The prestigious Neville Green Plate took place on Friday 29th May 2016 at Stourbridge Golf Club and despite the weather forecast to deliver unseasonal wintry showers to the area, twenty one players arrived to battle it out for the Trophy.
Being a Friday, some of the group appeared to have better offers for the evening and were excused from the meal after the game. Robin being one of those, was slightly concerned however as to whether he would survive until the evening on just a bacon sandwich but was then relieved to remember he still had his sandwiches from the day before which his wife had lovingly prepared, panic over.
By the timings of some of the arrivals , it appeared as though some of the group’s only previous visit to the Stourbridge area was to visit Merry Hell as many missed the Captain’s brief and Chris Jolley nearly missed his tee time altogether. With the Captain’s admonishments still ringing in their ears the latecomers and the rest of us made our way out onto the course desperately looking for any additional items of clothing that may be lurking in the bottom of our bags to keep out the West Midlands chill. After the traditional game of guess which hole Vic is actually putting towards on the practice green we made our way to the first tee. Anybody who had parked their car in the lower end of the car park suddenly regretted that decision when Pete Jolley duck hooked his opening drive into the very same area but as the sun started to make an appearance we were soon all on our way.
The course was in lovely condition with the greens considerably quicker than the previous event at Cirencester but with the wind blowing it was difficult to predict the winning score. No clues could be gleaned from the Nearest the Pin marker on the 14th , as when the fourth group approached the piece of paper was certainly untroubled by names. Maybe Simon Redgewell was up there judging by his monstrous drive on the 16th but sadly taking four more to get down highlighted it wasn’t going to be his day.
Pete Jolley’s slow trudge up the 18th accompanied by low mutterings under his breath meant his day hadn’t got any better following his opening drive so as the scores came in we were left to wonder how many Mark Roberts had won the event by. However in a rare off day for Mark he decided to give others a chance and whilst a few of the scores at the bottom end of the leaderboard left individuals dribbling uncontrollably into their beer at the top end it was turning into a closely run race.
In the end, despite his near miss at the start of the day, Chris Jolley capped a fine day with a count back victory over Dave Adams second and Andy Watkins third. Dave and Andy therefore join Chris as Angel Cup qualifiers as does Dave Morris with the Best Stableford score.
On a personal note I would like to thank our Handicap Secretary for so graciously finishing where he did and I look forward to the severe cut he is now going to have to give himself before the next round of the singles (can’t remember who he is playing !).
The few who couldn’t stay for dinner made their excuses, in my case resisting the temptation to perfect some ‘Mad for It’ Manchester abuse as I made my way out to see Noel Gallagher in Birmingham, whilst the rest stayed to be served the traditional post golf meal of curry followed by pud.
Tony Key gave almost a perfect impression of Oliver Twist as he walked into the kitchen having only been offered a child’s portion of curry to ask ‘Please Sir can I have some more’.
Bellies full, the throngs made their way back home, the Neville Green Plate over for another year.
Congratulations to Chris and here’s to slightly warmer times at the Doubles at The Herefordshire.
Results:
1st – Chris Jolley
2nd – Dave Adams
3rd – Andy Watkins
B/S outside top 3 – Dave Morris
Longest drive – Simon Redgewell.
Nearest Pin – Dave Morris