Welcome – Summer is truly over and now we are getting into the “Winter Season.” That means wetter, colder and shorter days. We decided to make our way into Croham Hurst to take advantage of a forecasted break in the weather for a mid-afternoon round to squeeze in some holes since Storm Alex had kept us off the fairways for over a week now. The day started with promising glimpses of sunshine, but as we approached the course, the darker clouds enshrouded Surrey. The rounds were very reasonably priced (£20 on a weekend) so we figured we would tough out as many holes as we could in regardless of what inclement conditions welcomed us.

The most welcome part, for us and Grace, was renting a buggy. This round was the first ever time we have used a buggy in the UK. Buggies are much more common in the USA and nearly every time we have played across the pond we used one (in fact, some courses require their use). It must be either American impatience or laziness. A major dividend from a round for all of us including Grace is the exercise from a 7k+ walk. So a buggy never made sense. But this day, the last few rainclouds were scudding into the area dropping a decent dousings of rain periodically. As a result, we thought that a buggy would be a handy bit of cover to duck into during the rainy bits (which it very much was for the first half hour while the weather got its last few rain clouds out of its system). It also provided the added benefit that we could make it around the course a bit faster. Given the ever-shortening daylight (all the shorter with cloudy skies), we were able to squeeze in a few more holes with our motorized assistance and our late tee time.

Walk – The question was what to do with Grace? Have her ride with us? Have one of us walk with her while the other drove the buggy. Both of us ride the buggy while Grace ran along side? It turns out, “all of the above”. Check out our video below. On one hand, we did bring her along with us during wet spells, but she did get to run beside us otherwise. And she really enjoyed stretching her legs especially as Croham Hurst is a lead required course.

Water – As noted, there was no shortage of water on this particular day. Otherwise, though, the course has no water hazards or run-off streams. Fortunately, the 9^th hole features a water fountain (off for COVID) and the 10^th swings back by the clubhouse.

Wildlife – I’ve never thought of outer Croydon as a seaside resort, but the most prevalent creatures on the course were flocks of seagulls. Maybe driven inland by Storm Alex or maybe confused by where the seaside stopped and the land began after the recent drenching of the UK.

Wind Down – Another evening at the inimitable Archie Parker to meet its namesake successor, retired greyhound Bonbon. Any time we are in southeast London area we will typically be drawn to our favourite dog-friendly café in the area (now with one of our favourite dogs to visit).