2006: Spain (Sotogrande)
A trip made legendary by the unprecedented presence of M'sieur Sketch. A half decent Hotel Sotogrande, some nice courses and just the right amount of sunshine all contributed to a fantastic weekend of golfing excellence. Accompanying Mr Sketch on his unique tour of the continent were Choddo, Davo, Tickle, Bob, Sven, Neil and Gary all just making up the numbers.
The teams and handicaps this year were very well balanced, with Mr Hipwell just managing to negotiate himself enough of an advantage to get away with the smoking shoes again. The team cup ran to 3 teams separated by 2 points, with a draw for the cup. A small change of scoring and the urn could have gone to any of those teams. But probably not Dave & Svenson.
Pictorial Tale
Some pictures courtesy of Nick can be had.
The courses
The most difficult course to find in all of Western Europe, being protected from prying eyes by some sort of Star Trek stealth curtain, is Torrequebrada. Just 20 minutes or less from Malaga airport as the snail crawls, it takes an astonishing 2 hours to locate by motorcar utilising the miracle of contemporary Spanish road signage. Nicknamed "The Beast", it took no pity while breaking Pete and Chodley.
Almenara is split into 3 9-hole courses, all seemed very spacious and pretty. The "million dollar hole-in-one" where you could win not a million dollars was a highlight, coming just after a hole that involved either clearing a 140 yard quarry to reach the green in reginald or "doing a Dave". In pink shoes.
La Caņada involved a lot of long holes with wide fairways but culminated in two of the toughest holes yet seen in Antiquan lore. The 17th was a cheeky par3 requiring a 160 yard tee shot across a tree-filled gulley and a small lake while the 18th demanded a 170 yard carry for the shortest trip to the fairway or a 240 yard carry for the shortcut. 3 balls later, choddo gave up. Sketchey and Gary both cleared the long way round as did Nick. I think.
Teams
| First player (handicap) | Second player (handicap) | |
|---|---|---|
| Team 1 | Rob Hayden(7) | Pete Sketch(0) |
| Team 2 | Neil Simmons(7) | Gary Sacre (0) |
| Team 3 | Dave Hipwell(3) | Steve Thomas (7) |
| Team 4 | Nick McEvoy (4) | Grant Currie(18) |
Schedule & Results
| Date | Match 1 | Match 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Oct (Torrequebrada) | Nick & Grant beat Pete & Rob (5&4) | Gary & Neil beat Dave & Steve (5 & 4) |
| 7 Oct (Almenara) | Pete & Rob beat Dave & Steve (5 & 4) | Gary & Neil beat Nick & Grant (2 & 1) |
| 8 Oct (La Caņada) | Rob & Pete beat Neil & Gary (3 & 1) | Nick & Grant beat Dave & Steve (4 & 3) |
| Team Standings (To Be recalculated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Team | Total Points | |
| 1 | Nick & Grant | 6 |
| 2 | Neil & Gary | 4 |
| 3 | Pete & Rob | 1 |
| 4 | Dave & Sven | -11 |
| Individual Stableford (all handicaps+18) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Points | Putts | ||
| 1 | Rob Hayden | 86 | 119 | |
| 2 | Dave Hipwell | 82 | 115 | |
| 3 | Neil Simmons | 77 | 105 | |
| 4 | Nick McEvoy | 74 | 121 | |
| 5 | Gary Sacre | 73 | 103 | |
| 6 | Peter Sketch | 59 | 125 | |
| 7 | Grant Currie | 55 | 132 | |
| 7 | Steve Thomas | 53 | 129 | |
| Holes won by person (shared wins credited to both) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Holes | |||
| 5 | Gary Sacre | 14 | ||
| 1 | Rob Hayden | 14 | ||
| 3 | Neil Simmons | 12 | ||
| 4 | Nick McEvoy | 12 | ||
| 2 | Dave Hipwell | 10 | ||
| 7 | Grant Currie | 10 | ||
| 6 | Pete Sketch | 7 | ||
| 6 | Steve Thomas | 6 | ||
Awards
President's Cup was awarded to Nick McEvoy for the only birdie of the weekend, a fantastic 32foot putt on a hole that everyone else blobbed
Team award went to Nick & Bob
Smoking shoes went to Dave Hipwell for best total nett score
The Spade was closely contested between two gentlemen of unique digestive excellence but in the end had to go to Bob for an astonishing back 9 at Almenara totalling 7 blobs, one 7 and one vestigial 4 racking up what can only be described as an under-cooked 67. Traditional blobbage scoring might have seen that scouring the heights of the 80s.