Round Norfolk Summer Golf Tour. Round 7 at Gorleston

The Far East Trophy

Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 7 moved East for it's second seaside venue in a row. You may not realise this yet as our special correspondent covering round 6 at Cromer seems to have had his report eaten by the dog (although I know he doesn't even have a dog) as it is yet to be handed in, hopefully it will be with us soon.

Anyway Tuesday saw 8 tour members turn up at Gorleston on a mild and surprisingly windless day with conditions looking set for some good scoring. The two remaining tour members not to make an appearance so far this year, David and John H, were both in the starting line up meaning Golf Dinosaur monster now had a full set of tour membership fees.

With group's selected Vince (on his return from the rival Round Scotland Summer Tour) got things underway and again agreed to restrict his handicap to just (yes just) 28. But he really didn't need that many shots as he holed a monster putt on the 2nd for a birdie 4 pts, chipped in from the long rough on the 3rd for 4 more points and then birdied the 7th for another 4 pts. His two birdies on the first 7 holes equalling his total 2018 birdie count. With 22 points at half way then todays title and Ian's course record of 37 both looked sewn up. But golf is a game of two halfs (or is that football) and maybe the fat lady hadn't sung yet, as there is many a slip 'twixt cup and lip etc etc etc

Ballester was on fire as he got his round underway

Meanwhile 2018 average points and blobs champion David got started in his normal solid style but then had unprecedented back to back blobs on holes 7 and 8 for only 15 points at half way.

David looking solid on his return to the tour with a perfect drive down the second

Kevin started his round by duffing his drive down the short first before recovering with a good iron to the green and sinking the putt for an unexpected birdie. Greg reminded him that every great round of golf starts with a birdie, never, and this proved to be the case as Kevin matched his collection of 3 and 4 points holes with an equal number (6 in fact) blobs to finish the day in last place on 28 points. His biggest mistake was to tell David that he had started to putt well and then 3 putted 2 of the next 3 holes.

Kevin have a round of some very good and bad holes in equal measure

Greg was the final member of the group and once again was aiming to avoid any blobs for the 4th time this year. He comfortably achieved this in a very impressive front 9 racking up 19 points.

Greg sinks his putt for a parr on the tricky 3rd.

Group 2 had John H playing his first round back on these shores and clearly his warm weather training had paid off as he opened with 3 pars before normal service was resumed and once again some excellent effing and jeffing echoed round the course although he was still in the running with 17 at halfway.

Group 2 approaching the 4th Green

Chris was another player with a solid opening 9 and had 18 points. However on the 14th tee she was about to tee off when a lady approached the rest of the group saying she had lost her dog. Too much interested was then shown in finding the dog (pictures shared, should they put it on a lead, what number to call if they found it, does it like bananas etc) so with no one watching her Chris got distracted and recorded her only blob of the round as the day then petered out with just 30 points. (Bloody Dogs!).  Note: the cute little doggy woggy was never found.

Tim was never really at the races today and although he had some good holes he was clearly put off by the occasional spot of rain as he was unsure if to put full waterproofs on, keep them off or ask for the round to be suspended his 29 pts (with another score card error) was never in the running.

Tim tees of on the 5th for his first blob of the day

Bob was not at his bandit best as he drove the first green before going on to 3 putt it, a blob soon followed on the 3rd but he recovered to stay in the running with 16 points at the turn.

Bob tees off on 6th leading to his first blob of the day

Meanwhile up ahead the wheels were coming off on Vinces round. After reaching the rough by the edge of the 10th green he thinned his chip over it and cleared the 18th green as well. His return shot landed on the green, although sadly the wrong one before another duff into the bunker which was thinned back to where his ball was 4 shots earlier and it was time to move on. This was followed by a run of 5 1 pointers over the next 6 holes and out of the running. However the drama wasn’t over yet as when hitting out of the rough on the short 17th his ball made it to the edge of the green but the head flew off his club into deep rough. After looking for it for 3 minutes no one was sure what the penalty was for not finding your club head when fortunately it was located. A closing blob meant his 32 point total kept him out the prizes, when well he ever put two good nines together?

You may think Vince was chipping on to this green but in fact he had to chip over this one (the 18th)
to get back to the 10th green, which he failed to do

David soon had has game face on and opened up the back 9 with back to back pars. He kept scoring points throughout the rest of the round to finish on a credible 33 points and what turned out to be a share of 3rd place and 25p on the money list.

David shows his liking of long range putting on the 12th

Greg continued in imperial style completing another blob free round. His 36 points were not enough for the course record but would they be enough for victory today?

Greg doesn't hit the nearest the pin green, as did everyone else meaning it's a £3 rollover

John had got himself back in the running with a run of 6 2 point holes only to then give it away on the pesky short 17th before a par on the last also got him to 33 points and 25p.

John tees off on the dog leg 13th just before dogate

This just left Bob in with a shout especially after a birdie on the 10th. As the points stacked up he found himself on the 18th tee with 35 points just needing a bogey 6 for victory. But then his mind wandered back to the lost little doggy and poor lady searching for her and he struggled to hold back the tears. With eyes welling up with water he miscues his drive and ended up blobbing the hole to finish second. Maybe next time he should concentrate on playing golf, which is why we came and not get involved in pets rescue. Greg (who hates dogs, probably, although I’ve never asked him) was the worthy winner.

Bob was leader on course for most of second round

With the money list beginning to take shape there is a real opportunity for someone next week as there is £5 on offer at the 2nd major of the year. Which is the US PGA to be played at Ely.