It was a misty morning when some of Tenby’s finest Rabbits headed off eastwards then south-westwards for their Annual Trip early last Friday (yes, there are two six o’clocks in one day!) and this year’s captain, Paul Crawford, chose the St. Mellion International Resort in Cornwall as the destination, and our links reporter, Warren Hacker, sent a drone down there to observe what went on.

An impressive amount of planning had gone into collecting clubs, trolleys and (some!) clothes the evening before and the two vans rendezvoused at Georgie’s Diner in Pyle, where they opened early especially for us, to provide marvellous sustenance to keep us going (apart from a stall or two!) until finally landing Chez Jack keen and eager to do battle for the silverware.

The honour of the first drive of the tour went to the captain as he impressively found the fairway on the Kernow Course (but he had been practising there a few weeks before) and the other 15 followed suit to varying degrees of success (one lost his drive to start the ‘Lost Balls Count’ very early).

Only nine of the 16 participants managed a point on the short(ish) par-five first hole (bus lag obviously causing problems) and three failed to hit double figures for the front nine, although three others hit 20. The longest drive on the uphill par five eighth was won by Scotty and the par three over-the-water 14th was won by Rees, which led to them getting a sleeve of balls each.

The scores weren’t officially announced until the Sunday afternoon presentation, but when they were, it was seen that Chris had kept his leader in the clubhouse title from start to finish with an excellent 39, Grant was runner-up with 36, with Rees beating Peter on countback for third.

Eight scored 30 or more with some at the ‘other end’ not quite doing as well.

As a reward for his efforts, Chris gets his name engraved on the ‘Silver Rabbit’ Trophy, but also had to play off half his official handicap for the Saturday trophy - the Oman Cup. The lost ball count stood at 30 after day one and those who had guessed total lost balls of 140-plus were blaming the captain and his co-pilot Robin for duff information from their reconnoitre, as the main losers were two who lost three balls and one who lost five, although one person managed a loss-free round.

The fact that we ought to have known where we were going on the second journey round the Kernow on Saturday should have meant better scores on day two, but that wasn’t the case, as the top score of 33 would only have been good enough for eighth place on day one, but a five-point hole following a seven-iron bunker shot and a putt was the kick-start to his round that propelled Steve W to the top of the pile on countback with 33 points, ahead of Adrian in second and Peter in third - also on 33.

Only six made it to a score starting with three, but Chris had to mark a second score off his normal handicap for the overall trophy and his ‘other’ score would have added to the total to make it seven. Only 22 balls were lost on day two to bring the total to 52 - two lost four and one lost three - and three didn’t lose any, so the evidence is there that we were getting better (or were we less bad?).

The draw for the Peter Nobes Salvers fourball betterball comp on Sunday involved pairing a name from the lower half of the handicap list with one from the higher end to take on the challenge that is the Nicklaus Course and the start sheet contained some pre-match favourites and a few dark horses.

The nearest to the pin on the eighth was won by Robin and the longest drive on the 16th was won by Tom (but ask him where his second shot went if you see him). The course is a challenge, with narrow fairways lined by steep banks (which gave the sight of grown men doing mountain goat impressions whilst trying to clamber up and down in a gentlemanly manner) and picturesque photo-opportunity holes were resounding to the noise of ball hitting water (or tree, or buggy-path, or the OOB, or the other course...) and no pair scored on every hole, with remembering how many balls were being lost and where to write scores on the card proving hard work!

Three players lost no balls (show-offs!), but half of the players lost five or more and some made strenuous efforts to get the lost ball count towards three figures. When the cards were scrutinised, it was discovered that the total had gone up from 52 after two days to an enormous 115 after three days - 63 going AWOL on Sunday, which meant that the money prize for the nearest guess was won by captain Paul, who opted for that exact total before play began. Was it the course to blame for the day three loss amount, or the over-imbibement of the local ‘water’, too much sleep, exhaustion from discussing politics/world events, too many cultural visit to local museums and beauty spots or aliens interfering with the mind-waves from the player to the ball to make them go astray?

In the Salvers contest, the difference of 11 points from first to eighth places shows the draw levelled things out and a blistering front nine score of 21 (nearly matching the total for the eighth pair) gave Rees and Peter the clubhouse lead and, although they couldn’t emulate their start, their 34 points was good enough to win ahead of vice Steve W and Ian W (who had the honour of the last drive on the tour on the first) on 31, Wyndham and Grant third on 30, Steve C and Tom fourth on 28 (and they lost 19 balls between them!?) beating Mark and Chris on countback, followed by Bill and Robin, then Scotty and Paul, then Phil and Adrian.

The Peter Watkins Trophy for the best full aggregate total from the two singles comps went to Chris on 72, Grant and Peter next on 68, Steve W on 67, Rees 63, 60 each from Robin and Mark, ahead of Wyndham (59), Adrian 58, Paul 57 and Ian W on 51, with the Crooked Putter Trophy for the least highest score appearing on the CV of Bill (slightly less than Tom), with Phil and Steve C filling 13th and 12th places overall.

In a contest of one, Scotty was awarded the Best Guest Prize and Peter took home the Tour Bandit Award - a decision made by the captain (possibly something to do with being in the top four on all three days or maybe by defending his Salvers title in an unusual family way by winning with Rees this year and his father Bill last year?)

The captain had issued all players with a yellow ball before play on Friday for use on the par threes and some players claimed colour-blindness as they ‘forgot’’to use it! The top six of the seven players to retain their interest in the Yellow Sphere Comp were high handicappers, which may mean something to someone. Grant and Ian shared second prize, scoring 22 from two rounds, but Robin pipped them with 23, but all three had some money to go towards ‘tour expenses’.

Other financially successful players were Steve W for his two on the 16th on day one and Ian W for his on the same hole on day two (Sunday 2s don’t count - sorry Steve C!), who shared the Twos Pot.

On the subject of money, the vice-captain had carried out the role of Fines Master and his fines pen was red-hot (also charging himself for not being able to read his own notes!) and even some of the other guests at St. Mellion joined in by putting money into Wyndham’s Fines Box and - along with pre-tour Rabbit donations - there is a healthy amount garnered to go towards captain Paul’s charity, which is Pembrokeshire MIND.

The 249.7 miles between Saltash and Tenby seemed to fly by (especially if you closed your eyes), but drivers Robin, Mark and Steve C managed to return everyone safely to their destinations (although someone’s clubs were left in the van by mistake! - that’s a fine already for next year!) and it was announced on tour that treasurer Wyndham has already opened up his ‘book’ to take money in readiness for the provisionally-arranged Rabbits Tour of Ireland in April 2019. Sort your Euros out early.