Girls Weekend!
Friday 8th September 2017
One by one we all arrived in the Southern Highlands and made our way to Peppers Craigieburn for our first day of our Girls Weekend! As we got out of our cars, the temperature at plummeted from Sydney. We were in the Highlands now! With coffees to warm us, we sat in front of the fire in the gorgeous hotel and chatted before Swing Fit instructor extraordinaire, Andrea McGann started the first of our two golf clinics for this trip. This was a theory clinic (in front of the fire!) on Rules for the Social Golfer, which covered the basics of golf like how do you work out who tees off first, what do you do if your ball goes out of bounds or is lost, scoring and a whole lot of handy tips and etiquette of the game. Things we all needed to know.
After this we needed out for 9 holes on the Peppers Craigieburn course, a beautiful little country course that we all very much enjoyed, particularly because we almost had the whole course to ourselves! After golf it was off to the hotel, Peppers Manor House where we all checked in and then sat down in the Taittinger room for a private Sparkling High Tea, again in front of the fire. The perfect way to unwind on a Girls Weekend after a game of golf! After a quick freshening, back in our rooms, it was off to Andrea’s room for some pre-dinner champagne. It felt like a flashback to school camp, except we were drinking French Champagne! For dinner, we ate at the Katers Restaurant before crossing the hotel’s courtyard back to our warm rooms, for a peaceful country night’s sleep.
Saturday 9th September 2017
The girls all met in the Great Hall at Peppers Manor House at 8am for their Pilates stretch class with Andrea. The sun was shining brightly through the windows of the Broughton Room, and gave us the perfect setting for what was to be a much more intense stretch class than we were anticipating! Diana arrived with a take away coffee, which she popped on the mantle and managed to return to for regular sips during the class. She is a true champion. After 45 minutes of Pilates and stretching, we were off for a morning of shopping in Berrima.
At 12:30pm we met at Moss Vale Golf Club, which gave us 30 minutes to shop in the Pro Shop and have some lunch before teeing off at 1pm. The course has quite a bit of water, which many of us found. We lost a few balls, but discovered that being in a group playing behind a big buck’s party had its advantages. They seemed to never look for their lost balls, so while looking for ours, we found at least 20 of theirs!
Andrea had a cracking game, with a birdie on the Par 3 6th Hole, played over water, along with a massive drive over 200m from the 10th! After a beer in the Clubhouse it was back to the hotel for another Girls Weekend Taittinger session in Andrea’s room before our maxi taxi arrived to take us all to dinner at The Briars. Paul the driver was very patient with all the laughter and storytelling on the trip there. After a few more wines and champers, and a lovely dinner, our pumpkin coach and on the return trip, the laughter and storytelling was even wilder.
Sunday 10th September 2017
The end of the girls weekend was already upon us, and our jaws and facial muscles were sore from all the laughter of last night. Everyone finished one last hotel breakfast, checked out of the hotel and drove to Peppers Craigieburn. It was another magnificently sunny Spring day in the Southern Highlands. We sat with our coffees on the terrace of the hotel, preparing for our golf clinic. Andrea gave us all a fantastic clinic on chipping. Everyone agreed that this as one area that we all wanted to improve.
With a couple of practical hints and tips and some practice, we hit the 1st tee for our last round of golf. By the 2nd tee, most of us have stripped off a couple of layers until we were all playing in our short sleeves. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect as we made our way along the fairways (and sometimes into the rough). After 9 holes, we bid each other fond farewells, before hopping into our cars for the drive back to Sydney. It was a fantastic weekend, with an amazing group of women. We all agreed that our golf skills had improved, but the best part was just spending time with fun, friendly women who all had a common interest, golf. (oh, and Champagne, long lunches, high tea, open fires, laughing so hard your face hurts, talking, champagne….did I mention champagne?)!
Can’t wait to see you all again in the Hunter Valley for our next Beginner Girls Golf Weekend!
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