St Catherine's and the Hospice Cup It was unfortunate, but necessary, to cancel the original date for this competition.
Cottesmore looked pretty as a picture on the original date of March 12th. The picture was about three months too late in the year for us, though. At least it justified the decision to send the cancellation notice out on the day before. A window of opportunity opened up for us this last weekend. A decision to hold the Hospice Cup on Sunday instead of the Tea Cup was taken.
We have donated a competition day to St Catherine's for as long as I have been a member at Cottesmore (which isn't that long, I know). After meeting with Suzanne Davis from St Catherine's the other week and discovering that the hospice takes over £10m a year to run, even with around 800 volunteers, we were determined for the competition not to suffer from a decreased field because of a busy mid-season calendar. With over seventy players signed up for Sunday, it really was a no-brainer. The Saturday roll-up foreshadowed Sunday's scores. It would seem the poor weather has not affected the golf too much because the winning scores were more like something you'd see in the height of summer. It's testament to the great work done by the greenkeeping team in ensuring the best possible course for us to play on. Well done to Ben and the rest of the team for all their efforts during this very testing period. Scoring twos on the day were Dave Abbott, Tony Lintern, Steve Brice, Steve Thomas, and Will Human. A huge thanks to Steve Thomas and Steve Brice for donating their share of the pot to the charity. Also picking up prizes, this time for nearest the pins, were Margaret Swatman (7th), Tony Lintern (7th), and Graham Milan (16th). The CSS (Competition Scratch) for the day was 39 points for the men and 37 points for the ladies, which gives us some idea of how well everybody scored on the day (well, some people anyway, I'll exclude myself from that). Not surprising then that the top spots all scored over 40 points and will receive a little handicap reduction for their efforts. In third place was Declan O'Reilly with 41 points, in second place Haydn Shaw with 42 points, and taking top spot with a very smooth 43 points was Will Human. My thanks for the day go to Martin Bolton-Smith for help with setting up the room (Martin is becoming a dab-hand at blowing up balloons) and his help on the registration desk; Nigel Hartwright for ball-spotting on the 4th on a chilly overcast day; Lyn Pigram for the raffle draw; and to Donald Day who didn't even play, but sat on registration desk all morning and then did the cards as well. Lastly, thanks to everyone that played; brought a raffle prize; bought raffle tickets; or otherwise donated on the day. We raised around £750 for St Catherine's! I shall be returning to the hospice on 13th April to give them our cheque.
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