Golf Society Day

June 09

The Kings Church Golf Society took on the might Sherfield Oaks in June and here are some of the pictures from this great day!

Kings Church Golf Society – Golf Day Report

Traditions Golf Club proved quite a challenge to the assembled hackers, hitters and hopers on Sunday (4th July )afternoon. Matt had arranged splendid weather for the afternoon, although the gentle breeze became a little too strong at times - certainly strong enough to make an already tough and unfamiliar-to-most course even harder. Yours Truly, who has been known to use the same ball for a whole season, lost two Callaways before the first green, so the early signs were ominous that Barry's gag about the buggy coming round, not with cold drinks but with fresh ball supplies, looked too true to inspire confidence.

The handicap committee had slashed Matt down to 5 in an attempt to ensure that his Mum didn't have more dust rings to wipe away on the Bailey Towers mantlepiece - and sure enough, the challenge was too much even for him as he could only amass 28 points. And that included three points on the short 10th from a shocking tee-shot which missed the green yards left, then somehow trickled back to a few feet from the flag - local knowledge, staff privilege, whatever - pah!

Matt's playing partners didn't fare much better, with only Hugh Maguire passing 30 points, while I guess the 'breeze' played havoc with the high shots which Andy Pettit and Barry Bailey are wont to display.

In the second group, David Payne and myself struggled along in Ben's wake. Every now and then we hit a little purple patch - mine around 4,5 and 6; David's around the turn, but overall it was a tough afternoon. We felt a little hard done by with gusts carrying balls too far into many of the streams and lakes on the course, or rock-hard greens causing decent approach shots to bound on through the back. It wasn't helped by Ben having no trouble whatsoever (he had a big moan when he hit his first bogey, somewhere around the 11th, I think!). Ben managed a superlative 19 points from the front nine, then fell away to a regulation 18 on the way home. In the conditions and on a course he'd never seen before, it really was a great effort.

Bringing up the rear, Robin Walton and Jeff Dever played the better golf in the final group, and were rewarded with the Longest Drive and overall 3rd place prizes respectively. It was a difficult afternoon for Mike Lewis (though he fared little worse than allegedly more illustrious players!), while looking back I seemed to see Steve Crosson-Smith dropping and replaying newly-unwrapped balls every few minutes. Narrow, hard fairways, lots of water and strong winds are always likely to make life difficult for somebody who aims to hit the ball fifty yards further than it really wants to go!

Anyway, the final totting-up process proved just how hard the afternoon had been. Three players (Andy, Robin and Jeff) were tied on 30 points, while Hugh took second with his 31 - surely the lowest score the Society has had for second place. Closest to the pin on both the 4th (in two shots) and on the short 10th was Ben Crane (he'd also held Longest Drive until Robin surpassed his effort), while Ben was also six points ahead of Hugh to comfortably take the trophy for the day's champion.