Round Norfolk summer golf round 16 at Bury St Edmunds

The Sunshine Invitational

Round Norfolk summer golf round 16 took place at Bury St Edmunds on Thursday. It was an all male affair with a small field of four. It was good to welcome back John H who has been playing on the European tour.

He hadn't lost any of his usual form since he has been away with 4 blobs in the first 7 holes. This led to some fruity language and a few clubs being thumped and thrown. However 5 points in the last couple of holes got his front 9 score into double figures with 11 points.

Johns opening drive ends up in the trees on the way to an opening blob

Having John back took the pressure of Kevin who was able to keep calm without the added pressure of being chief club abuser. After starting with a tidy par he was unable to make much progress with a series of bogeys. This included an embarrassing air shot when his club got stuck in the branches of a tree on his back swing. His 14 points kept him in the running.

Kevin manages to hit the ball despite a white butterfly fluttering past

Bob was playing off his shiny new handicap of 17. Kevin kindly reminded him, frequently, that he wouldn't be getting a shot on the short par 3 9th. His mind game tactics backfired when Bob sunk his putt from the edge of the green for a birdie to give him 16 pts at halfway.

Bob gets out of a bunker as the players all went in several

Vince was in top front 9 form again and after an opening hole blob went on to score 2 or 3 points on the next 8 holes for 20 points before we approached the trickier back 9. He is already looking a strong contender on the best front and back 9 competition, at least on the front part.

Vince hits out of the trees on the 3rd

Although he had a few wobbles on the back 9 and no 3 pointers, Vince had done enough and his total of 34 was clear of the field. His win has also put him well clear at the top of the money list but the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

The competition for the minor places was much more exciting as John came with a strong run and no more blobs whereas Bob started to fall away as he surprisingly abandoned his 5 wood strategy and opted for the driver again.

John putting for birdie on 11th (he missed)

Kevin was also going along nicely and after a birdie on the short par 5 14th even had a sniff at a win. However a only 2 points over the next 3 holes put pay to that.

Kevin putting for birdie on 14 (he made it)

With one hole to play Bob was on 26, John 27 and Kevin 28. No one gave an inch as first Kevin got his par for second place, then Bob holed a slippery 10 footer for his par leaving John a testing 6 foot putt to secure the 50p third place prize. As he struck the ball it was always heading for the middle of the cup and for once his swearing and club throwing were in celebration.

After another excitings days golf (except from Vince) the tour moves on to Cromer for the British Open where the £5 first prize could really shake up the money list.

Round Norfolk summer golf round 15 at Wensum Valley

Outer Norwich Cup

Round Norfolk summer golf round 15 took place at the Valley course at Wensum Valley on Tuesday. After the recent small turnouts then this round attracted a bumper field of 9 to play. Conditions were exceptionally dry rewarding players prepared to thin their ball along the ground rather than bother to hit it in the air.

The groupings were picked in the traditional way then, with so many players entered RNSG chief executive, Golf Dinosaur Monster, was on hand to make sure all entry fees were collected before kick off.

Greg got things underway with a typically smooth drive to start with a par on the way to a solid 18 Pts at halfway. This included a birdie on the short par 4 7th but sadly this is the 3rd time he has birdied the 7th this year so didn’t improve his eclectic (shame).

Bob has missed the last two rounds as he played on the US tour. However it was if he had never been away as he blobbed 3 of the first 4 holes including a 200 yard tee shot that never left the ground. Things didn’t improve much on the back 9 and with 6 blobs in the round he did well to get 23 pts.

Final group member Jo was playing off her new handicap of 15 for the first time. However before she started it was pointed out that there must had been a printing error on the ladies card as it showed 7 par 5s compared to the 3 on the men’s card. Jo had a solid opening 9 but despite the 4 par 5 holes her lack of pars restricted her to 14 pts. The round seemed to be slipping away until 4 pars over the closing holes elevated her score to 30 pts or as we shall find out later was it really only 27?

It was in group 2 where all the action was and the battle for first place was fought out. It wasn’t to involve Kevin who had come with a safety first approach of keeping his driver in the bag as his opening safe shot went straight in the bunker. His round stalled on the 4th as he 4 putted with his first effort going downhill past the flag and 10 foot off the green (so strictly speaking a 3 putt). His chances were finally extinguished when finding water twice on the back 9 for 28 pts.

However Robert (returning to the tour after a long lay off since winning the Masters on the opening round) was on fire as he hit a series of excellent tee and approach shots to rack up 11 pts in the first four holes. He then demonstrated a very poor mental attitude by saying he needed to get the points early as he would need them later. Not surprisingly he needed them on the next hole as he found a green side bunker and then cacked about trying to get it into the hole for a blob. He soon steadied the ship for 19 pts at halfway.

Vince also got off to a flyer parring the opening 3 holes although fortunately he didn’t get two shots on any. Then, despite seeing Kevin putt off the green on the 4th he managed to do the same but from a third the distance for a 3/4 putt and blob. It didn’t seem to put him off as 2 more pars and with his enormous handicap kicking in he got to 21 points at the turn. As today saw the start of the best 3 front and back 9s in July, August and September comp it has already put him in a strong position.

The final grouping of Ian, Tracey and David were never really at the races. For once Tracey decided to play 2 solid 9’s rather than the one good and one bad approach she normally adopts as she cut her blob count down to 2 for the round. Her 30 pt total (16 and 14) keeping her just out of the prizes.

David had an almost mirror image of Tracey’s score. He is known for his excellent putting but possibly took it to extremes with some putts from 70 yards down the fairway. His 30 pt total (14 and 16) keeping him just out of the prizes but still at the top of 3 of the leaderboards.

Ian hadn’t played on the tour for a few weeks and found today a bit of a struggle. Like Bob he recorded 6 blobs and 23 pts for a share of last place.

So it left Greg, Robert and Vince to battle it out. Greg looked like he might get his first win of the season as he started the back 9 strongly before successive blobs on the water rich 13th and 14th took him out of contention as he finished in 3rd and 31pts to once again be the bridesmaid.

Vince looked invincible (pardon the pun) as he had 31 pts after 13 holes. Including a par on the 13th, a hole he had failed to do better than a double bogey on all season putting him clear at the top of the eclectic. Kevin decided it was a good time to remind Vince that he currently held the course record at 37 pts and with 5 holes to play Vince only need 7 more points to beat it. By expertly reminding him of this at key moments over the closing holes Vince fell apart and could only manage 4 more points for 35 in total. He did break one record as he searched for his ball about 200 yards further on from where it was found by the group behind.

This just left Robert to see if he could reel Vince in but when he found the water 3 times in 4 holes his challenge was over as he ended in second place on 33pts.

There was just time for Ballgate as Robert found one of Jo’s balls on the fairway to the left of the 18th. When Jo was presented it in the bar afterwards she realised that her ball and the provisional were marked in the same way (a school girl error) and now wasn’t sure if she had played the right one so her score was reduced to 27. However that evening she wrote to RNSG chief executive, GDM, saying further evidence had come to light and she believed she had played the right ball. Her written appeal and evindece were immediately sent to the court for sports arbitration which ruled in her favour and the 3 points were returned making absolutely no difference to the result but restoring harmony in the Barnard household.

With Vince and David leading 3 competitions each the tour heads South to Bury st Edmunds (where it always rains) to see if anyone can start making inroads into their leads.

Round Norfolk summer golf round 14 at Felixstowe Ferry

Windy Coastal Cup

Round Norfolk summer golf round 14 took place at Felixstowe Ferry on Wednesday. According to the locals it was 70% wind today but even at 70% today's players all agreed it was the toughest conditions found on tour so far this year.

Only 4 of the hardy tour regulars made it to the first tee and they were rewarded with some fantastic views and a proper test of links golf. 

Vince tees off on the first into the links below.

The first 4 holes were into the wind as the players got off to contrasting starts. Kevin had decided to keep his driver in his bag for any hole under 400 yards and all 5 par 5's so only got it out 4 times during the round. This tactic seemed to pay off as he had 8 points from 3 holes before his bunker problems returned on the 4th with the ball still in the greenside bunker when his shots ran out. Despite this his tactic to keep the ball in play worked well as he had 18 pts at halfway.

Kevin hits the ball out the rough on the 4th before a greenside bunker stopped his progress

Tracey wasn't enjoying the wind much and despite there not being too much long rough or gorse she still seemed to find any there was. Her playing partners didn't seem keen to search for them in knee high rough as because of the parched hard brown fairways no one ever really knew where their own balls had rolled off to so it was everyman for themselves. With 5 blobs Tracey only managed 8 points over the first 9.

Tracey gets a par on the 4th for her first points of the round
 (with Kevin out of picture still trying to get out the bunker)

Chris realised that she would be taking on the role of the steady member when it was pointed out that Kevin, Vince and Tracey were equal top of the eclectic charts and also had the worst 3 averages of blobs per round. So apart from one blob, offset by an excellent birdie on the short par 4 4th, she scored on each front 9 hole and had a tidy 14 at the turn.

Chris hits good drive down the second.

Vince's drives seemed to be as equally inconsistent as Tracey but without such dire consequences as he was managing to get points on most holes. This was until the 8th when his luck run out with 3 blobs in the next 4 holes and several lost balls in. However, as is often the way with the game of the Ballester things were about to turn round for him and in fact all the players.

Vince hacks out rough during his run of 3 blobs in 4

Traceys back 9 continued in the same fashion and 4 more blobs meant she equalled Sandies 9 blobs from 2017 to go into equal second for most blobs in a round ever on tour (well done to her). Her 18 points total meant she had played to handicap on the 9 holes she could be bothered to finish.

Tracey walks off 12 with a tidy par. As did the other 3 members of the group!  

Kevin took an early lead on the back 9 with 25 pts after 12 holes. In fact all 4 players parred the par 3 12th which is right by the clubhouse and impressing the locals, but then the course turned back into the wind. Suddenly he started to struggle and with a shank leading to a blob on 13 he got the jitters and when he foolishly got his driver out on 17 it ended in tears with two balls going into the long rough never to return. He had 30 pts coming to the last.

Kevin's teeshot to the 12th which has to go over a road.

Chris was catching up fast with a couple of pars and several 2 pointers. However her 'best drive of the day' didn't fade back in the wind as planned and the ball went missing in action for a blob. However a par on the next meant she had 29 pts coming to the last.

Chris about to drive off with the wind at the start of the back 9

The time had come for Vince to get his enormous handicap out of his bag and he used it wisely to score 11 points in 4 holes. This meant he had 28 points coming to the last.

Vince tees off on the 13th as the players headed back into the wind.

With no shot for Chris and Kevin it was all to play for. Vince and Chris both found the green in 2 and the pressure was on Kevin who  cracked as he hit his ball into a greenside bunker. As he has been shanking everything in the bunkers recently he decided to aim a club heads width away from the ball and amazingly popped it out next to the pin. Chris made her par but Vince 3 putted leaving Kevin to make his 3 foot putt for his first tour win of the year.

As we reach the halfway stage it looks like 6 rounds will be required to qualify for the average points and blobs comps this year being a quarter of the rounds played by the tour member with the best attendance. At this stage David is comfortable leader in both those comps and his 41 pts at Woodbridge will be hard to beat for most points in a round. However the eclectic comp is close with Vince, Kevin And Tracey leading that. It's all to play for in the money list where Chris holds a 50p lead but plenty of players within a win of her.

Don't forget next weeks round at Wensum Valley sees the start of the best 3 front and best 3 back 9's in July, August and September comp where it is rumoured a new player maybe joining the tour!

Round Norfolk summer golf round 13 at Rookery Park

Wednesday saw round norfolk summer golf tour round -13 take place at rookery park golf club but would there be any luck involved? As most tour members seemed to have something better to do with their time it was a three ball that headed to the first tee. With nobody to organise them, chaos ensued: Chris tried to head off to the par 3 course Sandie offered to do "balls in the air".  Vince wandered off to find the nets muttering about fixing his swing.  

Vince eventually teed off and stuffed it straight into the long rough, which is also where his third shot returned to ( not the same bit obviously).  This set the pattern for much of the round, despite him taking first hybrids then irons for safety off the tee. After 11 holes he seemed to be targeting the "most blobs in a round" with an impressive 5 blobs and 12 points. 

Sandie meanwhile decided that scrambling was the order of the day, and despite duffing  at least a shot a hole to cries of " oh Sandie" she scored steadily and had a healthy 16 points at the turn. 

Chris decided to see if she could play tidy golf and for once succeeded, with some steady hybrids keeping her out of trouble. With a mixture of pars and bogies she had 20 points at half way and started wondering who had the course record and what it stood at. 

Having been chased round the course by locals for most of the round Chris decided the group should take  a breather in the trees on the 13th to let a group through. This decision had absolutely nothing to do with Sandie having just scored 8 points in 3 holes and the need for a change of pace. It was pure coincidence that Sandie went on to score her remaining 8 points on the final 6 holes to finish on a creditable 32 points. 

The break however did help Vince  who started to rediscover his swing and hit some lovely shots, he managed to score on all the remaining holes and finished the round on 22 points . He was surprisingly good humoured about the whole thing. 

Chris's back 9 continued to be steady, but with some untidy chips thrown in she finished the round level handicap and grumbling about making no headway on the eclectic. She had to grumble very quietly because for some reason Vince wasn't very interested. 

In the bar urgent texts were sent to the Pyrenees to ask how to carve up the winnings and 50ps were passed backwards and forwards across the table as all three sheepishly admitted the had no idea how the money was distributed. 

Having had to actually read the website to find out some facts, we now know that Wednesday's result puts Chris level with Vince at the top of the money list. She also retains her course record at Rookery which she never knew she had ( and improved it by a shot). 

Next week the tour goes to Felixstowe Ferry where a new course record is guaranteed. 

Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 12 at Thorpeness. The US Open

The US Open at Thorpeness

Wednesday saw Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 12 take place at Thorpeness and it was the second major of the year being the US Open. Two groups gathered on the first tee to see who could be crowned US champion and it was another exciting affair.

Bob got things underway with a tidy start on the first couple of holes but when he reached for his driver on the longer 3rd he realised he had left it at home and only had his 5 wood to tee off with. This seemed to impact his game and with no pars on the front 9 only managed 12 pts.

Bob having to tee off on the long 5th with his 5 wood

The back 9 was a little bit but a double blob finish on 17 and 18 kept his overall score down to 26 pts and off the pace.

More 5 wood action from Bob

After a couple of weeks away from the game Tracey was struggling to find form and was one of 3 players today with a run of 3 blobs in 3 holes as she finished the front 9 on 10 pts.

Tracey tees off on 5th for second of her 3 blobs in a row

The back 9 was looking better with 14 pts off the first 7 holes, including an excellent birdie on the 16th (although the ladies tee box takes some finding as it's 70 yards shorter than the mens). However she too had a double blob finish to end on 24 pts.

Traceys tee shot on 18 also leads to a blob

Chris was playing very solidly and made the most of the 4 additional par 5's that could be found on the ladies card. She had 6 pars on the front 9 and although the other 3 holes were not so good she still had 18 pts at half way and a big lead.

Chris gets underway on the first

In the group behind it was predominately all or nothing from most of the players. This was demonstrated on the opening hole when Kevin and Greg both got birdies while Vince and David got blobs. Our statistician has checked the 'two birdies on same hole' spreadsheet and if one exsisted then this would probably be the first entry. 

However from here things went down hill for Kevin. Despite hitting a number of long and straight drives the chipping shanks from Gorleston returned and he went on to get 5 blobs when less than 50 yards from the green after getting there in 2. 

A fine teeshot from Kevin on 5th but after finding the greenside bunker
with his next the ball never found the putting surface.

With his game in tatters and his clubs going further than his ball he had 3 successive blobs on the back 9 before birding both 16 and 17 by cleverly avoiding the need to chip with two excellent tee shots. However despite his 3 birdies the 8 blobs in the round meant he only had 21pts, although massively improved his eclectic. On the plus side chipped shanks don't go very far so he only lost one ball all round.

2nd shot on par 5 14th was A1 leaving only a short 50 yrd chip to the green
but I think we all know what happened next as no points were registered 

Vince was having the opposite problem as he was struggling off the tee and had 3 blobs in the first 4 holes. He did once again make the most of his 2 shot holes and was able to recover his back 9 and with an excellent par on the par 5 9th he got to 15 pts at half way.

Early gorse trouble for Vince on the first

David got off to an even worse start with 3 blobs in the first 4 holes. He decided that Thorpeness wasn't a patch on the other two suffolk heathland courses (Woodbridge and Purdis Heath) although this maybe because he had finished first on both those occasions. With a couple more pars and no more blobs he managed to get up to 12 pts at the turn.

David tees off on the 3rd on his way to a blob

Greg was the only player in the group scoring well. As he had 15 pts after 7 holes including a second birdie on the par 3 7th.. This was especially impressive seeing as he seemed to had gone into a bunker on all of these. However for some reason he decided to avoid the bunkers on the next two holes. It would have been a good tactic if he had opted for the bunker free fairways rather than bunker free woods and blobed both the holes to have 15 pts after 9.

Greg tees off on the 4th straight into a bunker

Up ahead Chris was scoring on every back 9 hole but with only two pars not really racking up the points. When she fluffed her short chip on the 18th (which returned to her feet) she would not realise how much it would cost her as she finished the round on 33 pts and leader in the overflow car park.

Chris teeshot to "short" par 3 16th.

Vince soon put himself out of the running as he 'drove' a number of balls into the woods, ferns and gorse. His lost ball count got to 6 before anyone stopped counting. With 4 blobs in 6 holes, and the 3rd person to get 3 in a row in the round, another new record (probably), he finished on 25 pts.

Vince hitting a ball into the woods

Greg had a solid if not spectacular back 9 until successively reintroducing his bunker strategy on 16 and 17 and then back into the woods on 18 meaning he only got 3 pts on the closing holes. This gave him 15 more points, 30 in total and 3rd place on the day.

Greg tees off on 11 with his driver has he announced a risk reward strategy. He was rewarded with a par.

The back 9 seemed to be much more to David's liking as his early season form returned. A birdie on the 15th put him back in contention and with pars on the next 2 holes he only needed to par the last for an unexpected win. Unexpectedly he missed his par putt and finished joint first with Chris on 33 pts. However there can only be one winner of a major and David took the US Open title (his first major win).

David on a way to a par on the very long par 3 16th

David cemented his position at the top of the leaderboards but Tracey and Kevin are now at the top of the eclectic and are bottom of the average blobs showing their all or nothing approach.

Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 11 at Gorleston

The Far East Trophy

Round Norfolk summer golf tour round 11 took place at Gorleston on Tuesday. A small field of just 4 lined up on a blustery day for the day's comp.

The less said about Kevin's round the better (for him) as he introduced shanking to his armoury of wayward drives, fat iorns and yipped putts to have nearly the perfect game.

A rare straight chip from Kevin on the second

With 6 blobs he was never in the running with only a birdie on the 15th making his round worthwhile and just 22 pts.

Kevin misses his par putt on 13

Chris was obviously feeling sorry for him and did well to keep pace on the front 9 as both Frazer's had only 12 points each after 10 holes.

Chris gets things underway and soon finds her first bunker of the day

Her game then picked up with back to back pars before deciding to visit virtually every bunker on the course to finish on a disappointing 26pts.

Chris fails to hit the ball from a tricky bunker on the 10th

Bob was having a typical Bob round with some excellent pars mixed with some not so excellent blobs.

Bob's first attempt to shift the ball on the 6th

No it's not the same photo again but Bobs second go to shift his ball on the 6th

His tactic of just using his 5 wood to drive with meant he kept his ball in play and finished second with 29.

There was only ever going to be one winner once Jo had stormed into an early lead with a par and back to back birdies in the first 4 holes. She ended the front 9 with a big lead on 19 pts.

Great teeshot from Jo on the 4th leads to 2nd of her back to back Birdies

Although she scored less well on the back 9 there were no blobs and her 35 pts were more than enough for her first tour win (and earnings) this year. In fact she could have gone to the bar to get the tea and cake in and not bothered to play the last 3 holes and still would have won.

Next week things hot up as it is the US Open at Thorpeness. With double prize money it could be the opportunity for some one down the money list to make a charge on the road to Sheringham.