May 11th - 13th 2001 at Gloucester
Picture taken at Thornbury Golf Club 13/05/2001
See Friday's scores :-
Rob, Bipin, Darren
Mick, Mark, Ed
Tim, Gary, Andy
The evening's entertainment started in the pub which was about 20 yards down the road from the hotel (just about close enough for Andy to consider walking without getting a taxi). There was a pool table and happy hour was from 7pm - 9pm (long hours in Gloucester!). Happy hour was 3 bottles for the price of 2 - we later found out that it was only on selected bottles, so wasn't as good as we'd thought :(
Towards the end of the evening everyone was feeling hungry so we went for a curry (another 50 yards down the road - really seeing the sights now). As usual there was some pre-competition betting going on, and perhaps the most extravagent bet was that Bipin would beat Gary by 563 shots.
Saturday 12th May
This was competition day as usual, and everyone had to wear their "Big Nosed Golf Society" polo shirts (if anyone hasn't paid me yet send me a cheque!). Handicaps were given
based on the scores submitted into the Big Nosed website, except Hanif who would have been a bandit playing
off 22, so we gave him 16 (as you'll see later on he won anyway ! - still a bandit!).
Tee off times for the days golf started at 9am which meant we needed to leave the hotel by 8:15, and as breakfast didn't start until 8am we were in a bit of a rush. The reason we were playing at such a stupid time in the moring was down to Bipin who had organised the event. He had to play cricket in the afternoon so needed to be finished for 1pm. It was also the FA Cup Final so at least we'd be back in time for that, although Tim wasn't convinced he'd make it in time.
The course was Cleeve Hill Golf Club in Cheltenham. The course is situated on the side of what seemed like a mountain, but the views from the top were spectacular. The second green proved very tricky with with the pin positioned just at the edge of a slope. The course was in good condition, and rather than well-cut it seemed to be well-grazed.
Nearest the pin on the par 3 6th hole was won by Darren and Andy who were about the same distance from the pin. The longest drive on the par 4 17th was won by Hanif and Andy. The nearest the pin competition and longest drive competition prizes are supposed to by £1 from each player, but as usual not everyone paid up, so next time the money will be collected before we start.
We eventually finished about 2 o'clock, having been out in the baking sun for almost 5 hours. A bite to eat in the clubhouse washed down with a couple of drinks was very welcome, before settling down to watch the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Liverpool. Ed was most upset when Arsenal scored, but that soon changed to excitement and then shear joy as Michael Owen scored two goals to win the cup.
As Bipin was playing cricket we went back to the hotel and arranged to meet him in the pub next to the hotel when he'd finished. Again happy hour was in force, so we had a few drinks and started playing pool. A group a youngsters tried to take over the table, but we kept them at bay. Their tactics seemed to be to "just bang it !".
After that we were starving and Bipin promised us a pizza at the local Pizza Hut in town. We walked into town, down a few roads, and just as we got to the Pizza Hut it had vanished, at least Bipin was convinced that it used to be there, even if none of us were! That was it, too hungry, half of us in KFC and half in Maccy D's. After that (about 10pm) some of the lightweights ;) went back to the pub while the hardy few (Bipin, Rob, Darren, Ed, Andy) decided to go on to a club. The club had a queue outside so we popped in the pub next door for a drink while the queue died down. When we came back out the queue was just as long, but at least we'd had a drink ! The club was more like a big pub, and was packed. Ed by this stage was dead on his feat, and just stood there. After a while we felt sorry for him and left about 12:30, after all we'd had a hard day's golf up and down a mountain !
Here are the results of the competition.
See the scores :-
Geoff, Darren, Hanif, Ed
Rob, Mark, Gary, Tim
Mick, Bipin, Ken, Andy
Sunday 13th May
Sunday's golf was played at Thornbury Golf Club. The course was in good condition and the greens were by far the best we'd had over the weekend.
Again the weather was very nice, at least until the last hole. Rob, Mick and Hanif just managed to finish before a big thunderstorm hit. The rain came down very hard,
and the following two groups got absolutely soaked. Mick needed a 7 on the last hole to beat 100, but with his first shot
out-of-bounds then needed a 5. Next tee shot followed the first, and that was that, ended up with 102. A bite to eat in the clubhouse, with a drink, and then that was that. The end of another
Big Nosed golfing weekend. See you all in September !
See the scores :-
Rob, Mick, Hanif
Mark, Tim, Darren
Salim, Bipin, Ken, Ed
