With Château de Pallanne almost unplayable due to flooding and extended periods of rain, the Musketeers first outing of the year was at Lannemezan. It, too, was wet underfoot, but at least we didn't need flotation aids.
The competition was a Pairs Scramble sponsored by our new Captain, Martyn Hayward. Sixteen brave souls turned up on a cold and wet morning, virtually the only people on the course — apart from some greenskeepers who lit a huge fire alongside the first just to keep warm. The format was simple enough — both players play their shots and then choose the best, then both players play their shots from there and so on. At least six tee shots had to be chosen by each player.
What was fairly complex was the formula for sorting out the handicaps — 35% of the lower handicap added to 15% of the higher handicap then rounded up or down. It meant there was not much difference between team handicaps which ranged between 7 and 10.
Taking those relatively low handicaps into account along with the difficult course conditions, the over-abundance of trees and the howling gale, the scores were pretty impressive. For example Paul Wilding and Phil Faiers have an actual combined handicap of 44, but in the Pairs format received 10 shots. Their gross score was 14 over par, net 4 over par — and they came last! Just shows how well everyone played. The full results can be seen on the results page and the standout performance was from Martyn and Douglas who carded a fabulous 71 gross giving them a net score of 64.
That was slightly embarrassing for Martyn as the sponsor, so he showed munificence (look it up!) by presenting his playing partner Douglas with the main prize (kindly donated by Phil Lingard) and a bottle of wine, then had his own winner's bottle of wine gifted to the first name out of the hat — Clive. Mike Thackwray and George also won handsome bottles of wine, but the prize of the day went to Phil and Paul in last place — an apt prize, a lesson on how to play better golf from Miguel Marquez, the Pallanne Pro.
Lunch was excellent and special thanks go to Martyn for his generous sponsorship, and also to John Wilkinson our fixtures secretary, who cannily secured the players an excellent deal with the secretariat at Lannemezan.
Replete and well lubricated, the Musketeers headed home having thoroughly enjoyed their first competition of the year.
The competition was a Pairs Scramble sponsored by our new Captain, Martyn Hayward. Sixteen brave souls turned up on a cold and wet morning, virtually the only people on the course — apart from some greenskeepers who lit a huge fire alongside the first just to keep warm. The format was simple enough — both players play their shots and then choose the best, then both players play their shots from there and so on. At least six tee shots had to be chosen by each player.
What was fairly complex was the formula for sorting out the handicaps — 35% of the lower handicap added to 15% of the higher handicap then rounded up or down. It meant there was not much difference between team handicaps which ranged between 7 and 10.
Taking those relatively low handicaps into account along with the difficult course conditions, the over-abundance of trees and the howling gale, the scores were pretty impressive. For example Paul Wilding and Phil Faiers have an actual combined handicap of 44, but in the Pairs format received 10 shots. Their gross score was 14 over par, net 4 over par — and they came last! Just shows how well everyone played. The full results can be seen on the results page and the standout performance was from Martyn and Douglas who carded a fabulous 71 gross giving them a net score of 64.
That was slightly embarrassing for Martyn as the sponsor, so he showed munificence (look it up!) by presenting his playing partner Douglas with the main prize (kindly donated by Phil Lingard) and a bottle of wine, then had his own winner's bottle of wine gifted to the first name out of the hat — Clive. Mike Thackwray and George also won handsome bottles of wine, but the prize of the day went to Phil and Paul in last place — an apt prize, a lesson on how to play better golf from Miguel Marquez, the Pallanne Pro.
Lunch was excellent and special thanks go to Martyn for his generous sponsorship, and also to John Wilkinson our fixtures secretary, who cannily secured the players an excellent deal with the secretariat at Lannemezan.
Replete and well lubricated, the Musketeers headed home having thoroughly enjoyed their first competition of the year.
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