It was almost unplayable, not the course, but the heat, but 18 brave (stupid) souls withstood the blistering heat and humidity to play our latest game at Villamartin and found the course to be in good condition and the greens excellent, a bit quick but excellent.
All four NTP’s were claimed and the following received a sleeve of Srixon Soft Feels for their efforts; John Saunders, Steve Higgins, Mick Phelan, and new member Johnny Grennan.
Two’s Pot: Only one 2 was recorded and it is thought that Johnny Grennan was pleased to have joined for he was the only one with the 2 and, therefore, walked away with the pot of 36€, to much derision from a couple of his ‘mates’!
In the Silver Division, the scores weren’t particularly high and it only needed 30 points for the Captain, Ernie Wilson to win the CBNC non-award. One point ahead was Big Keith, Keith Crossan with 31 points to claim the Runner-Up brownie. A full 7 shots ahead saw Mick Phelan comfortably take the Silver Divisions winners purse and normally, his 38 points would have been more than enough to claim top spot on the day.
In the Gold Division there were only two notable scores and Blue Smith’s 29 points wasn’t one of them as it was only good enough for the CBNC. The Runner-up in Gold was the very steady Darren Hancock, playing off a 6 handicap with 34 points and only one point separated him and Barney McCaffrey and Barney’s 35 points saw him take the top spot in Gold.
The overall prize went to an incredibly happy Gabi Middleton with an amazing score of 42 points which included three blobs! There was a very generous and genuine round of applause from the players. It is hoped she enjoys her new handicap!
Now, there is an old saying “After the Lords Mayors show” and this most certainly applied to the Happy Golfer of the day. It was a very close-run affair with two players in the mix, both scoring a miserable 19 points, Moose Burke and Andy Brown, who, if you recall, scored a marvellous 41 points at La Manga last week. Well, this was a certain case of “After the Lords Mayors show”, for after the countback system was applied and to much applause and general happiness, and with Moose punching the air in delight as Vice-Captain Andy Brown sheepishly walked up to accept the bottle of wine from his Captain.
Next week, Tuesday the 4th of August we are off to the highly rated and, quite possibly, the best course in this area, La Finca.
The week after, the 11th, we are at La Finca again, this time in the Stroke Play series (Maximum of 5 over par).
The 18th sees us back down south to La Manga, this time the South course and then we finish the month of with a trip to another society favourite, Vistabella.
Steve Higgins
