Friday 13th September
Taking a break from some of the usual courses we play around Bradford, Bip sorted us out for a 1:00pm tee-off at the Manor Golf Club, Drighlington. This turned out to be an excellent choice for several reasons, not least because it was near the motorways and easy to find, and also fairly cheap as they refunded Bip his fee for organising a group trip there, which he kindly shared amongst his fellow competitors. Soup and sandwiches were also included in the fee and the course was in excellent condition, particularly the greens.
It has to be said, however, that crash helmets would be appropriate on the 1st and 10th holes as balls seem to come flying in from the golf range at regular intervals. Scores on the day were nothing to write home about. Mark had a particularly impressive 3 hole stretch of 33 shots, and all 6 players joined forces on one of the par 3's which confused a couple of onlookers.
See Friday's scores:
Roger, Bipin, Ed
Mick, Mark, Darren
Accommodation for the weekend was at the Sporting Lodge Hotel near Idle, Bradford. This was a massive departure from our usual Five Flags stay, having been kindly organised for us by Andy 'Hotel' Thurstan (or should that be Andy 'Conference Hotel' Thurstan). How Lucy was coping without us at the Five Flags we'll never know !! Suffice to say, whilst a bit cheaper than the Five Flags (and there can't be too many places that are), it didn't quite have the same character and comfortable beds.
Whilst we had all decided Saturday night would be curry night (on the basis that we were being joined by a few more by then), it soon became obvious that no one had any better suggestion for the Friday night so we took directions from the receptionist and headed into Idle for the usual array of Baltis and the like. Suffice to say that once a couple of pints had been quaffed, Bip and Mick started their usual betting discussions. Obviously the beer was doing the talking as a £1 per hole challenge between the two became £2 per hole and then £5 per hole !! An array of minor bets were placed by the remaining guys. Given his arguing and negotiating skills that came to the fore on Saturday evening, it was probably a good job that Ken wasn't there on the Friday night - or else we may still have been there.
A first for any Friday evening - everyone retired to bed before 12:00 !!
Saturday 14th September
A hearty full English was had by all except Ed who managed a bit of toast and ¼ of a Weetabix. The competition event was held at Wike Ridge, which had been played on the Sunday the two previous years. As we had a couple of hours to kill before tee-off, Mick was cajoled into taking everyone sight-seeing. Whilst everyone (including Bip and Roger) was merrily led to the Cow and Calf at the edge of Ilkley Moor, Roger's brother Andy (who was joining us) was somehow directed to Haworth !!
Weather was again calm, dry and overcast as it had been on the Friday for the competition. All eyes were on the first group as Mick and Bip began trying to psyche each other out. Unfortunately for Bip, a 4,4 start was only good enough to put him £10 down and even put him behind Ken who had started 4,3. Worse was to follow. Scoring overall on the day was excellent - probably the best its been at any of the events. This in part was due to the relative easiness of the course (in comparison to the wind-swept conditions we have experienced before at Branshaw for example) and also due to the new handicapping (using event handicaps).
One of the major highlights was Ed chipping in for a birdie at the fifth where his shouts were heard across the whole of North Leeds ! Don shot his best round of the year (again !) on his old course. Darren and Hitan in the last group also had a great tussle, both having scored points on every hole. Unfortunately Darren succumbed to last hole nerves and a 0 pt return probably cost him the title this year.
Here are all the scores from the round:
See Saturday's scores:
Mick, Ken, Bipin
Ed, Don, Mark
Roger, Darren, Hitan, Andy
And the big bet ! - Bip lost big time.
Saturday evening consisted of the usual leering at scantily clad females in the Sir Titus Salt in
Bradford City centre whilst downing a few beers and girlie drinks, followed by a curry at a nearby
establishment. Suffice to say that when the bill came for £190 for 9 of us, a few eyebrows were raised.
This was not our usual, eat all we can, and £8 per head job. Closer inspection of the bill revealed
two things. The bloody proprietors couldn't add up for one thing. That brought it down to around £140.
We then spotted that they'd added a load of drinks on that we hadn't had. All was eventually sorted.
Back in the reception foyer of the Hotel, the night porter was summoned to keep the drinks flowing
for a couple more hours and we swung into conversation with a few of the female hotel workers who
were having some drinks on the next table. The highlight of the evening came when
Bip was in
discussion with one of the aforementioned girls. The conversation went something like:
Bip
(gesticulating towards Darren in the opposite corner): "See my fat mate over there ?"
Girl (not quite snuggling up to Bip):
"No - I can't see past your fat belly"
Sunday 15th September
And yet another hearty full English. Not sure whether Ed actually ate his or not as he was too engrossed in reading every inch of every report about Liverpool's 3-2 win on the Saturday. However, the curries over the preceding two evenings had obviously done a good job on Mark as he visited the loo no less than 4 times before we got in the cars for our trip to West Bradford Golf Club for our 10:00 tee-off.
Weather was again the same, Bip and Mick re-ran their £5 per hole bet (eventually to end up all square). The course was very good, even if most people did 4 put the greens occasionally !!
See Sunday's scores:
Bipin, Darren, Mark
Mick, Ed, Hitan, Roger
Most of us had hoped to hire buggies (which seems to be becoming a habit on the last day - are we getting old ?). However, they didn't have any (read on and you'll find out why).
We would have liked to have experienced the delights of the clubhouse, sharing a pint or two before heading off home. However, events on the 17th hole with the last grouping meant we were probably better off with a pint at a hostelry some miles away. At some point during the round we had all noticed a group of delinquents running across one of the clubhouse building roofs. They were probably aged between 6 and 12 and were chucking clubs and stones about and basically being a pain up the arse. They clearly came from the council estate adjoining one side of the course.
To cut a long story short, these morons fired a ball onto the 17th fairway (from their stance on public ground near the clubhouse) which just missed Ed's head. Ed politely asked them to refrain ("Oy - If you do that again I'll bloody have you" at the top of his voice). When the second ball whizzed past his ear Ed did an impression of his namesake Moses and hurdled a fence in pursuit of the little tykes. As expected they scarpered like frightened bunnies. Unfortunately Ed noticed they had left a few clubs hanging around and so took his revenge. For those of you who remember Ed's exploits at the previous event in France where he came off one round a club short, we were all quite amused by the fact he was probably going to be a few clubs up from this one !!
Ed being the good upstanding citizen that he is handed the clubs to the Cub Pro. However, he was again confronted by the kids in the club shop, this time with one of the mother's in tow. I can't do justice to the conversation that followed between Ed and this women but Ed was accused of having a plum in his mouth. Now come on !!!
Roll on next year !!
Mick.
