Mediocre stableford, brilliant Sunday round

The wind the wind! Geesh yesterday the wind was howling....! Only scored 30 points in the comp - sort of gave up holes 10 to 14.

However today was much better weather. Played a match with a 10 handicapper and beat him! Only because he had to give me a stroke per hole. But then I scored 44 on the front 9 which is pretty good.

Two memorable shots:

3rd shot on the 8th, with 8 iron straight at the hole, landed and rolled to 2 foot from the hole.
2nd shot on the 11th, from the rough(!) again - 8 iron landed 1 foot from the hole dead, no roll.

Parred both holes.

this round 6 pars, 6 bogies - need to get more bogies!

100 holes completed!

5.20am. I parked up and prepared for the biggest golfing day in my life. I looked up and saw a blue and pink figure waving and standing on the first tee, with two others in muted colours. Hmmm, I thought...at least I have a target to aim for. Anyway, by the time I made it to the first tee, the intrepid duo of Steve and Des were already half way down the fairway. John, as bright in temperament as in clothing, teed off on the first to a place which was to be the regular home of his first tee shots each round in the day.

Round 1. We were walking, the sky was a muted grey somewhat teasing us with rain, but it turned out to be a scorcher by the afternoon. Golfers obsessed with a goal in mind, we forged our way through the course, John counting his birdies whilst I was tried to avoid bushes and water. We caught up with Des and Steve half way round, then they graciously let us play through. The highlight of my golfing career was my last shot on the 14th hole, next to the 150 yard marker. WHOOSH with a 5 wood, it hit the green, then rolled into the hole with a rattle. I stood there incredulously as there was that millisecond of awe between John and I - images of a cheering crowd at a pro golf tourney fleetingly came into my mind. We arrived back at the clubhouse two hours later ready for a spot of breakfast.

Round 2 we were joined by the lovely Linda and our focus was interspersed with hilarity as Linda, keen to be at our service, buggy driving, and handing us our clubs, was, as we discovered, a bit of flash lightning when it came to whipping the flagstick out of the hole! As John's ball travelled on the 18th green, I saw a blur across the green and Linda whipped the flagstick out as the ball rolled past the hole!

Round 3 and Round 4 went by like a blur for me but with one exception - the sun came out. Oh lovely you might say. However, the searing heat paid its toll on my energy levels and my tee shots went off the course and into bushes. John always managed to sound so surprised when my tee shots went sideways - a mastery of discretion on his part. I switched to the five wood towards the end of the round and managed to hit the short stuff from then on at least. John looked fresh as a daisy or was it a tulip. I found him JOGGING on the 15th! Wondering if he had secret solar batteries, he had told me previously that although he was feeling fine, he appeared to have developed a nasty blister on his heel and that it was more comfortable jogging than walking. Well, you woudn't have known he was in pain when looking at him and it certainly didn't halt his birdie style. "Twenty-two birdies and one eagle", John announced to me as I staggered into the clubhouse after the fourth round. I discovered my exhaustion was due to dehydration as I promptly downed half a litre of icy water in the cool darkness of the clubhouse.

Heel blisters weren't a problem on the 5th round because Ulrike joined us to drive the buggy. Well, Ulrike is a very calm and thoughtful golfer, but as for buggy driving I think that she takes after her country compatriot, Michael Schumacher! John hung on the back of the buggy (for his life at times), she complained that when she put her foot down to the floor the buggy wasn't going fast enough. "Are we running out of petrol?" she asked as we screamed down a slope. Her reasoning was that she wanted to get us around the course as quickly as possible. I tell you, all signs of exhaustion disappeared from me being replaced by gallons of adrenalin as we raced round F1 Sunbury. On the 11th, as she sped up ahead to a greenful of players, we saw them obediently scatter. We got back to the club house about 15 mins before Steve and Des, thanks to Ulrike's motoring skills.

And now to the final 10. Sue and Milton joined us outside the clubhouse to rally us on to the end. The last 10 holes turned out be a bit like a pageant – I felt like royalty since all players so kindly stood aside for us to play. A bit like the final group at the Open! As I teed off on the 1st for the last time, I hadn’t moved for 45 minutes, and with 10+ people watching me - DUFF SHOT on to the wrong fairway, never mind, always a first time for a shot like that so why not in a possible moment of glory. I scuttled off to find my ball, my 2nd shot turned out to be a corker, I came back onto the first fairway to find John in his usual spot. Still even with duff shot, the scores were 5s all round, so disaster averted. On the 2nd tee, there appeared to be even more spectators. I teed off. DUFF SHOT into the gorse bush! Honestly guv, I didn't do that the previous 90 holes. We slowly progressed as a four ball weaving our way through the evening players. Audiences definitely don't help skills after playing 90 holes. Except of course in John's case as he was still chasing birdies. Note to self - must get some pink trousers. The sun was setting as we mooched on to the 18th green. The fact that we all missed our long putts didn't matter, Steve, Des, John and I all stood round the hole murmuring encouragement. So that was that – 400 holes played! My gross score as 553 (18 under par for 100 holes), John’s 406 (or under), Des and Steve scored around 450. As we sat in the balmy evening, we recounted our adventures with fondness. 9.15pm. A truly memorable day, no rain, no trouble aside from the usual aches and pain and blisters and four very happy golfers heading home to a good night's sleep or in my case rigormortis as soon as I lay down. Thanks to Linda, Ulrike, Milton, Sue, Brian and Julie for driving the buggies but most of all I'd like to thank Sue our valiant Ladies Captain for her tireless efforts in coordination and her never-ending enthusiasm.

My turn to organise next year! Watch this space!
p.s. big regret, I was so focused on playing I didn't take any pictures, something to rectify next year!

Update for 100 holes

Did 36 holes yesterday - went out at 6am and then weather was so nice, went around again with the ladies.

My effort to play daily golf has been hampered by weather, but so far I have been out at the crack of dawn 4 times and played and trained most days.

Only a week away! eeeeeek....

100 Hole Challenge

Hi everyone

Thanks for visiting my golfing blog. I'm officially in training for the 100 Hole Challenge which I will do on Thursday 25th June.

Four members of Sunbury Golf Club will be doing this in aid of the nominated charities for this year's Captains - the Shooting Stars Hospice in Hampton and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

I would do an online donation form, but this means that the donations won't go through our Captains' Charities so I'll have to do a combo of paper form and Paypal.

Please come back and watch my progress!

Ciao!
Liz

Knackered and lost 7 wood mojo

ARRRGGGH... Last night 7 wood was as though no progress had been made, need to practise!

Still A & K had a good time - and now they are off to watch golf!

Luego
Liz

Last card completed!

Got my 3 cards ready for my handicap and the last one was 117, so considering that the first one was 131 and the 2nd was 134, sorting out my 7 wood has made a lot of difference. Now all I have to do it not keep losing balls!

yeeee haaaa

Personal Progress from 3 hours to 1.25 hours

Forgot the whole reason why I started this blog, to track progress...

1st 9 holes ever - 31st October 07 - score xxxxxx (10 shots on the first hole probably)

Took 3 hours to get round!

2nd 9 holes ever 31st December 07 - score xxxxx -1

Then I decided to play every weekend...

NOW - 27 June 08

9 hole - best score - 42 (33 par) - average when started around 60

Average par 4 number of strokes - 6 or 7 (get to green in 4, ave 2 or 3 putts)

No of birdies on par 3s - 2

No of hole in ones - 0

No of pars - dunno - probably 10 or so

With the 7 wood mojo, I could get to the green in 2 so potentially could birdie!

Greatest shot so far - chip in from 40 feet on the 2nd hole on the 18, going down 2 levels

Great shots - today - 2nd hole on 9 - from rough just before fairway, to 50 yards before the green. Next shot (experimenting with 7 wood) went beyond the green.

Pitch on 22nd June - 4th hold on 18 - couldn't get over the stream, so dropped a ball on the side nearest the green. Pitched, ball rolled down to 1 inch of the hole. Was verrrry windy!

Others - can't remember any more, but will record them here from now on!

More soon...

Pain and rain

It's raining now in Kew. I'm forever focusing on the weather now, plus how my arms and hands are feeling - today my right hand is feeling achy after this morning's practice. However, it could be age and the weather!

7 wood mojo!

After a complete and nasty mishit in Wednesday's greensomes, I went out to practise with my 7 wood yesterday and today - seems that I have been standing too far away from the ball which means I hit the ball with the toe of my club hence the pingngngngngnggggg!

Anyhoo, MUCH happier now that the 7 wood is working, hopefully I can get a good score in my final card for my handicap.

Roll on the weekend!

Stats:
Played Mon, Wed, Thur, Fri...and will be playing Sat, Sun may be - depending on the weather!

Hole in 2?

Having not managed to get over the brook on the 10th hole, I dropped a ball, and pitched it up to the green, it hit the green rolled up to the hole and stopped an inch from the hole....why????

Stats:

played tues, wed, thur, fri, sat, sun (18), mon.....rest tues, play today hooray!