5 SCOTS Golf Society
Society Appointments:
Chairman Captain Jamie Howe
Secretary Sergeant ‘Reebok’ Rhodick
Members:
Brig (Retd) Poole WO1 (RSM) Park Sgt Martin
Maj Will Horridge WO2 (RQMS) West Sgt Melrose
Capt Jamie Howe WO2 Alex Menzies Cpl Hastings
Capt Niall Archibald Sgt Duncan Cpl Van-Niekirk
Capt Robbie Grieve Sgt Armstrong Cpl Du Toit
Capt Tom Mobbs Sgt Rhodick L/Cpl Cook
Capt James Trickey Sgt Hamilton Pte Logan
Capt Jim Doig Sgt Rankin
5 SCOTS Golf Society has been fairly inactive over the last few months due to our deployment to Kenya on Exercise GRAND PRIX 7 and other Mission Specific Training (MST) for our imminent departure on operations in Afghanistan.
The society now have 26 golfers who have joined from across the Battalion with a good spread of ranks from Officers through to Private soldiers which is great news. Those lucky golfers (others would call them skivers) who have managed to play this year have made the most of the fantastic golfing facilities available to us and the golfers make the most of the infrequent opportunity to take part in a sports afternoon. Although there are some who never fail to attend sports afternoons and you know who you are!!!
The main event that has taken place since the last notes was the now customary invitation match against the golfers from Canterbury Golf Club which took place in June. The event was organised and run by Sergeant Rhodick and a fantastic day was had by everyone. After struggling to get a team together due to Battalion commitments the team set off for some pre-match practice and it was off to the driving range to smash some balls in anger. 1,000 balls later Colour Sergeant Chris Muir was starting to get to grips with his clubs which of course were to blame for his bad shots rather than his poor swing!! The first tee off was at 1200 hours which saw Sergeant ‘Reebok’ Rhodick and his partner Sergeant ‘Ammo’ Armstrong set off against the Club Captain from Canterbury Golf Club, Roy and his partner Samuel. Both teams were apparently evenly matched although the result would say otherwise and I think a wee bit of ‘dodgy dealings’ was going on with some of the auld codgers regularly sinking 60 foot putts.
The 5 SCOTS team was made up from mostly our society but we had to pull in a few ‘ringers’ from across the Battalion due to other work commitments happening at the same time. Unfortunately this didn’t work and the 5 SCOTS team were well beaten 6-1and this was inspite of blatant cheating on our part by being economical with the truth about our team handicaps. The only 5 SCOTS partnership to win was Colour Sergeant Chris Muir and Colour Sergeant Roy Pywell and needless to say we will never hear the end of this from Chris ‘The Fog Horn’ Muir. However as with most sporting activities, the enjoyment is in the taking part and in the drinking afterwards!!!
Once the match was finished the Canterbury Golf Club hosted the 5 SCOTS players in the Club House and laid on a fantastic spread. The food and drink was in plentiful supply and the banter between the teams was excellent. The relationship between the players from 5 SCOTS and the Canterbury golfers continues to grow and we really do feel part of the Canterbury Golfing Community which is in line with the general goodwill shown towards all Argylls from the people of Canterbury.
The look forward for the Society is the internal 5 SCOTS Golf Society Meeting taking place at the end of July where all 5 SCOTS Society golfers will compete for the newly purchased 5 SCOTS Golf Society Bowl. This fantastic new trophy will have the name of the winner engraved on it and will become part of Argyll sporting history!! Ok, it may not be quite be the Ryder Cup, but I can guarantee the competition will be hard fought and some players will get emotional, so it should be great entertainment and I look forward to reporting the outcome in the next edition of the TRL.
