Disappointing numbers once again this week. Perhaps with the rugby, the weather forecast and the crowd returning from Portugal too exhausted to play golf, it was to be expected. We did, however, welcome back Gareth Phillips, who returned following holidays to challenge Clive Law for this year's title. And challenge he did, with a fantastic score of 40 points playing with the big man, Gavin (Walrus) Field-Thomas. No short straws this week, with Gavin playing his part on almost half of the holes. Clive, meanwhile, returned a decent score of 37 points with Rob Wilcox, but allowed Gareth Phillips to make up some ground. Some uninspiring, unspectacular golf by captain Rob Hall and Gareth Rees resulted in a once again disappointing score of 35 points. The third week in a row Gareth has failed to make any impression on the league at all! Hopefully, this weekend, with there being a break in the Six Nations rugby, guaranteed good weather and a free £50 voucher from captain Rob Hall to anyone who turns up to play in the league (terms and conditions apply, see below), we may see a recovery in numbers. Unfortunately, your correspondent will be in a foreign country next week. I will take my 3G mobile phone and lap-top to enable me to email my report as normal, although I'm not sure about availability of networks and signals in a place so remote as Minehead!
Best pairs score overall: 45 points by N. Ayers and A. Joseph (November 6) and N. Ayers R. Hall (December 18); Steve Davies and C. Law (January 21). Voucher terms and conditions: The £50 voucher may only be used as part payment of item exceeding £300 at any Gadget Shop, as part payment of any telephone bill from Worldcom or towards the purchase of any new Rover car. If you prefer to invest your voucher, then it will be accepted at any branch of Barings Investment Bank.
Rabbits see new league leaders
Last Sunday we were very lucky to have a dry morning for golf as it had rained quite heavily all night, but the sun started to break through as the Rabbits took to the first tee to battle it out once again. With only three matches left to play in the winter league, it's all change both at the top and bottom of the table once more - nail-biting stuff. First match off saw Steve Watkins and Glyn Price in a hard fought battle against the mighty Ronald Francis Fingers Murphy and Dafydd Evans, but Steve and Glyn came in winners 5 and 4. Next off were joint leaders Bill Beynon and Dorian Thomas up against David Lemon (sub this week for Rees Davies) and Mike Munroe. Oh dear, Mike had a shock as he approached the first tee and stated that his biggest handicap was going to be his partner, but they must have gelled well as they went five up after 12 and were seen hand in hand coming down the path onto the 18th green, but eventually lost 2 and 1, giving Bill and Dorian another two points under their belt. Third away were Fred Adlam and Paul James up against Ben Blake and Jason Rolfe, with Fred and Paul enjoying a comfortable win 6 and 5. Ben and Jason were doing so well in the first half of the season, it is surprising to see them slip down the table. Come on gents, what's happened? Next off were the big boys, Dave Moran and Steve Hockings up against Derek Farley and captain Steve Harries. This match went well, with Dave and Steve six up after 10 holes and Derek and Steve bringing it back to two down after 14. Then it went pear- shaped and Dave and Steve Hockings won on the 16th, 3 and 2. Fifth match off saw the surprise of the day, with joint leaders Mike Hale and Chris Smith up against Jerry Whitehouse and Mackie Harts. Jerry and Mackie must have been on fire as they went five up after nine holes, but Mike and Chris clawed their way back and the match went the full 18 holes, with a half being the eventual result. In the after-match interview, Jerry and Mackie were very modest and said that poor Mike did not have his putting cap on. Well done gents, you have certainly rocked the boat. Next away saw Simon Evans and partner John Murphy take on George Pegg and John Hunt. Simon was in top form, having just got back from Portugal with all that hot sun on his back. He and Posty John had a great game against George and John Hunt and they eventually came out winners on the 18th, one up. Last off, Steve Price and Paul Davis took on Big Dave Morgan and Anthony Allen in a battle to fight their way up from the bottom of the table. Dave and Anthony must have had three Weetabix each for breakfast as they saw their opponents off 7 and 5 Eugene Boyd and Mark Edwards had a bye this week. Although there only three matches left to play in this season's winter league, there are plenty of matches planned, with a friendly against Glynhir, both home and away, the Duffy Cup and the Joe. S. Williams Medal, as well as the winter league presentation night and the away trip to Bryn Meadows before the summer league matches start - busy times ahead. Apologies to all you avid readers for the shortened version over next few weeks, but our normal correspondent has decided that his services are required out in Croatia and has decided to combine this with his annual holidays before the cricket season starts. Nought times nought equals nought
But then again - nought plus nought equals nought, as does nought divided by nought and nought minus nought. Confused! Well the senior members of the Golf Club were not, or should I say most were not. In the South African Stableford competition that was played by the section this week each pair who went out had to multiply their stableford scores to achieve a total score for each hole. Nothing difficult there - well only one scorer failed to complete the card properly, adding the scores instead of multiplying them and giving the seniors captain and John Cook an inflated score in the process. Even then it was not enough to give them first place. Their total score of 56 was easily overtaken by a pair who thought that they were not scoring too well with 40 points on the way out - but more of that later. As one of the last pairing in, Ken Gouldsbrough enquired vociferously about the booby, assuming that no-one could beat the score of 24 that he and Tony Morris had laboriously achieved through endeavour and missed putts. They had failed to score on 10 holes and were only marginally worse than Richard Davies (tanned from two weeks in the Caribbean) and his partner J. D. R. Williams, who managed 29 points, with six blank holes. Ken need not have worried, there was a worse card than his handed in. Uncle Jim (Taylor that is) was unfortunately paired with Des Stone this week and between the two of them they managed to avoid scoring on no less than 11 holes! They did manage a two - two points that is and that was scored on the second hole, providing the only points scored on the front nine. So you can multiply two by nought, nought by three or, as happened, often nought by nought, and the total always comes to nought. They did start a revival on the back nine - two points on the 10th and three on the 12th, to more then double their front nine score. Unfortunately, the wheel fell off Jim's trolley and then he had to spend a good 10 minutes searching for his tee after his drive on the 13th. Then, having found his ball in the bunker, he struggled to reach the green, holing out for a six, which was not good enough help his partner's birdie. Not to worry, Des got his own back on the 16th when he failed to score to convert Jim's effort into another 'nil points'. They both agreed that they were happy to be out and enjoying the sunshine. Meanwhile, out on the course there was some serious golf and some great combinations. Roy and Richard Morgan could have fared better than their 37 had they scored on one or more of the last five holes. But then, they were beginning to tire! A good run in of 20 on the back nine provided John Charnock and Owen Monaghan with the same score. Tony Morgan and Maurice Lewis thought that the nine points [3x3] on the 12th was a great achievement in their total of 44, but it did not match the 12 points on the fifth scored by Paul Nixon and Peter Woodhouse. Jim Martin and Doug Havard, another fresh from a winter break, encouraged each other to a first nine of 33 points, in which Doug couldn't believe the number of putts he was making. That all changed on the way in when they failed to score on the ninth and 10th holes. However, two holes of six points each helped them to a back nine of 20 to put them amongst the winners. Another front nine of 33 points was achieved by Bob Howse and Derek Bath, but their low score of 15 on the back nine kept them out of the prizes. Tony Ranoe and Bart Youll scored a very creditable 48 points and we are assured that, but for a wayward mat, they would have been amongst the prize-winners. It appears that the mat they were sharing was bent (?) and was often seen travelling farther than the ball. With them up there on 48, and also missing out on the prize-money, were Jack Hasdell and Geoff Aston. Stars of the week, however, were Paul Nixon and Peter Woodhouse. Though pleased with their 40 points on the outward run, they did not think that it was enough to put them in front. As a result, they were somewhat disappointed to only score 35 on the way in and were unsure whether or not they had played well enough. When they scored, they scored well, getting parallel pars on a number of holes, with the highlight of a par and a birdie on the fifth. As it was, no-one could match them and they were the undisputed South African Stableford Champions, pushing the Seniors captain into second place. Results: 1. Paul Nixon and Peter Woodhouse 75 points; 2. John Cook and David Morgan 56; 3. Jim Martin and Doug Havard 53. Seniors need to be aware that the day out to Newport, scheduled for February 16, has been postponed to Thursday, February 23. Please make sure that your name is placed on the list if you wish to go.