Golf!!!

Yesterday (Saturday) I played at Pau Golf Club which is the oldest golf club in continental europe.
It was founded in 1856 (older than our dear RSGC!) by Scots who had settled in Pau and it was a very interesting experience indeed.

I called the club that morning to book a tee-time and I secured a 3pm tee-off time as it was the only available time. I asked the reception if there would be anyone available to play with but I was told that I would have to wait and see once I was at the club.

I arrived at the club around 14:30 and waited to see if anyone was available.As you can see, the clubhouse is very English.

However, I was fortunate because a chap named Thierry arrived at the first tee box just as I was about to tee-off and so he joined me.
The course itself is very interesting. It's not a long course (5314 metres from the back tees) but it can be very narrow in certain places.
The greens weren't in the best condition and were a tad soggy but they were still running quite well. The greens are also small and I suppose this makes up somewhat for the short course.


I did not play well at all during the first nine- no pars and mainly double bogeys!





Anyway, Thierry had to leave after the first nine and so I waited for the flight behind me to catch up and I asked them if I could join their flight as they were a two-ball.
The people in the flight were a Mr and Mrs Lopez and they gladly let me join their flight.
They were both steady players and I began to play quite well.


As it started to get darker, Mr and Mrs Lopez decided not to play the final 3 holes.
It was getting quite dark but I was determined to play the entire course so I continued.
Everything was going smoothly until the final hole.
The final hole is a 122 metre par 3 and when I got there it was very dark.
I hit my tee shot and I saw my ball travel to the left of the green but I lost sight of it as it landed.
When I walked to the green and began looking for my ball; I knew it was in the rough to the left of the green but I couldn't see it.
I gave up looking for my ball after a few minutes as it was nearly pitch black.
It was half 6 when I finished.

I think I'll play here again next weekend as I really enjoyed the course and the members are extremely friendly. Also, the green fee is quite reasonable at 33 euros whereas the other nearby course's green fee is 45 euros!