"Wednesday 17th May and it is the day of the Stags Spring Away Day. This is normally a day when the heavens open and we all get very wet. However this year no such luck. Dry, warm, you could almost believe Spring had arrived. We took a chance on Bromsgrove, based on a recommendation, from a previous Captain, who had heard it was good value.
Well, what a nice surprise it was. Well organised reception, good bacon roll and strong coffee set us up. The course was in fine condition and dry, well marked out with GRU where necessary, lots of greenside and fairway bunkers and greens that were true and fast. Time markers every four holes to remind us to keep to schedule and all of the early groups did. But the course was tough and very challenging contravening the slope index it carries. Consequently with few exceptions scoring was below par, in fact considerably below par!!
Now with 31 golfers of average standard you would think that a goodly percentage would get the ball on the green and contest the nearest the pin. Oh no, not this lot. Not one Stag got the ball on the dancefloor and the prize was turned into a fourth prize in the comp. And when the longest drive was on the 18th when all most of the Stags could do was walk slowly along the fairway playing a shot every 50 or 60 yards and looking forward to their lunch, it is no wonder that the longest drive was won by the youngest player in the field, not really a Stag, but invited because he plays in more Stags games than most. One of Isaac's guys who should be out there picking vegetables and fruit and contributing to our pension!
Three or Four returned good scores and the winner of the Bill Collier Cup with a score of 39 points was a new Stags , who looks barely old enough to be one, and has been spraying the ball around Stoneleigh to places no-one has seen before, hitting 2 irons which sometimes, but not often, go straight won the tournament followed by the aforementioned youngster leaving Bandit Bill to come in third and Speedy Ron fourth.
Lunch was very good which rounded of a good day. Scores recorded were as follows