Greensomes Challenge - A Partnership Intact

It was the Greensome Challenge at Royal Ascot yesterday. This competition was introduced a few years ago by Geoff Escourt during his tenure as Club Captain to ensure there was a prestigious event to play for as the season drew to an end. It was a very good decision. I'm not a fan of the alternate shot format and will rarely if ever play foursomes. I know many see it as the purest form of team golf there is but I can never get into it mentally and always feel as though I've not really played a game at all. Greensomes is that bit different as both players tee off before deciding which ball to use and then alternating from there. I guess its the fact that you get to play a tee shot on every hole that makes it feel more like a proper round.

I paired up with my faithful pal Mike Stannard. It's been a tough year for him with me as a partner never knowing which golfing Homer was going to turn up. To his credit, his steady play has kept us in a number of events that my ailing game and despicable short game tried to destroy. I'm not sure if it was end of season retribution but the pre-tee revelation that he'd been out on the lash until 1.30am on Saturday didn't do much for confidence.

It started wonderfully well. Well I say "it" and I mean Mike. He holed from eight feet on the first for a par. On the second I duffed the approach into the green and he saved the day by chipping to six inches. Even I don't miss those. He did have a horror off the tee on the 3rd and lost the ball in the hazard meaning I had to get my tee shot into play. Fortunately I was up to the task.

Of course it wouldn't be a typical Homer round unless there was a tale of horror. The 4th hole is simple. It's 320 yards and we were in the fairway and in position A. It was my job to hit an easy nine iron into the green, leave a simple two putt and move on. Sadly I couldn't do the easy stuff and thinned it low and left. With the green sloping dramatically right to left it was only ever going to go further left and the only thing in the way to stop it was the out of bounds. It cost an ugly double bogey.

We actually dove-tailed quite nicely and even managed a par on the 7th hole which neither of us play particularly well individually. I hit a great drive into the ideal position and Mike hit a great approach to the back edge of the green and I rolled a good putt to within a foot. I dropped another faux pas missing a short putt for par at the eighth but managed to balanced the books with a solid approach into the heart of the 9th. We were out in 40 stroke or 5 over gross which in this exacting format wasn't too bad and bang on our handicap limit.

The back nine started well and saw two minor golfing miracles as I managed to resurrect a stellar short game from nowhere to chip close on both ten and eleven. Mike and his trusty putter did the rest and we made two pars when bogey or worse seemed the likely outcome. We frittered that away with an ugly double on the 12th having been over the back of the green in two. Another shot went at the 15th when we committed the cardinal sin in greensomes and both found trouble off the tee. We could have chosen either ball. Neither were ideal and both required nothing more than a hack back onto the fairway. In the end we did well to limit the damage to a bogey.

Coming down the stretch we knew that two pars to finish would see us under par and figured that in this format it wouldn't be too far away. Mike hit a great tee shot to the front of the 17th green but I still had a twenty foot putt, right to left and downhill. Pace was crucial and for once I didn't let the side down and deposited it next to the hole for a simple tap in. The 18th was playing brutally long into the wind. We took my drive and Mike nailed his second but we were still 134 yards from the front of the green. With the pond to the right of the green very much in play and having seen our playing partners already dump their approach in there I was certain we wouldn't be going right in any shape or form. I took a six iron as the pin was right at the back and in the end I executed well and put a great swing on it. Sadly though I'd been conservative in my alignment, aiming at the front left of the putting surface. With a touch of draw on it, the ball missed the green left and finished in the light rough. On the plus side, Mike didn't have to chip over any of the greenside bunkers and he made a good effort to get it to within 10 feet. My putt for par was good but didn't drop.

In the end we finished on level par 70. There were already three 68's in and so we were out of the running for the prizes. The results are due out soon and I'm confident of a top ten finish. In the end though it was a good game and we didn't disgrace ourselves. All in all, Mike probably had an easier day in this tougher format than he has in other events and I never really put him in too much trouble. We are still on speaking terms which I guess is a result! Well done to Geoff for introducing the event. I'm still not a convert and will still be given foursomes a wide berth but will definitely dip a toe into greensomes pool again.