Sounds like you were playing with my wife ;)
When I was playing regularly I usually only played with a handful of friends, of course if I was in a tournament it was different. I've usually been very lucky with my playing partners when I have no control over them. When I was off 18 I was put with a 1.0 and a 2.0 handicap players, and they spent some time informally giving me some tips about my swing and such. At the turn I was only one shot behind the 1.0 handicapper on gross and ahead of the 2.0! I ended up winning the nett competition and he won the gross section!