Over the rainbow

Why is Saturday’s weather the worst of the week? This was my thought as I drew the curtains and looked out on dark clouds and high winds. High wind can be fun but rain is bad, rain in wind very bad. The view in the clubhouse was that rain was not an option so I went out along with about 18 others – and it was one of those days where the wind kept rain off the course. However, towards the end of the round a rainbow formed out to sea - with the clubhouse at one end. An optimistic sign. (The weather IS worse on a Saturday, by the way: lots of studies have been made into this. The simplistic reason is pollution.)

It’s a game of two halves. That well worn sports cliché described my game, with 9 points on the front 9 and 19 on the back. Pars took their time coming, but I managed three on the last 3; and thanks to partnering Peter Sanderson this gave me a couple of net threes: Geoff Hulley had thought his birdie on the 18th was enough to win a match which had been close all the way - but sadly (for him and Luggy) my net three meant we halved. A game of three halves, in fact.

The Brass Monkeys event is now in full swing, with an imposing new notebook to record the scores. Today there was a paddle, the wind restricting the two best scores to 35. Inevitably one was Trevor Thompson in the lead after his 43 points last week.

The Burgess dinner

Past captains had told me that one of the highlights of my year would be my trip to the annual dinner at the Royal Burgess Golfing Society; this proved to be the case.

As I noted at the time of our friendly match in August, we are fortunate to have a relationship with the oldest golf society in the world and they are excellent hosts at their clubhouse in Edinburgh. I don't think I have ever had as much Drambuie in one sitting but fortunately it's a drink that doesn't leave an after effect. I'll try to remember some of the evening's jokes to repeat (hopefully just the once) in speeches during the year; in the meantime here's one from the toast on behalf of the guests: "I'd also like to say thank you to Roger and Nick in the kitchen; I don't know if that's their names but I gather it's what they've been doing all day."
Unfortunately Edinburgh had a big snowfall during the evening which meant we couldn't play golf the following day - although apparently the course had been mostly closed all week. But as always snow and sunshine is a good combination for a walk.

Course Fully Open

The weather today was as good as it gets in winter, and the course was fully open having dried out quickly. The usual Wednesday group with some additions went out.I was too busy to play. A pain.

Happy New Year

The course (or at least 10 holes) re-opened on New Year's day so I went along for the first "Brass Monkeys" game. Usually, I'm late. Today, I was the only one there. I wondered what I had done wrong, or whether Jools Holland's Hootenanny had confused me so much I didn't know what time it was. I returned about half an hour later to find a small group berating (teasing?) Bill Robson for only having 10 holes open (I was quite happy with that: they are the holes I find easiest and I suspect resting the course does it good). But despite that 7 of us went out (preceded by a couple of family groups). It was really cold and a bit windy: the winner for the day was (again) Dick Little, but with only 38 points this time. I've often wondered if it's his cap which gives him the power to play so well in these conditions. Mark Dawson lent me his woolly hat but it didn't seem to change my game, so perhaps it's talent more than headgear that counts.

Update:

Having said that, on the next day Mark, with his hat back, got a hole in one at the (short) 15th and Dick Little won again. Talent? Headgear? You decide.

One noticeable point was the number of walkers; I've never understood why people walk when they could drive, although when they stick to the paths they're relatively harmless. But there was a large group walking through the bracken at the side of the 6th and the 5th who then casually wandered across the 4th fairway holding up the group behind us. Despite the screams of "fore" and worse. This lack of awareness by walkers of golfers seems to be growing, perhaps because of a lack of understanding about "rights to roam". In fact, Bamburgh (and most of the coastal around us) is not one of the new areas of open access; even if it were, golf courses are specifically excluded from open access areas because of the need to balance the rights of all users. Legally, walkers are therefore restricted to the existing rights of way. The Scottish section of the Ramblers society endorses the Scottish Outdoor Access Code which amongst other things says:
"Allow players to play their shot before crossing a fairway"; and "Be still when close to a player about to play".

The English section is quiet on the subject but hopefully common sense will prevail as the number of walkers grows.

White Christmas

Christmas comes but once a year.

Hence the special events at the club this weekend - the presentation of the Turkey Trot prizes; the Christmas raffle draw; the second mixed greensomes; the Christmas lunch.

What doesn't come once a year is the winning score in the week's Turkey Trot: 52 points. A score like that is as rare as a Newcastle manager lasting more than a season*; or a farmer being satisfied with the weather.
Saturday saw the course open again, 10 holes only, and (to give time to work everything out before the presentation) a decision that a 10 hole score would be grossed up for the final round. The course was firm and partly fair - depending how your ball bounced - and the cold but calm conditions allowed for some special shots; I've never driven level with the 150 yard marker on the 4th before, nor reached the green close to the pin with a 9 iron from there, although my missed putt was familiar. But the eventual birdie saw me very happy with 24 points (also my lowest 18 hole score), grossed up to 43, wondering if I had a chance to win a meat voucher. But no: 29 grossed up to 52 won it.

And this final day score propelled Dick Little past the leading contenders for the second time in three years to win, leaving John Moffett 3rd (the leader at the start of the day) and Trevor Thompson 2nd; there was some consolation for the low handicappers in their number of birdies: 8 for John Moffet, 7 for Peter Sanderson, another indication the course wasn't at it's toughest. Birdie money is a critical part of the economics of playing at Bamburgh and it requires a calculating mind and a lot of loose change. The scene became more Christmassy with snow falling as Dick started off the raffle draw with Bronwen's win meaning the hamper stayed in the clubhouse. Naively I still assumed we could play the second mixed greensomes in the morning, and turned up at 9.00am to find everyone else had looked out their window and made the sensible decision to stay away. The snow does make the place look attractive but I hope it goes in time for the next greensomes (Jan 20th) and to let us play the brass monkeys more than last year.The Christmas lunch was good as always leaving just the Christmas quiz on Wednesday to complete the golf club's celebrations this year (and in the end snow caused this to be cancelled as well).

I googled "52 stableford points"; I only found two other examples discussed on the web, and a comment by one golf system supplier describing such a score as "beyond fabulous". So congratulations Dick: whatever the conditions, it's an amazing result.

* Actually, a 52 is a bit more unlikely than a manager lasting a season: there have been a few Newcastle managers who have lasted a whole season and more. The list of Newcastle managers on wikipedia was interesting: I hadn't realised that in terms of win%s, Hughton was Newcastle's most successful manager ever.

Here's a picture of a real Turkey Trot held in Cuero, Texas:

Snowbound

The course is still closed; a pretty successful year has been bookended by bad weather (I gather the week's bar takings were less than £10). I'm stuck in London, where there's a dearth of snow but a lot of Christmas Lights.It's a chance to catch up with various things, one being a new sign for my charity box, people (especially Julie) having told me that the current one is too small. Because my charities have a family cause it's also an excuse to stick a few old family photos on the site.
The Mizen Head in the 1950s
My parents are self evidently the reason I'm here, but also the reason I've settled in Seahouses: we always came on holiday here, as had they when they were kids. I therefore decided to split the penalty for making a mistake on the course between the two charities which research, and try to cure, the illnesses they died of - Cancer Research and the National Osteoporosis Society.

The last few years have seen a charity box for going in bunkers and for driving out of bounds on 17 and 18. I briefly thought about one for going in the Dinkie but decided to stick with bunkers; first, this catches golfers of all skills and second (as someone pointed out) it'll raise more money - and that is surely the point.

The other photos are of, in order, my family on the beach (Bamburgh) in 1960, my grandparents on the beach (Bamburgh) in 1921, my other grandparents on the beach (Beadnell) in 1939 and my parent's wedding.

Course closed

Having whinged last week about my lack of ability to play, I was pleased to see during the week that most of my least favourite holes were closed due to wet weather. And therefore looked forward to a good score today. Only for snow to close the course completely.

In many ways this weekend's golf was my best of the winter season so far. And the snow made the Bamburgh Christmas lights look especially good.

Why I hate golf at Bamburgh

The ball won't go where it's put(t).
The mat on the 8th.
The approach shot on the 9th never goes on the green, it goes in the gully.
The extra bits of gorse on the 10th.
The rise on the 11th. However good the drives on every other hole, this one always hits the hill.
The third shot on the 12th goes nowhere near the green however good the first and second are.
The second shot off the fairway on the 13th is always scuffed. And the ball - when it eventually gets there - always rolls off the back of the green.
The fact that every stategy on the 15th leads to the third shot not being on the green.
The 16th is stroke index 18 and my handicap is 17.
The practice ground by the 18th.

I usually like the 17th, though. And the bar.

I can switch off now

Mixed Fortunes

Why don't men want to play golf with women? When Nicky Rose and I decided to try having some mixed events in winter, really just for the fun of it as well as to re-introduce more mixed golf, I sensed an undercurrent of doubt about the idea from many men.

I googled the topic and first up was this analysis of why women don't want to play with men; and a link to the opposite. The answers seemed to be a mixture of confidence (or lack thereof), chauvinism and the need to bond.

But fortunately enough people didn't think about the analysis and turned up to play at our first mixed greensome: we had sixteen, eight men and eight women (plus, to show that we are enlightened at Bamburgh with more men than women wanting to play, a first reserve in Chris Magnay). This perfect equally matched grouping of four fourballs was unplanned - we had just invited people to turn up - but as with the unexpected calm and sunny weather must be an omen to have more of these events.

We'd decided on greensomes to take some pressure off - it was meant to be a fun event - and to introduce some tactics. It meant some pretty complex handicap arrangements and team selections with scissors, paper and rulers. But eventually we played. My group was Margaret Heatley and myself with Phil McDonnell and Nicky Rose. Phil's perceptions of women's golf were transformed by Nicky's near flawless play; I noted he was playing second shots from places he'd never been before; in return he suggested that in future the men's section should follow the ladies' example of having a Captain who could actually play. (This was after we'd got a birdie on the 17th, but admittedly it was also after I'd put my drive into the field).

The results were fairly close, but there was a tie for first place (a creditable 42 points). I'm not sure if it was co-incidence or synchronicity that the two couples who wanted to play as a couple were the two with the best result. It will need more experience to decide whether marriage is the best indicator of victory. But although the prizes could be, and were, easily split equally we needed a way to decide who had won this first event.
Rock paper scissors was the obvious answer. Keith Whitfield seemed unwilling to use this as a way of replacing countbacks in future, but it achieved a result. Gary Graham had the necessary talent. In case it does become widely used in future, here's a guide on how to win. As with golf, the more you practice the luckier you'll get.

The event went well, and congratulations to Gary and Carol Graham and John and Helen Payne for their wins. We have another - again, greensomes stableford - on Sunday 19th December, first tee time at 9.30. There's also a Christmas lunch at the club that day. And we think we'll arrange one in each of January, February and March.