Oh Captain My Captain

After a week or twos worth of preparation, day one of Captains Prize came along and bit me hard. Playing in nice company with Fintan,Liam and Brian I managed to make a horrible start with a double bogey on the 1st and a quadruple bogey on the normally straightforward 2nd. I recovered somewhat with a few pars on the back and finished with a nett 75, 6 behind the leader. Tommorow will be a tough test and I hope I start better than today.

36

The magic number. Play to this and your handicap is right. And that's what I did yesterday, playing in what I thought was my first qualifying competition- unfortunately due to a number of soggy bunkers it was not. I was paired with Jim Davidson(not the comedian) and had a productive enough day. I putted very well and had a scrambling sand save on the only hole to have bunkers in play. 3 consecutive pars on the back 9 got me going and puts me in decent form heading into next weeks captains prize. I finished with a 94, my best singles score yet at the club..

Bitten by the bug...

Ok a week on from our Holmpatrick Cup qualifier runners-up spot and we had a washout three day weekend with the course seeing an awful lot of rain. Ed was away for a few days so we only got back on the course on Tuesday night late for nine holes. The only thing I got out of it was an armful of insect bites. Didn't drive it well and the rough was even heavier than usual because it was drenched. Possibly out tonight for a mixed scramble if the weather stays away but other than that I hope to be out on Sunday for 8:30 for the last stableford competition before next weeks captains prize. Still waiting on my GUI so hope that gets sorted in the next few days.

Have A Break

After an extensive week of golf I am taking a few days to recuperate. Ed is off to the US for a few days so today was our last chance to play together until the end of the month so we took in the nine hole V Par midweek event. It was a weird golf day, both of us hitting some excellent shots, notably Ed's putt on the par 5 8th and my five wood approach to the 1st green from under a tree. But we left too many shots out there - Ed finishing level and myself one down to the course.

The course itself wasnt in great nick after yesterdays barrage of rain and the bunkers were completely unplayable. I will stay away until the BUFS on Friday and I am down to play in the weekend quialifying competition so hope to make inroads into my handicap starting then.

On another note we finished 2nd in the Holmpatrick Cup qualifier, only 2 points behind the winners. Happy to be involved in the shake-up!!!

Go Team Go!!

Saturday saw another first in golf for me and in a fortnight of firsts it was the one I was looking forward to the most - a team event.The event itself was a qualifier for the NCBI Holmpatrick Cup(A charity event in aid of the National Council for the Blind) Myself and Ed are close to being on the same page in what we want to get from the game of golf so playing as a team is something we both agreed would work well for us.

It was a day to remember for me as I played probably the best golf I have ever played for 14 of the 18 holes and on the other 4 Ed played some wonderful shots(although he would admit the other holes didnt go his way today.) We were joined on track by Andrew, an 8 year club veteran and self-proclaimed lucky charm. The team of myself and Ed were only +4 through twelve holes in a round that included 9 pars!!! Considering the competition was based on 3/4 handicaps our final score of 42 points was not only respectable, it was only 2 points off the overnight lead. With weather conditions today much worse, the score could be in the top 3 or 4 and a great start to our team playing career in the club. We finished off the day with a pot of tea you could have bathed in and a breakfast that could have fed the five thousand.

We will be back on course on Monday morning for the midweek V Par 9 hole competition.

Steady Eddie

Friday saw my second attempt at the BUFS but I was blown out of the water by rookie club member(a week newer than me!!!) Eddie who won his first club competition at the first try. Ed played the nine holes expertly, finishing with a stableford score of 22 points. I finished with a respectable 18 but everything Ed hit went right and he played with the confidence and freedom to allow him to score really well. Very happy for him but I think we may have to buy this bandit a Sombrero!!!