September 2007 - South Wales
Winner Mick Parkin (right) at Greenmeadow Golf Club
Friday 7th September
After a summer of rain and floods it was great to see a weather forecast for a nice weekend, and the weather didn't disappoint. A beautiful sunny day got the weekend off to a great start at Alice Springs Golf Club. The course was fairly hilly, had great views of the surrounding South Wales countryside (see some of the photos below). Bacon butties and a coffee on arrival were much needed after an early start. Gary made it by the skin of his teeth (but missed out on his bcon buttie after having to get a pouncture repaired. Rob had to walk round due a bad back. Ken came suitable adorned with knee length beige socks sporting a red garter.
See Friday's scores:
Bipin (Snr), Bipin, Dale, Hitan
Darren, Ken, Mark, Ed
Mick, Gary, Paul
The accomodation was at a Toby Carvery on the outskirts of Cardiff, which was ideal. It was decided to travel into Cardiff for the evening and fo into a sports bar to watch the world cup rugby, where we saw Argentina beat France, which seemed to go down well with the locals. After that the group split into two, with some going for a curry and a few others remaiming in the bar. The draw was made at the curry house for the next day, and several bets were placed as is customary on these ocassions.
Saturday 8th September
It was rather disappointing to discover that only a continental breakfast was available at the Toby Carvery in the morning as we are used to filling ourselves with a full english breakfast. We decided to take what was on offer and then travel straight to Greenmeadow Golf Club at abount 10:00am in order to see what food they had on offer. The food at the club was good, and several people had a cooked breakfast or a bacon roll. Some more bets were placed, including a £1 sweepstake for guessing the total number of shots for the day's rounds where the lowest guess was 1249 and the highest guess was 1302 for the 13 players.
Another sunny day out on the course made for great golf. Rob was fit to play, but had a buggy just to be sure. Ken made it to the course just on time after going sight-seeing around the local area in the morning. Some great golf was played with several people shooting 36 points or more, with Mick eventually winning on 42 points with a fantastic round of 77 (his second best ever).
The results of the main competition can be seen below.
The winners of the prizes were as follows:
| Paul Thatcher | 1249 |
| Actual total | 1224 |
See Saturday's scores:
Bipin (snr), Ed, Paul
Rob, Bipin, Darren
Mick, Dale, Gary
Hitan, Ken, Mark, Ian
Back at the Toby Carvery we again decided to go into Cardiff for the evening, so order some taxis. Mick, Ed, Rob, Ian, Gary and Darren got in the first two taxis whilst the others finished their drinks and waited for the next taxi. After waiting in Cardiff for a while in a pub where we had met Paul we phoned Bipin to see where they were, and they had decided not to come out after all and had stayed in the Toby Carvery. Wales were playing a Euro 2008 qualifier game which was being shown in the sports bar, so we watched that, but there didn't seem to be much of an atmosphere, or interest, from the locals. After that Mick, Rob and Ian decided to call it a day, and went to get some chips, then got a taxi back to the Toby Carvery, whilst Darren, Ed, Gary and Paul went on to another bar for a while.
It seemed a shame that the group had been split on both evenings, and the loud music in the sports bar meant that it was difficult to talk to each other. Whilst it was OK, it was not the same as previous events where we have gone to a local pub with a pool table, had a few beers and bit of banter and a laugh.
Sunday 9th September
On Sunday we travelled to Dewstow Golf Club. This course was chosen as it was in the right direction for going back home, and we've also played there a few times before. We played the Valley course and we soon discovered that most holes were dogleg left, meaning that you ideally needed a draw to get into good positions on the fairway. I don't think many of us draw the ball, and so most of us found it a little tricky. Having said that Bipin (snr) had a great round, and was 1 under par after 8 holes, finishing on 78 (6 over par).
See Sunday's scores:
Darren, Hitan, Gary, Ed
Rob, Bipin (snr), Dale
Mick, Bipin, Mark, Ian
