Burnlaw Snowbow – California Dreaming for Croydon Flat Caps! (Or, Not Enough Caddies (Again!)) by Phil Wood (marked and edited by our red pen owning teacher, Tom Lowes!)
 
BDGA Tour event three saw the players of CDGC head North to Burnlaw, in the hills of Northumbria. Six hardy souls headed the 300+ miles in the pursuit of the Burnlaw Dove. Sam Stevens, Tom Lowes and Dan Ryan were making their first visits to Garry Villiers-Stuart’s farm though Jester Wilson, Bruce Webber and Phil Wood were more familiar with the surroundings.
 
A strong field turned out for the event with well over 30 competitors there to chance their arms. The usually frosty and windy Burnlaw gave way to early spring warmth and almost zero wind. In these clement conditions the players thrived. Burnlaw local Chris O’Brien shot an incredible 10 under par 47 to set the early pace in the open division, QP’s Jon Tweed hit a 54 to lead the Adv Ams (forcing Del Robins back onto the third card for the afternoon’s round, much to the amusement of all except Del) and Edinburgh’s  Chris Gill hit a 61 to head up the Int Am.
 
In the second round Del started to turn the screw, carding a 50 to force himself back in the standings but Dan Ryan and Jester Wilson shot 51 and 52 respectively to lead the way. Chris O’Brien was still in contention and Bruce Webber was in touching distance a few shots back. In the Ad Ams young Ben Bruce, returning from a two year break, found some control to go with his monster arm and shot a 56 to lead the division. Phil was playing well but not converting his chances and shot a second consecutive 60. Tom was getting more of a feel for the course, hitting a 62 to improve on his morning round of 65. Chris Gill consolidated his position in the Int Am division with a solid 64 while Sam improved upon his first round by 5 strokes to card a 67.

In the late afternoon several players still had the energy for almost a full 18 holes of Ript Revenge before the light fell, then it was back to the Beautiful Room for the Red Hot Curry evening. One of the residents of the farm had cooked up three massive pots of delicious curry, which hit the spot for the many who had signed up for it. Meanwhile, downstairs Rich Hatton was cooking a dubious curry involving cheddar cheese and tomato ketchup as some key ingredients. Opinions were mixed. After the curry came the Red Hot Cabaret, with resident musicians chipping for comedy songs (including one about cheese and a Cockney Bar-room version of the Prodigy’s “No Good (Start The Dance)”) and beautiful folk tunes. There was also a big sing-along to Tim Foxall’s cover version of a famous Queen song, rewritten as “Crazy Little Thing Called Golf.” The artistic highlight was definitely Garry’s interpretive dance performance entitled “Death Of A Disc Golf Legend”, which involved, amongst other things, Garry running around with a golf basket on his head, a bag full of discs and several rubber snakes. All who witnessed it were sure they had just been in the presence of pure Art Genius.
 
With the sun shining again on the Sunday morning Dan Ryan bought a ticket for the birdie train and jumped right on board, equalling the weekend’s best round with an incredible 47. Jester hit a 50 to pull into second, 3 shots behind Dan, with Del in third and Chris O’B and Bruce making up the final.
 
QP’s Rich Hatton hit form at just the right time to take the lead in the Ad Ams. His fantastic 56 propelled him to the top of the field ahead of OxDisc’s Ben Foxhall, young flyer Ben Bruce, Phil Wood and Andy Cotgreave.     
 
Sam’s continual improvement meant he would also have a final to look forward to after shooting a 63 - an impressive 9 shots better than his first round. Chris Gill had a solid lead but was to be pursued by Chris Hughes, Sam, Blair Anderson and Tim Foxhall.
 
There was no movement in the Int Am final and Chris Gill took the top spot. An impressive effort considering he had left his discs at home so had to play with begged, stolen or borrowed plastic! Sam's excellent effort saw him take third place in his first competition away from Lloyd Park.
 
In a tense and tight Adv Am final Rich Hatton just held on to the lead. Ben Bruce did draw level at one point after a mind-boggling 500ft+ drive on hole four of the final (jungle hole of 5 to basket of 6), but a double OB 5 on the sixth hole gave Rich some breathing room. Eventually he putted out to win his first Am event. Ben Foxhall caught wee Ben for second. Phil pulled home in fourth and Andy got fifth.
 
In the Open division, in what was acclaimed as the tightest final for years, Del turned the heat up shooting some classy golf, but CDGC’s long-haired Californian managed to stay in front for just long enough and brought  the Dove back to Croydon. Jester and Del tied for second just one shot behind Dan, with Chris O’B fourth and Bruce fifth. Only five shots separated the five finalists! This was Dan’s first tournament victory in England and I’m sure it won’t be his last!