Seniors Captain Algy Grimes and match organiser Gerry Degaute on the first tee with Harpenden Common's David Henson and Paul Bagnall
Match organiser Gerry Degaute reports on a good day for JoG Seniors
Harpenden Common arrived on a glorious sunny morning at John O’ Gaunt with a track record that was second to none. Given our results this season so far we may have feared the worst.
The Harpenden Common team assembled in the clubhouse looking confident whilst we were left waiting for our full complement to arrive; not easy when one of the team has gone to Harpenden Common for our home match; classic senior moment.
Anyway the opening match started well for us as Captain Algy and Organiser Gerry went one up immediately and slowly but surely reached four up with five to play. Then came the fight back albeit we held on to win 2&1. Things generally behind us must have been going well for John O’Gaunt judging by the overall result which I will reveal shortly!
In one of the more closely contested matches things got so nervy that one of our team members failed to make the red tees with his tee shot and was obliged to buy his playing partner a ‘hors-d’oeuvre’ of chips ahead of the post match meal.
The
overall result was a resounding 7-1 win for John O’ Gaunt which included a
number of reasonably comfortable matches highlighted by a 5&4 by Nigel
Underwood and Philip Armstrong. Despite the result the Harpenden Common Captain
and his team were extremely complimentary about the quality of our course, the
catering and the genial behaviour of our team. In closing my report I would
like to thank our team for their all round performance.
The teams enjoy lunch after Algy relaxed the dress code
to smart casual on the hottest day of the year so far
Diary of a newbie, by blog editor Tony Lloyd
When Andy Shilton put out an appeal for seniors to take part in the under-subscribed match against Harpenden Common I thought this might be the time to finally have a go. What could possibly go wrong!
So it was that I turned up to play my debut match.
I was teamed with 7 handicapper Paul Hammond, so I doubted
very much whether I, as a 28 handicapper, would contribute much to the score,
although I did have my moments.
The round started well, and we were one ahead for most of the
front nine, ending up all square at the turn. Finding ourselves two down by the
13th we fought back valiantly, reducing their lead to one but never
quite gaining the upper hand.
Our opponents Colin Young and Steve Hewitt were extremely
good company and both were highly impressed with the condition of the course.
So they should. They won!
After much banter and a very agreeable lunch I came away pleased
that I had taken part, although disappointed with our result.
All I would say to anyone thinking about playing in the
matches is “give it a go”. You might even win!
I am now looking forward to the return match at Harpenden
Common … unless organiser Gerry Degaute sees sense and drops me from the squad!
1 comment:
Saw you pop a lovely opening shot down the first Tony. Glad you enjoyed it.
Post a Comment