The course was presented very well indeed with the approaches mown so perfectly that it was hard to distinguish between them and the immaculate greens.
I played the course on Wednesday morning with three members. They told me that the management committee at the club has engaged the services of a golf course design company, to advise on changes to the course. I do hope they don’t tinker with it to justify a consultancy fee. In my humble opinion, this most interesting mix of heathland, which produces beautiful, free-draining greens and mixed woodland, has wonderful qualities that just require nurture rather than surgery.
On Monday, I stayed overnight in Kinver, just a couple of miles down the road from the course in this beautiful and serene area of South Staffordshire. Sitting outside The Vine with a pint of Light Railway, Kinver Ale, I was studying the weather forecast for Wednesday morning and hoping the high pressure, coming in from the south west would keep us on the edge of the rain belt. Fortunately it did and the round was played in dry, pleasant, autumn conditions.
Unfortunately, two members of Mil Petkovic's team had already decided they didn’t want to play in the rain, leaving Mil with no option but to pull his team at the last moment. Mil courteously sent me a message to that effect on Monday evening and rung on Tuesday morning to check I had received it.
Not only did they miss out, but Mil needs to remind them that golf is an outdoor sport and can be played with waterproofs and a brolly.
One other player let Mike Myers’ group down. I received no apology or explanation from him. The other 15 members of the group were disgusted with him and requested that he should not be permitted to take part in future events - I agreed.
I was told when I started the Teetours society that if I didn’t charge up-front, people wouldn’t turn up. My aim was to build a society that had members who were like-minded, played in the true spirit of the game, and treated the organiser with mutual trust and respect.
It was great to see a young man who is clearly a talented golfer make an appearance: Ryan Greenwood plays off plus 1.4 and scooped the longest drive prize with ease.
Kevan Sproul and Andy Thomas took the two nearest the pin prizes. Kevan’s two contributed to Barrie Hope’s team scoring 90 for a podium finish.
93 was second place for Tony Butler, Graham Doran and Roger Meredith. I was delighted, because this is the team that was was let down by their fourth man, dropping out without apology.
Brian Preece, together with his son Matt and Mike Whitehouse were also a three-man team but hey only relied on the pro-score on three holes to post a winning score of 96.
Special is the word or choice for my closing paragraph:
From the pro-shop on Tuesday morning I purchased three brand new, Sharpy, marker pens and attached them to the special prize hole markers.
Special mention must go to Neil Mallett (who I think must be special-needs) as he put the new marker in his pocket after using it, rather than replacing it for following players. Bless!
