There are many joys to playing golf in the winter! So far this year, the Farrington Park Ladies Section has been playing through the wettest weather with everyone wishing the rain would stop. Their prayers were answered and last Thursday dawned dry, sunny but very cold.

All week, the temperature had been below zero which resulted in the ground becoming rock hard and the frost drawing patterns on everything that it touched. Playing conditions were akin to playing links golf in summer with the golf balls running “for miles” and variable bounces which sometimes resulted in the balls shooting off at unwelcome angles.

The Pink Ball Bowmaker is always a fun challenge. The eleven teams of three had to record the two best scores on each hole but players had to take it in turns to play with a pink ball. This ball’s score counted for double points and the pressure was on each player to score as well as possible and not lose the ball in the process. Return of the pink ball at the end of the round counted for another five points.

All the teams returned their balls but there were tales of balls being fished out of hedges, ditches and ponds, so keen was each team not to lose their pink ball.

There were some very respectable scores from many of the teams but the runaway winners were Denise Baker, Sue Barnes and Jill Holland with eighty two points. Carol King, Lally Gibson and Jackie James took second place with seventy five points and third place went to Pat Roscow, Jenny Howarth and Kath Cox with seventy three points.

Jane Ball