Gary conspired to get dinner bought for him on two occasions - at the Kobe by Andy and on another occasion by Dick. These all relate to the stupid challenges and penalties imposed each day! The Highland South Course finally saw everyone scoring a little better than the previous two days. Russ - fresh from his water torture - won today with 41; an excellent score. Dinner in the evening was followed with a presentation of ideas for the 2010 tour. Russ won again the next day when we went to the Saddlebrook Course in Arnold Palmer’s back garden. This is another wonderful resort with a huge variety of wildlife with herons, otters and much else on display. On return to Innisbrook, five of the boys took off again to play a few extra holes on the South Course. The ugly clouds around never amounted to much and in the evening we went ten-pin bowling where Andy provided a demonstration of his ill-spent youth, winning comfortably. We experienced a huge storm later that evening with some incredible electric effects. The next day saw us on the Copperhead Course which is a stern (but fair test) of golf. It was the host today for the annual Wrigley Challenge between the only two Life Guards (H-W and Taylor) vs. RHG/D Dunkley and Ford. With Russ’s wins on the two previous days, LG hopes were running high and there was every reason to feel very confident. His first drive deep into the jungle on the right shattered that dream and nothing much improved on the remaining 17 holes as he romped home with 21 points! The end of another dream. In the evening we found a very good fish restaurant in a marina but we were not so sure who was doing the eating – us or the mosquito’s – so moved back inside for safety.
Some of the tour looking more stupid than normal!
Harry Ford – this year’s planner
Another good tour and over so quickly but the abiding memory is of the intense heat all day - not complaining though and suspect that the 2010 tour in Miami could also be another hot experience. The whole group on one of their rare social gatherings
Our final round on the Island Course was another wonderful experience and won that day by Harry with 31 points. So another tour ended with the trophies being spread around; Bjorn won overall with Harry coming 2nd. The Johnny Wilson Trophy was won by Dick and Bjorn. Russ won the mid-week trophy. The pairs was won by Andy and Harry and the par 3 tournament (Max’s trophy) by Harry also. Gary with Harry picked up the brand new Wrigley Challenge trophy presented for the first time by their loving Life Guard friends. Our final dinner was held on the beach at Clearwater where there was a fantastic atmosphere. Max met a school friend not seen for 30 years and it was very sadly the day the world heard of Michael Jackson’s death.
Household Cavalry News ■ 79