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KEMPTON
CRICKET CLUB
FOUNDED 2003
KEMPTON GOLF SOCIETY.
2009/2010 Season
30th December 2009 : Silvermere Golf Club.
The new season has not got off to a great start with the opening event at Blue Mountain being washed out completely due to torrential rain. Nevertheless we returned a few weeks later but this time only managed 10 holes before more downpours rendered the course unplayable and a band of very wet and unhappy golfers returned to the clubhouse.
The omens for our Christmas event looked similarly bleak with snow & rain in the preceding weeks. Despite this a band of 12 hardy souls arrived at the splendid Silvermere clubhouse to enjoy a splendid breakfast and set trying to play some golf. Conditions were not good, the ground was very wet underfoot, rain was falling as it did for most of the day and the temperature hovered around 4 degrees. In all honesty the condition of the golfers wasn't much better after the inactivity of the Christmas break and the lack of play in previous months meant many had not lifted a club in anger for some time.
The initial six holes at Silvermere are quite tight through tree lined fairways and our intrepid golfers set about saving the course some money on tree felling by striking them with alarming regularity. The highlights on the first tee probably being Smuts hoik through mid wicket and Gary's ten yard drive into the trees. Any questions regarding the playability of the fairways in the squelchy conditions would have to be put off until we started using them. As the course opened out over the road things became a little easier (with the exception of the increasingly waterlogged green's) and points were beginning to be scored. In the first group Coke & Mike were both consistent but in differing ways whilst Smut and Bush both enjoyed some good moments. The following four ball fared little better with Gary acquiring the new name of Zig Zag for his penchant for not finding the fairway, Trevor regularly finding the fairway but failing to find the green or the hole, Danny finding it was a long course to play without anything longer than a three iron. However Steve (i'm not competitive, just intense) Crossley was starting to play good golf and rack up the points. The final four ball was the dream team of Graham, PG, Tom and Richard, so much talent but so few points. But then Richard sprang to life with a series of pars and the rest followed, with Graham and Tom scoring consistently and PG almost managing a smile. Richard drove the green on the par 4 7th (as did Steve) but spoilt it by four putting as the players looked forward to the 12th (nearest the pin) & 14th longest drive. PG won the nearest the pin, not really near and should probably be called the least far from the pin but he was within 25 feet which he celebrated by three putting. The 14th arrived and the longest drive mark set by the first group was first passed by Trevor & then Steve added another 10 yards, could anyone beat it on the soggy ground. The answer was yes as Richard used all the width of the fairway and a nearby tree to cannon back onto the fairway ahead of Steve. With the bedraggled groups now approaching the daunting 17th & 18th where there is more water than in some of Franks beers all was still to play for. The 17th is 150 yards over water all the way and nearly all got over safely although Zig Zag took the safe option by blasting it 30 yards over the green. The island green on the 18th is always a challenge and over half of us found the water, some only just missing and some nowhere near but some safely made it to the putting surface.
Round duly completed we adjourned to the warmth of the clubhouse to add up the points, which on some cards looked strikingly similar to a South African batting card (0,1,0,0,2) but when all was done Steve was a worthy winner with 32 points, beating Graham into second place by 2 points.
Thanks to Cokey for the organisation, and for Ben for turning up and eating breakfast.