A dozen Musketeers played in the Monthly Medal today. The course was in immaculate condition in readiness for the 2-day Pro-Am which starts tomorrow. The weather was glorious, but the golf not quite so glorious. Nobody played to their handicap, but a good time was had by all judging by the banter and the lingering at the bar. The full results are shown on the results page.

The Ted Butler International is the premier event in the Musketeers golfing year. This year saw the 13th running of the competition and we had a field of 31 players — including the club professional, Miguel Marquez.

As is traditional, the winner of the previous year's event receives a purple shirt embroidered with the 'Ted Butler' emblem the word 'Winner' and the year of his victory. Last year's winner was John Williams, a member of Broadway Golf Club who has a holiday home in Castex. He received his shirt and was bullied into stripping off and donning the new shirt. We then had a photo call for all previous winners — only two were present, but along with new boy John they lined up with Musketeers Captain Rob Jones.

Then it was off for a shotgun start from seven different tees. There were nearest the pin prizes at all the par threes and a longest drive at the 7th. Four hours later players started drifting into the courtyard area with tales of woe, what-might-have-been, there were those with silent smiles not saying anything, and there was Pete and Lucy checking and double checking the scores. All the while there was a constant flow of drinks trays coming from the bar and the volume of chatter got louder and louder.

Then everyone was called to the restaurant for a superb buffet lunch — with more wine.

Then it was off for a siesta before returning to the Château for the gala dinner. Drinks and snacks were served on the terrace of the Château which was a first. Everyone agreed it would be good to use the chateau setting more often.

The new restaurant team of Lionel and Laurence and their helpers produced a superb meal and once again the volume rose to a crescendo. Phil introduced the two Captains, Rob Jones and Mike Vickers, who took it in turns to say a few words (well quite a lot actually)  after the Expatria Trophy had been presented. The Trophy was a new aquisition this year — an antique silver dish on a wooden plinth. Unfortunately the plinth was dropped inside the first minute of its new life, but like many of us still functions despite its blemishes!

Each member of the winning team — the Grenadiers — was presented with a couple of bottles of prestige wines.

Then Chairman Phil announced the results of the Ted Butler International.  Nearest the Pin prizes were won by John Williams, Douglas Livesey and Keith Ridding (but as he was not present the prize went to the next closest — Rob Jones). Nobody managed to keep their ball on the 4th green so the prize went to Miguel ofr chipping in for a birdie. The longest drive on the 7th fairway was from Reg Hole — each of the nearest pin winners and longest drive winner received a bottle of fine wine.

The honours for the Ted Butler International were as follows:

1st Reg Hole with 39 points
2nd Gareth Booth with 38 points
3rd Greg Conley with 36 points

The prizes were all silver wine holders, Greg's was an Art Deco example from the 1930s, Gareth's an ornate pierced wine holder from the 1920s and Reg's was a modern replica of a Victorian Magnum-sized Champagne cooler.

The full results are shown on the results page.

Thanks were given in abundance to the organisers, the caterers, the captains and all who took part. All agreed it had been an exceptional week of golf and camaraderie. 

Lourdes was the venue for the third and final round of this year's Expatria Trophy. Coming into the last day the Grenadiers were comfortably ahead so some miracles were called for.

The course at Lourdes is unusual. There are blind shots, evil slopes (nothing to do with 'Top Gear'), ridiculously narrow fairways, lakes abutting greens and all this woven through ten thousand pine trees. To top it all the greens were in very poor condition so it was all a bit of a lottery. It was a lottery won by the Grenadiers who won sufficient matches to maintain their lead and win the Expatria Trophy.

Lunch was in the Clubhouse and an excellent meal it was too with much banter and jollity amply washed down with defeat-numbing wine.

Like the Ryder Cup, the second round of the Expatria is a 4-ball betterball. This year we played round two at Barbet near Lombez, a 9-hole course with 18 separate tees. It had to be a very early start as we wanted to show our visiting guests the excellent Château restaurant, but the restaurant would not serve lunch beyond 1pm. So we teed off at 8.15 and scraped in to lunch just in time. It was well worth it as the surroundings and the food was excellent.

The golf on behalf of the Musketeers was not quite as good because the Grenadiers eased ahead in the points table. But there were some notable performances and a considerable amount of banter. So after two days it was a confortable lead for the Grenadiers, but with 13 points up for grabs in the third round singles all was not yet over.