Old Loughburians’ Golf Day – 27 April 2018
The Old Pupils Golf Day is held annually at Luffenham Heath Golf Club. Six Old Loughburians arrived for bacon butties at 9.30am on Friday 27 April 2018, on what was forecast to be a very wet day. In addition to our team, three other school teams from Stamford, Oundle and Wellingborough were represented. Teams were made up of three pairs to play 4 Ball Better Ball Stableford, with the 2 best pairs’ scores from each school being added together to give the final score for the team.
Sadly, the weather forecast proved accurate and it started to rain about 20 minutes before we were due to tee off at 10.30am. Bravely clad in waterproof clothing, and with brollies erect, the teams meandered around the 1st Tee with gritted teeth until it was their turn to go. At 10.40am Paul Graveling and Trevor Tunnicliffe set off with Old Stamfordians Neil Nottingham and Rich James, followed by Stuart McQueen and Jonathan Carlisle with Old Oundelians Josh Cheatle and David Hutchison, then Rich Alexander and Hatj with Old Wellingburians Richard Jackson and John Panter.
Apart from a brief respite on holes 3 and 4 it rained the whole day, becoming particularly heavy for the last hour or so when puddles started to form on the greens. Despite this the scoring was respectable on what is recognised as a tricky course. The Old Loughburians ended up with a combined best score of 70 points, coming second to runaway winners The Old Stamfordains with 76 points. The Old Oundelians and Old Wellingburians shared third place with 68 points each. This event in previous years has been held over 36 holes, but in the circumstances all players were happy that, given the weather, this year was only an 18 hole competition.
After a welcome shower and drinks in the bar the winners were presented with their prizes and we all retired to the private dining room for a great meal of chicken and ham pie, followed by sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. A big thank you to the organisers at Luffenham Heath Golf Club. We’re all looking forward to returning next year, hopefully with better weather conditions.