It certainly was. Captain Jordan had organised lots of different things for us to enjoy. Most importantly, he had organised the weather. Just 50 kilometres up the road, it was horrendous. Thunder, lightning, floods. How did he do that??
So, 23 of us enjoyed the warm sunny weather that our Captain had arranged for us. Andy Price would have enjoyed it too but he had a burst pipe to deal with. He couldn't afford Toulouse too much water.
It was going to be a busy day. Competitions within competitions on top of mini-competitions. This is what he had lined up.
A: Individual Stableford and normal things.
B: Captain's Team Event
C: Captain's Nearest the Pins
D: Guess the distance
E: Special prizes for special people
On the podium for the regular stableford competition. Our winner, Poster Boy with 39 points, flanked by his security people, Ray Gambrill (2nd) and Viv Bacon (3rd). They tried valiantly to keep up with the winner, to no avail. 38 points was just not good enough.
Seniors
With age comes experience. The podium was full of Seniors. And Knud finished in fifth to make it four in the top five.
NP's
Hole 9. Cracking shot from Jordan finished just three feet short. His birdie putt stopped on the edge of the cup. Deep sigh.
Hole 14. For once, you could see the flag from the tee. The mountain was still there on the left. Gary Stone hit the best shot here, AND, he got his birdie!
LBS
The formula for this game was obvious, but only one player figured it out. It was simply x+y, where x was the number of players and y was the number of holes. So, x =23 and y=18. Answer, 41. Colin Grant scooped the €27 jackpot.
B: Captain's Team Event
Aggregate stableford points less 2 points for each lost ball. Captain's prizes for 1,2 and 3 included balls, gloves and chocolates for partners. Results below.
1st. Tony, Dave S, Ray MOT, Knud.
139-12. 127
2nd. Jordan, Dave C, Martin, Sean.
127-8. 119
3rd. Gary, Pankaj, Ray S, John.
128-14. 114
4th. Hans, Mick, Gerry, Viv.
126-14. 112
5th. Ben, Colin, Peter, The Ghost.
125-14. 111
6th. Dougie, Don, Roger, Gordon.
117-20. 97
C: Captain's NP's
Hole 7. Dave Smith. Not sure how close. Birdie? Nope, but he got his par.
Hole 18. Dougie Kinloch. 185 yards to finish. Dougie got closest with a 4 iron. Had to settle for par.
D: Guess the distance
This is where players are invited to guess the distance of the Captain's second shot to the pin on hole 17. Remember, hole 17 is 395 yards, par 4, stoke index one. The second shot has to clear the water and the bridge. Many people lay up to be on the safe side, but not our Captain. Everyone was expecting him to knock a long one down the middle, have about 140/150 to go, hit an 8 iron to three feet and then sink his putt for a birdie. What actually happened was that his drive went left and onto the adjacent fairway, trees and water now more difficult to clear. 211 yards to go. He made a valiant attempt. Long story short, Blob, and nobody won the guess the distance competition.
E: Special Prizes for Special People
Sweet and Sour
We have one player who is particularly good at getting "up and down", or "sweet and sour", around the green. Hans Benzler went home with a pack of noodles.
Lovers of La Galiana
We have one player who swears he will never show his face there again, so he got a mask.
Heavy Metal
We have one player who likes the sound of heavy metal. Unfortunately nobody else does and it "drives" his playing parners mad. Ray Stone got a new quieter driver with a 1964 composite head. On the 23rd October 1964, the number one hit single was Do Wah Diddy Diddy by Manfred Mann. Definately not heavy metal.
Grooming
We have one player who likes grooming. Not the kind you are thinking. No, he likes to groom greens. He is very meticulous. The green has to be perfect before he steps up to putt. So, Tony Bowers received tools to help. He got a brush and a spirit level. These are obviously intended for the greens at FDL and beyond but they could be put to use elsewhere, for example, during the next haircut or trim. Just a thought.
Wrekna
This is a Polish verb, and it means, to come 18th. The prize was a bag containing 6 polystyrene letters that would spell out this little known Polish verb. Before we could get the chance to explain this to Gerry Clark and lay out the letters correctly, some juvenile had tipped them out of the bag and started to make a different word. There's always one.
Back in the clubhouse, our Captain took great delight in presenting all the prizes, particularly the Special Prizes. Afterwards, our President did the Presidential thing and stood, on behalf of all the players, to compliment and thank Jordan for his efforts and generosity. Well deserved.
Our next game is at Font del Llop on Wednesday 30th October.
As ever, this game will be sponsored by Blevins Franks, International Tax and Wealth Management. peter.hodgkinson@blevinsfranks.com
Licence to Play
We expect Members to obtain the appropriate Federated Licence valid in Spain. This licence grants permission to play on all the Courses on our schedule and includes the liability and accident insurance required by Royal Decree 849/1993.
As a general guide, resident Members should be looking to obtain an Annual Licence with handicap from their corresponding Spanish Regional Federation. In the Valencia Region the cost is €104.20. There is a one off joining fee of €15.
Non resident Members can also obtain an Annual Licence if they wish. If not, they should purchase a One Day Licence at each course which affiliates them to the Federation for that day's play. A One Day Licence costs €2.
Thanks for the report, Martin. I‘m very sorry that I had to miss this one too! Sounds like a terrific day of fun. And being the one, who really enjoys the team events more than the Stableford competition, I would have loved to participate. Three more weeks!
Sorry I missed it, boys and girls , sounds like a great day and lots of fun. Well done, Martin for the win (and the Toulouse pun) and Jordan for the organisation and prizes
Great report on our endeavours to tame El Plantió but the top accolade has to go to our Captain, Jordan, for organising a fantastic event. And very generous he was too, I might add. Well done Skipper. BZ