GRAND FINAL Saturday 1st November 2008

As the song goes “you can keep your Costa Brava I’m telling you I’d rather have a day down Margate with all the family!”. However Chas & Dave clearly didn’t have the November storms in mind when penning that delightful ditty…

After the soaking that players received at the World Crazy Golf Championships the previous weekend, 13 brave souls turned up at Strokes safe in the knowledge that nothing could be quite as bad as that… how wrong we all were!!

The weather at best proved to be terrible… and at worst almost unplayable… but such is the joy of playing minigolf everyone braved the elements to complete the two rounds to finish off the years KIT.

Round 1 – Rain, Rain, Rain… and a nice bit of wind as well!!!

5 groups (and one non playing non organizing ref – thanks again Ted 'Big Top' McIver for stepping up to the mark 2 years running) took to the course as the clock struck 11… and it became clear straight away that reputations were going to made and broken after the day was out. First to fall was the Club Captain Sean ‘Freebird’ Homer who managed to tot up a truly impressive 46 on his first round, taking in a 6 at the Waterfall (the 10th) on the way… how the mighty fall. Next up saw Matt Wood put in a great 17 holes only to fall to the demands of El Diablo (the 8th) and card a 7 for a 44, leaving him a couple of strokes behind Sean. Elsewhere others were faring better – Rocky Bullin banged in an impressive 39 to leave him just two shots behind Tim 'Aceman' Davies. Performance of the round went to Maddie 'The Hammer' Lilley with an incredible 40, taking some major scalps in the process. Brilliant!! The conditions were having a major impact on the aces with Marion 'Double Trouble' Homer & Gary Davies leading the way with 2 each!!

The break between rounds saw all of the players huddling together in the clubhouse to get warm and take solice in each others misery. With a variety of hot snacks taken the intrepid players regrouped in leaderboard order to take on the ever worsening conditions… With the rain getting heavier and the gales building up from the sea the second round got underway…

Round 2 – Extreme Minigolf!!!! Downpour and gale force winds… lovely!!!

With the weather throwing everything bar snow at the players, the 2nd round became a war of atricion against the elements. Hysteria gripped most of the contestants as the rain kept on coming… and coming… what had the good folk at the KMGC done to deserve not only such a drenching but also the ignominy of a Planet Hastings player taking the top place!!? Tim, the newly re-crowned British Number one, showed his class and carded the lowest round of the day (a 38) to take the title (and the guest trophy – the KMGC at least keep the real KIT trophy!!). Rocky kept it together to grab the top KMGC player slot and the 200 ranking points, Sean took the 100 and Matt the 50.

So with the bedraggled players back in the dry of the clubhouse, the prize ceremony began. The junior’s all received individual prizes with special mentions to Jen & Maddie for showing us all the true KMGC spirit by battling the elements to card some excellent scores along the way. Gary shot an untouchable 5 aces in the round to claim the Ace price (which made it’s way into Garys’ possession on Sunday – both parts of it – clearly Matt didn't want anyone to claim his ace mantle from the 07 comp!!)

Tim bagged the title, the lowest round prize and the guest trophy before bidding the masses adieu claiming that the KO trophy would also be coming his way the following day (but it wasn’t to be – shame!). So as Rocky lifted the KIT trophy for 2008, the clubhouse was cleared for the 2008 KMGC awards (although somehow Ted managed to stay on, pining away at the back of the room in what can only be seen as a slight against Tim and the sackings that he had received from him across the year at PH.. perhaps the next addition to the KMGC roster? We shall see…)

Amidst cheers and applause the 2008 KMGC end of year movie aired:

And then we reached the climax of the day – the annual KMGC awards presentation, recognising the great and the good in the club.

First up, Best newcomer – deservedly going to Scott 'Donkeygringo' Lancley, who triumphed as the top novice at the British Open and has undoubtedly the best ace call on the tour!!

Next up, the award for the Outstanding achievement of the year – several players were in the frame – Jen for her terrific PB’s at the Junior Championships earlier in the year, Scott for his novice performances and even the captain got a mention for cementing his top 5 place in the rankings for the year. However the award went to Rich ‘the Bass’ Hopkins for showing the massed ranks at the British Open how to master the dreaded 7th (The Turn) at Strokes. Months of forum chatter and the scandal of the FunSports 4 could not detract from the outstanding achievement of the year!

And finally we came to the KMGC team contribution of the year – thanks to all their sterling work and efforts throughout the year (culminating in the marvellous KMGC calendar, only £5, pre-order now at Susan4rest@aol.com) the award went to Dave & Sue Forrest.

Thanks to all the KMGC for such a great year…. Onwards and upwards as we move onto the final competition of the year - the Kent Open the following day…

FINAL RESULTS

VTK!