Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 4 and 5. Gainsborough and Constable at Stoke by Naylands

The Artist Trophy at Stoke-by-Naylands

Wednesday and Thursday saw the annual RNSG festival of golf take place at the Gainsborough and Constable courses at Stoke-by-Nayland and it turned out to be a challenging couple of days.

There was a strong field of 9 on day 1 at the Gainsborough with David making his first appearance on this year's tour. Golf Dinosaur monster was very excited by the large entry adding big numbers to this years trophy and prize fund, ready for the season finale at Sheringham in 5 months time. Before golf got underway the course records were checked and much to his surprise it transpired that Kevin held both with 36 points..

David, Bob and Sandie got things underway but no one got to grips with the tricky front 9. As always David was playing tidily but this time not scoring well and only had 13 at half way. After a blob on the 10th things picked up as he played the rest of the round to handicap finishing on 28 points.

David's first shot on the 2018 RNSG tour

Sandie's day was restricted by a flourish of blobs with 3 and 11 pts in both 9's meaning she finished down the field with a 22 pts total.

Sandie hits a cracking opening drive.

Bob also got off to a poor start with his opening drive closer to the hotel than the fairway and he had just 4 points after 4 holes (although several people, including Bob, would have given their right arm for that start on day 2). From here he putted particularly well and kept any further blobs off his card. His back 9 was very tidy with 1 double bogey, 7 bogeys and a par meaning he played that half to his handicap and finished on 31 pts. His only blemish was pointing out to his playing partners when Kevin needed 'to take relief' in the bushes cause much embarrassment all round.

Bob's opening drive heading for the hotel complex

In group 2 Greg got off to a flyer with 10 points from the opening 4 holes before falling away badly with only 3 more points during the rest of the front 9.

Greg in action on the 13th, his last good hole

His back 9 followed a similar pattern where he again got 10 pts over the first 4 holes before again falling away and finishing out the prizes on 28 pts.

Greg's final tee shot to the 18th but he missed the green and ended with a single point

Tracey has recently been getting off to a flyer and had twice led after 8 holes before falling away. Today was the opposite with 5 blobs in the opening 8 holes. Her halfway total of 9pts kept her out the running but she still had a chance to break the record for most blobs in a round that stands at 10.

Tracey teeing off on the 5th

With two more blobs at the start of the back 9 she was looking good for the record when her run of blobs dried up. However as she stood on the 18th tee a blob would still put her equal 3rd and on the most blobs in a round honours board and she didn't disappoint getting her 8th one and an 18 point total.

Tracey on her way to her 6th blob on the tricky 10th

Meanwhile Mike was quietly going about his business with a solid 15 front 9 points and in the running at half way.

Another good drive from Mike during a solid front 9

The final group was by far the most consistent. Kevin was playing solidly and only had one front 9 tantrum when a 3 putt from 10 foot gave him his only no pointer and 16 pts at halfway.

Kevin's teeshot on the second just stays out the pond on the right

Chris was having her best round for sometime and when she finished the front 9 with 3 successive pars she was halfway leader on 17.

Chris does well to get out the bunker on the 6th to scramble a point

Vince started slowly with only 5 pts from first 5 holes including 10 shots on the 106 yrd par 3 (4 with provisional and 6 with his actual ball) but then got an outrageous 4 for 4 on the 314 yrd par 4 8th to pull him up to 14.

The first of 10 shots on the tiny par 3 that almost goes in the river a long way behind the hole

The 10th proved to be the downfall for the group as Chris put her first, Vince his second and Kevin his third shot into the lake.  Kevin never recovered from losing his shiny orange ball to finish on 26 pts.

Kevin tees off after the back 9 hurricane had passed

Vince played solidly from here and scored on all the remaining holes including a 4 for 3 pts on the last hole, which led to Kevin having to take a little walk to compose himself before missing his putt. Vince finished in the pack on 29 pts.

Vince tees off on the notorious 10th

Chris continued to score well but was unfortunate when a passing storm caused the group to have to play the 15th into a 100mph gale while the other two groups got to play their next hole with hurricane force winds behind. The swing of points on those holes cost her as she finished her blob free round on 31 pts in a tie with Bob for second.

Chris putting for more points on the 14th green

Meanwhile Mike continued to play solid golf scoring on all the back 9 and the 18pts gave him a total of 33 and the day one title.

ll the excitement was too much for day 1 winner mike who needed a sit down
 before tackling the 16th (with hurricane behind)

It was the first winnings for all the top 3 putting them on to this season money list.

Looking at the tricky conditions on day 2 Bob decided it would be useful if we had some practice looking for balls so invented a new game of hunt the steering lock key. He invited all todays players out to his mini to see if they could find the steering lock key he had expertly hidden yesterday. After sometime everyone gave up but by then Bob couldn't remember where he had left it either making the game rather pointless.

Tour players practicing ball finding by playing hunt for Bob's key

On day 2 David and Greg had returned home while Jill joined for her first RNSG outing of the year. Little did the players know what carnage was about to unfold over the opening holes.

Mike and Bob went out first and once again Mike was playing consistently but without making big points. He scored on all but one hole and had a tidy 28 points at the end.

Mike hits perfect tee shot on the opening hole

Bob had a very poor start with 3 blobs in the first 6 holes and just 3 pts. However from there things improved. He was having the opposite problems from yesterday, this time tee to green was good before his putting let him done, not helped by the tramlines on the recently scarified greens. He finished on 25 pts.

Bobs teeshot was sliced leading to an opening blob

Things didn't start much better in the next group as Jill and Sandie only had 4 points each after 6 holes. Jill recovered well from there to end on 24 pts.

Nice teeshot from Jill as she gets to grips with the course

Sandie also improved but finished on 20 pts.

Once again Vince was making good use of his enomous handicap and scambled his way to 13 pts at the turn and second place at half way.

Vince gets his round underway

The final group were having the biggest nightmare and like the other groups hardly scored over the first 6 holes. Kevin had the worst start as he developed a hook on a course that needed straight or left to right hitting. After each teeshot he forced his playing partners to join him for a fruitless search for his ball deep in the woods or along ditches and into adjoining fields, all to no avail. My how he laughed as he hit 4 drives OOB in two holes. His 5 points and 5 blobs on the front 9 had him well placed for the all time blob and lowest score record but from nowhere his game came back as he got 17 pts on the back 9 and clear of last place.

Kevin fluffs another shot on the way to another blob

Tracey picked up from where she left off yesterday and had only 6 points after 7 holes before a 3 pointer on the 8th kick started her round and with only one more blob she finished in joint 4th place on 24 pts.

A good teeshot on the 2nd by Tracey and a rare front 9 point

Chris was unable to pick up from the good form of yesterday and like everyone else struggled over the opening holes and had 5 pts after 7. Unfortunately things didn't improve on the back 9 especially when she took a dive on the 15th fairway as she fell down a hole. She could only muster 17 pts in the round but her 7 blobs were just short of a place on the all time blobs honours board.

Chris marches after her woefully short approach put on the 10th but still managed a good bogey.

As the back 9 started Vince dug into his bag to get out his enormous handicap and recorded 14 points in 5 holes (two 4 pointers, two 3 pointers and a blob!) which put him in an unassailable lead. In fact when he stood on the 18th tee he had 33 pts and 2 shots. A par on the par 3 would give him a new course record. But with his focus on records rather than golf he was distracted and played Jill's ball instead of his own. As you know RNSG is very strict on this after the famous Herring ruling in 2013 had forced Bob to take a two shot penalty after playing Kevin's ball on the 16th at the Barnham Broom Hill course. Therefore Vince had to take his 2 shot penalty and any thoughts of a course record where gone. Shame. However his £2.50 win takes him to the top of the money list.

Vince marches to the 18th tee with thoughts of course records clearly distracting him

Next week the tour stays South with a trip to Woodbridge where Kevin holds the course record with 40 pts. He will be surprised to find out.

Round Norfolk Summer Golf Tour 2018. Round 3 at Barnham Broom Valley course

The Barnham Broom Valley Vase

Round Norfolk Summer Golf Tour 2018  Round 3 took place at Barnham Broom Valley course on Wednesday. Once again it was a good turn out with 3 tee times required to accommodate the field. Due to transport issues Golf Dinosaur Monster couldn't make it to today's event so Kevin's left hand back pocket had to step in to collect entry fees.

Massive hands were needed to send all 9 balls in the air and the groupings were decided.

Leading off was last weeks winner, Ian, who had also smashed 23 pts on the back 9 of a round yesterday so was the clear favourite going into today's event. He got things underway but although his front 9 looked tidy he didn't achieve any 3 pointers and ended on 14.

End gets the day underway

His back 9 fell away with 4 blobs so was well off the pace this time on 24 points.

Ian makes a rare par on the 15th

Once again Tracey started well and with 16 points after 8 holes was top of the leaderboard. Sadly she only managed another 8 points over the next 10 holes to also end on 24.

Tracey's opening drive is a good one as she started the round well............

Sandie was the final member in the opening group and it was a similar story to the others as she also finished on 24 points, leaving all three out of the running.

Sandie flirting with the river on the third

The main battle of the day took place in the middle group where the tours's lowest and highest handicappers went head to head. Chris was also in this grouping but struggled to reach the greens in regulation thus keeping down her score. She never recovered from finding out she got no shots on the long par 3 4th hole whereas Vince got two. She failed to score on it although produced trick shot of the day by chipping through a gap in a tree. Inevitably Vince got 4 for 3 points. Yes that's right a 4 on a par 3 leading to 3 points, you couldn't make it up.

Trick shot of the day but sadly no points.

Helped by a series of 3 point bogeys (apparently there is such a thing) Vince took the halfway lead on 18 points.

A rare blemish as Vince fails to score on the 8th

Greg was doing well to keep in touch and thanks to an opening hole birdie was just 2 points behind on 16pts.

Greg putting on the 7th ending in a par

All was not well in the final group as Kevin, Mike and Bob could only muster 7 points between them over the first 3 holes. Mike and Kevin decided to have a huffing and puffing contest instead. After 3 wayward shots on the 6th Kevin reached peak stroop before chipping in from the path by the river for a par bring his ranting to a sudden halt. Normal service returned on the next hole where his tee shot bounced from the green into the river. For once his driving remained straight so he did manage 14 front 9 points.

Kevin missing a par putt on the 4th

His back 9 was a little better with only 1 blob and two club throwing incidents to report. His 29 points gave him his third third place finish in a row.

Kevin drives off on 14th before putting his next into the trees before scrambling a point

Mike had only managed 2 points in the first 4 holes but over the round he proved faultless with one item showing excellent use of the ball retrieving tool. The way he rescued "his" ball (although it turned out it wasn't) from the river across the tenth was text book. He also won biggest divet taken from whacking your club into the ground  camp with a nicely timed 3 wood on the 11th fairway, although Kevin went much deeper with his pitching wedge on 13 the divot was much smaller. He ended on 25 points.

Ironically the shot that caused the big 'frustration divot' on 11 hit the willow tree and came back on to the fairway.
 All that fuss over nothing, really!

Bob never really got going and had a mixed round of very good stuff and not so good stuff. As the tours tree whisper as always he had them on his side with his ball coming back into play off one branch on the 1st and somehow missing all wood after a wide teeshot on 13. However his 27 points never threatened the prizes.

A miraculous recovery from Bob on the 2nd as he chips it over a log and a pond
and on to the green

Meanwhile Greg and Vince continued their ding dong battle with the lead changing hands several times. However when Vince hit an excellent teeshot onto the 17th Greg could contain his frustration no longer with a cry of  'great shot, wrong handicap'. I think we've all been there.

Vince teeshot to 17

After Vince got a 4 for 3 Greg sunk a fabulous putt to also claim his 3 points and take it to the last.

Greg makes his par on 17 to stay in the game.

With both players on the green in 3  it was Vince to go first and he rammed his putt in for an unassailable lead as Greg spoiled his card and 3 putted for his only blob of the day. His 32 points was comfortably 2nd and Vince's 35 points was a clear winner.

Next week the action moves to a double header at Stoke-by-naylands and with good fields expected both days the RNSG competition leaderboards will really start to take shape.

Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2018. Round 2 at The Suffolk

Senior Moments Open at The Suffolk

Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2018 round 2 took place at The Suffolk on Tuesday. Although there was no rain the course was fairly water logged and played very long as shots got little or no run.

After balls in the air groupings were selected Greg went to the first tee to get things underway. However Bob called a halt as he couldn't find his drink. He insisted on returning to his car to fetch it so he didn't die of thirst on the course. After some time Bob eventually returned drinkless. He then insisted he needed to go to the bar to buy a drink (in a single use plastic bottle!, what would Sir David Attenborough say). Greg was about to try to tee off again when Bob's original drink was spotted in the drink bottle holder on his bag, who'd have thought of putting it there. 

Bobs missing water bottle that never leaves his side

Not surprisingly Greg went on to blob the hole and followed up with only 3 points over the next 3. He eventually put the missing drink incident behind him with 3 pars and a birdie before another blob left him on 14 at half way.

Greg tees off on the first on 3rd time of asking

Bobs disrupting tactics were from over for the day as on the first hole Greg left the flag behind the hole (although several feet away). Greg had clearly not played with Bob very often as he would know how upset Bob gets if the flag is anywhere in his eye line. With the flag now 'distracting him' he hit his putt so hard it shot past the hole and clattered into the flag some distance away. Very generously he was let off the penalty to secure a point (although it made no difference to the overall result). He did manage a point on every front 9 hole to end on 15. But this was not the end of Bob's incidents for the day.

Bob showing how wet the course was

Chris, the final member of the group, was struggling to reach the greens in regulation and made only 1 par on the front 9 to end with 11.

Chris teeing off on the first which ended with a blob

Meanwhile in the group behind things started badly as Kevin and Ian failed to reach the river (less than 100 yards away) with their drives, whilst Vince stuffed his drive under a tree. Tracey did hit a couple of good shots down the fairway before carting her next into another tree. At the end of the hole Ian, Vince and Tracey had failed to score and things were not looking good for any high scoring rounds today, but how wrong we were.

Like Chris, Tracey was also struggling with the extra disatnce that the wet conditions had added to the course and also ended the 9 on 11.

Tracey tees off on the par 3 2nd

Despite his enormous handicap of 27 (thats 3 times as big as Gregs!!) Vince was also bemused by the conditions hitting his special trick shot (that goes higher in the air than forward) on several occasions. Back to back pars on 6 and 7 accounted for nearly half his 13 front 9 points.

Vince under a tree on the first

His back 9 followed a similar pattern as he finish on 27 pts and out the prizes

Vince putting with the flag nicely out of his eyeline

Kevin was having a solid front 9 but again his putter was not his friend as 3 front 9 3 putts restricted him to 17 pts.

Thanks to his Neon Orange Ball Kevin was able to find it in the nettles

Ian had also started poorly and had just 3 points after 3 holes. But then, as if by magic, everything changed as he played solidly tee to green before sinking every putt to record 6 pars in a row and the half way lead on 19.

Ian's game started to improve after his second shot on the 3rd hole

Bob's tomfoolery was far from over as he searched for his drive on the 11th. Eventually Bob rules were instigated and he was allowed to drop for a penalty. However if he dropped it where he was about to he would have hit a 270 yard drive. Quite correctly he was sent back 100 yards for another go. This time he sent his ball straight down the fairway and crashing into Greg's bag 150 yards from him. (Note this is the short version of the story, Bob insisted on recounting the long version in the bar afterwards, I strongly advise against asking him about it). He completed the back 9 with another 13 pts but his total of 28 was well out the prizes.

Photo taken from where Bob was going to drop his lost drive ball.
In the background you can just see where Gregs findable drive had ended.

Chris's back 9 was much like her front struggling to score well and finishing on 21 pts.

Chris making a putt for rare points

Greg was now getting into the swing of things scoring very well and lifting his total to 31 and leader in the club house.

Now in the zone Greg marches purposefully onto the 17th green

Kevin needed some good scrambling on the back 9 as he lost two balls in the water but managed to rescue a point each time. It was not only his balls he lost as when he reached for his trusty pitching wedge on the 14th he realised he had left it by the side of the 11th green. Due to a current achilles injury Tracey kindly 'volunteered' to run back and get it for him. Which she did at a lightning pace. As he stood on the 18th tee Kevin just needed a point to take second place but his first drive was OOB on the right and second one in the river on the left so he also ended on 31 points for a second place tie.

Kevin tees off on 12th not realising he had left his wedge on the green behind

Tracey's little jog had obviously done her some good as she went on to par the hardest hole on the course which was a 400 yard par 4 for the ladies. Unfortunately this was her only scoring highlight as she also finished on 21 points and a share of last place with Chris.

Tracey plays her next shot after losing her ball in the pond behind

Ian's rich vein of form continued on the back 9 and another 4 pars left him on 38 points, which also equalled the RNSG course record, and a clear winner on the day.

Ian making progress down the very soggy 11th

Due to discussions about Bob's flag incident and the slowness of the round then Golf Dinosaur monster decided that the RNSG summer tour would be introducing the new 'putting with the flag in' rule a bit earlier than the rest of golf and it would be allowed for the rest of this years tour.

Hopefully the Valley course at Barnham Broom will have dried out abit in time for RNSG summer tour round 3 next Wednesday.

See blog for leaderboards and other news etc