Final (final!!) details for Forest Pines.............

chrisd

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Back into deepest Kent at half time in the footie - great drive back! So many thanks to Rob, great meet at a resort hotel that caters for its market so very well.

Somewhat knackered from being beaten up at Woodhall Spa the day before my bruv and I arrived at Forest Pines after a good nights sleep and a relatively short trip. It's always great to meet the old, and getting older, faces, and the new recruits as well.

I played with Blue in Munich on Sunday v Moogie and Top of the Flop and with everyone hitting pretty well had a most enjoyable round, with us oldies just managing to squeeze out the children in the end. Great fun though in super company.

Sunday saw me paired with the lovely Virtuocity and Dave, kind lad that he is, happily relieved me of my 100% points record over the 3 years of the meet. His rather unorthodox swing served him very well on the back 9 and, coupled with my increasing tiredness from 5 games in 6 days, he gave scant regard to my age and fitness level and stuffed me 2 and 1

Rob, I can only guess how much goes into putting this meet together and deep felt thanks from me for all your hard work.
 

virtuocity

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Crash, bang, wallop! What a weekend- absolutely knackered.

Friday- Gainsborough
On the Friday, Jimboh and I left here at 5.30am and headed to Gainsborough. Played Karsten Lakes and Thonock Park (buggy included), had dinner, overnight stay and the biggest breakfast I've ever seen. £70pp. Crazy value. Courses were in good nick and was a good start to a good weekend. 'Found' something of an iron swing half way through my first round, which was handy. Won both matches as well.

Saturday- Woodhall Spa
On Saturday, we headed to Woodhall Spa in the afternoon. Lovely wee village- bet the property prices are hefty. Met up with Glyn and the rest of the forumites. Just as others have said, Woodhall Spa is a pretty stunning golf course, and is as hard at times as it is pretty. The wind got up and a combination of tiredness, lack of skill and difficult conditions meant that I scored 22 points overall. Too many blobs. Many, many thanks to Shaun and guest for the company and to Glyn for organising. That was a lovely gesture to sign everyone on. Jimboh and I stayed at the Black Horse Inn, Blyton afterwards. I've stayed there before. It's a smashing village pub with lots of beers and ales to pick from (although mine was a pepsi, then bed). Rooms were clean, large and well equipped. Breakfast wasn't the best according to Jimboh. I had a bacon sandwich and some cereal, which was absolutely fine, so perhaps avoid the full English if you stay there.

Sunday/Monday- Forest Pines
A quick 20 minute drive on Sunday, and we were at our now once-a-year staple holiday destination- Forest Pines. I really love this place- it's like a golfing haven. Everything is set up so well for large groups. Big bar, loads of outside space, well maintained courses and lots of attentive staff. On Sunday, Khamelion and I paired up against Lefite and Norman. What a match it was. We were two up after two, before being pulled back and going two down at one point. Lots of halved holes and the score was all over the place. As a partnership, there were a few times Khamelion and I didn't dovetail well enough, choosing to have utter crap holes at the same time, and a few lip outs and other petty excuses meant on the day, we lost one down. A cracker of a match, with excellent company.

An enjoyable meal in the evening, which went pretty smoothly. I've now had two sit-down meals and a carvery at Pines. I think, on balance, a carvery is more suited to a group of hungry golfers. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my grub. Was delighted to be drawn against 'Mr Dependable', Chrisd in the singles.

Felt very tired on the Sunday, which would see me play my 5th round of golf in 4 days. Best breakfast of the week by far- the range and quality of food for a buffet was superb. Great service too.

Accompanying my singles match against chrisd was jimboh vs twinman. Think it's fair to say we were all a little tired, but we did manage to piece together some good golf at times. I was 2 down after 2 holes, and just managed to keep in the match a few times, before Chris managed to go 3 up. After having a quiet word to myself, and with a bit of fortune, I managed to get back to all square, winning three holes in a row. I won on the 16th (shot hole) and then played 3 safe, boring shots on 17th to put the pressure on Chris, who struggled in the bunker (possibly the only criticism of the course- the condition of bunkers, particularly lack of sand) and conceded the hole, and match from there. Chris and Steve, thanks so much for your company- lovely bunch of fellas.

Lastly, and appropriately, a massive thanks to Smiffy for organising. The measure of his skill for pulling together these events is how easy he makes it look. I am confident it is far from easy and it says something about a man who is happy to organise such a large event, which involves a sport he doesn't even have an affinity towards now, just for the happiness of others. A true gent. See y'all next year.
 
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Badger

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A great couple of days again. Thanks to 2blue, Beaver and Bren for their company on Sunday and for Slowhand, Anotherdouble and Beezerk today. My golf wasn't great over the two days, but happy to have contributed to 1 1/2 points.

profile pic amended accordingly, thanks Mike !
 

GG26

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A great couple of days again. Thanks to 2blue, Beaver and Bren for their company on Sunday and for Slowhand, Anotherdouble and Beezerk today. My golf wasn't great over the two days, but happy to have contributed to 1 1/2 points.

profile pic amended accordingly, thanks Mike !
Apologies Steve, my only excuse is that it was late after a long weekend. Was great to meet you and hopefully will again at another meet.
 

Khamelion

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Cheers Smiffy for organising this again, bloody good job as usual. Stu your position as captain is currently under going a vote of confidence.

Stu was unusually quiet on the way home, just the occasional shout of "What you bloody braking for there nowt in front of you, bleedin muppet!!!", or "Tosser learn to drive", not much golf was mentioned, time was passed by trying to guess the name of the Eddie Stobbart lorries.

It was great to meet up with all the old faces and put faces to forum names for the first time.

Depending on where the cut is for next year, Kraxx for captain of the snappers again, law of averages means he has to win again...eventually.
 

chrisd

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Cheers Smiffy for organising this again, bloody good job as usual. Stu your position as captain is currently under going a vote of confidence.

Stu was unusually quiet on the way home, just the occasional shout of "What you bloody braking for there nowt in front of you, bleedin muppet!!!", or "Tosser learn to drive", not much golf was mentioned, time was passed by trying to guess the name of the Eddie Stobbart lorries.

It was great to meet up with all the old faces and put faces to forum names for the first time.

Depending on where the cut is for next year, Kraxx for captain of the snappers again, law of averages means he has to win again...eventually.



I bet he only talked about Saturday's round!!
 

Smiffy

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Just a thought on next year, what are the chances of arranging to coincide with a major again?
Sunday night was great with all of us watching the final round.

A great idea..... but it would mean me having to split my two weeks holiday up into two separate weeks again, which didn't go down too well at work.
I have already booked my week in France for Sat 6th July so the dates I mention above (30th June/1st July) fit in perfectly.
Sorry Geezer
 

Crow

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A great idea..... but it would mean me having to split my two weeks holiday up into two separate weeks again, which didn't go down too well at work.
I have already booked my week in France for Sat 6th July so the dates I mention above (30th June/1st July) fit in perfectly.
Sorry Geezer

Using your influence, might you be able to get them to move the dates for the US Open?
 

slowhand

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But all in all a fantastic week-end and I will be booking it again for next year, I'll post the details up as soon as I can. The week-end I will go for will be Sunday 30th June/Monday 1st July as I have already booked my weeks holiday in France for the 6th July so it means I can take the two weeks off.
Rob

Put me down for next year. Dates are already in my diary :thup:
 

94tegsi

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Just to echo everyone's sentiments, thanks to everyone for the organisation and banter on the field and in the bar.

Apologies for anyone that played with me over the 3 days, including Woodhall, as I am in the middle of a mare off the tee. Just thought I would re-address the balance from my only other meet in Kent in Feb during the Beast from the East, where I was called a bandit for getting the best score both days we played...from the sublime to the absolute ridiculously pants... describes my golf game to a tee! HA!

Look for ward to next year.... lets hope I can find some sort of game for Cooden... Apologies already Smiffy!
 

Twinman

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Thanks Smiffy for organising the meet. Teamed up with Crow on the Sunday. I asked him if he'd had his clubs from new and he just smiled. Thank you for the company on both days. Great to see all the old faces and some new.
 
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