League to Dubai 2013. Final Doubles match. Burghill Valley.

An extension was granted of one week to get our final game played in our League and any one of three pairs could have made it through to the Regional final. The maths were fairly simple for Max (17) and I (15): we had to win or draw. Chris (14) and Greig (19) were our opponents at Burghill Valley and they needed to win with a whopping score of 47 points from ¾ handicap to progress and our first opponents from the Glamorganshire needed neither of us to achieve our aims to get to the regionals.

It was all to play for!

Burghill Valley is a stunning golf course set in amongst orchards in the Herefordshire countryside with length off the tee not a great advantage and a premium on accuracy as the penalties for wandering off line were pretty severe in some places. I had some Army flashbacks while we were walking around as we could hear the dulcet tones of a small arms firing range, helicopters and fighters in the near distance and I took an artillery barrage from an apple tree after a wedge shot too!

I’ve misplaced the card we used to record our scores, so I’ll do my best to remember most of our round without it. I don’t think I’ll forget the first tee shot in a hurry! I was within a gnat’s whisker of missing the ball and it hobbled off the tee and went about an inch forward. Pissa! Hopefully not a sign of things to come! Max smashed his 5wood to just short of the green on the blind, downhill par4 1^st hole while Greig and Chris went right and left respectively. My second attempt at teeing off left me about 80 yards in and I popped it on the green. Max’s chip was a touch too long and landed on the downslope to scoot through the green. We ended up with a 5 compared to their 4 and were one point behind after the 1^st hole. Not to worry, long way to go.

The second was another reachable par4 and another tee shot not requiring driver for me with a safe hybrid to about 100 yards from the pin my chosen play. Max went for the green and nearly made it, as did both Greig and Chris. Up and down for pars for everyone on the second and on to the treacherous par3 3^rd hole. It was only short at 120-odd yards, but you could tell that it was going to cost you to miss it. I found the green and missed my 12 foot birdie attempt, Max went through the green and played a fantastic chip to have a 10 foot putt at par and Greig also found the green but had a long two-putt for par which he duly knocked in the hole to extend to 2 the advantage going to the 4^th hole.

Long dogleg par5 up next. Had to start out to the left to have access to the green for second or third shots. It was a tiny bit narrow to get out from the tee box, but a massive landing area was waiting. Chris went too far left, Greig went right, Max was safely down the right and my drive went straight into the tree to my front left, ricocheted back through some more trees into the rough about 15 yards behind me! “Oh My Golly-Gosh” were not the words that went through my head and may have even escaped my antipodean potty-mouth. I had to hit a really nice chip just to get back onto the tee box and then decided that my Hybrid was going to see a LOT of action today and the driver was retired (mostly). I must have scored some extra run because my Hybrid and 7iron had me just short of the green in 4 while Max saved the day and recorded a par5 for 3 points and reduced the gap back to 1 after Greig was in the hole for 6 shots.

I really am getting sick of shanking short shots but that is exactly what I did after two reasonable shots had me in the rough to the right of the 5^th green which left me in the rough through the back of the 5^th green! Max was in a similar position for his second and our short game display on this hole can only have inspired confidence in our opponents as Max’s dreaded double-hit chip came back after chipping through the green. My 4^th shot was a good one and I managed to get up and down for a bogey and 2 points. Chris played the hole as it was designed to be played and came away with 3 points from his great par4. After all this turmoil, my putter was still feeling really good and the greens were a pleasure to putt on!

Dangerous par5 6^th was up next and the hybrid from the tee was the play for me to get a regulation par, avoiding the rough, out of bounds and multiple water hazards. I even had to keep the local ducks at bay while Max hit an approach shot. Cheeky blighters wouldn’t be deterred! I think they get fed by some golfers or staff. My par was matched by the home team and the points gap remained the same. We left the golf course and went into the orchard for the 7^th hole and it looked like a safe hole for me to see if my driver was behaving itself yet especially after Max was safe on the right edge of the fairway. It wasn’t too bad a strike but it went into the apple trees 90 yards short of the green. I was left with a very steep escape route under one branch and over the next tree which needed my 60 degree wedge’s loft and the distance of my 52 degree. The loft won the brain battle and I ended up in the bunker short. I had a volley of apples unloaded onto me by the retaliatory tree after I knocked it on my follow-through which gave the boys a good laugh and was a bit of a surprise for me! I can’t remember who got the 5’s, but both teams did and we went to the par3 8^th still 2 points down.

Nice easy par3, 165 yards to the pin with a water hazard al the way down the left (didn’t see that until later!) Greig was on the green, Max and I were short with Max and Greig both having the best chances for par while I was in the bunker and Chris was long and left. We went a further point behind after Greig got the par3 and Max got the bogey.

The 9^th tee was a bit of a calamity with Greig being the only one of us to get passed the front of the water hazard although he did go through the fairway and only have a chip out option available. Max and Chris both hit the trees to our left and got absolutely beautiful bounces leaving them with shots towards the green while I hit the ground behind my ball and pushed it to just short of the water but in the hazard. Max and Chris were just short of the green with their 2^nd shots and I chose to lay up short of the bunker with my second shot with my 8 iron. The lay up didn’t really work as I hit it about 10 yards further than I thought I could and cleared the bunker but scooted through a shrub and had a shot at the green. I got another member’s bounce with my approach shot and had a good chance at par which just missed and we settled for 5 while Chris and Greig got 6 and the points gap was back to 2 with our 19 points playing their 21 after 9 holes. 

Walking to the 10^th hole Greig helpfully pointed out that the next three holes are affectionately known as the Bermuda Triangle (or was it the Devil’s Triangle or Triangle of Hell?) and regularly make or break many a competition round.  

Standing on the 10^th tee I could see plenty of potential for failure with apple trees reachable straight ahead, dense rough and out of bounds lining the fairway on both sides and a blind tee shot to top it off. Trusty hybrid was a little left of where I aimed and took a lovely kick off the downslope right to be 143 yards from the pin in the middle of the fairway! Cheerin’! I would normally have grabbed my 8iron for a 143 yard shot, but I had gone long with the 8 on the previous hole so I pulled the 9iron from the bag, hit the ball as sweetly as you like exactly where I was aiming and it landed no more than 2 feet from the pin for a tap-in BIRDIE!! And a tidy little 4points from the first of the killer 3 hole stretch. Chris made a lovely par for 3 points on the 10^th so the gain was only a solitary point but we were only 1 back now.

The 11^th was an uphill dogleg par5. It’s only 485 yards but the elevation makes it unreachable for me, especially with the way I was hitting the driver so I hit the hybrid again with the aim of three safe shots to the green. 4iron was second up and I pulled it into the trees on the left of the fairway needing a chip out to about 60 yards short of the green in 3 shots. I still really struggle with choosing the right shot for steep uphill approaches and came up short of the green with my 4^th shot, but only by a little. My fifth shot was only a 7iron bump’n’run chip up the steep front of the green to a front pin position. I saw it very clearly and popped it in the hole for par and 3 more points!!  Chris and Greig were in for 6 and our points were now even with 7 holes to play.

Downhill, 150 yards, par3 12^th. Very pretty hole that I felt quite good standing on the tee of. 9iron again (steep hill!) and slotted it on the green. Max was short of the bunker on the right, Chris was in the bunker and Greig was in the trees on the left. Chris got out of the bunker and then chipped to tap-in range with a great chip and a bogey with 1 point. My birdie putt was soooo close! But it still missed and I tapped in for par and 2 points to take the lead! So that was Hell’s corner over and done with and I had stolen 9 points from those three holes! Feeling chuffed!

13^th hole was punishment to those who slice (kind of a recurring theme on this course!) so the hybrid was chosen to perform another miracle and I found the right rough but still had a shot. Speaking of miracles, Max sliced right with his first and we were all pretty certain it was out of bounds right, somehow it must have hit something and bounced into the middle of the fairway! 

There were quite a few very lucky bounces and kicks during this game with the most helpful trees surrounding a golf course I have ever seen! 

I can’t remember the rest of the hole but the scorecard (I found it by the way!) says we both scored bogeys for 2 points on the stroke index1 hole. The par3 14^th was 170-odd yards to a green protected by sand. Max hit a fantastic shot to about 10 feet and popped it in for his Birdie and 3points! GO-ON Maxy-Boy! Chris and Greig could only manage a bogey and fell a further 2 points back.

There was heaps of room on the 15^th hole so the usually trusty 910D3 driver was deployed. It was long, but it was waaay left. It was far enough left to have cleared all the trouble and left me a shot to the green from the 7^th fairway. Greig safely found the fairway and Max and Chris found the apple trees guarding the left of the fairway. Max and Chris both collected a tree or two on their way to the green and Greig and I were slightly right of the green with our approach shots and we both made 2point par’s.

More calamities from the tee, this time 3 of us found the lake (I didn’t even use my driver!) guarding the inside of the dogleg right 16th. Max missed the water, but he almost missed the ball too leaving it in very thick grass short of the fairway taking another 2 shots to get out of. A drop and a lay-up left me short of the two-tier green and a ¾ 60 degree wedge was required to get to the top tier. I hit about a 5/8 shot and hit the steep rise and rolled back onto the lower tier. Chris pulled his third shot and it bounced once, went out of bounds next to the greenside bunker and reappeared in bounds a second later! NICE KICK!! He hit a fantastic chip shot to a couple of feet from the pin and popped it in for a bogey and 2points. I two putted from the bottom tier for a double bogey and 1point. Back to 2 points!

The 17^th has some trees left, Max and Greig found them. The tee for the 6^th is on the right of the fairway, I found that and I think Chris found the fairway. My hybrid (always the clubs fault!) was starting to let me down. I had 185 to the middle of the green and smacked my 4iron onto the green and it rolled off the back. After a false start, Max’s approach shot was a good one and he two-putted to be down for 5 and 2 guaranteed points. My first putt from the fringe wasn’t my best effort and left me with about 8 feet for par. Knowing that Max already had 2 points helped me to hit the putt firmly and with confidence into the back edge of the cup for 3 points and a 3point cushion going up the last after Chris and Greig could only manage a 2point bogey.

The 18^th was a drivable par 4 uphill and protected by lots of sand and some out of bounds on the right. 4Iron lay-up for me leaked a little but was safe and Max went for the green with his first shot and found the Greens-staff yard. 3 from the tee was just short of the green with his 5wood. Greig found the greenside bunker with his drive and Chris was up by the green with his drive also. My approach from the rough landed on the downslope leading to the front of the green and rolled through the green onto the fringe. A tentative shot from the fringe left a longer putt than I wanted for par which I missed and we settled for 5 shots and 1 point to have a total of 21 on the back 9 and a grand total of 40 points. I can’t remember if it was Greig or Chris that closed out their round with a 5, but they matched our bogey for 1 point and a total of 37 points gave Max and I the win! Massive thanks to Greig and Chris for hosting us at their beautiful course, top chaps!

I had a great time in all of our games in the League to Dubai and have surpassed any expectations by just getting to the regional finals for the South section.

We are on our way to Donnington Grove Baby!!!