The lead-up to our latest Old Gramms golfing contest was not promising. Three days of heavy rain preceded the event and there was even doubt in the mind of our organiser and sage, Dave Jeffery, (usually an optimist by nature) as to whether the match would go ahead.

The early forecast was rain but, by good fortune, (or was it more?) the rain dissipated to leave a cloudy sky and a gentle drying breeze. Considering the recent soaking, the golf course had held up well and although somewhat sticky in places (who isn’t?) provided a platform for some potentially good scores. Sadly, with one or two notable exceptions, this was not to be the case.

Returning a winning score of 35 points, Old Gramms stalwart, Malcolm Manton was able to take the Trophy from last time’s winner, Mark Rayner, or he would have if Mark had not left the Trophy at home, after putting it away in a safe place and then forgetting where it was! Not too far behind, Bob Reid surprised himself with a performance of some note, managing 31 to come 2nd by a clear margin. As it’s been a while since the event, I’m not able to elaborate on the details of his round but, if you’re interested, I’m sure Bob will tell you.

Third place was initially given to Paul Gillham but a howl of protest from Keith Dyte soon indicated that the scorecard had been completed incorrectly transposing their scores. Of course, they both should have been disqualified but a hasty correction by our scorers, Swooper and Tony, avoided that embarrassment. So Keith was 3rd with 29 points. Three players ended up on 27 points, with their places determined by countback, Dave Jeffery, Howard Longton and Mark Rayner. Organiser Don Seabright followed with 24. Other finishers were Nigel Creasy, Paul Gillham, Greg Spink, Adrian Wood and the ever-present Richard Platt, comfortable in the knowledge he had earned his sandwiches and sausage roll to make the outing worthwhile.

The two nearest the pin prizes went to, on the 15th, Paul Gillham and on the 18th, Malcolm Manton (initially written as 70 feet, which is difficult to measure on a 5 meter tape but corrected to 17 feet).

A convivial session of sandwiches with a few beers followed and the talk was of the upcoming Old Gramms Lunch the next day until someone asked the question “Who brought the vintage bottle of Hirondelle?”, which when inverted displayed copious amounts of black sediment. Someone waiting for the wine to improve from the Seventies perhaps?

Thanks to Dave Jeffery, Don Seabright and Howard Longton for their organisation of the event and to the Royal Eastbourne Golf Club for hosting the event.

HJL