Round Norfolk Golf Tour summer comp 2016. Round 18 at Ufford Park

A brilliant, cloudless blue sky greeted members of the Round Norfolk Golf Tour as they arrived at the Ufford Park Hotel for the latest round of the Race to Sheringham. 

John Herring had dropped out citing a date with his dentist. Kevin was cycling (or hoping to cycle) in Italy and everyone else not attending had made their apologies leaving just four taking part: Chris Fraser, Mike Hammond, Ian Bishop and Bob Spanner. The staff at golf reception managed to hide their disappointment well when the group claimed 2 free courtesy rounds and used 2 county cards to slash the cost of the round. 

Chris and Bob arrived first. Mike decided to take the long route to avoid traffic and Ian didn't really have a good excuse which meant they both missed out on a pre-round practise putt. As Mike never does this anyway it didn't make any difference.

 Chris quickly getting into her warm up routine.  

With Kevin out of the money this week, everyone was really excited at the prospect of getting closer to him on the leader board (really!).

Front 9

Mike (playing off 13) started very well (pars on the 1^st and 3^rd) before failing to score on the 4^th. He then came back strongly with a par and a bogey before fading slightly over the last 3 holes. His halfway score of 16 reflected the effect of only scoring on 7 of the first 9 holes.

Mike getting the round underway with a fine drive

Chris (playing off her new handicap of 16) started slowly (5 points over the first 4 holes), but 3 pars on the next 5 saw her finish the front nine holes strongly with 16 points. Her tendency to play on the adjacent fairway didn't seem to affect her ability to recover and sneak a par (Fraser family trait). 

Chris getting off to her usual tidy start.

                                                           

Mike and Chris heading off into the distance as they look for the red tee on the 9th hole (picture taken from the yellow tee!).

Ian (playing off his new handicap of 17) started solidly over the first 3 holes before also failing to score on the 4^th hole. He then struck back with 11 points over the next 5 holes (2 pars) leaving him with 17 points at the halfway stage.

Ian starting his round with a tidy drive up the fairway.

Bob (playing off his new handicap of 19) started badly, hooking his first tee shot into the trees. However some good recovery work saw him sink a 6 foot putt to start with 2 points. 

Bob teeing off on the first and successfully finding the trees. There's a surprise.

His driving picked up after this and by the end of the 7^th he had collected 16 points. However, after listening to Chris explain how lots of the ladies were nervous of playing over the water at the 8^th, Bob proceeded to put his drive in the water and ended up not scoring. A good bogey on the 9^th saw him finish the front nine with 18 points, just hanging on to the lead.

Body language!! The 4 ball in front are not really making an effort to buck up and move on.

Back 9

Mike started like he meant business, making 2 pars on the first 3 holes before hitting the buffers when he put his tee shot out of bounds on the short 13^th (why did I use my driver!!). Despite making a par on the next hole, he seemed to lose his momentum, hitting double bogeys on the next 3 holes. A good par on the par 5 18^th saw him finish with 33 points.

Ian started the back 9 strongly and 2 pars in the first 5 holes saw him make 11 points. However, his tee shot into the water at the short 15^th saw him collect only 5 points over the last 4 holes. Ian also finished with 33 points!

Ian, playing nicely off the fairway somewhere on the back 9!

Chris also started the back 9 strongly with 2 pars on the first 3 holes. However, she then failed to score for the first time in her round on the next 2 holes. A strong finish saw her collect 9 points over the last 4 holes, also finishing with 33 points!!

Chris trying to get her shot away before the sprinkler gets her!

Like the others, Bob started strongly but kept it going for longer scoring an outrageous par on the 14th after topping his tee shot. He  followed this with a strategically played birdie around the water on the 15th which meant he collected 19 points over the first 7 holes. At this point the possibility of beating Kevin’s 40 point season high score seemed to hit home and he managed only 1 more point on the last 2 holes, finishing with 38 points.

No-one seemed to know how the £4 ‘pig’ money should be distributed so that was left for Kevin to sort out.

Everyone reflected on how well the course had played with a lot less tree action than previous weeks and isn't it strange how often the scorer wins!

Anyway, Kevin's gamble to miss this round doesn't seem to have affected his lead at the top of the prize money table. 

Next week the tour heads off to Caister and Yarmouth with a good turnout likely.