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.