Despite a severe frost the Axe Cliff Seniors manfully battled though the conditions in their annual yellow ball competition, writes Rob Grove.

Now, this event usually throws up some sort of complication and this year proved to be no exception and it wasn’t due to the weather.

Equipped with a marked yellow ball, the rules of the competition and a scorecard to eliminate any difficulties the old chaps once again came up with their own versions of what should be a straightforward, if slightly more complicated than usual, version of a stableford competition. Teams of three, two scores to count, the yellow ball to played in turns with the added incentive of your scoring doubling if you don’t lose it. Full handicap, teams of your own choosing with the weather and conditions improving as the round progressed nothing could be better on a morning in January.

The final scores reflected that many had been able to follow instructions and some good scores were recorded. The winners were Malcolm Glass, Keith Wilson and Mick Jamieson with 109 points. Second and third places were decided by just one point with Dave Sammons, John Hanna and Pete Motson (107)beating John Pugh, Ian Crawford and Chris Walker (106). The only two of the day was recorded by Tony Strong.

Each team was asked to return the yellow ball after the round and I do know that one was lost. It’s just the three other missing balls that I am a little concerned about as well as those teams whose scorecards lacked the necessary handicaps and contained numerous crossings out. Maybe we should just stick to a boring old stableford competition but, thanks to the greenstaff for allowing us to play on a frosty morning, we actually had a really good time.