This last week has been
a very busy one, with two competitions at Ellesmere plus 3 opens.
Sunday was the Bell
Trophy at Ellesmere, it is one of our board competitions, the
afternoon was windy with a little rain around. I got off to a steady,
if unspectacular start with 6 bogeys and one double over the first 7
holes before pars at the 8th and 9th saw me
finish the first nine in 44 shots, right on my handicap.
I double bogied the
10th followed by another 4 bogies. On the par 5 fifteenth
I was on the green in three but left my first put 3 feet short and
missed so that was another bogey, On both the 16th and
17th I again missed from about 3 feet again for two double
bogies before hitting the 18th with my tee shot before
leaving my first putt short and for the 4th hole on the
trot missing from around 3 feet.
So I finished with a disappointing 46 on the back nine for a total of 92, which less my handicap of 16 gave me a net 76. It seemed that everyone else struggled and I ended up with the winning score, so have a trophy to pick up at Lady Captain's day when the presentation of the major competitions is done.
I had been really looking forward to Monday as I was playing in the open at Pleasington one of my favourite courses in the area. I really like it although it is a long challenging course. I have played there a couple of times in the past but never the full 18, as the course is split by a railway line and the 6 holes on the far side were not played when I have been there before.
I played with Hannah
and another lady from Davyhulme, and we were greeted with a
hailstorm when we arrived but the weather clear up before we teed
off and it was a lovely afternoon. We started quite steadily until
we crossed the railway, the 5th hole has a very sloping
green and although I was only 20 feet from the hole I managed to 4
putt including missing a 6 inch putt that ran away from the hole
when I went to tap it in.
Despite struggling on
several holes it did not diminish my love of the course and I will be
looking forward to my next visit.
We finished with a mere
61 points and I was surprised to see that it was the 2nd
best score in, however the ones out before us had had the worst of
the weather, so I expected a lot of scores in the afternoon to be
better than ours, Amazingly apart from one score of 75, most of the
scores were low and we finished up in 4th place and in
the prizes, a pleasant surprise.Tuesday I was playing with Hannah again at the Davyhulme open, my 2nd visit there in 5 days, we played with 2 girls from Ellesmere and like Friday we started off the round in the rain. It rained steadily for the first 5 holes and after we had putted through water on the 5th green, the klaxon went off and the round was suspended. The rain soon stopped and after a delay of a hour we went back onto the course.
We didn't play too badly, however I felt I let the team down on the par 3s were I only scored on 1 hole. We ended up coming 4th but out of the prizes this time.
Thursday was a medal round at Ellesmere and I thought the conditions ere near perfect form golf. I had a very up and down round but after 15 holes I was playing below my handicap, I had parred 5 holes and birdied the 15th but I had also had a couple of doubles and a treble bogey. Sadly I double bogied both 16 and 18 to finish with 89 shots less 16 for a nett score of 73.
When the scores were
being checked I was informed that I had failed to sign my card and
this meant I was disqualified. It was a silly mistake on my part, I
needed to put my clubs in the car after the round and I had popped my
card in my pocket while I did this, I then remembered it and put it
into the box without checking it.
It turned out that I would have finished 2nd, scoring wasn't as good as thought it would be and CSS had go up to 74, so happily despite being disqualified I had a small handicap cut and am now back down to 15.
The final round of the week was at Warrington, another really nice course, with great views both over to Manchester and also the Welsh hills and in the far distance, Snowdonia. I played with Hannah and another 2 ladies from Davyhulme. We started really well, had 2 pars and a birdie on the first 4 holes and Hannah had a par and a birdie so we had a great score going. Sadly we couldn't sustain this good scoring but we still played pretty well and finished up with a decent score of 78 points. Scoring was pretty good all round though with 86 points winning but we were only 3 behind the 2nd place score.
Overall I had a very enjoyable week and played pretty well too, I am still lacking that last little bit of consistency though, especially when faced with 3-4 feet putts, I miss far more than I hole, in fact at one point at Davyhulme on Tuesday I had putts from that distance on five successive holes and I missed the first 4 before finally holing the 5th.
Thursday's round
Hole 1
My tee shot just ran
off the back of the green, chipped to about 10 feet and hole for a
par 3
Hole 2
I hit a nice straight
drive but then hit down on the ball with my 3 wood and it only went
about 60 yds, I hit a nice 9 iron which agan just ran of the green
but I chipped to a couple of feet and holed for a bogey 5.
Hole 3
My drive was left and I
hit a 6 iron short of the ditch, another 6 iron was pulled left and I
had a pitch over a bunker to the hole, I played safe and went for the
middle of the green but again overhit the ball, I chipped on and 2
putted for a double bogey 7.
Hole 4
Again I hit my tee shot
through the green, I chipped a bit long and 2 putted for a bogey 4.
Hole 5
After a good drive
again hit down on the ball with my 3 wood and the ball didn't go very
far, I then pulled my 3rd into a bunker shot of the green
I managed to find the green and then hit a long putt to a foot and
holed for a double bogey 6.
Hole 6
I hot a good drive and
then finally a nice 3 wood to about 50 yds short of the green, my
pitch was a little short and left a long birdie putt, I got it close
and holed for a par 5.
Hole 7
A decent drive but to
the left hand rough, I hit the second to the fringe of the green but
did not hit my chip close enough and I had 2 putts for a bogey 5.
Hole 8
A good drive and a nice
3 wood left me a chip to the green but I hit it a bit long and it ran
over the bank at the back, I chipped on and 2 putts gave me a bogey
6.
Hole 9
I found the green with
a 9 iron and although I left my birdie putt 3 feet short I holed for
a par 3.
So 44 shots on the front nine, which was right on my handicap.
Hole 10
I hit my drive a long
way to the right but a good 3 wood left my a 30 yard pitch to the
green, I over hit it a little and then it a poor chip back, I t hit a
poor putt and then missed from 3 feet, so a very poor triple bogey 7.
Hole 11
A decent drive, then an
8 iron which left my a longer shot to the green than would have
liked but hit another 8 iron and found the front of the green, a
good first putt and a tap n for a par 5.
Hole 12
I hit a nice straight
drive that unfortunately ran right through the green to the bank at
the back, I chipped on and holed a nice 10 foot putt for a par 3.
Hole 13
A decent drive left a 5
wood to the green, which sadly clipped the top of a bank and finished
finished quite a bit short of the green. I chipped on and 2 putts
gave my a bogey 5.
Hole 14
I hit a nice teeshot
but it was sadly way right of the green behind a bush, I went to hit
a low chip in hope of getting close to the green but fortunately I
got a nice bounce off a bank and found the green, 2 putts gave me a
bogey 4.
Hole 15
I hit a nice drive and
then slightly thinned a 3 wood which left a wedge to the green, I hit a
nice shot to about 15 feet and hole the putt for a birdie 4.
Hole 16
I hit my drive way
right over trees towards the 3rd fairway I saw some men
playing the 3rd and was worried when on played their shot
from close to where I though my ball was, when I got there was
pointed to a ball on the fairway but when I check it was not mine, I
was right to be worried they guy had played my ball, so I had to wait
while he went to retrieve my ball and replace it from where he had
hit it. I then tried to hit hit to the right of the green to leave me
a reasonable chip but I only found a tree and it bounced back onto
the 3rd fairway, My 3rd went through the green
and I chipped on and 2 putts gave me a double bogey 6.
Hole 17
I hit a lovely drive and
then laid up in front of the ditch from where I hit a 3 wood that was
straight at the green. As there s a steep bank leading down to the
17th green I was unsure where I had finished and sadly
found that it had gone through the green but fortunately it had
finished just short of the stream at the back n longish rough, I
chipped to about 10 feet but missed the par putt so a bogey 6.
Hole 18
I thinned my tee shot
which hit the bank in front of the green and bounced back down into
the stream, I took a penalty drop and then hit a good pitch which
finished up just off the back of the green, I chipped to 10 feet and
holed the putt for a double bogey 5.
So the poor finish
meant 45 shots for the back nine and a total of 89 for the round
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