Fitzwilliam Golf Society

Season Opener Wednesday 27 March 2019

Frilford Heath GC

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We had another excellent turnout of 18 for the first main Society golf day of the season. Frilford Heath – near Abingdon in Oxfordshire - had partly been chosen as it’s a good early season course to play and not too wet or too difficult and it’s also close to where the Captain lives! The course is very pleasant throughout – but the second nine was probably more interesting and with the approaches to the greens more challenging. Quite a lot of the greens had been sanded – and they were quite slow – but they generally ran truly. The weather was overcast early on – but improved greatly and we enjoyed bright sunshine for the second half of our round. We met before the round for coffee and a large bacon roll – and after the round we enjoyed beef bolognaise / penne pasta, followed by a very rich, chocolate cake – in honour of Ian Cox’s 80th Birthday. We sang Happy Birthday to Ian – and toasted Ian with the excellent wine that he’d provided. It was great to have Ian with us on such a milestone day in his life – and he is still playing off 20 – and managed 3 Stableford points on all 3 of the Par 3 holes – an excellent effort – and Ian and Richard Newport managed second place in our main competition.

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We mainly played a Pairs Stableford competition, with on the first nine, a better ball counting on each hole but on the second nine, both Stableford scores counted. We also had some Nearest the Pin holes for prizes – on all of the par 3s - and a Nearest the Pin in 2 on the short par 4, 18th. But to add a bit more fun to the day, we also had a match between ‘The Oldies’ and ‘The Not Quite So Oldies’! This involved one singles match and four Pairs matches. The Match Play holes were each decided on a better ball Stableford score basis.

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It was an excellent start to our season – and this bodes well for the Fitz Golf year ahead. But the day will especially be remembered for Ian Cox’s 80th Birthday!

Mike Hamment, Captain

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