You have reached your destination

Telford GC

The Tom-Tom told me my destination had been reached. If the entrance to the golf club was a single lane country road with a 10ft high thick hedge as an entrance, then yes, I had indeed reached my destination. To be fair to the sat-nav I could see a flag some 80yds away through dense undergrowth. Twenty minutes later and a further 2 miles travelled, feeling rushed, hot & sticky in chocolate brown Farah slacks, I realised the tee off was in 8 minutes! A dash to the range, I managed to bash 15 balls out. All went low and left apart from a shanked driver that nearly kneecapped the 5 year old boy chipping with his father on the grassed practice area. A good start then. 

I decided instead to try & enjoy the day after being pole-axed by *ManFlu* for nearly 3 weeks. The starter informed me the first drive warranted a slight fade. Great. What ensued was a sure fire pull hook into the driving range running parallel with the first fairway. “Is the range in play?” I asked quite seriously. He laughed and then realised I meant business, “Yes it is if you can find it” The provisional ball went right, low and about 30 yards into thick cabbage, never to be seen again. My first ball luckily went quite a distance so not many other balls were around in that area *60yds* left of the fairway. Wedge, wedge, sand shot & 2 putts sealed my double bogey six. Second hole a six. (Later checked my card & realised it was a par 5, not as bad after all). Pattern emerging here….then boom! A thinned 7 iron to a par 3 third hole ensured my four foot, two putt par. To be honest I didn’t hit a single groove in any club for about 10 holes, but the back nine was a little better, scoring 18pts.

I came in with 32 points somehow, even coming second on countback! Marking the other scorecards I realised watching other groups out there just how bad the scoring was, people were looking for balls everywhere, there was some horrific golf being played. I did see some interesting rulings being employed and unusual drops from players who had lost the will to live, let alone follow the letter of the law. I finished well finally hitting a few good tee shots, even having a chance at a few birdies, all missed of course.

The course is a Peter (steady...steady) Alliss design from 1976. It is longish off the yellows (approx 6,500yds) and tough. Not one to play in Winter if you are crooked off the tee, as leaves are everywhere and make locating your ball a pain & the ground doesn’t drain well at all. But, the greens were great. Large, undulating and very true. Only one green was bobbly and slow. Nicely designed with some good features and well positioned bunkers throughout, but one for the fair weather.