Cardrona Match Report
Last weekend was the Parrots weekend away, and having turned our backs on the usual venue of Hawkstone Park, we were off to McDonald Cardrona, a mere three and a half hours up the road to Peebles. To mitigate the travel distance, some groups went up the day before and others stayed another night on the way back. Frankie and his group seemed to enjoy the Peebles nightlife on the Saturday night, getting back to the hotel in the wee hours of the morning!
Weatherwise …. well it’s Scotland, so we were expecting rain of course! But in the end, both the two days escaped relatively unscathed. There was no rain to speak of on Day 1 and a mere smattering of light showers on Day 2, with the winds moderate on both, happy days! The course, by the way, was absolutely gorgeous, both in terms of layout and condition. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to play here again … if they could move it 100 miles south!!
The tour was kicked off on Day 1 by the three-ball of Pete W, Derek and Marty P, owing to the late withdrawal of Martin Greenaway (which meant I had a nice twin room all to myself!) with the rest being 4-balls.
I only know details about my match of course, where Tom Meek and I played Kev and Pete C. A great doubles affair where there was never a shot in it until our team broke the game open on 17 to go 3 up. Whilst I had the best score in my group of 33 (which would ultimately take 2nd place), it’s worth noting that after 12 holes Pete Corsby had amassed 25pts … but only scored one further point in the remaining 6 holes. An amazing turn of fortunes for Pete in one of golf’s “what might have been” storys. Kev also blobbed the last two holes for 30pts.
Other notable Day 1 scores were Jon Amor and Alan Watson, who both scored 32pts apiece. These scores were particularly impressive when you learn that Jon started with two blobs and Alan started with just 1pt more. But playing in the same group as Alan, was a fella whose handicap has been on a slide of Pete Whiteside proportions in recent months. Mike Barnes started the day with a 20 handicap, yes you heard that right, 20! With such an armory of shots to play with, Mike blitzed the course for a total of 35pts to take the win on Day 1, helped by a NTP birdie on the Par 3 11th and blobbing only once on the 8th hole.
I almost hate to mention it, but Frankie’s Saturday night revelry in Peebles seemed to have taken its toll on his golf on Day 1 as he finished with just 17pts. However, unperturbed by this, after an excellent dinner (despite the negative assessment of the sticky toffee pudding by a Parrot who hails from Wigan!) the same lads were off for second night in Peebles. I’m not sure Sunday night in Peebles is quite the same as Saturday night but, hey ho!
That meant there were only seven takers for poker after dinner, and after taking 1st and 2nd at golf the same pair were in the money again. Only this time the magician prevailed at the card table wiping Mike out on the last hand for the win with Ken taking the consolation prize of 3rd place.
Day 2’s golf was in reverse order as usual, with two three-ball this time owing to Tom having to leave in the morning for a work trip. Amazingly, the days winner was to be found in the very first group. Obviously it takes two nights on the town to kick Frank’s golf game into gear and he more than doubled his Day 1 tally on Day 2 with an eventual unassailable 35pts, quite the turnaround! Well done Frank.
The other notable scores from outside the last group were 33pts from Luke, who burst into life on the front nine with a run of 16pts from 5 holes, and Derek who had a magnificent back nine of 20pts for 34pts overall. This put Derek as leader in the clubhouse before the last group came in, with a possible outside sniff.
In that last game we’d all had indifferent front nines, with 3 out of 4 blobbing the 1st hole and Jon’s 14pts being the best at half way. This meant both he and I were just one point behind Mike in the overall stakes. But then came a back nine of very different fortunes. Jon struggled to keep his drives under control and crashed to just 9pts, out of it. He and Alan managed only 23pts apiece in total. I had a steady back nine for 16pts and had scored on every hole, except the first, for 29pts … but then there was Mike.
In a back nine of golf, where I’ve never seen him so in the zone seriously focused on his golf game, Mike was frankly excellent, scoring 22pts in total with a birdie on the Par 4 15th. Long before the last hole, the overall winner was in no doubt, with a total on Day 2 of 34pts and 69pts for the two days, Mike was SEVEN (do you remember the teleprinter doing that?!) shots ahead of the rest of the field (and I had to spend another day with him after this, oh no!). Well played Mike, a well deserved victory and champion at Cardrona for 2025.
Here’s the full results table with prizes awarded, handicaps from the two days are updated on the website :-
1st Mike Barnes 69pts (35 & 34) Prize for 1st overall, 2 x NTP Day 1
2nd Derek Abrahams 62pts (28 & 34) Prize for 2nd overall
3rd Glenn Wellard 62pts (33 & 29) Prize for Day 1 1st
4th Kev Gerrard 59pts (30 & 29) Prize for 3rd overall
5th Luke Palmer 58pts (25 & 33) Prize for 4th overall
6th Glenn Riches 58pts (27 & 31) Prize for Day 2 2nd
7th Jim Clayton 56pts (28 & 30) Prize for 5th overall
8th Pete Corsby 56pts (26 & 30) Prize for Day 2 3rd, NTP Day 2
9th Steve Ingham 55pts (30 & 25)
10th Alan Watson 55pts (32 & 23) Prize for Day 1 3rd
11th Jon Amor 55pts (32 & 23) Prize for Day 1 2nd, NTP Day 1 and Day 2
12th Dave Scullion 54pts (25 & 29) 2 x NTP Day 2
13th Matt Murphy 53pts (25 & 28)
14th Frank Healey 52pts (17 & 35) Prize for Day 1 1st
15th Ken Dalziel 49pts (23 & 26) Longest drive Day 2
16th Pete Whiteside 49pts (29 & 20)
17th Geoff Moyle 48pts (23 & 25) NTP Day 1
18th Ray Callaghan 47pts (24 & 23)
19th Mark Thomas 46pts (21 & 25)
20th Mark Hill 45pts (22 & 23)
21st Martin Pierce 43pts (19 & 24)
22nd Warren Murphy 43pts (27 & 16) Longest drive Day 1
23rd Tom Meek 29pts (29 & 0)
Not unexpectedly, this win has propelled Mike to the top of the current leaderboard for the year, so Stand next Thursday is our first opportunity to knock him off. Please come and have a go!
Glenn
PS There was NTP controversy on Day 1 where, at the presentations, it was concluded that no-one had hit the green on the 5th hole, so no prize was awarded (and no-one spoke up to say otherwise!). However, two days later it seems that little Geoffrey Moyle remembered that he did hit the green with his driver, as evidenced by the fact that he a) he got a 3 and b) was awarded a bit in his group. After much debating of the rules of NTP's, like "if you're nearest the pin, put a marker down!" and soul searching by the organiser (and winner!) it seems he has relented and Geoff is officially NTP winner for that day with a tenner coming his way.
