Members V Staff

So on Saturday we decided to resurrect the old Members v Staff trophy. This is an old putter that is been played for on many occasions but I was surprised to see the last winners on the the shields were back in 2003. This was Andy's idea to get this going again and I hoped it would be a good day.
In the Build up I have had a lot of interesting mails from Andy explaining what a strong team they had, and also calling us, The Members, Clive's Clowns and Wright's Wronguns. Of course I was not going to rise to this and playing the Andies Pandies or or Maca's Slackers was just going to be another fun day.
So I arrived up the club bright and early at 7:15 and was glad to see all my team there by 7:30. Of course the staff didn't all turn up till a lot later :-). The format for the day was greensomes in the morning and singles in the afternoon, but as we had 9 a side we had 2 people playing as singles in the morning. so there was a total of 14 points up for grabs. (although it did take Andy a while to work out how 5 and 9 made 14 he did get there in the end). We also gave the four ladies who were playing 2 extra shots to balance the scores of the SSS for red being 73 and SSS for white 71. So we did the draw and amongst all the banter I managed to agree a £20.00 bet for charity with Andy on the outcome of the match. Now there was a little more to play for.
So in the morning I played Greensomes with Sally-Ann as we took on Josh and the one member who had infiltrated the Staff team Tim Plumtree. It was a very close match but the Tim and Josh just managed to edge us 7&5. After 9 holes they were 1 over and 4 up after lost 7, 8 and 9 in  row and we never really recovered but Josh and Tim played great golf. As we ate our ham egg and chips for lunch the news was not all bad for the members but the staff had taken a lead at the half way stage of 3-2. But there was all to play for in the afternoon with 9 singles matches. I could already see this was going to be a close contest so I had to pick the right order for the afternoon and we may just be able to edge it.
In the afternoon we went out as fourballs but played singles in our respective matches. I was playing against Donna and also in my fourball was Beckie playing Josh. I had a great match with Donna, and eased ahead and was 1 up at the turn, but on the 11th a great 3 from Donna made it all square again. But I then had a run of 4 holes and ended up winning 4 & 3 in a match that was much closer than the score line suggests. Beckie also won her match 3&2 so it was good to know we were back ahead after our 2 matches, all now depended on how the others had played.
When I arrived back in the clubhouse I collected all the scores and it was not until the last one was in that I realised the significance of the afternoon singles matches. The Members had managed a complete White Wash of the staff beating them 9-0 in the afternoon :-) so the final score 11-3 to the Members (that is 14 Andy). We all sat down and had a great meal afterwards and the biggest piece of Banoffee pie ever (I think there must have been 3000 calories per slice so more gym work needed). All that was left was the the prize giving and I think And really enjoyed presenting me with the trophy and of course £20.00 for Charity.
I would like to thanks my team, Andre, Sally-Ann, Beckie, Paul, Richard, Frank, John and Matt for all the great play and I know I had a great day and I hope they did too.

On Sunday I was back up the club bright and early for a 8:12 start in the Mens Stableford. I played with Steve Hill and Neil Turner and we had a great game and I managed to shoot a 6 over 78 for a total of 38 points (no 4 putt on the last this time). That was enough for second place in division one but not enough to get a cut as the CSS went up to 70.
It was also the last day for the Eclectics and Order or Merit. As I was tied with Paul McHale in the Scratch Eclectic my 2 on the 2nd meant a lot more than the few Pounds in the 2's comp as it took my Scratch Eclectic down to 59. However when Paul came in he had also managed an extra birdie on the 9th to also get to 59, and with a better back 9 he beats me on countback. Through gritted teeth, well done Paul.