A new format for the Chair’s Challenge, a three ball better ball Strokeplay scramble, meant that each golfer had to finish their own ball, bad holes could easily happen and mistakes could not be hidden as easily as in a scramble where each team effectively plays from the best shot each time and gets three chances at every single shot. In this format a good/competitive score is generally considered to be between 6-under to 9-under par (Nett 63 to 66). This usually places a team in the top tier of any standard club tournament. The general expected winning score is 10-under to 12-under par (Nett 60 to 62). To achieve this, a three-person team needs excellent "ham-and-egging" (a nod to our Lidstone Winner Dermot’s favourite club breakfast), meaning when one player bogeys, another player pars or birdies. So much for theory. Now, this is what really happened on the day: 1. The only person confused by the format was the Chair who had drawn up the format in the first place. Their playing partners gently reminded him of the format for at least three holes on the front nine and arguably one hole on the back nine, and 2. Every team obviously hadn’t seen the official email or algorithms that indicated what the winning score should be and proceeded to carve the course up like it was a pitch and putt Given that each team member had to contribute at least four drives, scoring was extremely low. Of the players who completed all 18 holes on the scorecard, players in one team managed -3, -8 and -10 under their handicaps and still didn’t finish in the top three! Golf can be cruel. The winning team of Ally Daly, Neil Smith and David Buckle returned a score of 56. The runners up, David Kear, Andrew Butler-Miles and Rob Dean returned a 57. Quite amazing scoring from both teams and many congratulations. The remainder of the field wish you well for the next comps in the hope that you might get cut a little and give us all a chance. The highest nett score was a 67 so all the teams were competitive and stayed on afterwards for what was a very relaxed and enjoyable afternoon. Steve Finn and Richard Podd won the nearest the pin prizes. The Chair would like to thank his partners, Rick and Chris, for a highly enjoyable round, good company and a memorable birdie on the 18th. All that remains for the Men’s section is to settle the order of merit (Mr Finn and Mr Kear are neck and neck ahead of the final medal competition this coming weekend) and Champion of Champions at the end of the month. For the Women’s section, the Millward Trophy will be played this coming weekend, so good luck to all the competitors. This has been something of a record-breaking season for winning scores, so lets hope that the course remains fully playable over the winter so that we can continue to hand in general play cards and maintain accurate handicaps ready for summer 2027.