Forty-eight eager Rabbit ears were pricked up when festively-bedecked captain Steve W entered the bar area with the computer-shuffled start sheet to announce who would be with who in the annual Dilwater Shield Fourball BetterBall contest last Sunday, writes Warren Hacker, our links reporter, and several ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were heard when the ‘low’ and ‘high’ partnerships were revealed.

The early starters began in the rain and the strong westerly breeze blew a few more showers through to throw some damp over everyone, but the rounds were finished in sunshine. In true Rabbit fashion, half of the dozen pairs managed to notch a ’team blob’ on at least one hole, but overall the scoring was decent - even the L.B.S. pair (the Least Best Score) got 36 - two points a hole - and, when the scores were (eventually) produced there wasn’t a lot in it - only two points separated 11th place from third place. Those missed little putts made all the difference.

The results were declared in reverse order, with the three ‘birdie two-ers’ rewarded for their efforts - Dave Blackmore and Bill Beynon (on the 17th) and Tom Watkins (on the shortened 18th) received a third of the Twos Pot each- and graciously shared their prize with their partners. Nice touch, chaps.

Just missing out on a prize-winning position were John ‘Acer’ Stevenson (he was in the rough on 9A this time though) and Gareth Davies with 40 points (thanks to a better last six holes on the front nine!).

Treasurer Wyndham Collins and recent-recruit Will Williams each had a £3 reward for fourth place after their 41 points and also on 41, but third as a result of a better back nine, were Dave Blackmore and Phil Carpenter who pocketed £6 each (on top of the ‘twos’ money!) for being in Bronze place, despite two early blobbed holes.

Occupying the runners-up spot were Mark Edwards and Ian Williams and their wallets were inflated by £12 each for their fine 43 points (with a ‘team blob’) and their card contained three of the 11 ‘four-point’ scores achieved on the day.

Clear winners were Will Beynon and Tom ‘Fleetwood’ Watkins with an enormous 47 points, only dropping seven shots to gross par, so they went home with an extra £17 as well as their money for the two 2s. That might be slightly greedy!

What did we learn on Sunday? The Rabbit captain is a colourful character (see the photo). Having long hair and a beard to look like a professional golfer makes you play like him. Having golf lessons helps you into prize places. People who don’t play on a regular basis may just be natural golfers. Back twinges don’t help when playing golf. Some Rabbits know how to use shots when they have them (good preparation for the match on January 13 against ’The Others Who Play On Sunday’). (Banter practice for Jan 13 is going well). Wearing the same colour trousers (a wine sort of hue) as your partner does’’t guarantee a prize. Needing to be somewhere else after playing golf makes you rush off. Some people need guidance on how to mark betterball scorecards properly. Even lower handicap golfers can have a ‘shot of air’. We are a happy, popular, welcoming and growing society. Rabbits golf is fun! (No, we knew the last two things already!).

This coming Sunday the Rabbits return to their ’best 8 scores’ Winter League stablefords for Number 8. Sign up for the competitions planned for the 23rd and 30th as well.

Gents Christmas Spirits 14-Hole Stableford

27 cards - With torrential rain and near gale force winds for large parts of the day, the field for the annual Christmas Spirits competition was somewhat decimated on Saturday.

Some early starters made their way back ‘early’ to seek the shelter of the clubhouse, some didn’t start at all, while in the end a total of 27 players braved the elements and handed in cards.. although some were none returns.

Leading scores and prize winners were as follows:

1. Anthony Henshaw 27 pts (bottle malt whisky); 2. Neil Webb 24 (bottle brandy); 3. Richard Ormond 22 (bottle spirits); 4. Robin Hagley 21 (two bottles of wine).

There were no twos, so two additional bag draws were made, with winners being Neil Dickinson, Gus Graham, John Gottwaltz and Allen?Watts (£13.25 each).

Pro Shop draw: Mark Oliver (Mac wet gloves).

• Please note: Bottles to be collected from the office on or after Monday, December 17.

CHICKEN TROTTERS OF YESTERYEAR

Friday, December 11, 1998, was a quite dismal day weatherwise, it started out with fog then slowly changed to being overcast and threatening, not ideal golf weather at all. This meteorological situation did not deter 24 brace of temperature resistant Trotters from trooping out to the tee, intent on getting their name in the Tenby Observer - albeit 20 years later!

The par for the competition was a demanding 32 Stableford points, and the combined income of £14.40 from entrance fees was divided like this:

The Booby prize of 30p went to Eric Day, who also benefited from a handicap increase of two strokes, hopefully this encouraged Eric to improve on his 13-point return.

Six short hole specialists managed to score twos; Ray Irish, Mervyn Tucker and Vernon Lawrence on the sixth, Ted Martin and Rob Jones on the ninth and Des Wickland on the 12th - the reward was 40p each.

Over the 15-hole tournament, Elwyn Evans, Gavin Field-Thomas and Gwyn Jenkins managed to match the par score and earned a generous £2 each for their shared third place. Tony Morris improved on par, scoring 33 points to claim second place and a purse of £2.50, while an unbeatable 34 points was carded by Peter Williams, propelling him into top spot and endowing him with a magnanimous £3. Lest we forget, the penalty for success is minus one stroke for third place, three strokes for second place and a crushing five strokes for first place - but only for the next two trots (generous!)

There was an air of excited anticipation circulating in the clubhouse as the final arrangements for the following week’s Roger and Mary Trophy competition and Christmas Lunch were announced. The prestigious trophy was on display along with the menu and booking form, and the Trotters (particularly those hailing from Cardigan) were pleased to hear that, in accordance with established tradition, there would be no entrance fee!

I shall reveal the lucky winner next week…

Elsewhere, on this day in 1799, the Metric system was imposed in France by Napoleon Bonaparte - the first nation to ‘go metric’, but soon followed by all the countries conquered by the Emperor (along with using the right side of the road).

M.F.

Confusion Reigns

It is the computer that is confused this week, not the seniors - who are confused every week. Hole 9a is a par three and the original hole 9 is a par four. The poor old computer cannot reconcile itself to adjusting the scores as they are entered so that it provides a logical, numerical, binary outcome. The solution is for a computer literate member to transfer all hole 9a scores to the original hole six (temporarily out of commission). Best of luck and be quick, we have our interim presentation next week.

Back to the golf, we can all relate to that and enjoy a morning out on the links, particularly when it remains dry. This week it did remain dry, but there was still a penetrating cold wind to contend with, which may have been the reason for the reduced scores. No-one scored in the 40s this week, not even Roger Barton. He was not able to achieve a hat-trick of wins. Peter Hart reckons that Roger was reduced to his level of golf, hence the lower score of 33.

Stan Hudson was with them and his score also dropped by seven points from last week. First out on this cold morning, David Henry increased his total by seven points as did Jim Moffatt. This made them leaders in the clubhouse. Would they be overtaken by one or more of the 37 starters? Ray Ford added seven to his last week’s score, while the ever steady John Stevenson reduced his by seven.

Seven seems to be a popular number ,as verified by Hywel Probert, who had quite a few of them on his card. He reduced his previous effort by eight points, as did Adrian Palmer and David Morgan. Even Keith Hubbard and Ross James were five and six points down on last week’s score. Was there anyone who could overtake the leaders?

The simple answer is no. David Henry’s score of 39 was one of the first to be computerised and it remained on top of the pile throughout the morning. Jim Moffatt tucked in behind him with 37, as did the very consistent Robin Hagley. Jim’s better back nine gave him the edge. Another consistent scorer, Meirion Griffiths, gained fourth place with a better back nine over Richard Davies and Stan Hudson, all on 36.

There was no hole-in-one this week, but there were two 2s. Peter Hart scored his on the 12th, while Keith Hubbard achieved his on the 18th - another hole to confuse the computer and the seniors.

Alan Jones was the lucky recipient of the raffle prize.