Autumn tour round 1. (Felixstowe Ferry)

Autumn Tour Round 1

It was with great relief that some sort of RNSG tour could eventually happen this year. For the first time it would be an Autumn tour with 6 of the tours favourite courses selected to be played during August, September and October. There will be the normal tour comps running over the duration plus an extended tournament prize plan with a top prize of £7 available each time and a spectacular unprecedented £14 for the finale. 

Due to covid there were some new protocols in place with balls in the air or drawing lots no longer covid compliant so groupings were sorted in advance. As there was a chance of light rain then Tim had to withdraw as apparently he melts if he comes in contact with water. This left Jo and Robert to kick the mini tour off.

The score card had been checked and by comparing the Par and SSS then the women’s FFS for today’s round was 3 extra shots.

With Sunny blue skies Robert got things underway as he and Jo disappeared off into the sunset not to be seen again until they popped up on the 17th, 4 holes ahead of the rest of the field and back home in Norwich before anyone else had finished their round.

Robert gets the Autumn tour underway as Felixstowe starter checks he really is a 15 handicap

They also managed to dodge the second lot of rain. It was therefore not surprising their scoring was good with Robert recording 31 pts and Jo was leader in her front room on 34.

Jo (in favourable conditions) on her way to 34 points

Next off was the group of  Andrew, Greg and Jill featuring the lowest handicappers today. Andrew immediately put in his entry for the shortest drive as he topped his drive just past the ladies tee. The Felixstowe starter was far from convinced that he really was an 11 handicap. However he recovered well to scramble a point and ended up being the only player today to avoid a blob as he finished on a creditable 32 points and leading the lowest average blobs comp.

Andrew checking his drive had got off the ground on this occasion, it had.

After a number of recent fantastic rounds Jill bought her shinny new 6 handicap to the course and with the adjusted FFS she got half as many shots again so was the pre round favourite. However it turned out to be one of those days and she couldn't get her round going. In the end she decided to photograph her feet instead. 

Jill's feet

Greg was having the most eclectic round of the day which included 3 birdies and two blobs. One of his birdies was almost an eagle as it lipped out. He found himself sharing the lead on 34 points.

Greg plays a good shot in as the galleries admire his shot

This just left the last group to see if they could chase down the lead. A surprise early rain shower seemed to effect their games as Kevin missed several short putts, Chris kept chipping short and Bob forgot how to play golf altogether. 

One of many bunkers Bob found today, sadly he had run out of shots before he finally got out of this bad boy.

Chris was going best and a two putt on the 9th would have given her a respectable 17 points at halfway but as Bob and Kevin discussed the quality of the greens she in-explicitly 3 putted before blaming her playing partners for chatting while she was trying to putt. Kevin helpfully suggested she should concentrate on her own game not what was going on around her, which surprisingly didn't seem to help.

To prove the point she blobbed the next hole before recovering her composure for a solid finish with 31 points and a share of 5th place, with Robert, for her first 25p on this years money list.

Chris was playing well before chatgate.

This telling off seemed to inspire Kevin as he suddenly found his A game parring 4 of the next 6 holes to bring him back into contention.

Bob, on the other hand, never realised he had been told off as he slipped further back and finished on a disappointing 25 points.

An up and down day for Bob with some excellent shots mixed in with a few not so good ones

Coming to the last Kevin needed a par to seal victory and after a wayward drive and a thinned rescue somehow found himself on the back of the green. A reasonable approach putt left a tricky downhill 6 footer but now in the zone (and in silence) he rolled it in for 35 points and the £7 first prize.

Despite visiting a lot of bunkers, Kevin escaped from them all on his way to victory

Considering the tricky wet and windy conditions scoring was surprisingly high so hopefully the standard can be maintained as the tour moves on to Cromer in a couple of weeks time.