Balmoral 2014

It was our 14th annual outing to Balmoral and, for the 2nd year in a row, we had a full house of 12. Local members Gary Coutts plus Norrie Thain and Brian Lees were able to each sign 3 of us on. This year saw the return of Ian Dring, after missing the last 9 years, and the debut of Ken Page.

There have now been a total of 12 former squash colleagues of Gary's who have attended over the years, with a further 7 Balmoral members also having played. There are only two ever-presents - Gary, of course - and me.

It was a fine, dry evening and the midges didn't seem to bother us too much this time - although we were all smeared in a smelly, greasy substance that I provided beforehand.

There was a slightly delayed start after Gary had to go to Brian Lees' house and haul him out - he had forgotten he was meant to be playing! This meant a last minute re-shuffling of the order and so this was the first team out:

Hugh Riches, Norrie Thain, Jas Bhagrath & Ian Stewart pose in front of Prince Albert

 The second team out posed for their team photo at the 9th hole - or, at least most of them did. If you look in the distance to the left, you will see Ken bringing up the rear after playing his second to the par 3 ninth hole:

A distant Ken Page with Dick Taylor, Ian Dring & Gary Coutts in the foreground

The third team out were lagging behind a bit. Here they are at the 5th hole. Somebody just hit a good shot:

A very distant Malcolm Grigor, Brian Lees, Keith Gray & Peter Street

 Try using the zoom, Ian:

That's a bit better.

On the back nine, the second team had to wait for a bit on the 17th tee:

and here's why:

Jas puffing up the steep slope at the 17th

Crathie Kirk in the distance and Hugh in the foreground:

Finally it was back to the clubhouse for beers, drams and grub, kindly provided once again by Peter:

Standing - Ian S, Keith, Gary, Ian D, Dick & Malcolm and seated - Jas, Peter, Brian, Norrie, Ken & Hugh

NP's were won by Dick and Keith and Gary got the longest drive - miles past Ian Dring, he tells me.

I thought my 40 points might be good enough for a win, but, no, only second place to Malcolm's tremendous 42 points. How did he do that on Balmoral's notoriously tight fairways and penal rough? Answers on a postcard please.

This was Malcolm's second win, equalling Gary. Norrie and I still lead with 3 wins each, whilst Ian D, Les, Jas & Brian each have one win.

The team competition (best 3 scores) was easily won by the third team with 125 points.