Mapledurham Golf Club Friday 14 May 2021

by Michael Clothier

Mapledurham – the return of the forgotten golfer!

It has been such a long time since I won a BCGS event, I’d forgotten that I needed to write a report (thanks to Colin and others for reminding me).  It feels like the last time I won was when we last played Mapledurham, a few years ago now.

Quite a large turnout for this event (27 I believe), which was good to see. I think everyone has had enough of this Coronavirus and coming out to play in the sun was high up on the list.

The weather for the day was set fair and a lot were wearing shorts to take advantage of the warmth. From the first tee, the course looked good, it certainly has matured well over the years.

My playing partners today were Richard, Nigel and my son Lewis, with my PM partner Richard. Feeling confident because my golf has been pretty good so far this year, I stood on the first tee and visioned a ball landing in the middle of the fairway some 250yds away, I swung and topped the ball just past the ladies tee. A few expletives later and we were all up and away, no more bad shots on the first and walked off with a 5, and 2 points - Phew.  On the second, another poor tee shot, but a good recovery and walked off with a 4 for 2 points.

And those, I think were the only bad shots I really hit, for the next 16 holes I hit some great tee shots, hitting a lot of greens in regulation and putted well (that was the biggest surprise… holing some putts 😊).

After 9 holes, I had 21 points, had hit the green on the NTP hole (although not close enough) and was generally feeling good. My playing partners weren’t too bad either, although I did say to Richard that I hoped he was saving his game for the afternoon and the pairs competition.

The back 9 continued, but only amassing a further 19 points, which was a good score, but I felt there was going to be better from someone…. there always is.

Due to the tee times for the afternoon, we had about 10 minutes for lunch so raced to the car, grabbed and eat our pasties and we were off again.  This time, I hit a great shot on the first and so did Richard, so were off and running.    

I wasn’t hoping for much in the pairs Daytona competition, as I thought I had golfed myself out and Richard had struggled a little in the morning, but we put a really good score together, thanks mainly to Richard who found his “A” game. I think we only had 1 hole (possibly 2) where we were above Nett par.

Hit a great tee shot onto the NTP 8th which surely was a contender…. nope, someone had mistakenly picked up the NTP marker and tape after the morning round, so the afternoon shots didn’t count for the competition… oh well.

At the end after the 9 holes, we had managed to keep our score down to a lowly 347 points, which we knew was good but would it be good enough?

I had to leave straight after the golf so didn’t know until later that my 40 points was a winning score, narrowly beating Bruce into second place after he returned a cracking score of 39 points, with Terry 3rd on 36 points.

To be told that Richard and I had also won the pairs was the icing on the cake.

Congratulations to Steve Adams for his NTP effort…. Was it you who picked up the marker?  😊

Look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event, which hopefully will be a little more relaxed especially around lunchtime.

RESULTS

Winner:            Michael Clothier                     40 pts

Runner-up:      Bruce Riddington                    39 pts

Third:               Terry Harmsworth (J)            36 pts

Nearest the pin          SteveAdams             25’ 9”

Daytona                      Michael Clothier and Richard Davis             347 Points