The first thing to be said is that, although Barney was the organiser (and a very fine job he made of it), the webmaster was  very conscious of the fact that he had recommended the course as an accompaniment to Drumoig, and had even gone so far as to reassure DR that it was pretty flat (memory not what it was!)  Fortunately, it appears that everyone enjoyed it; although DR’s enjoyment may have been enhanced by his performance on the day.

The first interesting incident worthy of report from the day is, however, not strictly a golfing one.  Juggy had lost his expensive autofocus glasses.  Following the desertion from the “weekend” of two members of the East Lothian contingent in favour of Kenny’s Portuguese villa (photo below) it was left to Juggy’s brother in law to bring him up.  It was a long drive from Morningside to St. Michael’s and Juggy needed relief.  They stopped in a convenient spot with an embankment leading down from there and Juggy duly got down to business.  What was interesting, however, was that the reason for the embankment was that it came up from a railway line, and while Juggy was in mid slash, a train chugged slowly by with the passengers agog.

This fact was not lost on Juggy who duly panicked and in the course of his confusion managed to send his glasses flying to somewhere on the embankment, not to be found.  It must also be reported, in fairness, that there was a happy ending because on the journey home they stopped at the scene and the glasses were recovered.

You might like to hear how the lack of the glasses at St. Michael’s affected Juggy, so click here:

And now on to the meat of the day and an explanation of the strapline above.

The second hole at St. Michael’s is a tricky and deceptive Par 3 which the Freens were playing at a distance of 159 yards.  When the second group climbed up the hill to the green (none having hit it and stayed on) it was noticed there was a marker.  Up went the excited cry “Whose is it?”  The honour fell to your webmaster to declare that the initials on the marker were DR.  “DR?!”, “DR?!”, “DR?!” the cries of amazement echoed round the course.  It is believed that much the same scenario was repeated when the third group arrived on the green and an explanation was sought as soon as everyone got in.  The explanation from DR was that he had “feathered” a driver on to the green.

That was possibly enough drama from that source to last the ‘weekend’, but the great man was not done.  He added at least two ferrets to his list of extraordinary achievements in the course of the week and demonstrated an aptitude with the claw grip on the green that stupefied many seasoned observers and has Tommy Fleetwood a mite concerned, despite his Ryder Cup heroics!

The group that included DR was clearly a very special one, which made a rare and interesting bid for a collective divot.  This happened between the 15th and 16th holes.

Those who were there will recall that the 15th is an interesting par 3 with an elevated green, but that green is still below the level of its tee.  The following group watched the drama unfold as the first group cleared the green then began winding their way back up the path to find themselves on the Red (Ladies) tee for the 16th, having, all four of them, managed to entirely fail to notice that the relevant 16th tee was actually behind the 15th green!  Pity took over and we all played from that tee, thereby inflating the birdie count on the day!

Gullane 2

20th March

Weather: Beautiful sunny day with a wee breeze that had an edge later on

Winner: Leo

2025

Hard to beat!

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The highlight of the day had to be Leo’s fine return to form.  We trust that he duly entered his prospective score for WHS purposes before setting off!

Almost equally pleasing was the increase of 6 in the number of entrants compared to last year, not to mention the appearance at coffee and roll time of the convalescing Dr. Bob, whom we hope to see at Winterfield.  Also worthy of mention was the attendance of Kenny Saunders and Colin Pretty, the latter of whom helped with the booking and was one of three tied for second place on 38 points and who had 5 birdies, including 3 in succession, but lost out on countback for 2nd place prize.

As organisation of the day was in the hands of the, ever dependable, Phil there was little prospect of things going awry.  It was only after the Read and Watters renaming ceremony that the hiring of two buggies was then revised to one and the last group found themselves reduced to a 3 ball.  It is the Freens of course.

One of the Highlights of TT’s round with Smithy, Juggy & JM was JM’s approach to the 18th green .  With a feather-light touch JM’s ball sailed high into the car park on the left of the 18th green.  As it re- entered earth’s atmosphere it touched down VERY near his own car and that of Mr Rees.  After a short search, and some muttering, said JM looked somewhat puzzled and disconsolate, only to be informed by his playing chums that the ball had miraculously bounced back into play. Following a decidedly duff chip he secured his bogey.

Another incident chanced on the 14th hole when Mr Read, following a considerable power fade (slice) deep into the rough on the right  took some time to amazingly find his ball after his playing partners had abandoned the search. He then gracefully hacked the ball back into play. Astonished by this feat of detective work his playing partner, Mr Smith, somewhat sceptically declared that he never knew that Juggy ever carried two identical balls. 😂. Classic Smithy.

17th April

Weather: Bright on the whole, but with a damp spell

Winner: Smithy

This report was kindly submitted by our kind and considerate Freen, DJ.

There were apparently no major incidents on the day which must have come as a source of general relief all round.

There was a home winner in the shape of Smithy ,who repeated his tap-in 3 from last year at the terrifying first hole ,en route to a convincing win.

Dr Bob returning from open-groin surgery to post a laudable 35 points and runner-up spot.  Next stop is a sojourn, en famille, motor-homing round Australia.  Bon voyage and good luck Australia....!

A frisson of old codger excitement over the lunchtime breaking news of the recruitment of Jasmin’s younger sister at Dunbar GC.

There was an early season bid for next year’s divot by JM.  While standing on the first tee he regaled the company with a tale of a Dunbar member, David Baird, having had a hole in one on that extremely difficult hole.  Apparently he drove the green and then drained the putt!!!???

A late video being posted of 2 missing Freens. Tom and Barney gallantly went to Old Trafford to support  beleaguered Man U, only to be rewarded with a stoppage time winner in an epic match against Lyons, 7-6 being the final score.  The video ,featuring the inside of Barney’s mouth, should not be shown to minors...

Winterfield

26th June

Weather;  Iffy, dampish in morning, but came away to a lovely day

Winner:  DL

When the webmaster was faffing about, trying to get this photo transferred from phone to computer, one link appeared which gave the options: “My profile photo” or “Group Icon.”  I think we all know what applies here!

What a beautiful location

Not too woke at

Winterfield then?

Stoofed!?

Not a bad day at all then…

Videos will be uploaded ASAP

Thornton

21st May

Weather: Beautifully sunny all day

Winner: Digger

Digger did it again.  Having followed, and then somewhat deviated from, Google’s instructions, Digger and passengers arrived at Thornton via Cardenden and the southern regions of Glenrothes.  This obviously put him in fine fettle for the second nine which he decimated with 24 points.  He was clearly happy with the echoing sounds of balls hitting trees throughout the entire day.

In spite of the generally poor scoring it was a very pleasant day of fine weather and quite a few particularly interesting holes in the closing stages.  In this connection it’s probably fair to mention what might be described as the Persecution of Phil in the company of KC and DP.  There was a definite lack of command structure in that group and Phil’s gentle requests for his partners to use some of his drives in the afternoon’s scramble were overruled because they weren’t quite up to the standard of the alternatives on offer.  This resulted in the team having to use three of Phil’s tee shots on the last four holes.  Naturally this ploy was a stunning success and the team closed the round with a comfortable provisional ball double bogey!

Food was plentiful, if somewhat tardy - speak to KC!

There was also a rumour concerning our most revered member involving his driving a buggy in the car park and possibly making contact with an Audi.  Whatever the truth of that there was doubtless no connection between it and the provision of rum on the way round by the Freens’ Nehemiah!

Fossor resurgam!

OK, point conceded; maybe not the prettiest group, but hice new Vietnamese bunnet, courtesy of KC!

Once again, not the most interesting picture, but photographer was trying to catch a glimpse of JM snorkelling for his ball in the burn.

He had in fact already moved on and was hitting his tee shot from the next hole

A Wee Gem!

It would be fair to say that this course exceeded everybody’s expectations - perhaps the organiser’s most of all (JM).  It was a lengthy 5,660 yards with every hole asking a different question.  It can be seen from the scores that nobody ripped it apart, although DL’s back 9, with its 3 birdies, came close.  Mind you, it had to after his front 9.  This allowed him to walk off with most of the loot and edge Jock into second place by just one point, although, by a margin of .06 of a point, the afternoon scramble helped to restore the Lockie smile.

Jock also managed to have an occasional drive in a buggy and, after nearly decapitating DP at the start, settled down to a quiet afternoon with no other vehicles involved.

Any more pictures?  This is it just now

24th July

Barney’s value day

Weather:  Very pleasant day indeed allowing the field to sit outside enjoying the afternoon sun before a very pleasant lunch

Winner:  Barney

Was every hole really just a bit too long at over 400 yards?  Not really because the par 3s were generally regarded as a bit too long at a good deal less than that!  It was, however, a grand day for the dozen lucky Freens who made it.  We also saw Stato graciously conceding victory to Barney by dint of the better inward half.

Auchterarder

14th August

Paradise in Perthshire!

Weather: In the face of dire warnings we had a perfect day with warm sunshine tempered by a light breeze and with the pleasant accompaniment of rumbling thunder in the grey clouds to the north.  Dundee city centre was flooded this afternoon.

Winner: Jock - in style!

Auchterarder never disappoints, but today was one of the best.  The course has never been in better condition, the weather was superb and the club staff were really pleasant and welcoming.  There must have been some reason for the organiser to be reminded of the illustrated Freens hat.  It probably started at the Pro Shop where I was informed/quizzed about the buggy booked for the morning which, of course, I knew nothing about and it developed from there.

 yards away!

You will find evidence below of the usual failure to clear the dyke across the 1st.  The pity is that the photo is of the second offender in the morning (who, incidentally, completed the hole with a bogey.)  Muir took off (in his buggy) before the cameras could be got out.

Some pretty good scoring on the day as you can see, but a wee honourable mention must go to the guy in a convincing last place because he managed to garner an eagle at 13 in the Texas scramble, thus justifying the team decision to take that tee shot rather than the alternative which was lying under a tree to the right, but in view of the green, about 150 yards from the green.

CW taking one for the team

There was thunder rumbling in these clouds

St. Michael’s

24th September

Weather: This was the start of 3 days of grand weather - perfect

Winner: DR

The Feathered Ferret Fletches!