Oxford Golf Club Away Day – 25th May 2021

7 months on from our last away day we were able at last to venture out, this time under more relaxed Covid-19 restrictions, at Oxford Golf Club

The weeks and days before had seen heavy rain and wind over Oxfordshire but on Tuesday most of us woke up to sunny skies which fortunately for the most part lasted all day with minimum cloud and no rain!

It was great was to see two more of our newer members, Mike S and Kevin K join us for the first time, and also to see Rob S who has escaped to Hampshire join us for the day. I hope you enjoyed your day out with your new golfing friends and colleagues.

A great turnout of 20 TOFS met at 10am for our customary kick off with coffee and bacon rolls. Here we discovered that with the new handicap system most of were playing with an extra shot or two.

This time we were able to have our customary “Tipple on the Tee”, kindly provided by Alex F, with a number of members surprisingly questioning whether it was indeed a single malt whisky??

A few practise swings and putts later we then set out in 5 groups of 4 to explore the rolling Oxford course.

After all the rain we had experienced the course was in excellent condition with no standing water unlike DPGC. The biggest challenge on the day, apart from the obvious of hitting the ball straight, was probably reading the greens which were contoured and fast!

After the round we were able to sit outside in the sun and enjoy a drink and a hearty meal of Chicken, Gammon and Leek Pie, with Chips, Peas and Gravy, delicious !

On the whole the results were generally respectable, perhaps aided by the extra shots received, and some close scoring to determine the winners.

Mile Stevens

The winner of the TOFS Trophy and stableford on the day was Mike S with a very respectable 41 points. Mike won £14 and a 3 pack of shiny new special edition embossed TOFS golf balls. Don’t forget the winners “away day handicap “will be reduced by 2 for the subsequent days out. Mike also had put his round into Golf England and then found out he had a few points knocked off his handicap index!

The winner(s) of the lowest number of putts, were Mike S and Graham H, both with 33, which shows how difficult the greens were to read. Mike and Graham share £13 between them.

Mike Stevens & Graham Harding

Again, because of Covid-19 we were unable to have a NTP competition so we substituted a “Hole in Two “instead.

The Par 3’s all proved to be difficult and perhaps not a surprise that no Hole in Two was achieved. The £13 prize pot will be rolled over to the next away day

Chris Smyth

And finally the days special prize, sponsored by Humph Harker for Most Golf Played.

And the winner was Chris S. I won’t mention his score! Chris becomes our sponsor for our next Away Day at Sherfield Oaks GC on the 22^nd June. Put that date firmly in your diary !