The Worst Round of My Year (And I Still Loved It) — Wyke Green Golf Club

Course: Wyke Green Golf Club, near Heathrow
Format: Work competition, Stableford, playing off a 12 handicap (index 12.4)
Final score: 28 points

Some rounds you play for the scorecard. This one, I played for the story.

Seven Years Running

This work competition has become a bit of an annual ritual for me — seven years in now, and I still haven’t taken home closest to the pin, longest drive, or the overall trophy. Every single time, someone shoots 40-odd points and I’m left wondering how that’s even possible. I’ve come to accept it’s just harder when you’re sitting between 10 and 14 on the handicap index. Stableford doesn’t forgive you the way it forgives the higher handicaps — you’re expected to be near your peak all day, and there’s no room for the mistakes that everyone else gets a shot back for.

One rule I’d set for myself this year: no driver off the tee unless I could really trust it. Longest drive is a young man’s game, and my driver and I have had a complicated relationship this season.

The Course

Wyke Green gets a solid 4 out of 5 from me. The greens were in great condition, if a touch slower than I remember from previous visits — usually they run fast here. The tee boxes were genuinely excellent, a nice change from some of the other courses I’ve played this year where the tees feel like an afterthought. The fairways were dry, which is understandable given the current hosepipe ban across the UK — nobody’s watering fairways right now, so I can’t hold that against them.

Hot Start, Cold Finish

Here’s the strange part: I started well. Two pars to open, which is basically the reverse of how my last couple of rounds have gone — normally I stumble out of the gate and find my game later. This time I came out hot, and I think that’s exactly what did me in. I got too comfortable, too early, and when the wheels came off, they came off hard.

The turning point was a par 5 that’s recently been reclassified — same yardage as always, but now sitting much higher up the stroke index. It should have been a gift. I walked off with a bogey and felt the round tilt.

From there it snowballed. A wayward drive on the next hole meant I didn’t even reach the green in two, and by the time I’d binned a lost ball off another reckless swing — the one moment I let frustration talk me into pulling the driver back out — I’d more or less written myself out of the day. An 8 followed. I clawed back a couple of pars here and there, but the round never really came home. One more loose drive a few holes later was the final reminder of why I’d banned the club in the first place, and I put it away for good.

The Best Part of the Round

None of that was the highlight, though. I played this one with my son, who’s just starting out in golf — index in the 50s, three shots a hole, and every bit of the joy that comes with someone brand new to the game. He mishit plenty, but he smiled through it, and he beat me outright: 39 points to my 28. I couldn’t be annoyed about that.

Off the Course

The clubhouse redeemed the day. Full English breakfast beforehand — 5 out of 5, no notes. Post-round, a cheeseburger and fries with dessert to close it out. Genuinely one of the more welcoming clubs I’ve been to; people who didn’t know me from Adam were still saying hello. That kind of hospitality isn’t a given, and it’s worth calling out.

Walking Off

I’ll be honest — I walked off that course wondering why I even bother some days. Twenty-eight points is a dismal return, and this was comfortably one of my worst rounds of the year. But sitting here writing it up, the round I remember isn’t the double bogeys — it’s the breakfast, the clubhouse, and my son’s smile after a good shot.

That’s golf, and that’s why I keep coming back.

Next up: I’ve ticked off Stockwood Park and Redbourn so far this year — Shendish Manor or Little Hay is next on the list. Little Hay’s the cheaper round, so it might just win out.