The season starts

Yesterday was the first competition of the new season, more on that later. As a pre-season warmer I have recently played both Formby and Royal Liverpool (Hoylake). Althoguh both are links courses, they are very different. Formby is set within dunes with gorse and pine trees to provide decoration. The holes were,to me, very long, and in all honesty I found it a struggle.

 

Royal Liverpool in contrast is very open with little vegetation, considerably shorter but no less a challenge, with lots of stragically placed bunkers, several of which I found. The course was very dry and  is the venue for the 2014 Open, so it was great to play it. The clubhouse is very traditional and the club's history is proudly displayed.

 

I enjoyed playing Royal Liverpool very much, despite not scoring very well.

 

Back home, I played for the club in the 2nd round of the Mail on Sunday knockout at Hindley Hall GC. I played steadily and won my game 4 & 3, sadly the others in our team were not as successful and we lost the match 3-2.

 

The winter league came to an end, I beat the Lady Captain in the semi finals to reach the final, and this proved to be a very close match with only one hole seperating us right up to the last hole. fortunately I won the last to win the match 2 up.

 

Wednesday this week was the AGM of the ladies section, and I became a member of the committee, there were 3 places available and only 3 candidates, so we were all elected. There were also a few presentations and I received the England Golf medal, a rosebowl for having the most shots off my handicap last year and  I won the prize for the most birdies in the bronze division. I also won a trophy which will be presented by the donor next week.

 

So onto my first round in what is Ellesmere's Centenary Season, a Stableford competition. I set off in the hope for an early handicap reduction, which looked on the cards after the first 8 holes, but sadly I couldnt keep up the good start and finished the round with a rather disappointing 29 points for 5th place. Although fine it was very windy and quite cold but I dont use that as an excuse.

 

For those interested in such things, this is how the round went.

 

Hole 1, Not a good start, I topped a 5 iron which only went about 50 yds, but a good pitch found the green and 2 putts gave me a bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 2, I hit a decent decent drive into wind and took out my 3 wood, a club I really couldn't use last year, but one which I have practiced a lot during the winter, sadly I made air shot, completely missing the ball, undeterred I tried again and this time hit it to about 70 yds from the green a pitch  and 2 putts for a double bogey 6 and 1 point.

Hole 3, I hit good driveand then a 5 iron to 130yds from the green another 5 iron was just short of the green, my pitch was a bit short but I holed a 15ft putt for a par 5 and 3 points.

Hole 4, another topped iron off the tee, I pitched just of the green but chipped to  2 feet and holed the putt for a bogey 4 and 2 points.

Hole 5, We are still playing this from a forward tee which means I can drive the ditch that crosses the fairway at about 150 yds, however the drive was  into wind today and I found the ditch, so had to takr a penalty drop, I hit a nice 8 iron to 10 feet and just missed the par putt, so a bogey 5 and 2 points.

Hole 6 I hit a easonable drive and a good 5 iron to 90yds, my pitch went a bit right to fringe, a poor chip and 2 putts gave my a bogey 6 and 2 points

Hole 7 Another decent drive left a  3 wood to the green but I hit it quite wide right, but a chip on 2 putts gave another bogey and 2 points.

Hole 8 A good drive then a good 3wood left around 30yds, I chipped to 2 feet and holed the putt for a birdie 4 and 4 points.

Hole 9, the shortest on the course, and I topped  my tee shot again, straight into ditch,a penalty drop and then topped into ditch again, another drop and a pitch to a foot, sadly a triple bogey and no points

 

So dispite an air shot and 3 penalty drops I finished the first 9 with 18 points

Hole 10, a wayward drive to the right, a recovery left me  150 yds to the green, I hit a 5iron to the leftof the green but a poor chip and 3 putts gave me another triple and no points.

Hole 11, A decent drive and a nice 5 iron to just before the broad ditch left me an 80yds pitch, I found the middle of the green but a poor first putt meant I three putted again for a bogey 6 and 2 points.

 

Hole 12, I took a 3 wood for safety off the tee but topped it, I pu my 2nd into trees and pitched to the fringe of the green, 2 putts for a double bogey 5 and 1 point.

Hole 13, I drove high and left into trees, a poor recovery then a reasonable 3rd, left me 130yds to the green,I hit a nice  nice 5i but found a bun ker at the front of the green, I just got out but 3 putted again for a quad bogey 8 and no points, annoying as I got 2 shots on this hole and failed to make the most if them.

Hole 14, A iron off the tee was better than previous but left me a chip over a bunker, sadly it off back of the green and another 3 putts gave me bogey 5 and 1 point.

Hole 15 A nice drive followed by a decent  3 wood, left me about 140yds to the green, a good 5 iron found the middle of the green and 2 putts gave me a par and 3 points.

Hole 16, A drive to the right finished near a tree and gave me a restrict swing, I hit the ball to about  80 yds from the green was followed by an awful pitch, which left me a chip over a bunker, I hit the green but yet another 3 putts for a triple bogey 7 and no points.

Hole 17 A good drive and  decenty iron left me about 170 to the green, I hit a great 3 wood to the middle and 2 putts gave me a par and 3 points

Hole 18, I finally hit a decent iron off the tee on a par 3, however although pin high I found a bunker and failed to get with the first shot, I got out with the 2nd and then 2 puuts for a double bogey 5 and 1 point.

 

So only 11 points on the back 9 for a total of 29 for the round.

 

Despite the poor back 9, there were a lot of positives, after the airshot, I hit my 3 wood very well, I parred the 3 for the first time in a competition, birdied the 8th for the first time in a comp too, and on the 17th, the longest hole on the course I found the grren in 3 shots for the first time in a competition as well. In fact I played the 6 pars 5s very well and was only one over par for these, which gave me 17 of my points. The downside was my performance on the par 3s which I usually play well, these 6 holes only gave me 7 points. As for the par 4s, well I played the ok on the front nine but failed to score on any of them on the back nine. In my defence I would say that 5 of these were into a stiff wind, unlike the par 5s which were mostly downwind.

 

The good news was that scoring was generally not good and so it was reductions only and my handicap remained at 19.4.