The town of Hell in Michigan, USA froze over during the recent polar vortex, with temperatures as low as -35c! The UK, meanwhile, was positively balmy, with local temperatures hitting -3 degrees. How do we cope!
A non-qualifying Stableford was played, with the course covered in frost and white greens adding to the testing conditions. Not that that seemed to bother too many of the Seniors – a hardy lot, aren’t we! Some really good scoring was achieved in all three divisions, with Dave Lewis outscoring everyone with an excellent 38 points.
After the “mini-freeze” of mid-week, the Ladies were glad to have milder weather for their ‘High, Medium, Low Blind Date’ competition on Thursday, 24th January. The Duchy Course was nearly back to its full length, as the drier conditions meant that several shortened holes could be re-opened to play over their full yardage.
There were seven two spot birdies from Clare Salter (1st), Jackie Walker and June Symonds (4th), Lally Gibson (5th), Pauline Young (10th) and Bridget Rylance (15th).
Each competitor played to her full handicap and the resulting Stableford score was matched at random with two other scores from high, medium or low handicaps to provide the team score. A ‘ghost’ player had to be used in the calculations because there was an odd number of players.
The final results were Wendy Butt, Fiona Hassard and Jenny Howarth in first place with 95 points; Carol King, Sandra Hares and Jane Richardson in second place with 94 points and Maureen Charlton, Lally Gibson and Denise Baker, along with Jackie Walker, Pat Roscow and a ‘ghost’ in joint-third place with ninety points.
The temperature was minus-three degrees and snow had been forecast to arrive at midday – fortunately it did not; but it was no surprise that the field was smaller than normal for a non-qualifying Stableford on Thursday, 31st January. There had been a hard frost overnight and the grass and trees were sparkling with the hoar. The 23 lady competitors had to use coloured golf balls, because white balls were camouflaged when they landed.
The ground was so hard that the ladies quickly realised that the fairways were playing like the summer; their balls were running out for yards, but it was a different matter on the greens. Some greens were quick, others very slow where the balls gathered ice as they rolled towards the holes. It was ‘crazy golf’, as balls bounced crazily in all directions, but great fun, especially when a good shot turned into a very good one with help from the ground conditions.
The par-three 5th hole yielded two-spot birdies for Kay Clarke, Jackie Walker and Angela Hudd. Carol Jones had two birdies at the par-three 4th and 10th holes.
At the end, 33 points was the winning score for both divisions. Clare Salter took the honours in Division One and Kay Clarke in Division Two. 31 points secured second place in Division Two for Lesley Stone, with third place going to Denise Baker with 27 points.
Countback was employed to decide the second and third places in Division One after three players scored thirty points. Jackie Walker took second place with a better score over the last three holes. Third place went to Jane Ball, just shading Gail Proctor into fourth place.