Members and friends of the Pershore Golf Society headed to the South West for this years mini tour from the 22^nd to 25^th June greeted by 4 days of blue skies and very high temperatures. An advance party of Amphlett, Stallard and Brierley headed for Woodbury Park for a warm up on the way down. A casual knock, which gave enough hints as to where to place your bets for the weekend, saw Beefy head the trio with a fine return of 34 points. By 10pm on the Thursday most of the party had rendezvous at the Okehampton home of the wingback chair. Phil Wilson settled in amongst the basket weavers and potters to watch television!

Battle commenced in earnest on Friday morning, once our illustrious leader Simon Haines had appeared, having stayed home Thursday night to celebrate his anniversary….apparently. Following a warm up of a full English and a bend the egg contest the crew took to the 1^st of the 3 Hotel courses, The Oakwood. Les Stallard opened the tour by driving the green on the short par 4 to make an easy birdie. After a few straight forward opening holes the course improved vastly to a fine variety of tightish holes requiring a degree of skill to negotiate. The greens whilst on the slowish side putted truly and consistently. Dave Brierley took the opening honors with a fine 41 points duly earning a temporary 3 shot cut to 9 handicap for the afternoon.

We loaded up the cars and headed to the beautiful Truckle Valley at Camelford (don’t drink the water!!) to tackle Bowood. As usual Bowood provided a very tough challenge with scoring all round being lower (possibly something to do with the extraordinary amount of cookoo spit Phil). This is a course that must be played when in this area with the sequence of holes from 11 onwards being memorable. The skills of 7 handicap Les Stallard returned him a healthy 35 points for the win and a cut to 5 for Saturday’s challenge. Perhaps Beefy’s 34 points off a 9 handicap was most impressive.

Friday evening had most of the party heading to town for a cultural tour and the chance to throw coins (or £20 notes) in The Fountain. An evening of refreshments and the human jukebox that is Simon Haines provided the entertainment. Les, Beefy and Phil stayed at the Hotel to brush up their crochet skills and head to bed early as golf is very serious. Brian and Andy also quit half way through the night as apparently the local taxi service stops at 3.00am. Nameless members of the group stayed on to complete the variety show and took advantage of the Landlords very kind offer to rouse his brother from his slumber to provide transport home in time for breakfast.

More breakfast Olympics refueled the tank for a Saturday morning 1 club challenge on the par 3 willows course. As walking was tricky, counting was definitely not on the agenda but Pete Dodd perfected the trick shot of ricochet from the buggy tyre! A feat to be repeated twice more later.

A fine lunch at the Hotel and off to The Pines course in the afternoon. Again a good variety of holes but perhaps the greens could have been in better condition. The previous evenings vocal warm up obviously benefited team leaded Haines who despite being hampered by his clipboard and whistle romped home with an excellent 39 points (cut from 27 to 23 for the finale). Such a pity he cannot remember a single shot. Although a great win for our leader his achievements pale into insignificance when set beside the finish of Pete Dodd. 18^th Hole, 158-yard par 3, a 9 iron selected and teased across the left to right green for the perfect ACE. Well done Pete, the port will be lovely at this year’s dinner.

The Tourist Trophy Champion was to be decided on Sunday morning around the pick of the 3 Hotel courses The Beeches. Carved through the woods with every hole involving a significant hill this was a challenge. Play was slow, apparently not helped by a buggy being driven into the lake on the 14^th  (not by one of our party I should clarify), a hole that descends 184 feet over its 375 yards. As time ticked by and the kick off for the England match loomed large we cleared the 18^th after an epic 5 hours plus, once again in blistering heat. Preparation is obviously important and Phil “Badger Watch” Wilson’s relationship with his natural surroundings provided the platform for victory with an impressive 38 points. He really can talk to the animals.

Thanks must go to Simon for all his efforts in organizing the trip and to all members of the party for providing a really great weekend. A good standard of golf prevailed but the constant entertainment and laughter will remain a fond memory for some time.

Congratulations to all for their contribution and retaining a decent standard of golf throughout. One player maintained a constant very high level of play; to his true handicap he was 6 under for the whole trip, our champion BEEFY BRIERLEY.

Thanks again lads and see you all in Ireland 2007 or was it France?