fritzfolliesgolfsociety

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

1st Net 63 – Les Wells, David West & Alan Wensak

2nd Net 63.3 – Paul Flanders, Andy McHattie & Dave Harrison

3rd Net 66.7 – Yim Kong, Dave Ballard & Colin Humphries

4th Net 70 – Graham Tooke, Steve Walker, Trevor Chapman & Martin Zebedee

5th Net 71.2 – Andy Izod, Geoff Delany, Roy Fletcher & Jim Daley

Nearest the Pin

2nd Hole No Winner roll over to longest drive

5th Hole Paul Flanders

12th Hole Dave Ballard

15th Hole Dave Ballard (can’t win 2 prizes) so Martin Zebedee

17th Longest Drive: Andy McHattie (wrong ball orange first) 232 yds then Les 202 yds.

The Shirtie 2024 was won by Martin Zebedee and his photo from Holborn tube station, next to the birthplace of the Fritz Follies.

See you all in March for the first outing (fixtures coming shortly) but we already have a date for your diary:

Friday 7th November 2025 – Fritz Follies Golf Society Annual Supper and Prize Giving 2025.

Happy New Year!!

Our Chairman and Secretary Les Wells hands the Fritz Follies Champion Golfer trophy and the Fritz Follies President’s Cup to Geoff Delany. A splendid total of 112 saw Geoff a point clear of Paul Flanders with Les himself a further two points behind.

Texas Scramble and other results will follow in due course.

Kevin at Uluru and after completing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb.

On a cloudy warm October day
Nineteen golfers went out to play
All were keen with clubs at the ready
But who would falter, who would be steady?

Woolfox was the course today
The first a surprise – a new Par 3 to play
A lake in the front – that’s just mean!
Some balls made a splash, never to be seen

Other balls were hit both fast and slow
Some hit high, some hit low
Some would play well, some would have luck
Some would think ‘YES’, some would think ‘f***’

Geoff D’s trolley was left to run free
Straight into a bunker – oh deary me!
Alan thought he’d hit the drive of the day
But the ball hit a marker and came back to stay

Now down in the sand Richard Cheng found his way
‘Help, I’m stuck in a bunker’ he yelled in dismay
The more that he struggled, his frustration was clear
But gave up in the end and just said ‘Oh Dear’

Trevor’s drive went long, but where did it go?
His partners smiled – ‘that field, don’t you know’
But to his credit and just with a sigh
He sank a 40’ putt and raised two fingers high

Whoever chose the Nearest the Pin
Decided to make it difficult to win
Balls soared and sliced, one even spun
Yet none found the green, not a single one!

To celebrate his 90 years
Roy gave a prize amid loud cheers
With two great shots Graham declared
‘The bottles mine and not to be shared!’

Our man from Waitrose came to deliver
And gave every appearance of being a winner
With 43 points Martin headed the field
His joy at the prize was barely concealed

Thanks to Les for another great day
We’re ever grateful for the chance to play
Now it’s off to the Supper to reveal this year’s winner
Good company, good fun and hopefully a good dinner.

Report by David West.

From the Woolfox website “Thank you to @diverutland for retrieving our lake balls and to everyone who has entered our competition.

We are pleased to announce the winner of 100 lake balls is: Dougie Morton! We’ll be in touch to arrange your prize soon!

Dougie guessed 4350 and the total amount of balls collected was 4096!”

“This week Dive Rutland visited us to retrieve golf balls from the lake on the 1st. Two divers spent the day exploring the bottom of the lake, discovering more than just weeds and frogspawn…. Has anyone lost a club? We are running a competition to guess the total amount of balls collected from the first dive.” 

Winner receives 100 golf balls! To enter – see the Woolfox website.

Chris in Registan Square in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Every day is a learning day for some of us. Sean found out that paying green fees in Singapore Dollars doesn’t work and I learned that a handicap of 17.50 is rounded up to 18 not down to 17. The fact this was pointed out by John D and Sean to whom it applied is especially worthy of praise.

Sixteen Follies showed up at Rutland Water for what is, unquestionably, the most scenic course in the world. There, I’ve said it.

No Les but instructions had been issued and we followed them to the letter so all went well. Including the weather – which we’ve come to expect from Les. Before we started, we toasted Roy for his 90th birthday last weekend and enjoyed bacon or egg baps. We also welcomed back the Fritz Follies’ first England International, Kevin Hingle after his exploits down under.

Geoff Delany has had a bumper crop of apples at home and kindly brought a bag onto the first tee for all to share.

Sean sent his first 2 balls oob to leave himself playing 5 before he even left the 1st tee. Glad to say things improved considerably from then on.

David West had an eventful 5th. His second shot landed in the greenside bunker where a member of staff was shovelling sand around. David claimed GUR and got a free drop outside the bunker. He put his third back in the bunker, claimed GUR and got a free drop outside the bunker. And chipped in for par!

On the subject of Bunker Flunker, Richard Cheng had 4 attempts on the 7th before picking up and moving on. I say “moving on” but he didn’t really and pointed out every bunker in the vicinity for the rest of the round.

Trevor used his sand wedge on the 8th and left it there. He was on the 9th green before he realised.

Martin went bunker to pond on the 12th. Similarly, John D (fresh from a winning 44 points earlier in the week) managed to go from bunker to bunker on the 18th.

Results:
Nearest the Pin – Richard Parker
3rd – Geoff Delany 37 points on countback from
2nd – Jon Kelly also 37 points
1st – Richard Cheng 38 points.

Tight at the top – one round to go – Friday 18th October at the Woolfox.
Thereafter it will be Friday 8th November for Texas Scamble at Elton Furze with the Fritz Follies Golf Society Annual Supper and Prize Giving 2024 at the Black Horse, Elton in the evening.

Report by Jon Kelly

Martin in a disused tunnel at Holborn tube station 135ft deep