Friendly vs The Northumberland Club

Friendly matches always take a bit of planning. This one took even more as the formal lunch would have clashed with England vs Germany in S Africa. We decided to break new ground - not only watching a TV, but also not insisting on formal dress. The walls didn't fall, and people seemed to have a good time until England's second goal was ignored by the match officials.And what of the match, our version of two fierce and traditional rivals but with a shared heritage? Well, each game (apart from from Phil Holmes and Tony Cawthorne who won easily), was close but we didn't manage to close them out, typified by my missed birdie putt on the 18th which meant we lost rather than halved our game. But the weather was fantastic, the course was in brilliant condition, the food great and the company enjoyable.

Its the taking part that matters, isn't it?

Seahouses Captain's Day

The Seahouses captain invited me to his drive in and the related competition. Unsurprisingly his drive was on target - a lesson to be learnt for my effort at the end of August. The course was in good competition, the sun was out, the bar and despite the windy weather (the drinks tent at the 10th nearly occasionally lifted off the ground, only kept in service by its ropes) someone apparently scored a new course record (64).

I always find the 10th an impossible hole and wanted to chip to the yellow tee and then across the loch. Instead I was persuaded to go for it, and almost got a duck.

The Jeffcock Silver Jubilee Bowl aka Gone with the Wind.

There are some days when the weather is so bad you know you don’t want to play, it would be stupid to play. But you also know that it just takes one or two people to say...Don’t be silly; or It’s not that bad... and the group quietly sitting in the clubhouse will feel morally obliged to get up, dress up and play.

Saturday was one such day. The Jeffcock bogey competition is usually enjoyable; it’s quite quick because if you don’t get a net par you can just pick up. This Saturday saw high winds. I thought the good point was that at least I couldn’t do worse than -18, and being -8 after 8 holes I was thinking that was a likely score. I haven’t felt as good about a 5 at the 9th, and therefore a “0” score, for a long time.

My second half score was a bit better but it was most memorable for the shots of my partners on the final two holes.

John Nixon demonstrated the way to avoid hitting the ball out of bounds (unfortunately after doing so with his first ball) was to aim it well out of bounds and to swing around it.

Phil Holmes’s putt for par on the last was inspirational; it was with his second ball, and was hit from the middle of the fairway about 100 yards out. It shaved the hole.

Wind obviously brings out the best in some people.

NNL Match 8. And is the world coming to an end?

It was another glorious evening at Bamburgh, and the golf wasn't too bad either. I arrived late about half way round to discover that we had already won two matches, and were up in the others. The surprise was that Mark Dawson was 3 down (with 4 to play) - although he was playing the Seahouses captain, who had thrashed me the previous week. But true to form Mark won on the 18th leading to a 10-2 Bamburgh victory.

The teams repaired to the bar, not to talk about the major talking points in the clubhouse: the arrival of a TV for the World Cup. Instead, they (and supporters) watched the TV.

So far, the club has deliberately avoided a TV: the main reason is that it becomes the object of attention and all other human interaction drains away. But we felt that the World Cup was a major sporting occasion, the first England match was on Gents Invitation Day* and we'd prefer people to stay around for the prizegiving. There's no doubt that it has made people stay longer and therefore helped bar takings - but it also takes over conversation. It will go once the World Cup is over (it's on temporary loan) but I'd be happy to see it return occasionally for major events. I don't think everyone would be, however.

Next match: 30 June against Magdelene Fields (away).

* One of the Invitation Day players obviously supported England:

Foxton Friendly

Once more, after a few days of good weather, dawn broke on a Bamburgh friendly match day to the sound of gentle rain. Fortunately, the rain stopped and despite a bad forecast we remained dry.

Foxton has a lovely course, a complete contrast to Bamburgh, and it's always a pleasure to play. Our match was very close - we were three down at the turn, but gradually clawed it back, thanks more to Dick Little than myself, managing to win the 17th to go all square and then their Captain and myself parring the 18th to halve. The next four matches were alternate wins so it all depended on the last match. The tension didn't seem to mount much, however, with everyone remaining settled in the bar until they heard that Foxton had won to retain the winner's salver.

(We have two salvers in the Foxton match: the original was temporarily lost a few years ago so Bill Robson and Ian Patterson, respective captains, bought a replacement. The orginal promptly turned up behind a cupboard at Bamburgh so the new one became the runners up trophy).


The result followed my "Robert Green" moment when I shanked my ball into my partners trolley, so losing the hole. Humiliating. But all you can do is move on. And not pick yourself for the team?

These friendly matches are very enjoyable but it has proved increasingly difficult to get a team. Partly I think this is because they are all day, partly because there are too many too close together and they come in the middle of the season when people are already busy. I discussed this with the Foxton captain and we are going to look at ways of adjsuting the fixture to make sure it survives.

Update: a close check of the rule book shows that since 2008 I could hit my partners equipment (accidentally) with no impact on him, and only a penalty stroke for me, rather than lose the hole. Had we known that we would have won our match and halved the fixture 6-6. Moral: know the rules. And take a rule book with you.

Brass Monkeys Trip

The Brass Monkeys' summer trip (which is often in weather similar to winter) was to Craigielaw this year. The day comprises an early coach trip - surprisingly everyone got to their pick up points on time - two rounds of golf, dinner, drinking and a long trip back. This year it was enlivened by the first World Cup matches and (for me) an increasingly desparate but ultimately successful attempt to find final players for the friendly against Foxton the following weekend.

Craigielaw was very tricky - even tricksy - and fairly long as well: the greens were not receptive and tended to run off into deep bunkers, so it was hard both to run the ball up and to land them on the green. At least that was my experience, with an all time low 5 points on the morning back nine. The winner was Mark Dawson, the runner up Hugh Adair, representing different approaches to a good result. As always it was good fun, but finishing with shock news that after years of arranging successful trips Peter Sanderson was retiring after next year and in future the winner would arrange the next year's trip. (I remember Peter telling me some time ago that that was how he had ended up arranging it: he had won the first year).

Another sign of the times, that we are all getting older: the number of pee stops the coach had to make on the way back. They seem to increase as the years go by.

NNL Match 7

I was away - but they lost to Alnwick 7-5.

Next match: Seahouses at home.

Seahouses Friendly

The annual match against Seahouses is one of the highlights of the year, for bar takings at least.

It is incestuous - to use a cleaned up metaphor from my speech - because of the amount of dual memberships and this makes it especially relevant. It really is a match where the taking part is more important than the winning which is why we couldn't quite remember who won last year and where the winners' salver was. It turned out to be in Seahouses' trophy cabinet along with the losers' tankard. But in the meantime, the Seahouses captain created a memorable winners plate for the presentation ceremony.

The Seahouses hospitality and course were excellent and the match was close. Despite a birdie at the first my match was soon lost: the Seahouses captain and vice captain were not just long but also straight. But the others did better - our group behind won by as much as we lost, and overall we won 5 matches to 3. One to remember for next year.

NNL Match 6 and the Macadam Foursomes

Having miraculously won last year's Armstrong Trophy, I thought it would be only symmetrical to win the MacAdam foursomes this year (the two boards are at opposite sides of the same wall). The only trouble was that despite the combination of my partner's skill and my handicap we met David Chrimes and John Rhind in sparkling form; they are both fellow members of Northumberland's premier golf society (the Black Swan Golf Society) but not even this had prepared me for the excellence of their game - particularly their short game. We walked in very quickly (I always think its good in matchplay to get beyond the 10th hole, and we managed that. Just). In consolation it was a glorious afternoon and the course was in excellent condition.

The team then played Burgham Park - the course looked good in the late evening sun and the team played well, especially Johnny Moffet whose 6 birdies in 9 holes suggests a lot to come in the future. We won 11-1.

Next match: Alnwick away.