So, in September next year, it will be our Diamond Jubilee Outing at the end of our 30th year.
We traversed the mountains with some trepidation on Sunday morning. It was pretty damp and when we teed off at Grantown at noon - after consuming our bacon butties - we all had our wet gear on in preparation for what we thought was going to be an afternoon of squally showers. It didn't turn out that way, however, and by the time we got to the 2nd tee, we were all taking at least one layer off.
I was playing in the 3rd group and we all had to wait to tee off at the 7th, so we thought we'd pose at the little cabin where lots of photos have been taken over the years:
It was the 22nd time we'd played Grantown and the course was looking good. Scores were mostly in the low 30's but Dick managed 35 points and I scored 38 points to give me a head start for Monday's round at Boat of Garten.
We checked in to the Grant Arms Hotel and then walked across the road to the Garth Hotel for a couple of beers after golf. By now, the sun was shining brightly and we sat outside:
The conversation at dinner that evening was pretty lively. The referendum was a hot topic, although Archie kept trying to bring the discussion back to the Eurovision Song Contest! Perhaps he thought that was safer ground.
After breakfast on Monday, we all arrived at Boat of Garten in good time to practice our putting and chipping. Our Senior citizen managed to lose a ball in the gardens before he had even tee'd off!:
We had time for a team photo as well:
The weather just got steadily better and better all morning, and some of the views of the snow-topped Cairngorms were terrific. Here's Les at the 14th tee:
As to the competition itself, it was a very close-run race. The last group out was Dick, Les, Raymond and I. Les was the best on the front nine, with 18 points, but Dick and Raymond were just behind, whilst I stumbled to just 14 points.
Later on in the round, I didn't know the scores, but I felt Dick must have been ahead because his scrambling was incredible - he hardly hit a fairway, but always seemed to manage to get up and down from all sorts of impossible places.
Standing on the 18th tee, Les told me afterwards that he had calculated that he and I were level overall. I didn't want to know what the overall scores were but I still managed to slice my drive right in to the trees. Les made an even bigger hash of it, putting his tee shot out of bounds and inadvertently blowing his chance of retaining the trophy.
Meanwhile Raymond bombed yet another one off the 18th tee and hit a powerful second shot pin-high but to the left of the elevated green. He pitched on to the green and then proceeded, for the first time today, to hole a stonking putt for a great par 4 at a very difficult hole.
Dick, too, played the hole pretty well, putting his 3rd shot to within 4 feet of the hole. I had hacked out of the trees, then played my 3rd shot short of the green, then chipped up, pin high, but 12 feet or so from the hole. I then holed the putt for an unlikely 5 and 2 points, which, as we discovered later in the clubhouse, was just enough to give me a very narrow overall win.
Les did the honours, welcoming B.o.G. debutant Raymond, then presenting me with the trophy:
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