Down In One Golf Society

Christmas Trophy 2005

In a break with tradition the competition for the Christmas Trophy was played at Hersham Golf Club on 8th Janaury (nobody could face playing in the mud at Pachesham anymore). So on a cold and wet afternoon Andrzej, David, Hugh, Rob and Rod battled it out over 18 holes. As Andrzej came third with 26 stableford points he was awarded the trophy. David narrowly missed victory by scoring 27 points and Rob obviously forgot the format as he scored 32 points. In the evening Ian and Richard joined the players for a meal at the Ashtead Squash club.

Spring Golf Break

The Treasurer organised this year’s Spring Golf Break with a record 8 players staying at the Dartmouth Golf and Country Club. However his promise of us all meeting up with Nina at her cafe on the drive down proved worthless as the cafe was boarded up (and has since been demolished).

After checking in to our rooms we prepared ourselves for the first game of the weekend – The Secretary’s Cup and the first round of the President’s Putter. As we ventured outside the heavens opened. However the downpour was short and we were able to proceed to the first tee and begin to play in the dry.

At the Christmas meal

Nina’s cafe is no more

Hugh proudly showed off his golf trolley, which had been equipped with “new” wheels salvaged from a neighbour’s skip. The trolley managed to make it around the first half of the course before collapsing on the 10th fairway where it was summarily consigned to the gorse bushes. An attempt later that day to retrieve the trolley, because of environmental concerns, proved too difficult and so it was abandoned.

The water at the par 3 18th hole was too strong a test for many of the players with most balls ending up in the water, although Andrzej did manage to par the hole.

The evening meal was taken in the restaurant at the club. A variety of hats and/or beards were worn as usual despite a club rule stating that hats should not been worn in the clubhouse. In the fact the hats were such a great success that we were asked if we would like to attend the wedding reception that was being held upstairs (probably to liven things up).

We didn’t need a second invitation and lost no time in taking over the dance floor. The live band cowered at the back of the room as our “dancing” got more and more frenetic. After tiring our selves out we retired for the night – well at least most of us did as Hugh and David decided to return to the party.

Rob won the Secretary’s Cup with 32 stableford points and as a result got a long overdue cut in his handicap. In the first round of the President’s Putter, which was played as single’s matches in parallel with the Secretary’s Cup, Rob beat John 4&3, Andrzej beat Hugh by 2, Rod beat David by 2 and Ray beat Richard 3&1.

David won the trophy with 36 points and was delighted to find out that he would now be playing off 15 until the next golf break in the autumn.

In the second round of match play Rod beat Ray by 1 and Andrzej beat Rob by 7&6.

On returning to Dartmouth an impromptu competition was arranged to compete for the Veteran’s Trophy. This competition was played over the first five holes of the 9 hole course. The tricky opening par 3 claimed a few more golf balls but in the end Rod was declared the winner of this magnificent trophy.

On Monday we played the 18 hole course at Dartmouth again, this time for the DIOGS Bowl and the finals of the President’s Putter. Rod insisted on wearing his shorts but complemented these with a scarf to keep out the cold. Decency and good taste prevents any publication a picture in this newsletter but for the curious a picture of Rod’s knees is available in the archives.

Hugh won the DIOGS Bowl for the second time running with a stableford points score of 30 and Andrzej beat Rod by 2 to win the President’s Putter.

PRIAPIC 2006

The PRIAPIC was held at Tyrrells Wood on 7th July. 14 players took part, all 10 members of the society and 4 guests. To make things more interesting it was decided to hold a team game in parallel with the main competition. So a team of Presidents and their Vices (Rod, Andrzej, Rob, Ian, David, Hugh and Adrian) played against The Rest (Richard, John King, Mike, Stephen Gulson, Ray, Andy Parkinson and Brian Wright).

The first four in each team played four ball better ball and the others played stableford with the best two scores counting on each hole.

DIOGS are welcome

In the evening we retired to the Ashtead Squash Club, where we received a warm welcome and splendid hospitality from the stewards, Paul and Pam.

After a meal of beef Wellington washed down with copious amounts of red wine and port we came to the main part of the evening’s proceedings – the awarding of the “green” jacket.

Well it is a green jacket in the sense that it has been recycled. The current president generously donated this new prize with the intention that, from now on, it will be awarded annually to each new PRIAPIC winner.

Richard’s team wins the prize

The Rest won the first match 4&2, the second match was drawn but awarded to the Rest, as they won the last hole, and in the last “match” The Rest scored an impressive 81 points versus 66. The team captain (Richard) was awarded a suitably inappropriate prize!

Brian Wright won the main competition with 36 stableford points. In fact only one member, Richard, managed to make it into the top four. This brings in to question the logic of inviting guests who can play better than the membership.

Presentation of the Green Jacket