St Leonards Golf

Muirfield, Oh! Muirfield. What hast thou done? (I’m referring to my having scored the highest Bradman for the year with 16 points!)

No, I am not blaming the ghosts of the dispossessed orchardists and market gardeners, but once again at this course, scores were low.

My view is that we underestimate how hard the greens are to read. You tap it down hill and it runs well past the hole. You adjust to the speed and end up well short!

The weather was quite odd, too. The forecast was for 29 but when we teed off, it was very cool. By the middle of the round it seemed like 39 degrees to me. Look at all the parasols in the photos. Then, with four holes to go, this huge wind came blasting in!

The club was the winner with the NTPs. Steve Greene picked up two and "Nobody" picked up the other six.

We had a match play between Terry Darlington and Steve Merchant. It came in as a draw. Under our current rules we apply a count back. Terry got the gong, winning 5 holes to 2 on the back 9. Bad luck to Steve who was 4 up at one stage.

Phil Liddell had a big day, coming in with 1st and 2nd in the doubles. In 1st place it was with David Plowes on 42 points and the 2nd was with me on 39. David initially refused to take his two balls, claiming he hadn’t contributed a point. But he must have done and so, when pressed, accepted the prize.

Pretty obviously, Phil Liddell came in 1st with 37 in the Stableford singles. Myself and David Plowes (with 20 points) had terrible games but we were able to watch Phil play which softened the blows. Phil was particularly deadly with the 6 to 8 foot putts.

An interesting statistic: since 2020 only one player has beaten their handicap at Muirfield. Phil joins an exclusive group with Buzz Holden, who scored 38 points in 2022.

Another statistic: since 2020 only 5% of those playing at Muirfield have exceeded 30 points. I have not done the maths, but I don't think that stat was disturbed on Friday.

Our next game will be at Carnarvon, or “The Cemetery” as it is now known, on 10 October. Note that it is an 8.00 am start. Hope to see you all there.

 

 

 

Handicaps