Golfing Stories
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Trevose Golf Course
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I have decided to write this chapter to include any golfing stories that I have heard or been involved with that do not appear elsewhere in this book. The stories are not necessarily in chronological order. The reason for inserting this chapter at this time is that was at about this time in my life that I last played golf. After a couple of shoulder operations, one of which was unsuccessful, I decided to call it a day
Headley Golf Club, Thornton.
• I have already mentioned that this was where I hit my first ever golf balls and won my first ever competition, only to be disqualified. I cannot say that I specially liked the course but I did play with Pop when I was at home after he was retired. When he died, I donated all of his clubs to the Club Professional for use by juniors and visitors.
RAF Wildenrath Golf Club.
• Here was the real start of my golfing career as I have mentioned in an earlier chapter. It was only nine holes and, although short, was quite difficult in that the fairways were very narrow with very little space on either side before being out of bounds. In addition, there was little hope of hitting a green and making the ball stop because they were so hard. We actually sent soil samples off at one stage and when the results came back, we were told that no grass should be growing in them at all!
• My pal Merv COOK, scored a 21 on the second hole here. This was at a time before we knew all of the rules so it was our own fault because, had we known the proper rules, we could probably have reduced his score by 15.
• The first hole was interesting because about 50 yards in front of the green was a tarmac perimeter track and it was quite possible, using the correct club, to land the ball on the tarmac and bounce it nicely onto the green.
R.A.F. Gutersloh Golf Club.
• I have told my favourite story already but one other story also concerned the 4 handicapper who I beat in the Match Play final. The 18th was a 90 degree dog leg to the right and most of the better players used to cut the corner by driving over the top of the emergency runway repair material, which was in the 90 degree angle and was ‘out of bounds. Playing one day, my previous opponent decided that it was possible to play this hole with just a putter and proceeded to get a par 4 with the ball never getting more that about 2 feet off the ground.
• The eighth hole at Gutersloh was a par five and for me, the third shot was usually an eight iron. For about four rounds in a row I shanked my approach shot, which, for those who play golf, is one of the most destructive shots in golf.
Carholme Golf Club, Lincoln.
• This is where I had the worst round of my life whilst playing in a medal competition off a handicap of 8; I returned a score of 108!
• Playing a friendly with Merv COOK, he had a terrible round and on our way off the course he put a ball down in the practice net and hit it - we couldn't find it, which summed up the day!
• Waiting to tee off one day when a group of people wandered in, sat down on the Ladies tee and started to have a picnic. Carholme was 'Common Land'.
• As the course was on ‘Common Land' and some of the holes were across the A57 and used for grazing, those greens were fenced off causing some confusion when balls hit the posts.
Southcliffe and Canwick Golf Club, Lincoln.
• Remarkable for several things including two of the most magnificent Copper Beech Trees at one end and the sewage farm at the other.
• Playing one day and hitting a tree which was about 100 yards off the tee and 40 yards left of the fairway. I then proceeded to hit exactly the same tree on my next two rounds.
• On the same hole, I lost a ball no more than 6 feet off the fairway having hit the middle of the fairway with my drive. There was quite a sideways slope on that fairway.
• Arriving one Saturday morning to play in fourball competition with Ray HEWITT, who was our next door neighbour, only to find out that I had no shoes. I chose to drive back home in Ray's car which was an automatic, but with only a 1400cc engine - not powerful enough. Ray was on the fourth hole by the time I got back. I don't think we won that match.
• Playing a match one day and coming to the eighth; I was giving a stroke on that day and I hit a lovely tee shot down the middle missing the two tall pines in the fairway. I then hit my second shot close to the hole and sank the putt. Meanwhile my opponent scuffed his tee shot which never got higher than about six feet; he followed that with another thinned shot which ran all the way down the fairway and on to the back of the green. What is worse, he then sank the putt from about 30 feet and won the hole.
Lincoln Golf Club, Torksey.
• This was a great golf course but one that I never quite managed to tame. There were too may trees for me. I remember reading a newspaper report about a chap who, having played the first two holes, proceeded to score a par 5 on the third, par 4 on the fourth, birdie 3 on the fifth, birdie 2 on the sixth and an albatross 1 on the seventh.
Hunstanton Golf Club.
Playing for 1 Group in the Strike Command Championships at Hunstanton in 1982, I have the following memories:
• Watching in amusement as the Club Secretary ran off the front of the first tee chasing a local who had teed off whilst we were waiting to start our match.
• Playing in a foursome and coming to the last all square; I had the second shot and, using a 4 wood, missed the green to the right. There was a steep bank up to the green, which itself had a pronounced slope. In all my wisdom, I said to my partner, "If you can get the ball on the green, I’ll sink the putt". He duly put the ball onto the green about 20 feet from the hole, leaving me a downhill putt which I had to start off at right angles. Fortunately, the ball went straight into the hole and we won the match much to our surprise. I should point out that this competition was played off scratch so the highest handicap players probably played off 8; this included me, whilst most played with a handicap of 4 or 5. We 8 handicappers were not expected to beat anyone but we sometimes did as on this occasion.
• During the same tournament, I played a singles match against a chap called Lionel GRINDLEY who had a handicap of 5. For the first six holes I hardly made a mistake and was four up but it took me until the 17th before I won 2 and 1. Nevertheless, it was a good result for me and partly due to my two wins, 1 Group won the Cup. I went on to play with Lionel on many occasions at Trevose Golf Club when I was posted to R.A.F. St. Mawgan.
• Playing in a Society Meeting, whilst I was stationed at RAF Honington, I hit a tee shot onto the path that ran through the course down to the beach and then had to hot foot it down to the ball before the passing holiday makers made off with it.
Lark Valley Golf Club. (Now Suffolk Golf & Country Club)
• RAF Honington played Society friendly matches here in addition to the Inter-Station competitions. One of these matches involved a draw for partners matching low and high handicappers together. I drew a 24 handicapper who had not been playing very long. The format was Greensome Stableford. In this format both golfers drive off and then select which ball they want to play. After that players play alternate shots starting with the player who did not hit the ball selected. As might be expected for the first few holes, my drive was selected and my partner played the second shot, however we came to a hole where the second shot was played over the River Lark, which ran diagonally across the front of the green. My partner did not fancy the shot at all so, although his drive was considerably shorter than mine, I decided to take the shot. When I had a look at his ball, I found to my horror that it was a Penfold Commando; only golfers will appreciate why I did not fancy hitting that. It was like hitting a chunk of soggy clay; however I did get it across the river safely.
• One of the early holes, possibly the fourth, was a par 5 and the green was guarded by trees with the course boundary being quite close to the green at this point. When approaching this green, the golfer would often be greeted by some lads who wanted to sell golf balls. It was said that they did not just rely on finding lost balls, just any that they could make off with. I never bought any from them because it just seemed as though it would encourage them.
Southerndown Golf Club.
• I am sure that this is a lovely course but definitely not suited to me due to the tight fairways and the gorse. Whilst playing in the RAF Inter Station Cup Divisional Competition, I scored a 14 on one hole. This did not help the team when playing in a Scratch Competition.
Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.
• I only played here once and that was once again in the RAF Inter Station Cup Divisional Competition. It was a great pleasure to play here on one of the really good courses in Wales although it wasn't in specially good condition at the time. At one hole, the carry from the tee to the start of the fairway was about 180 yards over a ravine and lots of very bad ground. There was no escape route that I could see so what the high handicappers and older players made of it I have no idea.
Skegness Golf Club.
Memories of this Golf Course include:
• Being the nearest to scoring a hole in one that I have ever been when I got the ball to less than a foot.
• Playing one winter Society match we had to ‘drop out’ of most of the bunkers because they were full of water and all declared as ‘Ground under Repair’.
• During our Society matches we would play a singles competition in the morning and a fourball in the afternoon. Partners were drawn for this competition with a high handicapper being paired with one of the better players. The following story is anecdotal but I did believe the person who told the story. At a par 3, the high handicapper asked his partner what club to use; the better player asked what club he had used in the morning and then told him to hit the same one. The player promptly hit the ball straight over the green and looked around rather quizzically and said, “that’s funny, I did that this morning”.
Newquay Golf Club.
• Seagulls are a definite hazard at Newquay. The twelfth hole in particular I remember as a place where young Herring Gulls would steal golf balls, believing them to be food.
• Another hazard is the footpath leading from the town to Fistral Beach. It crosses the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th holes and a number of holiday makers have been hit by balls flying straight into the path. Of course there is no way to account for the number of people who decide to climb up the banks on the path so that they can walk down the fairway, shouting insults at the golfers.
• I had my best round ever at Newquay, playing in a September Festival competition. Playing off a handicap of 9, I had a gross 69 and 45 Stableford points. This round included three-putting holes number 16 and 17. My handicap was immediately reduced to 7, which is the lowest I ever got down to. I never played with that ball again and it resides in my filing cabinet
St. Andrews, Jubilee & Eden Courses.
On a visit to see Andrew & Mary when they were stationed at RAF Leuchars, I got the chance of a day’s golf with a friend of Andrew’s. Playing the Old Course was, unfortunately, not part of the deal but we did play the Jubilee Course, badly, in the morning and the Eden in the afternoon. The start of the round in the afternoon was not great but I did play the last nine holes in one over par gross so obviously got better as the day went on.
Trevose Golf Club.
I once said, and I really meant it, that if I could only ever play golf on one course for the rest of my life, it would be Trevose on which I played some of my best golf. I took the photograph at the head of the chapter and it brings memories of really good days flooding back. I also have the following special memories:
• Meeting Prince Andrew in 1988 and having a long conversation about Europe’s win in the Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village. He attended that competition and said the the atmosphere was phenomenal for what was America’s first ever loss of the Ryder Cup on home soil. I am aware that Andrew does not have the best public persona but, on this occasion, I found him very informal and interesting to talk to.
• Winning the Trevose Cup in 2002, the only time that I won a Club Competition.
• Playing in the Boxing Day ‘Cross Country’ events, which were tremendous fun. For those not familiar with with this type of golf, the holes played are not the usual ones and might, for instance mean playing off the first tee to the third green.
• The other club competitions that were great fun were the ‘shotgun’ starts where everyone started at the same time from all the tees. This meant that we all finished together and consequently the results were very quickly announced.
• I acted as captain of the RAF Golf Society for a couple of years and thoroughly enjoyed the position most of the time, however after one Saturday morning competition, the prizes had been presented and most of the competitors had left when I was told, belatedly, that the winner and his partner had not been ‘putting out’ but rather ‘giving’ short putts as is allowed in Match Play. The following week, I tackled the winner and he agreed about the putting but thought that was O.K. How a 16 handicap golfer could not know that rule was beyond me and I asked him to disqualify himself to save embarrassment all round. He refused and so I did disqualify him and his partner. That was not an enjoyable experience.
• I played many times in the Golf Society matches and won many trophies including the Station Scratch Championship on one occasion. I still have some of the trophies that I won; they proudly reside in our display cabinet.
• In 1990, whilst I was Captain of the Society, Trevose kindly allowed us to have a Charity Day in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund (RAFBF). Support by the Club Members was fantastic and the photo shows St. Mawgan’s Station Commander, Group Captain Ben LAITE and myself presenting a cheque for £1109.05 to Sir Jock KENNEDY, Controller of the RAFBF.
I still visit Trevose on occasion, but only to sit in the Lounge overlooking the putting green remembering all those happy days.
Bill HUNTER.
I played quite a lot with Bill, especially after we came home from Germany. He and his family lived in Penyfford, North Wales and we played several of his local courses over the years. It was always a source of amusement to me that whenever I made a mistake Bill knew exactly what I had done wrong and what I needed to do to correct it. Of course my handicap was 8 and his was 16! Nevertheless they were good times and Bill was good company. Sadly he lost his battle with cancer in August 2007.
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