Most of the trip to Gatton was in fog, in some places with visibility down to 50 metres. This usually means a fine day, and so it proved with ideal Autumn weather for golf.

After a break because of the way Public Holidays fell this year, a top field of 96 players (86 men and 10 ladies) turned up ready for play. The field included one returning player and two new members.

The most enjoyable part of the Course was the excellent Greens, equal to the best encountered this year in our District. The surrounds were also well prepared to allow rewarding shots from just off the Green. Like many other Courses the water situation didn’t allow the Fairways to be as easy from which to play shots as most would have liked and scoring from second shot to the Green was very often difficult from hard Fairways.

The new Caterers provided a welcome Hot Box lunch and player feedback will be sought to determine their preference for future lunch arrangements at Gatton.

The scoring was not easy today and Peter Smollen’s 38 was the best of the day. Dorothy Pearson had a very rewarding day with her 37 streeting the Ladies field. Tale of the day was Cedric’ Payne’s adventures on the 11th hole where he decided two other player’s balls would give better shots at the Green. His upcoming eye treatment will be most welcome.

Photos.

1. A very pleasant setting for a chat before the game.

2. The three before this one were all more than 5 metres and they all went in. This ‘short’ one missed.

3. Wrong Fairway, but a great recovery shot.

4. A penny for them.

5. Two ‘wrong ball’ hits of two different players today on a previous hole. No trouble for this one though as it was off the Tee.

The next game will be at Lowood on Monday 16th May. The following games will be at Ipswich City on Monday 30th May and Woodford on Monday 6th June. The Nomination Sheet for Woodford will be out at Lowood.