Richie wins Tenerife 2019 Winter Tour

Perhaps not a big shock but the always tour-consistent Richie came up with the goods again with some more solid golf last week in Tenerife.  It was another Swashies Winter tour with Phil kindly offering his villa for 5 days of some November sunshine, golf and um, drinks n stuff.

Day 1: Las Americas – 9holes

Early start for most of us as Phil, Winkle and Simon had arrived a couple of days beforehand to acclimatise and play a round in the North of the island… (and for Phil to check his swing after his recent hernia op).  Five of us met in Gatwick last Thursday morning and caught the early easyJet over to the island and hopped in a cab to dump gear in the villa before meeting the others at Las Americas.

As per, the week was drowning in competitions within competitions.  We were to play 2 nine’s in the tour to make 18holes and the comps included overall 1st & 2nd, daily front/back/overall, pins, matches, blind matches etc etc.

After meeting the others we played the back9 at Las Americas with the weather being  warm if a bit overcast.

Some good scores returned on the 9holes, the pace being annoyingly slow.  Las Americas has a lot of traffic and not being cheap they accept all skill levels and we did see some remarkable swings in the two days we were there.

Playing off the yellows, Phil shot 20pts and Sean 19 whilst Winkle and I fought for the Day1 sh*t emoji which I secured with a blob in the water on the 18th after a long wait.  Evening saw us eat locally to the villa at the Spice restaurant after briefly catching the England game at the Irish bar.

Day 2: Las Americas – 18 holes

Off the white tee’s today and a few weary heads turned out to play.  Well done Johnny who was really not too chipper having a bout of food poisoning overnight.  White tee’s did their job on the lower scores, Las Americas has a few good holes (and a couple of annoying ones!).  Annoying for me, as despite a good start, back-to-back blobs did me in thanks to a dodgy bounce on a long par3 and cambered par4 SI1.  Special note to Simon who secured the pin on that long par3 with a fantastic hybrid over water.

I retained the sh*t emoji after day2, with Richie’s good driving producing an impressive 32 to move himself into a share of the overall lead with Simon and Phil on 47pts.

Evening drinks before we headed out to a meal were spent in Phil’s patio area or on the balcony. 

Day 3: “International” match, Swashies verses Adeje ex-pats

Phil is a member of Adeje’s ex-pat ‘International’ Swindle, a very competitive and well organised bunch who have kindly hosted us on recent tours for a Surrey National vs International Adeje betterball matchplay.  We are usually handed our rear ends in past matches, barely a couple of wins and a half.  These are guys who play 3times a week round here, usually off the back and who’s club handicaps would probably be 4 shots lower in the UK.

Going off second, Richie and I had a very close match against their Swindle organiser Mike Setch (sp?) and the canny Tamworth ex-pat Dave Thomas.  I was steady, pleased to be playing better golf at last but could barely keep up with the Adeje lads and their given shots, Mike birdying the 2nd before 20handicapper Dave started regularly putting 180yard approaches to a few feet.  Despite keeping it to 1down for a while, we found ourselves 4down at one point and having to have words with ourselves to start nicking holes back. 

After not the best of starts Richie did the damage on the back, returning 4 solid pars to bring us back into the game.  Winning their nearest the pin on the long downhill 16th (196 yards, stroke index 18!) I woefully left the putt short which could well have seen us take the match.  They halved the 17th thanks to another of Dave’s approaches, and I think Richie won the 18th after they were wide off the tee and we were shaking hands all square.

We tried couldn’t do much against their handicaps, Mike gave us each 1 courtesy perhaps an argument there for two 🙂

First out, we had a great 5&4 win for Phil and Jim… a chip in on one of the early long par4’s by Phil setting the tone for their unamused opponents.  Richie and I then halved, Winkle and Simon lost after not having their best day’s golf, and Sean and Johnny went down 5&4 to their overall Swindle winner on the day who had one of his best ever rounds.  So we lost overall but gained some more respect from our opponents who kindly put the tapas and beers on their tab.

Many thanks to Mike and his chaps for hosting, a good match on a great course.

 

Day 4: Golf Del Sur – 27holes

Windy day at Golf Del Sur, the day marked out for 27holes on the Links, North and South nine’s.  Golf Del Sur gets the wind on the south of the island when strangely Adeje on the same day would barely have a breeze.  Made the golf tough but its a fun holiday golf course with some very tricky holes.

Better day for me but I could only half with Richie on 34pts despite again taking back to back blobs.  Annoying.  Slight c*ck up with the booking (their fault) and we were unable to play Phil’s favourite nine, the South.  So after a ropey late lunch we headed out again to play North in the windy and slightly chilly temp.  We even needed (light) jumpers for gawds sake!  Not much sympathy there I expect.

Range of scores on this final9 holes and I managed to move the emoji over to Jim.  Winkle won with 18, me on 17 helped by an eagle on a par5 after I accidentally reached the green from a blind shot.

A long “moving” day for the tour and some weary heads headed back for a quick turnaround. Evening split between a group heading to a fish restaurant and myself and Richie heading out to a local restaurant.

Day 5: Adeje final round – 18 holes

Final day saw us return to Adeje and we were allowed to play off the whites… or the ’69’ tees (6900 yards tee). Adeje has recently employed distance markers for the length of course you want (or are able to comfortably) play and enjoy.  Good system, it removes the backs/whites/mens/ladies tee “labels” so you can play off forward tees and more enjoy the course without it being ‘just for ladies and juniors’.

Everyone geared up on adjusted tour handicaps and slope  shots.  First group in order was Richie, Winkle, Phil and myself.  Group2 Simon, Johnny, Sean and Jim. Great course Adeje and we had the weather to make it a fantastic final day for golf.

With emoji on his bag, Jim had a stormer on the day returning 37points for the day’s clear win, followed by Johnny with 34pts. 

Despite finishing with 3 blobs on the day, Richie’s solid play during the week made him the tour winner by 2 shots, with Johnny and myself coming joint second.  Simon took both the pin’s win and the sh*t emoji, Jim won the matches table, Johnny the best of 3 and I nicked club handicap table by a point which wasn’t in the bet 🙂

Cracking job Richie, well played… his solid tee shots throughout the week helped make him the deserved winner.

Results

 

Thanks

On behalf of all on the tour, big thanks again to Phil for hosting the trip. 

Thanks to Mike at Adeje for hosting the matchplay, Sean keeping all the spreadsheets up to date, Jim for being the sterling whip man and Winkle for not walking around the wall at the bar on the last evening.