There's something very relaxing about not playing golf.
It was a fantastic weekend for both the Club Championship and Lady Captain's Day and all I had to do was watch. I usually like to play in the club championship, although I usually increase my handicap by 0.2 as a result, but this time thanks to Goodwood I couldn't. However, I did get back in time to sit in the sun by the 18th and watch the competitors come in - all the way from early clubhouse leader Jonathan Cawthorn to the final group.
One of the winning putts
Watch their approach shots, their demeanour, their putts, the way they handed their cards in. And watch the competition managers deal with them.
It was pretty exciting - at the half way stage, only two shots separated the top five in both the gross and net competitions so the result was wide open. And in the end, only two shots separated the top three in both competions - who were the same, showing I suppose the fairness of the handicapping system.
All three - Graham Forrest, Johnny Moffet and Peter Sanderson - had the same net score and Graham won on countback; gross, Peter was 2 shots clear at 131 to be Club Champion for the 8th time.
Then Sunday also involved sitting in the sun, this time with a Pimms at the 12th tee, with Nicky and her family and friends celebrating Lady Captain's Day, watching some high quality golf taking place in the background.
The Ladies focus on what's important while the Men gossip. Or the other way round.
Yes, there's a lot to be said for not playing golf.
Yet another weekend passed without a full round of golf, but with a very enjoyable alternative: Nicky's matchmaking skills paired me with Gemma Baird in the Couves Goblets, one of the two main mixed competitions, this one a foursomes format. My luck was Gemma's misfortune, but we managed a decent first half - despite the wind - before I started finding obscure gorse bushes with my drives on the back 9.
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.
Other memories were a major come back by Mark Dawson to halve the match having been 4 down, having to wait until the 18th to finally see John Cairns' opponent play a less than perfect short game so John could win and listening to Dick Little explain to one of the few Goswick supporters how the course used to look years ago.
There were two important prizes at stake: the best score for the two rounds, won by Peter Sanderson, and 8th place, giving the responsibility to organise next year's trip, won by Robert Renner (8th, not 1st, to make sure there was no malpractice).
Helpfully, it remained dry virtually all day despite a forecast of rain all day, proving that I can attend a golf event without bad weather.
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