Golf week-end in Devon. Plenty of other activities to do as well for non-golfers. 2 nights not 3
Plan is to leave around 9.00am, 9/18 holes in before hitting the bar on the Friday.
Friday - day 1 started well with the chaps meeting up at the Wernley pub at 9.00 for a full English and coffee before heading for Devon. Weather was fine as we sat outside the pub contemplating the week-ends activities before heading of down the M5 in the Galtieri Mobile and Chaps Golf wagon. Around Exeter it started raining, which was a sign of things to come!!.
We arrived at AM around 1.00pm but weren't able to check in to the rooms till 3.00pm. With the tee-off time on the Kigbeare course booked for 2.30pm it meant we were forced to head for the bar for a couple of pre-golf jars. The night's entertainment had been planned, and as we were using buggies it should be quick to get round and back at a reasonable time, how little did we know!. Suitably refreshed we picked up 3 buggies and headed for the 1st tee. The four ball of Chap, Grant, Phil & Steve teed off first on a gentle downhill par 4 followed by Sim and Tone as the 2 ball. It became apparent at the 3rd hole where the distance from the 2nd green to the 3rd tee of about 1/2 mile!!, this running order would soon change hands, and it did. The Kigbeare course is long, tough and circumnavigates the world!, well another 18 hole course on the complex. Tone and Sim managed to race around in 4 & 3/4 hours, but the four ball were some what slower with a time of 5 & 1/4 hours being recorded!. We did however manage to stay relatively dry with only one shower in the afternoon. So much for buggies being quicker, although you'd never have walked the course with a trolley!!
We got back at 7.45pm which was only 45 mins before they finished serving dinner. The chaps had no time to even check in the rooms but had to head for the restaurant to get fed and watered!. At least the food was reasonable even if the so called faster buggy golf was not!!.
Following dinner, we checked into our rooms and freshened up before heading for the bar. The rest of the evening was spent swilling a few beers to ease the aching muscles whilst playing the odd game of pool and snooker before retiring for the evening.
Saturday - day 2. 27 holes of golf were planned, 18 in the morning and 9 in the afternoon so we could get back and changed in time for the England v Russia Euro championship game. Rising early to get down for brekkie at 7.15 we quickly demolished a decent buffet style feast before collecting our buggies and heading for the 1st tee on the Pines course at 8.15am. Phil and Chap took the 2 ball honours and we set off in dull and overcast weather but at least it was not raining. Tone, Grant, Sim & Steve followed us off the first tee. A nice scenic course was somewhat spoiled by the persistent drizzle that started around the 4th hole and carried on till the 9th leaving the chaps to hatch plan B - The Australia V England rugby test match that kicked off at 11.00am. Who could resist a nice dry warm bar serving beer to watch England chalk up an famous win!, leaving the 2nd 9 holes on the Asbury course to be abandoned. That took us nicely to lunch on day 2.
The afternoon 9 holes was booked for 3.20, in theory around 2 hours to get us nicely back in time for the footy. The combination of beer at lunchtime and the persistent and sometime heavy showers meant that this was also doubtful so we searched for other activities in the form of 10 pin bowling, snooker and pool. A brave break-away trio of grant, Sim and Phil did venture out on to the course in a relative dry spell but abandoned the round when all 3 balls were lost on hole 7 and the rain returned. Tone, Chap and Steve took the safer dry\wet option of bar and beer.
Dinner was taken around 6.30 and left us time to get a seat in the bar for the England v Russia game. As usual this turned out to be the usual disappointing match the Chaps are now resigned to with England, sadly a 1 - 1 draw after England had led for most of the game. We took solace in beer, darts and a bit of snooker before heading for bed in the hope that Sunday would be bright and sunny and we could get in the final 9 holes of the weekend!.
Sunday - Chap woke at 6.00pm and with grey, leaden skies full of rain, sent a text to the rest of the chaps that he would not be going down for brekkie at 7.15 (original plan if golf was on) but was having a lie in till 9.00am. it seemed the other chaps had the same idea.
After a final brekkie we headed for home - good weekend but not quite as many holes of golf as planned (54 with only 27 or 34 being played by the relevant parties). Good job the centre has other sporting activities to rely on and maybe next time we should not be quite so ambitious!!