Date: 25th July 2007
Present: HO / DA / NM / PE
At
last the long awaited day to play at England’s oldest club arrived and the
weather for once was clear - albeit with a strong south westerly wind which
became the writers undoing towards the latter part of the round – but more on
the golf later.
The
club was indeed a fine venue and certainly an imposing building packed full of
history although there was no sign of the said museum ???
But
who needs a museum when the restaurant delivered a tasty breakfast served on
fine bone china – and the hooravians, true to form, became silly little boys
and ridiculed the oil based paintings with fine gentlemen clad in their attire
honouring the clubs history. The staff were not amused and nor was Willie
Caddie who looked down on us disapprovingly donning his extraordinarily large
tam-o-shanter clutching his masters accoutrements.
Sadly
Valise was not in attendance having been caught up by work commitments once
more.
Onwards
to the golf and in normal fashion there was the obligatory putting competition
hosted by H. Osler – I don’t think he won this time !
Much
excitement was generated in the run up to this set off with mutterings of the
Braid course design and the true vintage era that it was built in. Unusually,
we all had to tee off from the 10th but this was accepted and all and sundry
blasted one – all finding their various rough-ridden lies with the exception of
DA who nailed one down the middle. Was it another DA-day with single figures on
the horizon – I for one thought I’ve seen this all before. But golf is a funny
ole game and in the following breeze his second shot skied into the bushes
behind the green from which position he had a terrible time getting back into
play.
DA
struggled to find his tempo until the fourth hole when a booming drive down the
middle set himself nicely for a small chip and run - but inexplicably he
thinned one to the back of the green leaving a long chip back. I’m not sure
whether DA had over indulged in breakfast but he certainly stripped the white
paint of his ball on almost every hole and lacked that silky gossamer touch to
which we have all recently become so accustomed. Even the deadly laser like
putting was not on form and one sensed that his day was definitely going to be
difficult. But after a resurgence in the afternoon he came back with a
vengeance to take the putting stats, all the way to the bank. The vintage
moment of the afternoon was a marvellous drive at the 18th that skipped over the
fence and positioned him for a wonderful birdie opportunity right in front of
the club house – shame he only got a par.
Easto
had to show us the way as the only member of the group to have played the
course before. His laid back attitude in turning up 10 minutes before teeing
off was vindication to his confidence. He lashed his first shot down to the
right and onto the 9th fairway where his view was blocked but made amends on
the second as the only player making the fairway. His driving was imperialistic
using that line that only the bravest men take and many a time I thought his
ball was lost but utilising the wind and the draw spin, the ball reached its
target with ease. Two fine birdies were notched up, the first at the sixth hole
(playing as our 14th) where another incredible draw which flirted momentarily
with the OB then drifted back onto the centre of the fairway almost on command
and then a delicate chip to within a foot of the pin. Thereafter an inch
perfect tee shot at the 8th solidified an overwhelmingly lead. The vintage
moment of the day had to be the drive on the 17th – the ball drew round
perfectly and he wasted no time nailing the chip shot into the green - a worthy
winner for the day.
Osler
came to Blackheath bright and early with a smile on his face – no prizes for
the one who works out what he had for breakfast !!??!! The start was steady as
she goes carding par after par – something that we have grown used to, however,
the little touches round the greens and the almost near perfect drives were not
in plentiful supply. It took the great 18th hole to bring out the best in our
man. The back nine saw better strokes no doubt buoyed up by the lunch but the
wind blew stronger with the onset of rain and to that the sixth hole where a
good knock with his trusty 3 iron helped him to play to the green and knock it
in for par. The next unleashed a booming drive but sadly the wind snared it in
its path and pushed it out towards the tree line. The ball was found but an
impossible drop and he had to play out the woods. He would have been better
served with an axe than a club. But recovery is second nature to Osler and
final flourish in the last few holes secured 3 points. The vintage moment of
the day had to be the drive on the 18th, pure genius.
Last
but not least the writer. I shall keep this short as my round is not worthy of
great mention. Suffering the organisers curse the round ebbed and flowed from
one reasonable to shot to two poor one’s. The only shot that merits a mention
was my second from the light rough on the par 5 that actually made the green.
Eagle putt was set but as per normal the spaghetti shaped take back flawed the
putt and par was the best I could muster.
Much
was expected from this course and to some degree it delivered but the magnificent
club house and all its splendour with its antiquities and good food
overshadowed a rather ordinary and somewhat boring course. As we tacked our way
up and down the fairways one could be forgiven to think that we were playing at
Royal Hassocks. It would be similar to sitting inside a Rolls Royce only to
find out that it was powered by a Skoda engine. We have ticked the box and that
is where it shall remain.
Onwards
to Osler’s day at Hayling Island where the conditions will be slightly
different.
NM
And
now over to our stats guru ...
ROYAL BLACKHEATH – 24 JULY 2007
|
|
HO |
DA |
NM |
PE |
|
Front Nine (stableford) |
18 |
22 |
19 |
23 |
|
Back Nine (stableford) |
21 |
19 |
18 |
22 |
|
Overall (stableford) |
39 |
41 |
37 |
45 |
|
Gross score (par 70) |
84 |
83 |
87 |
80 |
|
Meddle score |
+14 |
+13 |
+17 |
+10 |
|
Gross score on par 3’s (4) |
+4 |
+2 |
+2 |
+3 |
|
Eagles !!! |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
Birdies |
- |
- |
- |
2 |
|
FIR (14) |
3 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
|
GIR |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
|
Putts |
32 |
29 |
33 |
31 |
The winners for the meeting were therefore as
follows:
|
Front Nine |
PE |
23
pts |
|
Back Nine |
PE
|
22
pts |
|
Overall |
PE |
45
pts |
|
Par 3’s (4 holes) |
DA/NM |
+2 |
|
Eagles / Birdies |
- |
- |
|
Putts |
PE |
2 |
The
money stakes were as follows assuming £4 for each comp, £16 total in the pot
HO
£0
DA £2
NM £2
PE 14
£2
birdie pot held over
Player
|
Exact H/C
before
event |
Meddle
Score Today
|
Adj To H/C
|
New Exact H/C
|
New Playing H/C
|
HOOM Before Game
|
HOOM Points Today
|
HOOM
After Game
|
|
HO |
17.3 |
+14 |
-0.9 |
16.4 |
16 |
10 |
3 |
13 |
|
PB |
18.0 |
dnp |
- |
18.0 |
18 |
16.5 |
1 |
17.5 |
|
DA |
17.7 |
+13 |
-1.5 |
16.2 |
16 |
11 |
4 |
15 |
|
NM |
18.0 |
+17 |
-0.3 |
17.7 |
18 |
15.5 |
2 |
17.5 |
|
PE |
18.0 |
+10 |
-2.4 |
15.6 |
16 |
7 |
5 |
12 |