Practice Day at Sheringham

Three East Vets are involved in the Senior Ladies Home Internationals this year being held at Sheringham Golf Club in Norfolk, England which today, the first practice day, was quite definitely one of the wettest most miserable places in the whole of the UK. All the more so because the weather in the Lothians looked, for once very acceptable.

Anyone would be forgiven for wondering what on earth the Scottish Senior Ladies have done to offend the celestial golfing powers-that-be (who control the weather). For example, a few weeks ago our golfing giants (and Lorna Bennett) arrived in Berlin to challenge for the European Senior Ladies Team Championship and it was so wet, there were preferred lies - in September would you believe. The British Senior Ladies Open Stroke-Play Championship at West Kilbride followed soon after the above glorious victory and just before there was a week of such fantastic weather that phrases like "Indian Summer" were bandied about lulling everyone into a false sense that summer had come at last, a bit late granted but who's counting. The point being there was heat and sun and no wind. So what exactly was that at West Kilbride. The lovely weather just vanished overnight exactly on practice day. It was just unspeakably bad. (Congratulations to all who played and survived - they all deserved medals).

And now here we are again - first practice day for the Senior Home Internationals and back to the rain. Scotland may be cooler than of late but at least it has been basking in dry weather. It was certainly not dry in Norfolk today. Lashed by winds off the North Sea and soaked by torrential rain. O Me miserum. Why us!

However our Scottish Senior worthies, inclusive of Moira Thomson (Gullane), Noreen Fenton(Dunbar),Captain Pamela Williamson(Baberton) - but also Mary Smith and Anne Ryan of Tain, Lorna Bennett (Ladybank),Fiona de Vries (St Rule), SLGA President Emma Wilson(Leven) and Heather Anderson (Blairgowrie), all dressed appropriately for the very worst of the elements, all took on this wind-swept course situated along the cliffs in North Norfolk and tried hard to imagine what it would look like on a sunny day!

Just imagine the scene, heads bent in the blinding rain, dragging the non-motorised trolleys behind them - which if left unattended had the tendency to blow over. Practice days are supposed to be days to glean information about the course, clubbing, borrows on greens. Not exactly. Thankfully the matches proper don't start till Tuesday when Scotland plays Wales and England plays Ireland. The forecast is promised to improve. Tomorrow is another practice day but the team are not thinking about that right now. They are dried out. Their clubs are dried out and all the waterproof gear too. And they are away to bed.