Your best shot of the last 12 months.

First topic message reminder :

I thought that everyone must be getting bored of sharing their epidemiological expertise so imagined it would be good to regale what you think is your best shot of the last year.
Doesn't have to be a pinseeker or massive drive, it could easily be a great bunker shot, escape from the trees, perfect chip etc.
Let's here them.

Had a great trip to Celtic Manor. Nice hotel too. Definitely worth a trip as great deals to be had.

dynamark wrote:-George was Bobby Cole South African ? Old friend of mine caddied for him I think it was him at The Masters.Thats another story

Yes, he was a South African. He's been a teaching pro in Florida for years now. He was married to Laura Bough, they had about 8 kids. Divorced now though.

George1507 wrote:

dynamark wrote:-George was Bobby Cole South African ? Old friend of mine caddied for him I think it was him at The Masters.Thats another story

Yes, he was a South African. He's been a teaching pro in Florida for years now. He was married to Laura Bough, they had about 8 kids. Divorced now though.

Bobby Cole & Laura were married twice. And divorced twice. Not surprising his career frittered away, but one of their sons plays on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Thanks George the backstory is that we had a club member(now passed)Norm Martin who used to regail us with stories of playing Augusta and meeting all manner of folk .He was the manager of a Municpal almost next door?Noone believed a word of it -he sold vacuum cleaners -and had more rabbit than anyone I have ever met.One day he turns up with a box of memorabilia including signed photos with Nicklaus and Player all manner of genuine stuff including an old copy of Golf Illustrated showing him and Bobby on the tee as front cover.Story was that Bobby would not have a black caddy on the bag so Norm was probably the first white caddy.
My carpet is very slow on the stimp and the laminate is running at 100 so not a lot of use

Dynamark - good story.

I always thought there's a goldmine of stories about caddies that someone needs to compile into a book. There are lots of anecdotal stories about caddies, but they usually involve beer, curry and women. Leaving aside the inevitable unpleasant bodily functions that followed huge binges, there must be some really amusing stories.

George1507 wrote:Dynamark - good story.

I always thought there's a goldmine of stories about caddies that someone needs to compile into a book. There are lots of anecdotal stories about caddies, but they usually involve beer, curry and women. Leaving aside the inevitable unpleasant bodily functions that followed huge binges, there must be some really amusing stories.

Friend of a friend was Brooks Koepka's caddy in the early days. Got drunk one night and walked into the wrong house, and took of all his clothes. Ended up getting deported from the states and not allowed back, then Koepka hit the big time. Bet he's gutted now.

There is a book written by Lawrence Donegan about him caddying for Russ Drummond for a year. Four iron in the soul. Mildly amusing, but might be a bit dated now.

super_realist wrote:

George1507 wrote:Dynamark - good story.

I always thought there's a goldmine of stories about caddies that someone needs to compile into a book. There are lots of anecdotal stories about caddies, but they usually involve beer, curry and women. Leaving aside the inevitable unpleasant bodily functions that followed huge binges, there must be some really amusing stories.

Friend of a friend was Brooks Koepka's caddy in the early days. Got drunk one night and walked into the wrong house, and took of all his clothes. Ended up getting deported from the states and not allowed back, then Koepka hit the big time. Bet he's gutted now.

Speaking of which, any word about Thorbjorn recently?

super_realist wrote:Had a great trip to Celtic Manor. Nice hotel too. Definitely worth a trip as great deals to be had.

Yeah. We went on a very good deal and they looked after us very well on the day. Well worth it.

kwinigolfer wrote:Speaking of which, any word about Thorbjorn recently?

Was due to stand trial in May. I suspect that will be postponed. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

All true but no one believed a word initially cos Norm was such a plonker -he always had
6 birdie chances on the front side and 4 birdie chance on the back side -but was off 12 !
On the books /caddies Winning the Open by norman dabelll has about 20 chapters from 79 to 2002 of caddies stories .
these stories are entertaining at this time - we went to K Club just after the Ryder cup and 12 lads well looked after bit late turning in on the Friday and played the k club course birdied the first where tiger hoiked it into the water on left and very nearly holed out on a par 3 around 14 where casey did the job but essentially the pin was in a plughole type spot where it collected any near shot .After we sat in clubhouse and were treated to a endless supply of food and drink .Saturday we played the Palmer course in the rain ( clubs were cleaned and presented to us on the tee) made a super birdie on the last to find I had played the wrong ball from the fairway.They bussed us over to the other clubhouse where there was a proam do going on with messrs Clarke,Westy and McGinley present.Welcomed in and given a super free lunch with a very friendly group.Evening
out in town wit the rugby international on at same time nearly bought a greyhound from a fella in the corner great weekend

There was a fellow called Jackie Lee, who was Peter Thomson's caddy in the 1960s. He was a big burly bloke, who (unsurprisingly when you pics of him) had been a boxer. He earned money between the end of the European season and the start of the Australian tour by participating in illegal prize fighting in insalubrious London pubs. As his prowess waned and as the years went on, the police stopped a lot of these fights, so he would be short of money. By Christmas, with nowhere to live and no money, he'd chuck a brick through a shop window in Tooting or Morden, and then be arrested. With no magistrates working close to Christmas, he'd be taken into custody for a few days (so a roof over his head and fed). He'd get Peter Thomson to pay his fine after Christmas and send him an air ticket to Sydney. Year after year apparently...

When didn't Thomson just pay him a decent wage so that the man didn't spend half the year destitute?

I don't think there was much money in the game back then Mac. Peter Thompson won £1750 for his final Open, that's only equal to 34k today. Not much.

We should keep these stories going. I have a good few more for instance have you ever had a really serious row on course about a score or a ruling.?
We had a golf dinner few years back Grand Hotel captains society its the only do I go to where I am the youngest person in the room essentially a table of ten from each club in the county .We were just ready for the starters and fella sitting behind us dropped dead very inconsiderate .They carried him out on his chair put the screens up and paramedics did their best but no avail so about 40 minutes and a couple of drinks later the Mc stood up and announced they had spoken to his wife and she wished for us to carry on with the evening and remember our old friend.So we did !! Dinner speakers few awards and taxi home .Golfers?

Good story. Must be awful to be somewhere where that happens though.
We had two guys die on the course early in the year a couple of years back. The joke was that we all hoped they'd paid their fees on time.

Have any of your clubs had a covid-19 death yet? I think we have one so far.

McLaren wrote:Have any of your clubs had a covid-19 death yet? I think we have one so far.

Nah, just a standard death, flag is constantly at half mast anyway. A colleagues dad karked it though through Covid.

Not played regualrly for a long time so would have to go back a few years for best shot(s). Hard to pick from two and they both happened in the same round. Was playing in the Four Ball Open at Forfar and partnering my dad.

We had a decent score going on the front nine despite a better ball net 5 for my dad on the par 4th and we knew that a decent back 9 would give us a chance of the prizes. I hit a decent drive down the 10th and had a 9 iron into an elevated green for my second. Took a horrible swing and managed to somehow push/slice it about 30 yards right of the green into some wispy stuff that was knee high. My dad had hacked out of the trees for his second shot and was on the green in three but nowhere near the hole.

Faced with a shot from wispy rough to an elevated green that was narrow from that angle and with a stone dyke just beyond the green and out of bounds beyond that, I choked down on the sand wedge and tried to play it as floaty as possible - but allowing for having to dig it out of the rough. Somehow managed to make perfect contact and had judged the weight just right so that the ball floated onto the green, landed softly and rolled up to a couple of inches from the hole.

The round continued well and standing on the eighteenth tee, we knew that we were on for a gross better ball 65. At which point, my dad decided to hoick his ball miles left and go straight out of bounds. Desperate to avoid that mistake, I overcompensated and pushed my drive miles right into some trees. Managed to bump it out onto the fariway and was left with a little pitch of about 60 - 70 yards from the top of the hill to the green below and a full clubhouse just behind. Not a difficult shot at all, but in the cirumstances, I was feeling a fair but of pressure. With slightly jittery knees I played a little pitch which landed just short of the hole and checked to run a couple of feet past. I made the putt for the 65 (can't rememebr the net score - think it might have been 59). The pitch shot wasn't diffcult but given the situation, I rate it as one of my best.

We took first place. Played it again the following year and think we barely broke 75.

Since we transgressed to stories, my favourite at the moment is about James Braid. I've always thought he was some kind of golfing god - I've never played a Braid design that I didn't think was brilliant. And he did it all with 6 blokes and few horses. He won 5 Opens in 10 years from 1901, so he was obviously a great player too.

Anyway, the story - and I hope it's true, but I can't verify it - is that after he won the 1934 Open, Henry Cotton decided he couldn't make much money from playing golf, so he sought out James Braid and asked about golf course design. Braid told him that he would tell him everything he knew about designing golf courses but it would cost him £2000. The prize for winning the Open was less than £100, so that was a substantial sum. Or, if Cotton could beat him round Gleneagles (designed by Braid) then he'd tell him everything he knew for free. So Cotton took this bet, thinking as Open champion, he should beat Braid, who hadn't played competitive golf since 1914.

So while Cotton was preparing for the 1935 Open, they played an exhibition match on the Kings Course, and Braid beat him 6&5.

Oh, I so hope it's true. I love stuff like that.

My story is about Lionel Platts who played for us in the Ryder Cup in the 60's. Fast forward to the late 80's and Lionel, now well into his fifties is working as the Pro at a club local to me. Guy in the Pro Shop one day taking an interest in the latest set of brand new clubs. "What do you play off?" Lionel asked as the guy wasn't a member and not known to him. "I play off 12" was the reply. "Are you a gambling man?" continued Lionel. "Yes I love a bet" was the answer as Lionel gradually reeled him in. "Tell you what, I'll give you a shot a hole and we'll play for the clubs. If you win you take the clubs for nothing, if I win you pay me double", the crafty old sod said.

A few hours later the guy had his new clubs at twice the price he should have paid for them...

Another time, again a few years ago but still makes me smile now. Playing in a Pro-Am with a couple of mates and a Suffolk Pro by the name of Robin Mann. Robin was a decent player in those days and well known on the East Anglia golfing circuit. One of my mates was a high handicapper with appalling course management but could be useful in a Pro-Am format.

Robin played the first two holes beautifully and in perfect regulation but both times his birdie putt just shaved the hole. My high handicapper mate started birdie, par. As we walked off the green Robin turned to me and said "Fu*k me, I'm level par and one behind the 19 handicapper!"

week on the Algarve years back about 25 blokes on the lash and we hire minis at the airport 4 in a car clubs on the roof and it was just like the Italian job. One of the minis was found upside down on the flower bed in front of the hotel one morning.Golf was good but one fella really struggles for first two days and eventually in a rage threw his bag and clubs into a lake.One of the lads following waded in and collected them Couple of hours later when he had calmed down a bit the good Samaritan took him his bag and clubs over .Our mr angry said 'no ive given the game up you can keep them'He spent the rest of the week in the bar.

Heard a Ben Hogan story - no idea if it’s true though some facts could be checked. Playing Masters with Claude Harmon. On 12 Harmon’s honour - holes out for a 1. Crowd go crazy etc, Hogan not a flicker. Says nothing. Plays his own shot to 15 feet, walks to the green still not acknowledging the h-I-o.
Lines up his putt, and holes it. On leaving green he turns to Harmon “never had a 2 there before” and walks on!

I played in a match at Market Harborough golf club where one of the other pair made a par 3 after sticking his first ball OB. 17th hole .Then on the next about 300 yards downhill with a lake in front my partner went with a driver which did a wall of death around the bank of the water and rolled on into the group in front on green and left him with 10ft for the 2 which he made.Strange old game .At the time it was a 9 hole with 2 sets of tees very different positions and quite a nice course.

I played in November with three other guys. One of them was really struggling with his game on the front nine. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong. At the half way house you leave your bag adjacent to the hut, get your food and drink, and then when finished, walk back to the next tee and carry on. He took a polystyrene cup of soup, put it on the ground near his bag and walked back with us to the tee. He hit a low hooky one that destroyed the cup, vaporized the soup and thumped into the bag like a fastball into the catcher's mitt. So, loss of hole for him.

Of course the rest of us laughed, and even his mood lightened as his game improved on the back nine. So by the end, he was as right as rain, until he took his iPhone out of bag, the screen looked like a jigsaw puzzle! Bulls eye.

That's a good one George. I heard a story about a guy who was playing terribly for hole after hole in a match. Getting more and more frustrated he hit a shocker off the tee, walking back to his bag he swung his iron into his bag........... Or what he thought was his bag. It wasn't and he'd snapped three clubs of his opponent.

Super - I've seen and heard of people snapping their own clubs, but snapping someone else's clubs! I bet there wasn't much said for the next few holes! Classic!