Golf – Braving the Rain

Golfers are a pretty hardy lot but the one thing that we don’t like is rain, especially if it is accompanied by thunder and lightning. The forecast for the Surrey Schools Old Boys Golf Competition on the 27th June at Clandon Regis GC was for heavy showers. 72 players arrived with waterproofs and umbrellas ready for a soaking but were greeted with bright sunshine with only a few small clouds and enough sun to risk sun burnt knees in shorts.

The players were from 10 schools with teams of 7 players with the best 5 stableford scores counting for the prizes. The weather stayed fine and two of our team played very well indeed. Ralph Cake got 38 points and David Cross was just behind with 37. The rest of or team were all in the mid to high 20’s so we were expecting to be around the middle of the final scores.

After dinner the scores were announced and there was a tie for the second place. The team with the highest individual score was placed second, which put the Old Tiffinians into third place. The runners up were announced as the KCS team. We just sat there in disbelief as it dawned on us that we had been placed second. Eventually as it sunk in, the team members went up to the top table to get their prize bottles of wine.

The overall winners were then announced as the Old Hinchleyans, who were also on our table for dinner. The look on their faces was one of confusion mixed with amazement as they took in the news however they eventually pulled themselves together and got up to collect their wine and the winner’s shield. Their score was in fact only 3 points better than ours – just 3 points – a couple of poor putts or a fluffed chip was all it would have taken to win – still there is always next year.

Our team was:- Ralph Cake, David Cross, Neil Lovett, Micky King, Graham Morris, Jonathan Poole and Anthony Clark – well played gentlemen.