The final mixed greensome

There are 73* ways of being disqualified in golf.

Some of the world’s best golfers have been disqualified for various reasons, and we are lucky at Bamburgh that our Competitions secretary wants us to share, in fact enjoys seeing us share, these experiences of some of the world’s best golfers. And on Sunday I thought we had the opportunity to repay the compliment by disqualifying Keith Whitfield – and the others in his team, Tessa and Susie McKeag. But Nicky’s compassion shone through and instead they came first. It was the last of the winter mixed greensomes. I arrived at the club from Edinburgh, having been at a wedding the previous evening, having driven through heavy rain. I expected to see no-one else there but there were about six people all eager to play; more came later so we had six teams, one the threesome. The weather got better but remained cold and we only played 15 holes ; and the last group turned round after 8 to play 13. But they got 31 points to second placed Malcolm Cresswell and Fiona Southern’s 29. They didn’t play the full round.... but they did play and they played well. DQ or not? You decide.

The consensus was that the events had been worth doing offering as they did something a bit different. Of the four we played, two had been won by married couples, two by a threesome: a message for handicapping next year. There was also a thought that we should run similar greensomes on Friday evenings in Summer. We’ll investigate.

* Actually, like 47.6% of all statistics, I made that up: I’ve no idea how many ways there are. But there are a lot of them.