In a Manor of speaking

Monday

Today I took part in the annual golf tournament which was held at Celtic Manor. This was the site of the 2010 Ryder Cup between Europe and the US, and more recently the NATO summit on the Ukraine problems.

We played one of the other 2 courses, the Roman Road. The Hole signs also had the hole number, par, and length in Roman Numerals.

This course was parkland style and although there were some tress many holes were quite open. If you have ever watched the golf on TV played at these courses and wondered why even the pros have a hard time of it, then I can assure you there is a good reason. It was very frustrating to hit your ball to what looked like a section of lawn and not be able to find it since the grass is a couple of inches deep. When you do find it you're never sure how much the grass will take of the shot, with you ball sometimes coming up 20 or so metres short or sometimes getting it cleanly and going 20 metres too long.

I hired sticks for 35  Pound and the golf cart was the same, so with the comp and dinner fees it wasn't  a cheap day. The sticks were Taylor made SLDRs which weren't bad but they had 1-3-5 woods, 4-9 irons and only 2 wedges, so a few clubs short of my normal bag. I was able to get stiff shafts and a mallet style putter but the driver had 1 de more loft than my own.

I got a ride there with Martin who I had mett prior to this event and we finished up playing together as well. After sorting out my clubs, I joined the rest upstairs for bacon rolls and some chatting and meeting people who hadn't been at the weekend. I wasn't able to find any one else who wanted to share a cart.

I was in the last group, playing with Martin, John the manager of the British office and Tim who I hadn't met before.

I had plenty of time to hit a bucket of balls at the driving range. I'd checked out the clothes at the pro shop and thought them a bit expensive (45 pounds for a polo) so only bought a ball marker as a souvenir. However there was also a discount rack at the driving range/golf academy building where I found a Greg Norman Polo with Celtic Manor badge for 15 and a sleeveless vest with Ryder Cup for only 5.

By the time I got to the tee it was nearly time to go so I didn't have time for any putting practice. The first hole was a par 5 and after pulling my drive a bit to the left and leaving my second short of the bunkers, I chipped to about 10 ft from the hole. One of the others had a longer put on the same line which gave me a clue but I was still surprised when I dropped my for a birdie. I followed this with a string of bogies before losing 2 balls in the brambles on one hole and then also wiping the next after putting my drive on the downslope of the road.

I finished with 15 points on the front despite the 2 wipes so wasn't that unhappy. However the back 9 was a distaste r with 5 wipes in all, many due to lost balls in places where you'd expect to find them.

The round took about 5 1/2 hours with some hackers both in our own group and those in front.

Still the course was interesting, the weather was great and so was the company, so pity about the golf.

I still had time for a shower and change before dinner. This was a lovely 3 course meal, with soup some great steak and a lemon pie.

Sylvia, who had done the castle tour earlier, arrived in time to join us for the back 9. Since I had a cart to myself I convinced her to come and see the scenery but she ended up being the driver for most of the time and was quite handy at finding (other people's) golf balls.

After dinner we headed for Bath where we had book a room for the night. It is in a lovely old house that was once a hospital and out twin room had period furniture and is quite large - probably twice the size of the budget room in Cardiff.

Although we only booked 1 night we have been able to extend for another.