Wednesday 15 December 2010

Carla's Cowboys/girls Golf Society

This is our Christmas competition on Wednesday 8th Dec 2010, we played a Texas Scramble.
Our player of the year was Jimmy Baron.

  
"Stay awake, James, it's the best hat competition."
"We'd be better using these putters to ski with..."


"You'd never know they just missed a birdie."

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Carla's Cowboys Christmas Round-up


        
Well, what a winter it was, the worst for 30 years. Most golfer’s clubs didn’t come out of the cupboard for 4 months. A few of the lads managed their yearly Spanish trip and I managed a couple of weeks away in Turkey which was well worth a visit and good value compared to Spain, France and Portugal where it’s getting very expensive.

I would like to welcome our new cowboys and girls to the society, Brian ‘the hell I will’ Dix, John and Julie ‘O ‘ belt it’ and it’s nice to see ‘hit it hard’ Helen back in the clan also.

Our first visit this year was Bramall Park Golf Club, we arrived on quite a wintry day, it was freezing but we all ventured out. The course was wet through, every hole had puddles on the fairways which made it ultra long and every hole played at least one shot over par. Bogey golf was very satisfying to say to least. My partners were Nick and ‘let it loose’ Lesley. Always an adventure with Nick as you get such an array of different shots! Lesley played steadily as usual, she just had a senior moment on the 7th hole and Nick had to remind her ‘there’s the green and there’s the tee’. We also had a minor injury on the day as Mal slipped on some bark and nearly shredded his fingers off, it didn’t stop him holing a nice long putt though to take the money for a 2! Who cares if you win Ronnie he cheered. We had a lot of fun on such a bleak day. The winner was Bronco Brooks with 28 points, he was really chuffed with himself. Well done Dave!

18 of us rode into Haydock Park Golf Club, another great turn out. The usual bacon butty and a cuppa. Only this time there was a little accident, a golf ball went through J.O’s back window liked a bullet from the golf course. Could only happen to our gang, you should have seen the cars in the car park that day and it had to hit John’s. To all our surprise, the guy who hit it even took his golf ball out of the car!

It was a lovely day after all that and everybody seemed to enjoy the course, Mal was not impressed with the amount of bunkers, J.C. had his flat cap on and bragged that he had it since he was 12 years old. He also had to be on his best behaviour playing with Helen who often gave him ‘the look’. Then we had J.B. who fell into a bunker and had to retire from play. The deputy Walter scrambled off too, ‘I’m knackered’ he said. So there were lots of surprises on the day. We all had a well earned drink outside on the patio and congratulated one of our cowgirls, ‘Hit it Hard Helen’ with a marvellous score of 41 points.

Hilly Prestwich G.C. in May, none of us had been there before and I don’t think many of us would go again. It was like Brokeback Mountain! Nick felt like a mountain goat, J.C knew he had a heart cos it was pumping so hard! Summing up his golf game ‘this is a bloody nightmare’ he said puffing on a fag! As we started the round we lost two of the cowgirls as they got themselves locked in the loo, so it was all systems go right from the start. We were ducking golf balls as the holes crossed over each other most of the way round and lots of blind shots over hills. J.C. and Steve sent Bill off running to show them where the hole was, thought they would pick the fitter of the three, not the youngest! Sadly J.C. thought Bill was calling him a cow, but he was saying thou. After all the oohs and aahs there were some great scores and a few handicaps decreased and increased. Our winner was Bronco Brooks with 44 points!

Fantastic summer conditions in June at Shaw Hill, perfect for golf. Mind you, I played with Steve, I think  golf was what he was trying to play. He finished around 4ft tall he took that many divots, hope the green staff were not watching. His hook was getting so bad he was nearly putting with his pitching wedge. It won’t be long before he has a full set of one club! Nice to have the longest drive with your pitching wedge! Jimmy was our other partner who played really well and was a pleasure to play with, He was 2nd after Bronco Brooks who had another great score of 40 points, I don’t know why he was so embarrassed when he received his prize, just keep doing it Dave! Everything pays off in the end.

The event in July was at Henlle Park Golf club near Oswestry. I was on holiday in Devon for this one, under lovely blue skies playing the oldest golf course in England, Royal north Devon. It was like stepping back in time too, hardly anything changed, the sheep were still there and the horses! I also played Tiverton where the greatest lady golfer of all time played, she was President there up to 1993 when she sadly died. Joyce Wethered, British ladies champion for 5 consecutive years from 1921 and the English Ladies Champion 3 times. Bobby Jones thought she was the most natural player he had ever seen. So it was great to see all that golfing history, I must have felt her spirit as I only dropped 3 shots that day!

Anyway, back to the cowboys all fresh after the British Open which Luis Oustheizen won and made it look so easy at St. Andrews with his little concentration red dot on his glove. I assume some of you have tried this for your own concentration! CONCENTRATION, WHAT’S THAT? I hear you cry. I think fast talking Bill needed it to miss J.C.’s eye. His shot completely smashed John’s glasses! It was enough to shake everyone up a bit. Anyway all’s well that ends well, good job we had the Doc on board. Mrs. C thought that he had been fighting again, have you really been to golf today dear? Thankfully we haven’t lost a cowboy yet but we have been close to it a couple of times this year. The winner of the day was Cool John O Connell with 37 points.

Off to Lymm in August and a lovely calm day we had. I played with Maverick Mal and Julie O belt it! We were all playing great guns on the front 9. As soon as we made the turn something suddenly hit us, fatigue I think it’s called, and we seemed to be dragging each other round. Mal was up to his usual tricks, hitting fences and bouncing off marker posts. I hit a tree and lost the ball, Julie lost one in the rough. We got so scared that Mal and Julie were neck and neck for winning Ronnie! As it turned out they were both safe. Our friend Jesse James joined us for the day with his Callaway crap balls! Gave us all a lecture on truffles! Bob was our snappy dresser for the day in his St. Andrews trousers and we all congratulated our winner J.C. on the patio. He  had a great score of 39 points and was made up!

A dismal wet morning at Pryors Hayes but big bad Biss promised us it would brighten up. Do you know what, it did! It turned out to be a really pleasant day. My partners were ‘the hell I will’ Brian and ‘hit it hard’ Helen. They smashed their way around pretty nicely, a few mutters here and there only when they got stuck in the thick wet rough and trying to get out with all there might! I have to say it really was quite punishing.

The last group finally rode in on the buggy J.C and J.B who you’d thought had run a marathon puffing their cheeks out like Puffin’ Billy! Well, when this was observed as we all sat round having a drink, the giggles were hard to stop and J.B didn’t know a thing about it. You had to be there, it was nearly hysteria! After we all settled down we congratulated our winner Cool John O’Connell with 38 points. Julie O got some stick too for the longest drive, which was enormous. This didn’t go down too well from the ladies tee! I’m not sure some of these cowboys would have hit it so far, you show ‘em girl!

Last game of the year at Sutton Hall, which you all know so well. I was absent for this one as I was at the golf trade show in Harrogate attending seminars and looking at all the new bits and bobs that are out for next year.

It was a great day for the Cowgirls, they all finished at the top. Julie O ‘belt it’ won with 34 points. ‘Hit it hard’ Helen came 2nd and ‘let it loose’ Lesley scooped up the 2’s. The only thing the boys were left playing for was Ronnie! It was a real sweat at the end but ‘O.K’ J.C. holds him till next year.

We also have a new member joining our outlaws next year ‘Silver’ Sangster. He is inclined to take pictures of the lie of the ball with his phone so we don’t miss any of the evidence! We welcome him into the Cowboys.

I do wish you all good golf, health and happiness for 2011. I would also like to thank ‘big bad’ John Biss for all his effort and organising all our golf throughout the year. Also, for arranging the Wednesday roll up every week.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, Love from Carla. xx