The Saturday Swingers embarked on their annual pilgrimage to St. Davids last weekend, although the closest they got to the cathedral was the Farmers Arms.

A party of 21 battled the fierce force nine westerly gale on the wonderful natural links above Whitesands Bay. In the extreme conditions, putting on the slick but exposed greens was just as difficult as stroke making.

The steady Jon Bolter came in with 27 points for fifth place. Neil Webb, Darren Thomas and Peter Rossi shared second spot, each having 28 points.

However, it was the consistent Phil Goodridge's day. Despite the strong wind, he suffered just two blobs and was a clear winner with a fine 30 points. A low centre of gravity assists with balance.

Webb and Rossi claimed the best secret pair prize and Dan Cope won the sweep. There were just two 2s - Neil Thomas and Richard Ormond.

Following the golf, the Swingers attended the St. Davids Rugby Club. The home side won their first game of the season, beating local rivals Llangwm in a tight match, which was sponsored by Paul Heywood, of Heywoods Butchers in Saundersfoot.

Soaking Seniors and chilly Chapman's

The weather forecast for Tuesday was a trifle depressing - the real thing was probably worse; rain, hail, wind, low temperature and standing water. The ideal ingredients for a pleasant morning's golf - NOT!

The resultant scene in the clubhouse was all too familiar as the Seniors divided into four informal groups.

Group 1 were absent, having 'phoned or emailed to withdraw from the planned Chapman Foursomes competition.

Group 2 had turned up at the proper time, had changed into Arctic waterproofs, and were standing around looking out at the downpour and muttering.

Part of Group 2 mutated into Group 3, valiant and fearless to a man, who made the hard decision and were to be seen huddling around the first tee as they took their turn to drive, then struggling, heads bent against the howling wind, to where their dismally short shots had (hopefully) landed.

The remainder became Group 4, eminently sensible chaps who acknowledge that golf is played for pleasure. They peeled off a couple of layers of winter woolies and stood drinking coffee while watching Group 3 suffer - all the while congratulating each other on their wise decision.

And that, is basically that! I'm not sure if enough foursomes took part to make the competition official. I know that the lucky man who had number 36 is the winner of the raffle, but there was no raffle this week.

I feel a little disoriented and strange after a fairly long absence. We were in Germany for Christmas and the New Year, which was very pleasant, but not all fun. Pat and I both picked up a virulent strain of German cold and cough just after Boxing Day. To make up for this, the £ to Euro exchange rate meant that things were much cheaper there - petrol at 99p/litre and Gordon's gin at £13.55/litre for example! While smirking at our buying power, we were brought down to earth with a bang when our GPS ceased to function and we made a 100k detour after losing our way on the Antwerp spaghetti junction! The festive season - like my golf - a bit up and down!

And finally, a big thank you to Jim for keeping this column going during my absence, and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015 to both my readers!

M.F.