Tough going at a very, very dry Surrey Downs yesterday in the Surrey Hills League. Surrey Downs have had watering problems recently, and though the greens were rolling quite well, the fairways, tee boxes and greenside areas were bone dry and in many cases simply burnt and with cracked ground. Tee boxes were iron hard! Throw in the very thick wispy rough which just ate shots (and the subsequent provisionals!), we all found it hard to score.
Was very clear that regular play on the course was be a huge advantage, certainly was in our match.
They are a good bunch up at Surrey Downs, several familiar faces, and of course lets not forget the best breakfast on the league rotation (imo) which just happens to be a very nice buffet.
Scottie and Simon G were out first. Scottie giving shots against Mark and their team Captain Pete. Close match, result was one down. Al Savs and Ian went next and did a fantastic job to come in only one down. Al was saying that Ian played very well and they figured out he shot 44 points off his handicap! And still lost by 1! Tough going to put that round together and not come out on top. Well done Ian.
Wayne and Mushie came in next. Tough day for the The Mush, not having played there before and having to play in the uncompromising conditions. 5down in the end, again more battling for not much result I’m afraid.
Jaggsy and I were out next again Steve and canny ol’ Wally who I’ve played before and is a regular for their seniors team. Jaggsy and I didn’t play well… I was especially poor off the tee and though only lost 2 balls, spent most of the front nine walking in the 2foot high rough. The odd flash of resistance, a good hole from us here and there did not do much against their good dove-tailing. Wally was their rock, returning par on at least 7 consecutive holes and a few others, just playing a low straight ball both off the tee and into greens landing it 30yards short and seeing it roll up close.
We didn’t really have an answer. Jaggsy’s putter was helping us, but when we had a sniff on a hole, Wally would putt the length of the green either in the hole or to gimmie distance… or Stevie pitch in close. We nicked the last which helped a bit but we came in 4down in the end.
Last in, The Feez and The Winkle were up against it. Surrey Downs’ Owen playing well, and much like our game, seems our boys were not able to find a run of holes to get back into it. After teeing off on the 15th, we walked past Owen’s ball on the par3 14th barely 2inches from the hole. Unlucky our boys, good battling.
Let’s hope we can return the favour when we welcome Surrey Downs in September.
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