HRC99
Journeyman Pro
Well, this evening saw the untested pairing of Macster and myself make our Volvo Matchplay debut against a couple of guys from Malton & Norton at their place.
I had played there before some years ago but, with my advancing years, I remembered absolutely nothing about the course.
It didn't even look vaguely familiar.
A really nice track. Three loops of nine holes. All in good condition, especially considering the lack of rain for weeks now. It is quite a challenging course which forces you to think carefully about positioning off the tee. Greens were fairly receptive, rolling quite fast but very true. I also don't think there is a straight putt on the course and, from some of the pin positions, the greenkeepers were in a very bad mood indeed.
All in all, a very nice track, perfect for a society day out with the three loops and well worth a visit.
So, to the golf.
In a word, abject.
There are other words you could use but you wouldn't use them in polite company. Or on here, either.
Our casual arrangement to meet them between half four and five ended up meaning that we had to rush onto the first tee stone cold without so much as a practice swing. More than a little surprisingly, we hit the front on the first hole thanks to a net birdie and kept them at bay for the next three holes.
Hole number 5, a 536 par 5. I push it right into a greenside bunker on the 6th hole (I did warn you the golf was abject), Macster pulls it left. Both our opponents are in great positions.
Macster gets down in a mighty six and our opponent is three feet away in four with a putt for the win. Somehow, he three stabs from there and we are utterly astonished to be two up.
Holes six and seven halved in more rubbish golf.
We then toss away eight and make a horrendous mess of a shot hole on nine to finish the front nine all square.
A huge improvement in the standard of golf saw the tenth halved in pars all round. Eleven comes and goes with yet another bogey half. By now, all four of us are joking about the abysmal standard of golf we're playing.
On twelve, with us staring a loss in the face, Macster produces a great putt from fifteen feet to half the hole.
I waste a cracking tee shot on thirteen by demonstrating a total inability to make an easy putt. On we go.
Fourteen and three of us on shots off our opponent who is the low handicapper. They make a massive balls of the hole; one with an OOB and the other hacking around in the trees. A hole won for Team GM without our even having to putt.
Sure enough, we cough up the next hole with a timid whimper.
Sixteenth tee. I'm on a shot. Macster hits a belter. A beautifully struck draw that middles the enormous tree in the middle of the fairway. Oops.
I hit a cracking drive over the said tree and manage to scramble a par. They both miss their birdie putts which leaves us one up with two to play.
Long par 3 seventeen next. Now it may be long but it wasn't quite long enough for my pulled hybrid which comfortably sailed over the green, over the green on the hole behind it and out of bounds. Our opponents were very impressed that I had managed to put it OOB on a different course.
A lovely tee shot from Macster rolls off the back of the green. Our opponents are in decent(ish) shape and we're looking at coughing up another hole. A decent putt from a long way back from Macster leaves him with a tricky five footer for par. One of our opponents hits a poor chip but then rolls in a superb fifteen footer leaving Macster with a lot of work to do.......
In it goes. One up on the eighteenth tee. Par 5 of a testing 531 yards.
Having obviously decided that my work for the day finished on the 16th, I then blob the hole leaving Macster totally on his own. Macster hits a lovely drive straight into a fairway bunker that we didn't really know was there. The 7 handicapper hits an absolute "Timgolfy" monster straight down the middle.
We're in big trouble here. I'm done for the hole. Macster is in a fairway bunker and our opponents' have a nice shot into the green from 210 yards from the middle of the fairway.
Cue the best golf of the evening by a mile.
Macster hits an astonishing shot from the bunker. A perfect shot of around 170 yards from the bunker with the ball drawing ever so slightly to leave him with around 100 yards to the green.
Genuinely, I have never seen a fairway bunker shot of that quality. It was just incredible.
Our opponents' smiles disappear completely from their faces and, under huge pressure, our 7 handicap opponent smothers his hybrid in attempting to hit the green in two.
Macster steps up and, cool as a cucumber, knocks his wedge to 10 feet.
Our opponents rally slightly giving themselves birdie putts which one coming up just short and the other sliding by.
Macster has two putts for the match.
He's ten feet away with a devilish downhill putt to come and just strokes it effortlessly to a couple of inches. The putt is conceded, the match won for Team GM and we march on into the next round.
Both pairs did their utmost time and again to hand the game to their opponents but we stuck in there and Macster parred the last two holes under enormous pressure to get us home.
The best we can say about tonight is that, we scrapped hard all the way, we're in the next round and we can't play as badly as that again.....
Can we?
I had played there before some years ago but, with my advancing years, I remembered absolutely nothing about the course.
It didn't even look vaguely familiar. A really nice track. Three loops of nine holes. All in good condition, especially considering the lack of rain for weeks now. It is quite a challenging course which forces you to think carefully about positioning off the tee. Greens were fairly receptive, rolling quite fast but very true. I also don't think there is a straight putt on the course and, from some of the pin positions, the greenkeepers were in a very bad mood indeed.
All in all, a very nice track, perfect for a society day out with the three loops and well worth a visit.
So, to the golf.
In a word, abject.
There are other words you could use but you wouldn't use them in polite company. Or on here, either.
Our casual arrangement to meet them between half four and five ended up meaning that we had to rush onto the first tee stone cold without so much as a practice swing. More than a little surprisingly, we hit the front on the first hole thanks to a net birdie and kept them at bay for the next three holes.
Hole number 5, a 536 par 5. I push it right into a greenside bunker on the 6th hole (I did warn you the golf was abject), Macster pulls it left. Both our opponents are in great positions.
Macster gets down in a mighty six and our opponent is three feet away in four with a putt for the win. Somehow, he three stabs from there and we are utterly astonished to be two up.
Holes six and seven halved in more rubbish golf.
We then toss away eight and make a horrendous mess of a shot hole on nine to finish the front nine all square.
A huge improvement in the standard of golf saw the tenth halved in pars all round. Eleven comes and goes with yet another bogey half. By now, all four of us are joking about the abysmal standard of golf we're playing.
On twelve, with us staring a loss in the face, Macster produces a great putt from fifteen feet to half the hole.
I waste a cracking tee shot on thirteen by demonstrating a total inability to make an easy putt. On we go.
Fourteen and three of us on shots off our opponent who is the low handicapper. They make a massive balls of the hole; one with an OOB and the other hacking around in the trees. A hole won for Team GM without our even having to putt.
Sure enough, we cough up the next hole with a timid whimper.
Sixteenth tee. I'm on a shot. Macster hits a belter. A beautifully struck draw that middles the enormous tree in the middle of the fairway. Oops.
I hit a cracking drive over the said tree and manage to scramble a par. They both miss their birdie putts which leaves us one up with two to play.
Long par 3 seventeen next. Now it may be long but it wasn't quite long enough for my pulled hybrid which comfortably sailed over the green, over the green on the hole behind it and out of bounds. Our opponents were very impressed that I had managed to put it OOB on a different course.
A lovely tee shot from Macster rolls off the back of the green. Our opponents are in decent(ish) shape and we're looking at coughing up another hole. A decent putt from a long way back from Macster leaves him with a tricky five footer for par. One of our opponents hits a poor chip but then rolls in a superb fifteen footer leaving Macster with a lot of work to do.......
In it goes. One up on the eighteenth tee. Par 5 of a testing 531 yards.
Having obviously decided that my work for the day finished on the 16th, I then blob the hole leaving Macster totally on his own. Macster hits a lovely drive straight into a fairway bunker that we didn't really know was there. The 7 handicapper hits an absolute "Timgolfy" monster straight down the middle.
We're in big trouble here. I'm done for the hole. Macster is in a fairway bunker and our opponents' have a nice shot into the green from 210 yards from the middle of the fairway.
Cue the best golf of the evening by a mile.
Macster hits an astonishing shot from the bunker. A perfect shot of around 170 yards from the bunker with the ball drawing ever so slightly to leave him with around 100 yards to the green.
Genuinely, I have never seen a fairway bunker shot of that quality. It was just incredible.
Our opponents' smiles disappear completely from their faces and, under huge pressure, our 7 handicap opponent smothers his hybrid in attempting to hit the green in two.
Macster steps up and, cool as a cucumber, knocks his wedge to 10 feet.
Our opponents rally slightly giving themselves birdie putts which one coming up just short and the other sliding by.
Macster has two putts for the match.
He's ten feet away with a devilish downhill putt to come and just strokes it effortlessly to a couple of inches. The putt is conceded, the match won for Team GM and we march on into the next round.
Both pairs did their utmost time and again to hand the game to their opponents but we stuck in there and Macster parred the last two holes under enormous pressure to get us home.
The best we can say about tonight is that, we scrapped hard all the way, we're in the next round and we can't play as badly as that again.....
Can we?
