Boards Golf Society 2025 (Round 3) - Rathsallagh - 19th April 1pm

Well we were blessed to get out at all and the course was in great condition considering the rain we had. Other than the bunkers being out of play there was just nothing wrong with the conditions. And other than not being able to submit our scores I was happy with the bunkers being out of play!

Rathsallagh was a real trip down memory lane for me. I got married there the weekend Covid kicked off. So I had a sneaky drive to the wedding venue first - I can't believe it's been 5 years, the wedding feels like ages ago, but at the same time I can't believe 5 years have passed since then.

I was out with @charlieIRL , @RoadRunner and @paulos53 . Our scoring was good so we all played well. I didn't realise CharlieIRLs score was quite as good because it didn't look like an exceptional round. He didn't have lucky breaks, it just looked like the type of scoring he'd be doing week in / week out. Roadrunner played very well and was unlucky to just finish with the one birdie. There was probably about 5 holes in a row where it was on and only one dropped. And nearly driving a green when hitting a tree en route is impressive. And as for Paulos - I'd love to be able to pitch a ball like he does. It's incredible consistency with a wedge in hand. I'd say there are fellas playing off scratch that wouldn't come close to him from about 80 yards in.

And I played well overall. A funny round if you just look at the stats - 36 points, 24 putts (picking up before I got to three greens helped that stat). But just one 3 putt which was from a long way and 7 up and downs were nice. I'd a chance of an up and down for bird on the 4 par 5s which was nice. I only got one, but not messing up any of the others was great. 6 fairways out of the 14 suggests I drove it well, but that is not the case. Saturday was a good example of why I don't accept my natural fade. When it's a little fade, it's wonderful. A few yards shorter than a straight shot, but if it's predictable, it's wonderful. But if I don't try to keep it in check it grows into a big dirty slice. So after 8 holes I was going great - 22 points. It was helped by the indexes not being evenly spread, but I was still going great. I'd a bit of a slice on 5, and fades other than that. But then on the 9th tee I sliced two into the driving range. Not shocking slices, but it was a start. I went 3 wood on the next hole to take the drain out of play and went straight in. That was my 3rd ball lost. On 12 I saw roadrunner hit a hybrid from the tee. But there was plenty of room for a driver so I went with that. I maintain that there was plenty of room, but I just avoided it. Twice. My 4th lost ball of the day went into the trees on the right and my 5th into the trees on the left. I managed to top a drive on 15 - it was a fairway hit, happy days. I got very lucky with a sliced one on 16, but with as many bad as I'd hit, I was bound to get lucky on one of them. And then I lost my 6th off the tee with a slice on 18 and a my 7th while hitting my approach with my provisional. So all in all - drove badly, putted well, decent round.

Fair play to Seve on another great round - always nice to hear about hard work paying off. And thanks to the organisers again. I'm sure the added headache of weather doesn't make it all easier.

And best of luck in the next few outings lads. The wife is having a baby in June and she wants me to help out with stuff. She's very demanding. So I'll miss the next couple at least. I might chance my arm for Seapoint, it's not to inconvenient for me and he'll be almost 3 months at that stage, so should be able to mind himself. If not I'll stick my name down for Captains if there's room. With the numbers in the society so far this year, it could be a full house that weekend.

I do get what your saying Seve and is an interesting one, but by the nature of a bunker in even normal play , you are rarely certain it has gone into the bunker.

It is also fairly unlikely as I observed on the day , a ball would be lost in a bunker as sand was hard . Even flooded ones had only a 1/2 inch of water, possible but hard to claim virtually certain...

It would be a stretch to get a free drop ,,, whilst a pro would 100 % try pull this off.

Fair play, makes more sense ..Whilst it is possible. The water hazard adds enough doubt that a free drop a stretch.