What a beautiful evening it was!

First of all, thanks to our starter Maarten, who clearly knows how to organize things. 22 FROGS members and 4 guests were welcomed with a good layer of “huzarensalade”, which is probably the best of Dutch cuisine you’ll ever experience, followed by a shot of nice old Dutch “jenever” and a draft beer. And on top of that a cold beer for during the round, which I’m sure everyone finished before reaching the tee of the second hole. I like this Burgundy style start of our rounds and challenge every next starter to be as original in their choice of food and drinks on the first tee. Just make sure it contains alcohol…

The whole evening seemed to be dominated by many elements of the Dutch culture. Before going to the first tee, I went to the driving range to warm up, but of course without “jetons” for the ball machine. Fortunately Steve B was there. I went up to him and asked how it works here with getting practice balls. The trick worked: he offered me his card so I could buy balls… without spending a dime… I owe you a beer for that Steve!

The round itself was a dream, the course in good condition… or did I hear complaints about the greens…? Anyway, they worked for me… and for Ayzo (another Dutchman – I think we outnumbered every other nationality yesterday), who sank every putt within 4 meters. Junglinster is in my view a course where you leave your Driver in your bag, except maybe for one or two holes. Nevertheless, I did hear many trees being hit around me, by those who couldn’t resist.

I always like seeing so many staying for dinner, like Wednesday evening, and I also say this as a representative of our sponsor. Drinks and dinner after the round are at least as important, and at least as much fun, as the round itself. It is that combination that makes the FROGS. And as a bonus we were treated bottles of a nice Rosé – thanks Craig, much appreciated, hope you had a nice Birthday evening!

The results:

Bijnens LEARY: Jess
NEARY: Maarten, who also scored well, despite the starter stress
LONGEST DRIVE: Jess too

The Undersigned – 16 points (to which I agreed with mixed feelings….)
Paul G – 15 points
Maarten – 15 points
Andrew – 14 points
Craig – 14 points

And then there is the unavoidable Pink Ball, which surprisingly went to one of our best players: Bottie. And also surprisingly, our leader Steve B, whose goal it was to get rid of his worst round of this season, was also in the race for Pink Ball with the same 9 points as Alan (and Rob), but based on countback (I think?) got away with it. Guest Pink Ball went to Paul Cornet, who hopefully didn’t have too much of a traumatic experience joining us.

AKD Match Play: the Final is known! The semi-finals were close matches: Paul G needed 10 holes to beat Dennis, and Craig beat Jess 1up by winning the 9th hole.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Frogmittee and Jess, on behalf of the players and the sponsor, for all the work they are doing. That sort of work is needed to keep a group like ours going, but these volunteers don’t always feel appreciated, partially caused by unawareness among our members, of the amount of efforts behind the scenes.

Three more rounds to go…..hope to see the same number of players as in the first 7 rounds. We are having a nice season so far, in good spirits…cheers!

Tim