A trip to Altorreal, just north of the city of Murcia, always leads to at least some poor souls getting lost, and today was no exception. However, far more unfortunate was one member’s clutch giving out a minute from the course, meaning him having to miss the round and sort out the vehicle’s return.
So 30 members and 3 guests finally took on what turned out to be a course in somewhat disappointing condition given its excellent state the last time the society visited back in the spring. Greens, whilst generally slick and true varied in pace and were covered in lightly sanded patches.
Many bunkers were very hard with compacted sand, and some areas of the fairways and semi-rough were quite wet. These factors, possibly with the added addition of joints only starting to loosen up after the very cold start once the sun’s warmth had started to be felt, led to some average scoring.
Steve Higgins (34) posted the best return of the day, with only half a dozen members beating 30. However, though the rounds may not have been great, it is always a pleasure to sit out on Altorreal’s club house balcony, beverage in hand, taking in the splendid views during prize giving.
The day’s competition results, by category and in reverse order, were the following:
Bronze Category: 3rd Norman Padmore (28 on CB), 2nd Marg Birtwistle (28 on CB), and 1st Paul Cobain with 31 points.
Silver Category: 3rd Ken Flaherty (29 on CB), 2nd Scotty Phillips (32 on CB), and 1st Keith Wickham, also with 32.
Gold Category: 3rd Ivan Hanak (31), 2nd Mike Iddles (32), and 1st Steve Higgins with 34 points.
Nearest the pins on the par 3’s (open to all) went to Tony Smale (hole 5), Mark Preston (8), Mick the Grip (10), and Keith Wickham (17).
The Abacus, a decent bottle of red wine, was won by Bob Eyland.
The Best Guest prize went to Mark Preston (32).
Our thanks go to the staff at Altorreal for their contribution to an enjoyable day.
Keep up to date with all SMGS matters by logging on to our website www.smgs.org or simply give Captain Tony Smale a call on 628227687 to find out more about the society and its weekly golf get-togethers. Next week we will be at Vistabella.
