Huntswood Golf Club Wednesday 26 April 2023

by Steve Faulkner

A small, but perfectly formed group of 5 met at Huntswood for the morning 9-hole team game. The team game was Jokers. Team 1 was Mike and Lee and team 2 was Barrie, Trevor and myself. We seemed to be scoring ok and finished on 29 points but we were well and truly trounced by Mike and Lee who finished on 41 points.

Lunch was a very hot Steak pie, chips and peas but was very welcome as I believe this is what we were supposed to have at Test Valley but ended up with pizza.

In the afternoon I was out in the first group with Tim and Graham. Tim started off with some eventful tee shots and managed to find himself behind the driving range but he recovered well and had a great chip in for par from some very rough, rough at the back of the first green.

I had a bit of a tough start grabbing a couple of points on the first 2 holes followed by a blob on the 3rd but then had a run of 2 pointers and a 3 pointer on the 8th to finish the front 9 on 17 points. Tim had a great put from off the green on the 8th to birdie the hole.

Steady start to the back 9 on the 10th with 2 points but then 2 blobs on 11 and 12 put a stop to my scoring but fortunately I managed to turn this around and had another run of 2 pointers. Then came the best hole of the day, the par 5 18th. Tim and myself had 2 great drives with mine finding the bottom of the dip in the middle of the fairway. I then hit a 3 wood which went very straight and bounced onto the green, a put for an eagle! I hit the put and although it had the distance it finished a few feet left of the hole. Fortunately, I managed to hole the birdie put and finished with a very nice four points, eventually finishing on 33 points.

The win has meant that my handicap has gone below 20 for the first time – 19.9!

We were lucky with the weather with a dry day and the course was in great condition considering the amount of rain lately.

Well done to Lee, who as well as taking the nearest the pin with 8’ 7” was also runner up with 31 points.

As well as taking the win I also managed to win the Captains prize which was lucky as I had a very kind donation of £1 from Barrie to enter.

RESULTS

Winner                 Steve Faulkner          33 pts

Runner up           Lee Blackman            31 pts

Third                    Warwick Pearce         31 pts

Nearest the pin   Lee Blackman              8’ 7”   

Jokers                  Lee Blackman and Mike Clothier     41 points