Round Norfolk summer golf round 11 at Great Yarmouth and Caister

The Gold Cup at Great Yarmouth and Caister

Round Norfolk summer golf round 11 took place at Great Yarmouth and Caister on Tuesday. It is considered a bit of a marmite course with some players loving it and some not enjoying the gorse and bumpy fairway lottery. Therefore only 6 players had lined up to play. They were however greeted with good news that a lot of the gorse had been hacked back and those areas should be considered as GUR.

With a small field then the traditional balls in the air method was used to select groupings meaning Kevin, Chris and David would set off first.

Kevin got off to a slow start with a couple of 1 points before slicing his ball into the bushes on the 3rd. However when his ball could be located he implemented the new local rule the RNSG tour has adopted for OOB and lost balls. To the shock of the other players he marched to the edge of the fairway to drop his ball for a two shot penalty. He explained that thanks to recent research by Greg this was the correct procedure. Please refer to the ruling explanation at end of post to know what you should do in these circumstances as everyday's a school day on the RNSG tour. Much to the disgust of his playing partners Kevin managed to get down from there in 3 to rescue his point.

He did not enamour himself further when on the next hole he demonstrated the full range of his game when he hooked his tee shot through where the gorse used to be, hit his second shot even further left on to the 6th fairway before finding the edge of the green in 3 and making his 5. Meanwhile Chris had played the hole down the fairway, failed to clear the bunkers and ended with a 7 and much grumbling.

Kevin putting for outrageous par on the 4th after never getting within 100 yards of fairway.
 He missed but still got a5.

After using the local rule again on the 8th (losing his shining red ball) for another outrageous point he had somehow got 15 points on the front 9. As a bonus Greg had found his shinny red ball when hunting for his and returned it to him on the 10th tee box. (Btw it’s now somewhere in a hedge on the 4th at Bawburgh if I could have it back, prefably with out a nail hammered through it).

Chris was trying her best to play proper golf but found the front 9 was not here friend as she found a number of bunkers and the hardness of the greens and fairways not to her liking as she could only garner 10 points and last place.

Chris tees off down the 4th

David was having the opposite experience with his bad shots bouncing down the fairways on to the green. After hitting an average but straight tee shot on the short 6th everyone was surprised to see his ball on the green for an Eagle opportunity. WIth cameras poised to capture the moment he proceeded to 3 putt for a disappointing par. Kevin, on the other hand, made his birde putt but was furious that the moment had not been recorded.

Davids Eagle putt on 6th. No photo of missed birdie putt

Meanwhile in the group behind Vince had got off to a solid if not spectacular start when he too hit a tee shot onto the 6th green leaving an even shorter Eagle putt. However he also missed it but did manage the birdie. The 4 points gained helped him on the way to 18 at the turn.

Vince missing his birdie putt

Greg had not played the course for many years but found the front 9 to his liking as he scored well on every hole and was another player to birdie the 6th. He had an impressive 20 pts.

Bob continued with his fine run of form and was once again on fire as he had the halfway lead on 21 points.

Bob tees off on the 8th.

However Golf is a game of two halves and as the first few drops of rain started to fall (thank goodness Tim wasn't here) it all started to change.

For Chris this was in a good way as she found some form with a good par on the 10th and 6 points in the last 3 holes when the conditions were at their worst. However a total of 26 points still left her with the wooden spoon.

Chris misses rare birdie chance on 10th

Kevin was the only other player to improve on the back 9 as his tee shots straightened up and he scored well. Unfortunately he had to play the last two holes with his glasses covered in water and used this as an excuse for only getting 1 point on each of them. But his 32 points put him back in the mix. More surprisingly he had somehow had a blob free round.

Kevin Tees off on par 5 13th as his round improved

David was well placed with 32 points after 15 holes with an outside chance of a course record (currently 38 points by Chris in 2015) but then the rain started to come down heavily. And David hates the rain as much as Tim so quickly lost interest getting only 2 more points for 34.

David has to stand in rabbit hole on edge of 11th green when he was incorrectly refused relief.

Vince started the back 9 strongly with 6 points on the first two holes but then faded in the deteriorating conditions. On the 16th his hands were so slippery his 8 iron went 100 yards down the fairway and ball into the nearby bushes. As Vince and Greg searched, unsuccessfully, for the ball Vince told Bob about the club flying out of his hand. This confused Bob who thought they were looking for the club and was surprised when Vince stopped looking for it after 3 minutes. He proceeded to tell everyone in the clubhouse that Vince had lost his club in the bushes until Vince had to explain to him he hadn't, which confused Bob even more.
Vince could only manage a point a hole over the last 7 for only 31 pts and out the prizes.

Vince putting on 10th, he missed

Bob was still leading as he approached the par 5 13th. He hit a reasonable good teeshot and the front group then watched in awe as his ball landed just short of pin and rolled up for a simple tap in. What a shame it was on to the 14th green and not 13th or it would have been the 3rd Eagle opportunity of the day. From here he fell apart and manged just 4 more points for a disappointing 32 and share of 3rd place with Kevin.

Bobs second shot to par 5 13th, unfortunately this is 14th green.

This just left Greg who also had a good start to the back 9 being one point ahead of David after 15 but he too struggled in the rain holes but scraped home  with 3 points over the last 3 and a winning total of 36 for his third tour win of the season and second place on the money list.

Greg kept his game together until the rain holes

No one won the nearest pin so a £2 rollover moves on to next weeks venue at Eaton.

For stats fans here are some interesting eclectic facts from this year’s competition:

Bob is already on -16 which would be enough to win the eclectic in every year apart form 2015.

Bob, Kevin, Robert and Greg are only players to have a par or better on every hole.

In 6 attempts Tim is yet to par a 6th hole

in 7 attempts Vince has yet to do better than double bogey on the 5th

in 10 attempts Chris is still to par a 3rd hole.

If Vince could par the 8 holes he hasn't yet he would be in the joint lead with Bob

Local rule for out of bounds, lost ball

If a player hits a ball out of bounds or loses a ball, the general rules still require the player to return to the spot of the previous stroke and take a one-stroke penalty - a standard stroke-and-distance scenario. For example, if a player sends a tee ball past the white stakes and out of bounds, he must play another ball from the tee, which becomes the third shot after the penalty. It's the same scenario for a lost ball.

But the ruling bodies have added the option of a local rule that provides time-saving relief in such a scenario. Instead of the player returning to the spot of the previous shot in the event of a lost ball or a ball out of bounds, the player can take a drop in the nearest spot of the fairway (within two club-lengths of the edge of the fairway), no nearer the hole than where the ball crossed the OB line, with a two-stroke penalty.

The same local rule applies to a lost ball, with the player able to drop in the fairway across from where the previous ball is estimated to have come to rest.

This is only a local rule, and the course's rules committee must deem its use. This rule is not intended for high-level competitions, where the standard stroke-and-distance penalties will be in play. Consider it a gift to typical amateurs that will speed up play but not force somebody to march 200 yards or more back to a teeing area after learning that a ball is out of bounds.

Keep in mind, it's a two-stroke penalty under the local rule. If a player sends a tee shot out of bounds and proceeds under this local rule, they will play their fourth shot after dropping near the edge of the fairway (many amateurs casually throw down a ball and say they are playing their third from the new location, ignoring rules about stroke and distance). This is equitable to a player taking a stroke-and-distance penalty, then finding the fairway with the third shot from the tee. The next shot from the fairway would be the fourth.