Our 52nd official outing to Boat of Garten went pretty well - apart from a couple of admin cock-ups. Circumstances dictated that the current trophy holder, Syd, couldn't be there to defend his title, but he had done much of the admin months before and I picked up the reins in the last couple of weeks. More of that later, but Sunday at Grantown was a glorious afternoon and several of us took the opportunity to don shorts.
There was a large outing in front of us, and, although they had over half an hour's start on us, we had caught up with them after 6 holes, so we had no option but to sit and wait at the 7th tee:
Our group was first out, and I was able to walk back to the road to photograph the second group putting out on the 6th green:
Last group out didn't seem to be talking to each other as they marched away from the 3rd tee:
Again we were waiting on the 9th tee, but we didn't care with such glorious views:
Malcolm hit a poor drive at this hole, pushing his ball right in to the water hazard. He could see his ball, however, and decided to play it, and he hit a terrific chip on to the green, then holed the putt for what we initially thought was an amazing birdie three. However, he had transgressed under what many now know as the "Brian Davis" rule, swishing some of the long grasses in the hazard on his practice swings. Initially, it was called as a one shot penalty, but Malcolm wasn't satisfied and checked with the pro afterwards, who handed him a rule book and told him it should be a 2 shot penalty, so there was a retrospective adjustment to Malcolm's points total, and what could have been 35 points was voluntarily reduced to 33. He should have won a special "integrity" prize!
Scoring was generally pretty good - the individual winner on the day was back-to-form Jas, who scored 37 points - one better than both Keith and I, with Ian McRae one further point behind. This four would therefore be playing together, last out, on Monday morning at Boat of Garten.
We all failed to hit the green at the tricky 8th so the first Nearest the Pin prize was carried forward to the 11th hole, but again, nobody managed to win a prize. The Longest Drive was won by me at the 12th hole, and the second Nearest the Pin prize was won by Keith at the short 16th.
Jas, Keith, Bill and Dick won the team prize with a best 3 stableford points total of 117 - eleven and twelve points respectively ahead of the other two teams.
Les didn't feel too well after his round and said he would have to go home, so the call went out for Harry to drive over on Monday morning and make up the full complement of 12 once more.
We had a swift drink in the clubhouse, but then left to check in at the Grant Arms Hotel, with most of us then taking the short stroll down to the Ben Mhor Hotel for a couple of excellent pints of Trade Winds and Wildcat.
Incidentally, apparently one of perks for taking over the admin from Syd was that I ended up in room 12, complete with four poster bed!:
Dinner was very good - and, yet again, the wine consumption was down - only 6 bottles consumed amongst 11 of us - my, how things have changed over the years. Of course, we did have a couple of pints and some G & T's beforehand - it's traditional after all!
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