Monthly Archives: October 2021

Talk about the farm gate needing a touch of grease. You could pretty much hear the creaking and groaning above the noise of the rapids in the Yarra flowing by the course. There was a certain amount of muttering about how teed off you would be if you were playing a blinder and had to finish after nine. But, at the end of the day, all twelve members who made it to the tees were happy to be out and about and able to swing a club once more. There were a few who registered and decided that they didn’t want to take on the weather gods, but their fears were unfounded, and the weather was pretty much fine, with only a bit of a mist setting in just as the last groups wended their way along the ninth.

So, just how rusty were the farm gates? You could have been forgiven for thinking that a couple of members hadn’t had a single day off. Anthony must have been soaking up all of the YouTube coaching sessions that he has been watching because he started off well, and never really faltered. Nothing under 2 points on any hole, and a four for his birdie (the only one for the day) on the 4th went a long way to putting him at the head of the pack with 20 points as the tally. The handicapper is looking closely at the system to see if something can be done about it (just joking!). Well done, Anthony.

CJ was also very consistent, although he did produce a couple of singletons on his way to a total of 17 of the best. Not sure whether it was Damo’s lessons from way back, but he managed to stay on the straight and narrow and was ‘putting like a demon’ according to one reliable source. Even CJ agreed that from 3m or less he could not miss. Keep that thought in mind for when we get back to ‘real’ golf, Chrispy.

Now we enter the realms of the not-so-bad. There were a swag of people who came in with 16 points. JQ was pretty pleased with his hand, and he was even more pleased when it was announced that he had taken out the ProPin on the 4th. Bob fronted up after the ninth pushing a cart and carrying a golf bag. Not far behind was Porks, pushing Bob’s electric machine which had appeared to give up the ghost coming up the last hill. After a certain amount of poking and prodding, the beast suddenly came to life again and the gathering scattered for fear of the consequences. Despite these vicissitudes, Bob also managed to score 16 points. Bob denies that the breakdown was a plot to wear Ryan out so that he could be beaten on the last hole, for Ryan also scored 16 points. Porks was claiming to have parred the first six holes before falling into a bit of a hole, but in actual fact, he only parred five of the first six. But let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story!

Another group came in with 15 points to share what would have been fourth place. ChrisJ, Michael and Pepsi were the ones to share the honour. Michael seems to be quite convinced that he is destined to come in fourth in perpetuity. The last of the ‘placings’ was filled by Harry and Craig, who both had their moments (and failures) to scramble to 11 points.

Blighty was heard proclaiming that he had gotten a birdie on his first round out, but he had to wait until the 4th. Which seemed a bit odd, as he was playing the second at the time. However, he wasn’t being prescient, he had actually played a round yesterday. Today’s problems were caused by his wedge play. The 54 degree was putting the ball to the back of the green, while the 56 was catching in the grass and leaving it way short. Maybe the sand iron would have been a better choice. Whitey, on the other hand, just claimed that he could do nothing right all day as he took a drop off the path behind the 8th green.

Adam did not make it to the course today, but that might be because he was celebrating a milestone that elicited a call from the Birthday Birdie.

Unless, there is a sudden change to the Health Advice, next week will be another nine hole social round with ProPin and BallRun. Because of the uncertainties about potential ruling changes and heavy advance bookings, it is now quite unlikely that we will be able to negotiate tee times on the back nine, and so it will be front nine again. The course management hold out hopes that the rules will be relaxed sooner rather than later. With the end of the competition year looming fast, if restrictions do carry on, the Fred Kitson will be postponed, possibly until 13 and 20 November, but hopefully the dust will settle, and it can be played as scheduled on 16 and 23 October.

Results for Saturday, 02 October 2021

1st Anthony Browne (20) 2nd Chris Priems (17) 3rd John Quinlan (16) 3rd Bob McDonald (16) 3rd Ryan Porker (16) 4th Chris James (15) 4th Michael Gourlay (15) 4th Andrew Petricola (15) 5th Harry Boughen (11) 5th Craig Cameron (11)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th John Quinlan