IDHO 2018

18 Guests gathered in the Grote Huis on Friday, September 22^nd for the reception and dinner of the IDHO. Among them several new faces such as Hans and Betty van den Bosch, Gustavo Barrios and John the Bruin. Dominant topic of the conversation was The Links Valley, the new 9-hole golf course on the estate, which was played that day by several participants, an experience that was much appreciated by all.

while stresslevels in the kitchen soared,

Sress levels soared but Marga Kuiper, Quintus Abeln and Louise Jonker stayed in control.

the guests moved over to the dining room where they received a reading of the menu by their host. This is rather necessary as the menu generally raises more questions than it answers.

The menu with the wines on the left and edibles on the right.

In this context Perry Somers rightly raised the question of how many deer had to be shot for the main course.

The reading of the menu.

This was followed by a special and exceptionally 'gezellig' meal which was accompagnied by a fine selection of excellent german wines. It must be mentioned that the host had to admit that some of them came from areas of Germany nowadays occupied by Italy and Spain.

The bloody course waiting to be served.

With 27 players, of whom jeune arrivée Madeleine van den Houten unfortunately had to withdraw at the last moment on strict order of her physiotherapist, the 9^th IDHO again carried more players than the year before. After the traditional gathering at the Boshuis and the announcement of the flights, the players went for it. Menno Beelen knew a flying start and rattled the equianimity of Brian Gee by playing under par for a while. With the ladies, behind the absolute favorites Lily Waller and Britta Nord, a fierce fight for third place developed between Petra Manders and Yvonne van Mulken.

In the end, Lily Waller proved no match for Britta Nord who became the first player to win the IDHO three times in a row.

Menno was unable to maintain his initial brio and, while keeping Perry Somers behind him, had to give way to Iain Forrester and Brian Gee. Thus it came to pass that, undoubtly to his great relief, Brian Gee won the IDHO 2018 in the category men. Brian dedicated his prize to Helga Scholz who, with charming geese-talk, distracted him from the pressure put on him by Perry, Menno and Iain.

André Dubbeldam scored the most stableford points this year, followed closely by John de Bruin and Peter Scholz. This resulted in a small and spontaneous eruption of joy by André and John.

Sponataneous eruption of joy by André Dubbeldam and John de Bruin.

Best-Dressed of the men went to John de Bruin for his daring combination of traditional patterns and pink candy colors. For the ladies, despite enormous competition by, among others, Petra Manders and Bernadette Callewaert, the prize went to our Miss Hickory Wilma van Rijn for her spirit, style and irresistable class.

This concluded a rather memorable, if somewhat wet, edition of the International Dutch Hickory Open and everybody retired early to prepare for Nunspeet Hickory Championship that was to be played the next day.

Next year, the IDHO will see its 10^th edition. It will in principle be held in September on the first weekend after the KLM-Open. There are some ambitious plans to organise this event in combination with not only Nunspeet, but also The Links Valley, spanning two or three days. We look forward to see you there and will keep you posted about the developments.

The IDHO Team