A Bright New Year

Bright winter’s sunshine bathed Blessington Lakes Golf Course sweeping away the early morning frost as a large turnout made an enthusiastic start to the new golfing year. As usual our greenkeeper, Tom Kavanagh, had the course in excellent condition although it was set up in a novel fashion. All eighteen holes were set up as par threes of varying lengths, the shortest being 105 yards with the longest measuring 228 yards. The majority of golfers used every club in the bag as the new format proved to be a talking point amongst the large turn out. Tom clearly stated that he was taking all the credit for the holes that proved to be most enjoyable but was firmly laying the blame at the feet of our captain for the more difficult holes.
As we were all unfamiliar with the format nobody was sure what the winning score would be. However not even the most optimistic prediction foresaw the manner in which Pat McEnroy would take the course apart. An early birdie on the fourth set the tone for the round. Five pars on the front nine meant that, nineteen handicapper, Pat turned in an unbelieveable two over par. A solid back nine brought Pat home in 45 nett an astonishing nine under par for a winning start to the year. Meanwhile, our incoming lady captain, Mairéad Hackett is obviously inspired by her new office. Playing off 36 Mairéad set the tone for the year with a podium finish with a very impressive 48 nett. Mark Williams, who described his score as only a 50, was pleasantly surprised to finish in third.
The format proved to be a major success, thanks Nick, although it was far from the birdie fest predicted with a total of thirteen twos. Next week we are playing another format we rarely play with a Scotch Foursomes. The search for is on for a good partner. My advice would be to avoid Pat Brady and our Captain who both gave an expedition of putting this weekend.