Boards Golf Society -Rd 2 New Forest, 21st of March, 1st Tee -11:00am

I had the pleasure of playing with captain @tigerwood1 again which is always a good time to be had.

I didnt play since portmarnock so i wasnt expecting much. My driving and short approach shots were good but i just couldnt tame the irons and putting. I just struggled with the pace of the greens all day.

It was great playing with the newbie @frankiekk. He is well able to hit a ball as he hit some cracking drives and irons throughout the day. I was more impressed that everytime i looked at him, he had a big smile on his face which is what its all about.

I also played with the hitman @ciano15 as he was out to get the lads ahead of us so it is safe to say he owes out a few drinks.

Hope to see yous at the next one🤙🏼

"tulip" happens to be the worst bad word boards allow me to print uncensored, like I can't type F****r or B**** or even C*** 😏. Anyway, I'm happy as F*** to hear your on the mend buddy 😅

@RoadRunner it was about 4 yards😂 we may have game together to battle it out over the 18 holes…

I’m handicap secretary at my club.

Unfortunately I don’t have the same access levels to boards members handicaps

If I did, the scissors would be overused 😎🤣

By the way

Placing everywhere does not mean you can place it in a penalty area or bunker 🤣

True for ya, is it not pteferred lies rather than placing everywhere?

I was actually unsure of making this one in the week leading up to it. A bug made its way through our house that week, so I wasn't sure who would be vomiting on the day. So when I actually got into the car on Saturday morning and started driving I was extra happy!

I've played New Forest many times before, but only once in the last few years. I used to be friendly with a girl in that neck of the woods and regularly played there (and Esker and Tullamore) and I love all three courses. So I was delighted to be going back. And the course was indeed how I remembered it. It was even sunny in my memory, just like on Saturday.

I had the pleasure of playing with @Alanm , @Kiith and @Roger Mellie Man on the Telly . I was impressed with all of us. Kiith probably played a bit like me - someone who would like to play more, but life is getting in the way. There were too many scratches, but lots of good stuff in between. He wasn't far off the long drive at all. A little lower and lefter and he'd have been right on it. Roger Mellie was very consistent for the most part. Excellent straight drives (with the exception of 7. And very solid on the 3 footers. If he joins a club and plays he'll really get into a rhythm. And Alanm of course was excellent. Level par on the front 9, 2 scratches and still came in second. It was a shame he didn't hole the putt on 10, he played 3 off the tee and carried through to the thick stuff, but managed to play out and get it onto the middle of the green. It would have been some bogey!

As for my own game, it is the same problem (but a little different) recurring for me. Too many penalty shots. 8 in total. The different thing was that only 3 of them were from the tee. And I take a bit of heart from that. I pulled one on the first and hooked two on the 3rd. But other than those, my misses weren't too bad with my driver. If I can keep that in check this year, I'll surely have a few good scores. On the downside, I had some really rusty swings. The soft ground probably made some of my bad shots worse, but they'd still have been bad shots in perfect conditions.

I must say I was impressed with the course condition, but can absolutely see why it wasn't counting. To me, we're still in need of a warm dry week before courses can really play as they should. I'm sure member demands will bring that date forward a little. And on that 12th hole - I still think it's a stupid hole. Playing from the greens, I decided to try to carry the drain. I probably underestimated how far right I could aim and as a result hit the first OB left. The second was a perfect drive really, I was level with the tree on the right and well over the drain. But if you were to go back to the whites, it's a long carry with OB left and a drain looking to catch anything right. Maybe it's a boring 3 shotter and that's the way it needs to be played. But I'm as convinced as I was before I played it again that it's a bad hole.

Anyway, looking forward to our next day out in Concra. It has literally been on my list for years to get to. Every little golf trip I organise I see if I can wrangle it in, so I'm very excited to get to play it. Thanks Captain for the choices this year!

Just like @BohToffee I love reading all the reports of the rounds and one of the great things about the society - so apologies this is so delayed - was a busy week with work. Thanks to @tigerwood1 for arranging another great day. My first time at New Forest and hope it won't be the last. Really enjoyed the course and thought, bar a few greens which were a little bumpy and caught a few of us out, the course was in great condition especially when you think of the weather we've been having.

I went round with @Seve OB , @Break80 who I had the pleasure of playing with before and @TrueDub for the first time. Great group to go around with, great company on the way around for the long round - had a lot of laughs even if our golf wasn't top notch all the way - next time you're playing with @Break80 you'll have to ask about his mouse pal riding shotgun, was worth the green fee alone🐭😁! I think we all actually finished within a point of each other without contending for prizes I'm afraid. Notwithstanding that there were some great shots from all at times. @TrueDub took off like a rocket and something like 10 points on his first three holes had me wondering about his handicap! But as another high handicapper our Achilles heel is not the good holes but the scratches and there were sadly too many of them. No doubt he'll get in the winners circle when it comes together. @Seve OB hit some beautiful shots, he mentioned his chip in on 11 which was a beauty - not a bit of luck about it - he called it early as it rolled and dropped in on the last couple of revolutions, but some of his drives were brilliant too. @Break80 has a short game to die for (I'd love a bit of it but more of that later) and hit some amazing approaches but his driving put him in trouble on a few holes which limited scoring opportunities.

For my own round, I had new (second hand) clubs so wasn't expecting a huge amount and that's what transpired - what's funny is that it wasn't generally the new clubs that let me down but actually my wedges were terrible. I was generally playing bogey golf for the first 5 holes (which at my handicap is good for me) but wasn't making anything easy. I recently learned the new chip and run shot with an 8 iron (putting stroke toe down) to avoid all those fat duffed chips and I'm just not used to how far it rolls out. The contact is great and nothing with it duffed but I must have chipped on and over greens at least 5 times. Some easy improvement to come with some practice there. 6th hole was first scratch which resulted from pure stupid golf - hooked into the red staked hazard and tried to play out of it then proceeded to accidentally hit the provisional ball once i got out - scratch. Loved the walled 9th and managed a 2 putt par there. Should have taken a photo but honestly didn't occur to me as I was enjoying the round so much! Turned with 17 points and was happy enough - thought a similar back 9 and I'd get some decent Jug points - wasn't to be,

Nearly killed the group ahead of us on the downhill 10th. All day the lads had been in front of us being held up by the other society in front but on 10 there was no sign of them anywhere - in error we thought they must have moved ahead and hit our tee shots - I hit a lovely one but from what I heard from @RoadRunner and @FixdePitchmark nearly hit the lads - apologies. Lovely 5 wood just over the green with my second and had my first decent 8 iron chip of the day to about 2 feet and proceeded to 2 putt for a bogey - so maybe that was justice!

For the infamous 12th - I thought it was different but I didn't hate the hole - made you decide a strategy rather than just hit driver - I lost my strategy trying to hit a 4 iron onto the green first lost ball of the day into the mess on the right followed by second lost ball with the provisional! I'd actually love to have another crack at it another day.

My favourite shot of the day led to taking an unplayable and scratching the hole - as I said I have new clubs and with my old ones it seemed I topped out with my irons at about 160 yards no matter how far down the bag I went. Kind of limits you to a a lot of 3 woods which wasn't a great club for me. On the par 5 17th I had about 180 yards to go with the green on the right. Decided I'd lay up with my new 4 iron and have a short chip on. My pure 4iron must have nearly gone 190 yards as it went into the trees - happiest scratch I ever had😁

Food and drinks in the sunshine (even if it got a bit cold) was great. Lovely to chat to the group and to meet newcomer @Batesy and recentcomer @frankiekk again. A great day out. Well done to @boccy23 and all the winners and thanks again to Captain @tigerwood1 for all the organising - day seemed to go off perfectly. I'm still loving those Boards.ie flags on NTP and LD holes - nice touch! See you all in Concra Wood, expecting great things from all the talk of it and if anything like the day I had in New Forest it won't disappoint.

My marker probably, fell out and blew backwards a little bit in the wind I'd say 🤔

Hi @Seve OB This was picked up by @ThecHamp26 at the 1st tee when we hit off around 11:40. We did ask the group in front but they didn't know anything about it. He just put it in the bag and then obviously forgot about it when the round finished 12 hours later. I would imagine he'll have it with him at the next outing at Concra Woods. I have sent him a message on WhatsApp but I think he may be away in the US on hols for next 2 weeks.

PS…… I don't blame you trying to lose the bag given how embarrassing the performances have been this season. 🤣