A Touch of Glass at Lakeside

A visit to Royal Lakeside Golf Course is part of our schedule that many players eagerly look forward to. It is a bit further to drive but the layout and quality presentation is mostly always first class and, well, the clubhouse is almost worth the trip alone.

An excellent quality course is just what our twenty four golfers found today. Fairways cut to allow easy ball striking and the greens running at 10 on the stimp-meter and very smooth, making for easy putting. Although the day was surprisingly quite windy, but dry, we were expecting some good scoring.

Many times here we see scores of 40 plus but, mainly due to the windy conditions, there were no 40’s but one third of the field did play to handicap or better.

Leading the way in the single flight was Toby Glass who, on his yearly visits from Austalia, takes a game or two to hit top gear. His 39 points gave him a nice victory and he got to don the Green Jacket, not for the first time.

Nils-Peter Kristensen is a surprise packet. On a given day he can be very good or very bad, no in-betweens. Today he played very well to take out second place with 37 points to win a countback against the ever consistent low handicapper, Paul Smith.

Then we had four players with 36 points but, unfortunately for some, only two places left on the podium.

Kenny Jepson did what we always hope, and that is to be inspired enough to go from a “wig” to a prize. He did that with his 36 points to take fourth spot ahead of Phil Davies on a countback.

James Hudson and Dave Arataki were the unlucky ones to miss, but very good games from both.

Near Pins: Petur Petursson (3), Garry Barker (6), Kevin McEntee (12), Maurice Roberts (15)

Winners Royal Lakeside

1^st  Place – Toby Glass (16) -39 pts

2^nd Place – Nils-Peter Kristensen (20) – 37 pts c/back

3^rd Place – Paul Smith (5) – 37 pts

4^th Place –  Kenny Jepson (26) – 36 pts c/back

5^th Place –  Phil Davies (12) – 36  pts c/back

Best Front Nine ( non winners) – Rod Marshall – 21 pts c/back

Best Back Nine ( non winners) –  Tim Shaw – 19 pts c/back

Bill Copeland had a hard time explaining the marks on his knees, possibly carpet burns, we think? But the explanation was hesitant enough to be awarded the “silly hat”.

He will find a way to get in the photo. Tip Briney must have been in more photos than anyone at Links Golf.  Last time at Lakeside it was the Green Jacket for him, this time it is the “wig”. 

No hold-ups on course and everyone back for early presentations and food before heading their separate ways after another satisfying trip to beautiful Royal Lakeside.