he made the course in time to join us and probably many would have given up the day, but a great story and a true contender for this year’s “Bloomer of the year” award.

Tydd is a lovely course, deserving of its recommendation. Providing a great day with breakfast, Golf and after game two course meal provided with a smile and good humour.

On the course, Martin managed to get his ball stuck up a tree. Fortunately Jon and a trust 7 Iron were able to retrieve Martin’s ball. No shades of Bernard Langer from Martin, he took the penalty drop instead.

John Wakefield came alive today, with a 41 point haul to win the day. Loved the course so much I think he would love one of those Lodges. Needless to say a fantastic round of golf and a well deserved win.

Les Wells 34 and Jon Kelly 33 followed some way behind the wining total.

Colin Humphries attempted to take the coveted “Bunker Flunker” award by claiming 10 Bunker shots but even though on successive bunkers of 3, 3 & 4, it does not qualify to beat Brian Bates leading on 5 shots from a single bunker this year. Still plenty of time for that to be beaten, so keep trying Colin.

We now move on to the next event at Old Nene Golf Club.