	Sparta golf society
The Golfing Society of the Departments for Communities & Local Government and Transport

NEWS

Captain's Day: Hindhead GC, 27 July 2011

Alan Rowland pleased

Alan Rowland was pleased with the very good turnout for his Captain's Day at Hindhead GC and his generosity extended to a free drink for all at the lunch break. This was very welcome as the going was tough.

With greens recently 'ironed' they were more like those at Augusta and keeping the ball on the green was beyond some. Putts that initially looked they might stop close to the hole, often kept going to 8 or 12 feet past, and in some cases off the green!

The greens apart, the consensus was that the front nine were perhaps more forgiving with many valley fairways were slightly wayward shots would often make their way back to the centre of the fairway. But go too wide and the heavy rough and heather would grab the ball for keeps. If it was found (which was rare), there was no certainty that a good recovery could be made. Only one group reported no lost balls all day whilst others had to make a dash for the pro shop to get replacements!

Excellent scores

Despite the difficulties some excellent scores were recorded. The best front nine in the morning was recorded by Mike Arney with 20 points but he could not maintain the pace. In the end Len Kirton and Andrew Gardner were the only two players to record net under par scores in the morning round, with Len snatching the DOE 25th Anniversary Cup with 38 points.

Painful

Hacking out of the rough was painful for Pete Frost who suffered a back injury which put paid to his morning round. But some medical attention put him right for the afternoon and was able to pip Doug Little on countback for the Golden Jubilee Cup.

Best round

Undoubtedly the best round of the day was from Will Donaldson, who after a reasonable 33 points in the morning, backed that up with a gross par round and 37 points in the afternoon to take the 36 aggregate Harrop Cup. Again it was Andrew Gardner who had to settle for the runners-up spot.

The all day nearest the pin and longest drive competitions turned into morning only after the markers were mistakenly removed at lunchtime. For the nearest the pin the spectacular 139 yard 6th hole was selected. Despite this relatively short hole, the elevated tee made the walk down the hairpin path to the green more like the length of a par-5. Club selection for this hole was critical with many not taking enough. But Ian Dibbens got it right and was awarded the NTP prize.

Possibly the most pleased winner of the day was James Donaldson who had so often come second to brother Will or James Manning's obscenely long drives. But both were off form today and even they would have had trouble in beating JD's effort on the 18th.