Many of you may have noticed the absence of a Yorkshire accent from the Clubhouse, that is because Charles Whitwham is overseas visiting family - initially it came as a shock to me that there were more "Whitwham's" as I had always thought Charles unique and arrived by some form of mystical reincarnation but apparently I was incorrect. Now touring parts of the UK and later Europe to date Charlie has filed two reports which subject to editing now appear.
Report 1: So here I am in London, staying with friends in Thames Ditton (yes, I still have people back in the UK who will put up with me!). It has been a glorious Bank Holiday Monday here with a temperature in the high 20's Celsius. We had a lovely boat trip on the Thames from Hampton Court, the home of Henry VIII, to Richmond. Some of the houses we passed were quite stunning with immaculately kept gardens and the obligatory large expensive looking boat berthed at the end of the garden.
I saw where the Royal Mid Surrey Golf Club is located in the Old Deer Park. I have played my first round on this trip at Silvermere Golf Club. This was yesterday (Sunday) after arriving in London at 6.30am after a 24 hr flight. Needless to say my swing was a little rusty and I got off to a shaky start. The fairways are quite tight and a few errant tee shots found me with unplayable lies and double bogeys ensued. I did play the back 9 a lot better until the last 2 holes. Both involve shots over water. The 17th is a 143yd par 3, all carry over water - took 5. The 18th is a short par 4 of 324yds but you have to put your tee shot in the correct position as the hole dog-legs right with the second shot over water to the green - took 6.
Report 2: 4th Sept - Played at Pyrford Golf Club today. Opened in 1993, this course is not long by modern standards, measuring 5,750 yards from the yellow tees. Yellow tees in the UK are the equivalent to our white tees. However water abounds everywhere, and I mean everywhere. The fairways are narrow and the bunkers are strategically placed. The water crosses the fairways just at the point where your drive would land so I had to plot my way around this course, One par 5 was played 3 iron, 9 iron, sand wedge. Pyrford is a very picturesque course being set in an area of outstanding natural beauty and wildlife with 23 acres of lakes. My ball visited some of these as I stumbled at the end of my round, dropping 5 shots on the last 3 holes!
The next round will be at the Avening course of Minchinhampton Golf Club, where my younger brother Simon is currently Vice Captain. And then a week in The Algarve, Portugal, for some more golf.
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