The big weekend came around at last, the Surrey National Club Championship.
Practice rounds were enjoyed, clubs cleaned (maybe not Brian Chamberlain’s), dreams of victory no doubt floated around the club. Could everyone’s game come good on the day… and then again the next day. The weekend saw pretty good weather, somewhat breezy and a bit overcast on Sunday with a spot of drizzle. Course in fantastic condition, greens were quick and true… greenkeepers had done a great job.
(Too) Early Saturday morning
Possibly a bit too firm for me and not receptive for my collection thins and duffs from thick rough. Obviously it was more likely to be the noddy hitting it, but you certainly had to tailor some shots given the firmness of the greens after seeing a couple of *cough* decent pitches disappear off the back/side into the next postcode. A real test.
Pace of the round early on was fine for us, but I did hear a few very loud grumbles about the speed of play – not helped at all by a noticeable increase in the number of two balls as a few people didnt turn up. Bit strange.
As the groups came in from Day1, it seemed everyone had a war story or two about a certain hole of two. Our group had one, and tales of 8, 9 and 10s (or more) started to be banded about. Zach Gorman was asked how he was getting on after finishing a hole, and replied that he’d just carded 15 for the hole. Um, I don’t think a follow up question was posed… and he wasnt alone.
Some shenanigans were about with some tee slot changes, and it seems a 2shot penalty were called on someone’s playing partners after they had tee’d off accidentally from the whites. Hmmm, very strange.
Scores to be were perhaps a bit high. No one broke par but given the firmness of the greens, not a surprise… it was a day of keeping it in play, avoiding the blow-out holes and trying not to get too excited on the long putts leading to 3 putts or more.
Matt and Keiren had planned out the pins a couple of days earlier, apparently amusing themselves over a couple of locations on certain greens. The pin on the 4th came in for universal condemnation! The par3 7th’s place on Day2 day was certainly setup to be challenge.
Day 1 Results. Please note the ‘No Hope’ top right added by Kieren for the benefit of Mr Denzil “No” Hope.
Leave a Reply