The 2022 weekend away saw us trying something new and going to a venue with just a single course.

But, a single course with plenty of challenges for everyone.

I was one of the “cheats” who had played there before, but I was still learning. Especially with the extremely dry conditions creating bounces all over the place.

The fairways may have been dry, but the greens were in excellent condition.

The Saturday warm-up day will be remembered for two incidents.

Firstly, the “high five club”. The 8th hole is currently being dramatically shortened and has a rough temporary green with a suitably large hole in play. However, playing it to the original stroke index meant that a number of our members were getting 2 strokes on what was essentially a simple 3-4 par. Resulting in a number of 5 points being scored. There was much celebration by this clubs exclusive members on Saturday night, but they were brought back down to earth by Martin sticking with the clubs recommendations for the rest of the weekend and giving everyone a non-negotiable 2 points.

Secondly,  “ladies tee gate”. Tony I unfortunately tee’d off from the ladies tee on one of the holes. In his defence, the facia plate on the marker had been removed (evidence in the gallery). This was obviously going to make hm a prime candidate for wearing the pink skirt of Sunday morning. However, he decided to go on the offence and buy a further 3 skirts for the rest of his group who stood by and didn’t warn him!

On the Sunday, Mark A put together a good round to win the Teng Tools, with Steve T winning the Seniors Cup.

In the evening, there was an ad-hoc putting competition held in reception to win a bottle of whiskey. Congratulations to Stef (one of our non-golfers!), who won.

On the Monday, we managed to dodge the thunderstorms that were rumbling around and we all stayed dry.

Congratulations to Julie R who won the Chairman’s Shield and congratulations to Jo C who won the 10 year trophy for the whole weekend.

A successful trip to the Manor of Groves, with a lot of work put in by Martin and an unfortunately absent Lee.

Speaking of Lee, we managed to find a “look-a-like” replacement for him staying the hotel (see the gallery). It was really uncanny. He was a lovely guy and saw the funny side of all the attention. Needless to say we had to report back to Lee, who responded with a great photo of himself on his way to recovery.

Hope to see you soon Lee!