Ice Golf

This is a picture from our Club House at the St Maxime golf course and I realise that it is looks hot and sunny and it is. Unfortunately this was taken in the summer.

Things have been different for the last week as the temperature has been around -4c at night and reached perhaps 6c during the day!! Even so it has been bright and sunny.

It has still been possible to play golf, however a mallet would have been great to bang the tees into the frozen ground and the balls were bouncing off the greens when they arrives as they also were frozen!

How keen are we??!!

Mr.L. 06/02/2012

Golf in St Maxime

The above view is from the tee on the 11th hole at St Maxime golf course. Below you can see the blue of the Gulf of St Tropez and on the other side the town of St Tropez itself. From the back 9, which are on the top of a small mountain, the views are truly spectacular. To one side you have the mediterranean and to the other the peaks of the Alps Maritime which in winter are covered in snow even though one is wearing a t-shirt and sweating in the heat.
The golf course itself is behind St Maxime and is not a members only club as all are welcome, as long as you have the money to pay.

Mr.L. 8/6/2011

The Autumn and The Braderie

It is a while since I put anything on the Blog however since we got back from UK a few weeks ago we have been pretty busy and we have both had bouts of flu.
In the region the autumn has arrived with morning temperatures being around 10c getting to around 22c by lunch time. The roads are now empty and many of the restaurants are closing until next Spring.
This, for the Ex Pats is the best time in the South of France. The Bradderie has just started in St Tropez and all the expensive stores put their wares out, at around half price, on little tables outside their shops. This is a time of great glea and shopping for the ladies and the gentlemen!
We have just celebrated Mark Wallaces Birthday and also that of my wife Gaynor and Mark's wife Michelle.
Tomorrow we are off to Marakesh for four nights and are looking forward to a new experience.
The vines are now picked and the grapes are safely delivered ready to turn into wine.
Now is the time to get the logs in for the winter fires, trim back the hedges and play lots of golf!!!!

Mr.L. 23/10/2010

St Maxime Golf

Today whilst playing golf my friend Henri got a real Birdie! What actually happened was that he hit the ball about 200 meters and a seagull decided to pick it up, drop it, then pick it up again and fly off to the green next to the fairway and drop it!!!
As you can imagine we were stunned and could not stop laughing.
According to rule 18-1 no penalty is incurred if a ball is taken by an outside agency and a new ball can be placed at the spot it was taken from, if the old one cannot be reclaimed!!!
The weather is now perfect nearly every day for golf and the course is in terrific condition after much hard work by the groundsmen. All the work on the club house is now finished and the restaurant is producing wonderful food. The club house is an ideal place for a coffee both before and after the game and perhaps some lunch.

Mr. L. 10/06/2010

Leaving Mark

Mark has another woman!!
After Michelle he has a constant companion both on and off the golf course. I am speaking, of course, of Lady. His adorable companion is loved by all and refuses to leave his side at anytime, unless tempted by a biscuit!
His other mate locally is me and I have to say that I am easier tempted away! On Monday my lovely wife and I are off to South Africa for a few weeks to see the beauty of the Garden Route and to visit a Safari park.
No doubt Mark and I will be in constant contact by Skype and I will be ringing him for tips whilst playing golf in South Africa!!! Not that ever makes much difference as I know how to play golf, however my body seems incapable of doing all things he tells me!!!
I will continue to Blog from my holiday if I don't get shouted out by my wife for both playing with my I Phone and my computer!
Adieu!

Mr. L. 28/1/10

Thought you might like to see a Christmas card picture of my home in UK!
A picture, sent by e-mail to me, was as close as I got to the house this week despite having a flight booked from Nice on Tuesday. After waiting hours at Nice we were informed that our flight was cancelled because the airport in the UK was closed!!
We went home again to Grimaud and this made it possible to play golf with Mark Wallace. It was bitterly cold and as I said after my great game the other day golf is about delusion. Last time I played well and this time badly! How frustrating!!! I put it down to the fact that my eyes were affected by the cold ( streaming tears!) and the many layers of clothes! Mind you Mark seemed unaffected and played as well as normal. Still he is the professional and I but a humble novice!
Mark is still busy with his house renovation and preparing his schools for the coming year,

Mr.L. 7/1/10

St Maxime Golf Course 2009

December has been a strange time at St Maxime golf club. The beginning was SO cold that we could only play after about 11am when it got to around 7c brrr! The middle of the month brought rain with the odd days of sunshine and the end of the month has been relatively mild but damp.
This year has brought many changes, both good and bad, depending on one’s point of view. We lost quite a few staff including Jerome the manager and Tony the Caddy Master but gained new and friendly staff.
The club house was completely redesigned and we now have a great shop and restaurant and the new electric golf carts arrived which are a great improvement on the old petrol ones. Pity the GPS is flakey!!!
The quality of the course has been drastically improved, though the bunkers still tend to be more like cement than sand after a rain storm.
All in all the quality of the golf experience has vastly improved this year and I really love it.
This week I played with Mark, who took the opportunity to develop his present swing, before going back to the UK next week and was amazed to think I had really improved. This is called Golfers Delusion!!!! We all know that golf is about false dawns. One day great the next disastrous!!

Mr. L. 31/12/09

Mark Wallace's Birthday

Today is Mark’s Birthday and what is he doing but teaching Golf. Yesterday we played 9 holes together and as the picture above shows it was a beautiful day. I have been away from Golf for a few weeks because I pulled a tendon in my knee so it was great to get back out on the course.
I am sure we all wish Mark Many Happy Returns and hope he has a great day.

Mr. L. 14/10/09

Summer cools down

Both Mark and I have been remiss with our Blogging in the last few weeks. The reason is easy, it was too darn hot!
Mark has been teaching all day in temperatures of around 37c and when he is finished for the day he is totally wasted!
As for me I have less of an excuse, but after getting up at 6.30 am to play golf around 8 a.m. and finishing absolutely covered in perspiration I go to the 19th hole and have a long cold drink followed by a very slow trip home along the coast to Grimaud. Here I catch up on my e-mails and have lunch followed by a siesta. And so the afternoon proceeds with a swim and when the local shops re-open at 3.30 a little shopping whilst darting in and out of the very strong sunshine.
The weather in July and August has been extremely hot, as it normally is, however on September 1st (my Birthday!) it is as if a switch has been turned off and the temperature reverts to mid to upper 20c. The sun still shines but it is no longer necessary to hibernate into the house all day or to perspire whilst watching the TV in the evening.
The roads are now quieter and it is possible to travel the coast road between St Maxime and St Tropez without long queues. In fact the season is coming to an end.
In another month the camp sites will be empty and we will once again be living in a rural idyll.
One might ask why we stay in the region during the hot months, well the reason is simple. This is the time when our friends and family decide they really cannot live without seeing us. One might wonder if they would feel the same if we lived in Scunthorpe!! I now discover from several phone calls from people wishing me a Happy Birthday that our guests are continuing into October, with three more couples arriving, as they haven't seen us for ages!!!!
Next week is our wedding Anniversary and we are going to spend it in San Remo, Italy. Here we will visit the wonderful market and my wife, Gaynor, will no doubt find a lovely Anniversary present in the marvelous Italian shops situated there. As for me I will again experience wonderful Italian cooking.

Mr. L. 3/09/09