You may wonder what that bright thing in the sky is. It’s the sun. It hasn’t put much of an appearance in for events I’ve organised this year, but after 11 months we had good weather for the Captain’s Trip to Dunbar. 
It was a lovely seaside course –almost at sea level – and by starting at 3.00 we had a reasonable deal and some enjoyable golf. There were 8 groups of 4: unusually no-one cancelled: the 32 who came were the 32 who’d spotted the notice about the trip and put their names on the list. Despite that, not everyone read the notice on the first tee to see which were the nearest the pin/longest drive holes. There was some comment that there was a ball or two nearer the pin on the 3rd than John Shaw, who won: but there could be no doubt that Scott Priestley’s was the longest drive. 
Most things went well – except that just as I was about to get on the bus I realised I’d left the prizes at home. Fortunately Dunbar sells little bottles of Dunbar-labelled whisky which did duty as a token. And after all, as I’ve often said when I’ve lost, it’s the taking part that counts.Our group had a mixed round; I had a par at the first: John Cairns took up the challenge for the other 17 holes, and we won our fourball. But we didn’t trouble the leader board – maintained, with my gratitude, by Keith – and Ian Armstrong won with a very creditable 37 points. Ben Galbraith and Scott had 36, Scott winning best gross with a 74.
After a drink or two Travelsure then got us home more or less in a decent state.
Hey, there's almost no pictures of me on this blog. So this one can stay.
I don't know what it's like to play week in week out in those sorts of matches, but I know it's both exciting and tense to watch. We finished the night 4 points above Foxton who have a game in hand: next weeks match against them at home should be interesting. Interesting word, interesting.
And the front 9 was positive: we were 3 up at the turn. Unfortunately the rub of the green didn't quite go with us and although we won two games quite quickly (one with a chipped in eagle at the long 16th), and could have won two more, things didn't quite work out that way. A large group watched things at the 13th; a very limited number walked up the hill to see the concluding losses. 
The good news is that Foxton were beatable; the bad news is we didn't beat them. Maybe next week.
We did think we were watching the winners: Nicky and Will are a good combination and they put on a good exhibition until a flirtation with the practice ground at the end meant they were in second place. Despite the wind, there were a good number of entries; as I've noted earlier I hope mixed golf continues to develop at the club. Not to take over, but it's a nice complement to the usual stuff.
We didn't win: Steve and Mike played well but Keith and I were more like our form at the Northumberland friendly than the Texas Scramble. But we did come 8th and got a bottle of wine at a packed presentation at the clubhouse. The day raised £4,500.
The Magdalene Fields match has always been tough; in the last two away matches we've lost 7 - 5 and 11 - 1. My theory is (putting aside relative skills of the teams) that it resembles Bamburgh (slopes, green, by the sea except there aren't any islands offshore) but plays differently: the greens are a bit slower (though still true) and the rough off the fairway is a lot thicker. But what do I know? I do know the rough is thicker: my first job on arriving was to help find Phil Holmes' first (and provisional ball) on the third, followed by his partner's.
Despite the distance to travel, a good crowd from Bamburgh watched a close match: two games finished quickly but the other four all went to the 18th; the lead game was particularly tight with Peter Sanderson needing to be 4 under par to get a half. The Moffets and Angus Smith all won, giving us a 7 - 5 win leading up to a crucial last two matches. 
Foxton were apparently beaten 9 - 3 by Goswick; that puts us 6 points ahead although they have a game in hand. Our last match, on 3 August, is against Foxton at home.
A couple of other interesting items from the day:
I'd like to say Keith Whitfield and I in the lead match set a good example and played well; unfortunately I can't as four down after four (despite good opening drives) isn't a good start. We held our own after that but had obviously put too much of ourselves into Bamburgh's second-most prestigous competition on Saturday (the Texas Scramble which we had won thanks to my handicap, firm direction from Keith, strategic targeting by Alan Patterson and good play from Peter Harrington) to recover.
At least we played quickly, and could sit on the terrace in the sun watching the other groups come in and trying to guess (accurately) their results from their body language. Mike Robinson and Steve Clements retained their unbeaten record, but we also had a couple of draws and a couple of losses. I briefly held the salver we last won in 2007 before handing it back to Giles Smallwood.
I briefly wondered whether the crowds had come to watch us -no, in a weekend of sporting drama (British Grand Prix, Scottish Open) the Park also gave us the final of their Ladies Championship. As we stood on the terrace as the prizegiving took place, one of our members was heard to ask "But who's getting the Sunday lunches in?" I won't say which one.
But on the course all was well: the old part of the course dappled by the slowly setting sun, no wind, midges not yet stirring, most of our players leading with John Moffett having already won.
.JPG)