By Dave Bruce
A lot of excitement and activity at Axe Cliff Golf Club last week starting with Monday's coffee morning with over 80 ladies playing the course and past captains, Rob Grove and Gilbert Cox, doing a wonderful job in organising their parking.
Thank goodness the weather held but the skies were dark and threatening. Anne Jarvis, the Ladies Captain, had her prayers answered and the day stayed dry even for those coming in after 5.30pm.
The Ladies section treated everyone to a piece of their home-made cakes and a drink which went down extremely well with all players.
On Thursday Stella Thompsonand Caroline Bond
showed what an excellent pairing they are by representing the club in the regional round of the Australian Spoons at Yeovil . This is a National Stableford Foursomes competition. Stella and Caroline came a fantastic second and were only one point behind the winners. Once again, they are helping to advertise the talent at Axe Cliff. Last Friday the Seniors had to make some very difficult decisions before going out to compete in their annual 3 Club Trophy. This is not about playing other teams,but only playing with three clubs which have to be chosen from their normal choice of 14 in their bags and one of the clubs has to be a putter.
My hot favourite was Masters Champion Nigel Pritchard, who was looking to win his third trophy on the the trot. I was so confident that I got my top photographer Brian Thompson to take this picture of Nigel, but obviously he needed all his clubs as he didn't get on the podium. However, he still deserves to have his photo published for his recent wins.
Now there is some debate on who actually won as two players had 36 points - namely Paul Curtin and young relatively newcomer Mark Wisby - but we are still trying to locate their score cards to see who had the best back nine which I hope to confirm next week.
I would give it to Mark, however, for scoring 5 points on the difficult third hole with two 3-iron shots to 5 yards of the green, a chip to 6 feet of the pin and one putt. I know because I was marking his card, His handicap did allow him 3 shots on that hole, leaving his gross par to be a net 1.
Another memorable shot I witnessed was Brian Thompson's 9-iron drive on the difficult par 3 18th of some 150 yards uphill to end up on the green. Many professionals would have been happy with that shot. Andy Hopgood and Roger Hill were third and fourth with solid 35 points apiece.
In my view the greens are recovering and were a joy to putt on so thanks to all the staff and volunteers for their hard work and patience. The course looked amazing and, of course, we have stunning views to enjoy.
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