2007

 

There might have been a chill in the breeze on the morning of the 9th FA Cup-Cup, but all it needed was a slurp of a 'Scotty' and anything else didn't seem to matter!

The morning's beverage was being provided by outgoing champion Wayne Morris, who told me that there really wasn't that much whisky in it - yeh, right! Nevertheless, it went down well with the blend of juices and a bacon butty.

Quite to everyone's amazement Mr Jubb actually arrived at the designated meeting time of 6.30am - and was there before Mr Appleyard!
The turnout this year was again another record, a total of 30 players; one photographer (thanks Coxy!) and a solitary seasoned spectator, in the form of Kevin Ansell - armed with a brolly to prod the slower players.

Black shirts had been chosen as this years' Pink, and boy, didn't they look good with the Silver embroidery - thank you Mr Sullivan! So whilst Wat took on his annual task of extracting funds (sorry I have to interrupt your conversations lads), including bundles of pound coins, and Tim & Wally cooked to order, it gave the 'regulars' a chance to reacquaint themselves with each other and this years newcomers; Phil Gower (a.k.a. Phil) and Richard Wright (a.k.a. Penfold).

Due to the masses - which didn't include Chris Evans (bloody ginger cheap-skate; didn't even send us a pic of him in the shirt we'd sent him!) - the start time had been brought forward to 7.20, to ensure that we all got clear of the 1st by 8.30. And so it was a rather merry Wayne Morris (obviously Scotty's are too tempting!) that propelled his first into the trees, in good Grim Jacket tradition, to get the competition on its way.

Drawn with Wayne were past masters (of something or other!) Wat & Paul Gillan, who proceeded to out-drive Wayne, thus adding a nice Port to his blood-stream. This was all in aid of ‘Toasting the Hunt’ – a big thanks to Matt Bright for once again providing the ‘juice’!

The second group was made up of a fine blend of characters - Ian Rydings, Richard Jubb & Paul Dover. I'm not sure how it happened, but it was the single-figure Mr 'J' who hit the shortest drive and so had a nice early Port.

Following hot on their heels was another bunch of likely lads, containing Matt Bright, Kevin Appleyard and Gary Tredgett. Of these it was Kevin who came up short and so drank the Port. (Mildly interesting fact – to-date, nobody who got the Port has gone on to win.)

Toasting the Hunt in the other groups were:
Matthew Dawkes, Darren Whitford, Neville Baldwin, Richard Trett (I’m sure he loses on purpose!) and Alan Dawkes.

Although the wind was brisk it didn’t stop 10 players gaining 17 or more points on the outward nine, all in with a decent chance until word went round that Mark Downey had shot a birdie and an eagle to help him to 23 points. An unassailable lead surely!
Even on the back nine, with the wind still blowing, half the field scored 15 points or more, so it was a fair competition – especially since Downey wasn’t in this 15 players!

This year; as well as the nearest the pins, the longest drive, council gritter, nearest the 18^th in two etc, etc. we had two new features. The first to start the 12^th hole, the second to end it.

From the 12^th Tee, Ron Dobinson had put up £50 for getting nearest his Jap’s or Bull’s eye (whatever he called it!) – a target about 150 yards up the fairway, making it in range for all. However, being in the first group, I was able to see Wayne’s shot get beaten by the eventual winner (Paul Gillan), who had a broad Scottish grin across his face once I’d measured and declared his shot closest. While Paul’s shot was within a dozen feet or so it didn’t stop everyone having a go – all except Dickie, of course! Even Dover’s antics hadn’t distracted Richard from being totally hell-bent on getting the jacket back on!

After the chance of winning £50 it seemed the perfect thing to have a beer-break on the 13^th tee – all courtesy of Robbo & Dover – thanks guys! Could I just ask that the Coke is left out next time so there’s more space for beer?

Since 2007 would be our first year of raising money for good causes (so many to choose from!) a new fine system had been introduced - 50 pence for every bunker and a pound for each water hazard. Yours truly felt confident about 'winning' by shelling out £3.50 for some appalling shots, but I was completely outdone by Mark Downey, who was 'forced' into coughing up a fiver after letting his remote control trolley go out of control into a bunker!

So the winner's enclosure looked a bit like this after the dust had settled...