2018 Whitefield Match Report
Westwood wins at Whitefield.
Gloomy conditions greeted us in the foothills of Manchester and persisted pretty much throughout the day.
Normal Parrot's weather was notable by it's absence which was probably just as well or the fabled, friendly, formerly feisty firefighter from Fleetwood's foray up the final fairway could have proved ............
As it happened, it was only his score that suffered. However just as in the morning round he only had himself to consider, as like me he was playing in his second three-ball of the day.
Our host club, Whitefield ( annual green fee £750 if you are interestd ), is renowned for it's fearsome array of
Par 3's. Well, what was the reality.
An inviting T shot at the 3rd (How many people found the bunkers?) suited John Pat's eye - only birdie 2 in the afternoon - but was not the harbinger of doom for the unsuspecting. Worse was definitely to come.
One fourball, who shall remain nameless, but included the first Parrots NR of the season (for him, the 3rd time in a month ) amassed 11 blobs in 19 attempts. A truly pathetic effort, bearing in mind that all had a shot on the
last 4 Par 3's, except for Frank (Oops!) One person (Guess who) scored level 2's on the 5 Par 3's, whilst the
mercurial Bill Pye pulled a rabbit out of a hat with a 4 pointer on the 9th!! The following redoubtable characters all scored at least 8 points - Richard (the aforementioned), Peter, John, Tony, Phil and yours truly (guest scribe Jim C). The bogey has surely been well and truly laid to rest. Oh, the other nameless ones in Mike's group were Warren and Martin.
The front 9 at Whitefield is reputed to be much the easier half, hence quite a lot of decent scores in the morning. Having
said that, no-one played to their handicap. The 5 players who tied with 16 points went forward to a sudden-death play-off
based on the afternoon scores - won by Phil (enough said!). In actual fact the bias in favour of the front 9 is not all that it seems.
As a group ( excluding DNF Barnes ) we scored 189 on the front 9 and 171 on the back 9 ie just over 1 point per player difference.
Frankie was delighted to be drawn to play in a fourball for the post lunch session (though some of us, yet again, didn't
get the experience of the cameraderie; the cut and thrust; the banter and the financial jeopardy involved in competing with
a partner). Nevertheless, many thanks to my playing partners who still made it a really good day.
Little did Frank know that his fourball experience wasn't going to last long. A repetitive strain injury, obviously incurred in the pursuit of 'tricks' at bridge, meant an early bath ( sorry, pint ) for our founder and leader. Luckily there was a doctor in the house, returned from a sabbatical in Spain, who quickly diagnosed the injury as GOLFER'S ELBOW, but then again what does he know. (Sorry Martin)
The recommended treatment is rest, anti-inflammatories or a jab with a big needle, so don't expect to see Mike before Morecambe.
It is worth noting that his injury did not affect the match result. Frank was once again imploding on the back 9 and the good doctor's
(retired) golf matched his diagnosis of golfer's elbow. Hence Warren won the doubles on his own. Surely Mike wouldn't take his share of the loot. Think again. Just as well Martin is on a GP's pension.
Just a small aside about Gareth's great escape, which I was lucky enough to witness as he was playing in our threeball. On
the 10th hole, the very short Par 4, Gareth flayed a drive miles left into the trees (He put his provisional ball out of bounds on the right by the way)
Unbelievably we found his ball 30 yards down the path leading to the 11th hole, on the gravel. There was literally nowhere to take a drop so he played it off the path, damaging his wedge in the process. The ball somehow emerged from the trees, scrambling into the semi-rough, some 40 yards short of the green. Needless to say he chipped on to 15 ft and sank the putt. Well done Gareth.
Shot of the Day however must go to Peter with whom I played in my morning threeball. Unlucky to hit the fairway bunker down the right of the dog-leg 6th with his drive, his next shot was a foolhardy 3 wood from the sand to 6ft from from the pin, all of 180 yds away. Needless to say he missed the putt.
Although gloomy, conditions were nigh on perfect for scoring. Greens were true if a little slow, and any breeze that blew up wasn't really a factor.
Was anyone up to the task of depriving Mike of his oft repeated boast of being the only man in the annals of Parrot's history to better his handicap at Whitefield.
Step forward the almost mythical figure of Richard Westwood. Rarely seen in public, the big-hitting, Portugese tourist from
the Black Country (Is Coventry in the Black Country?) made a special trip north to make his seasonal debut on the Parrot's Tour. Not wishing to take advantage of his lenient handicap mark, he offered to make the magnaminous gesture of playing off 18 rather than his official mark of 20. Well done Richard.
A score of 38, particularly his 21 on the back 9, was a great effort, 4 points better than Phil the runner-up and 5 points better than yours truly on 33.
However I still haven't witnessed any of those booming drives (not in either of my threeballs), so I'll just have to keep listening to Mike's stories about the legend that is Richard.
The only other thing to mention is the 'Movers and Shakers' on the leaderboard. John Pat retains his lead and Gareth stays second but 2 players to make a move toward the top were TJ (+4pts) and me (+5pts), 3rd and 4th on the leaderboard respectively.
Just 4 rounds to go, unless Mike arranges a visit to Rossendale on a spare Wednesday before Morecambe. Next stop Rochdale, a new venue on the Parrot's Tour. See you there.
Jim C ( Guest Scribe)
