Autumn 2013 - Evolution of the Golf Garden

Goodbye pesky lawn....

After the excitement of Foxhills, came the reality check of the Lannock links Championship and a lowly 3^rd from bottom finish. Tiredness and missing head coach (Daddy) seemed to be the main causes of this not so hot performance, however the next stage of the plan was under way.. Earlier in the year we had been on the Phone to Huxley Golf and sized up a putting green in the back garden. And thus the master plan was put into action. ‘Daddy’ had the fun job of lifting the turf, to help out the ‘Huxley Man’ (As named by shortie). Thus followed three days of lifting shifting, rolling digging brushing etc.. but the final result was a nifty 15 by 18 putting green with 4 holes and plenty of cheeky challenges.. Would it be enough to help the Wee man with his Achilles heel.. time will tell. It did however meet with wide eyed wonder when completed and putting fun began in earnest. The next job of painting the house was far less exciting....

....Hello putting green.

Early Autumn 2013 – Operation Foxhills.....

No fear on the first tee!

Given recent highs and lows of the Wee golfer, the trip to Foxhills was undertaken with a pensive air. The early signs were not the most encouraging either. Arriving the day before to have a cheeky look at the test ahead Family E took on the interesting looking nine holes and the Short man set about finding just about every bunker, ditch and tree in true adventure seeker style (Daddy wasn’t much better). After a wee stop for lunch we decided to revisit the scenes of our worst crimes and to some relief things improved. The following day arrived and annoyingly so did the rain! However as soon as it came to pre match Photo time the clouds began to thin and the little golfer / showman began to emerge. With the good shots from the day before firmly loaded into his little noggin, the battle of Short man Vs course began. It was as ever a round of highs and lows, but eventually all lead to a tense presentation in the club house. After a plate of chicken and chips and what seemed like the longest five minutes ever, the winner of the Tiger club Championships 6 & under was reviled to be …….Aaron Evans, needless to say he didn’t waste any time rushing off to get his little mitts on the prize!

Summer 2013 – Mixed bag

So Mini Me, What shall we call this Evil Design.. yes Nailcote Hall sound perfect..

Despite the positives of recent performances, the fickleness of the golf gods was once again highlighted over summer. A somewhat under par performance in his local completion and a trip to Cambridge Lakes Par3 course on for the Wee wonders saw the little golfers hopes of a trip to St Andrews slide off the green. Though a week later at his home course he was once again able to sing the ‘Aaron is a winner’ song as he marched home first in his age group at another Tiger club event… Sensing an upturn in events we headed to Nailcote hall with high hopes only to have them quashed on course designed by Dr Evil… 18 holes of par three hell and scores in triple figures says it all. Rumour has is other plays did in fact see sharks with lasers on their heads in some of the water hazards….Finally at the end of the Summer holidays the short man seemed to be finding his way again as he played to his handicap in another local comp and narrowly missed the out on a top three finish. Summer has thus left us with much to think on, but the little fella seems unperturbed by all this and so all eyes are now on the Tiger club Final at Fox Hills

Summer 2013 - Watching the Experts

With the final day of the school summer term drawing to a close it was time to frantically pack the bags and head off to Sunny Scotland..  yes I did say ‘sunny’. Muirfeild was the destination, with the aim of catching day three of the open. Much to the Short mans delight there was the chance to see most of his favourites, Ian Poulter (and his funny pants), Bubba Watson, ‘Big Lefty’ Phil, ‘Tubby’ Lee Westwood and of course Tiger. Excitement abound we toured the tents at Muirfield and nearly missed the big names warming up due to the fact the short man was rather engrossed in the various challenges on offer in the HSBC (Skills) tent…

Early Summer 2013 – Big Golf .. the full 18.

On the back of his maiden “W” and somewhat renewed interest in white ball bashing a trip to the ‘big course’ was once again in order. So on a suitably sunny Friday after school, Wee man and daddy pack up the clubs and hit a twilight session with the intention of taking on the front 9. As usual the cheeky chap was not put of by distance and went about the course in the usual fashion we hired a buggy because it’s a long way to walk, and then he spends more time running around the course than sitting in the buggy…Any how after a none to shabby 65 on the front nine, which include a Par for the audience at the 125 Par 3 ninth ….(daddy bogied it…)  he looked up and said can we do three more holes…Later at the end of the twelfth the question pops up again and given that we weren't doing bad for time we pressed on, completing the 18^th dead on 4 hours from tee off. Final score for the full 18 stood at 131… Any thoughts of the wee man being tired after this completing this feat however, were soon quashed when we were handing the buggy keys in and daddy is thinking about his dinner, a little voice piped up, “Can we do 50 on the range daddy.” ………..Unbelievable!!!

   

Late Spring 2013 – We have a WINNER!

Recent individual performances have to date not been the best and conscious of that, we decided a cheeky practice at the South Herts Reese course, was worth a go. Thus on a sunny Monday half term afternoon we gave it a go. We soon discovered it was different beast to the usual Lannock Links course. Longer scarier and loads more trees! At least the sun was out, unlike the day of the Tiger club competition, where grey clouds and persistent drizzle were order of the day. However the new experience of a more sponsored event made up for the weather in the Little golfers mind. BIG flags pronouncing the PING brand and a Photographer  along with cheerful sounding chap announcing the wee peoples names on the first tee was just the start the short man needed. Where the added ceremony clearly played on some of the other competitors minds, this was not the case with Mr ACE golfer. Hole 1 Perfect tee shot bang down the middle and only a few yards from the green, coupled with a cheeky grin at the camera! Whilst not his best round over all, he did enough to win (albeit a smaller field than usual) and once again he saved his best for the man with the camera…. The ninth hole was designated as the longest putt hole, so needless to say the little glory hunter did his best to put the ball as far away from the hole as possible, though he was not alone in this tactic by any means. With twenty-plus feet to the hole and mean right to left to contend with I didn't really hold out much hope… Shorty however had different ideas and only three inches stopped him from nicking longest putt!. All in all a first place, a natty Ping boot bag and entry to the final in September, had him singing “Aaron is a winner” all the way home…..

He maybe the shortest one there.... but he's still a cheeky winner...

Spring 2013 - The Road to Recovery

The big boof stick was not required as often, much to shorty mans delight!

Sadly round 2 was on the Lannocks event was a carbon copy of round 1, a pretty much bellow par performance ending up second from bottom in his age group… had the golf bubble burst? Well after a chatter with the management team it seemed he was still interested and as such we persevered. More range balls took a hammering and the 100 yard marker found itself under more frequent attack from the Mini driver. This was noticeable in the family pair's competition (an alternate shot format event) when the short man launched his drive over his the first green by 15 or so yards... A range rethink was required. Once again the competition provided a mixed bag of golf ability (From both players), but more than a few hidden gems were apparent in the mini golfers shot armory. The day ended with team Aaron and Daddy managing a creditable mid table finish, and a much needed chocy bar and bottle of fizzy..