Monthly Archives: January 2022

GrandPar was the game and golf was the name. Or something like that anyway for a paltry 11 members who fronted up to deal with a soggy course after recent stormy weather. There was some hot scoring with double plusses on offer but with 8 pluses and a double plus, SOS reigned supreme with a nett score of +5. There were no reports of shanks but pure ball striking and putt sinking for most of the round.

Porks also started like a house on fire and was 5 up at one stage but with an errant drive OOB on the 13th, was brought back to earth and ended up with a respectable score of +3 for second place. There was some confusion with Targe’s card and SOS was left counting and recounting afterwards but ultimately a bogie does not warrant a double plus no matter how many shots you have so ended up being relegated to 3rd place on +2.

3rd place was also shared with old reliable Craig and the new old reliable Keith who was driving them down the middle all day with the exception of a couple of rainmakers. This included a chip in birdie on the 15th for a double +. Craig was elevated after a misreading of the handicap but with his score for the day drops down again.

Rob Primo Pres continued some decent form with a 4th place finish with two double +’s along the way, which almost ended with 3 as his tee shot on the 18th finished a couple of metres from the hole. With some on lookers from the hill and some kind encouragement from Chrispy who pointed out that the putt was for another double, he choked and left it merely millimetres short of a birdie. Nevertheless it was good enough for the ball prize so not all is lost.

A trifecta finalised the points positions as Stan, Gordon and Chris all played to their handicaps. Gordon and Stan also had double +s along the way and the total double count ended up at 8 along with 9 birdies. Chris almost joined the group with a monster curling putt down the hill on the 13th which looked almost certain to drop but it ricochet off the pin, spun around the hole and popped out!

The second ball hole was on the 15th and Craig was good enough to be the closest. The pro pin was eagerly anticipated as it was a triple jackpot on the 12th. There was a marker quite close from the first group and it was none other than birthday boy Bobby McDonald. What is a golf writeup without mentioning Bobs buggy troubles but again Bob was witnessed pushing his clubs around after another failure, however it was suggest that he should spend the propin jackpot on a new electric one. Bob’s birthday milestone this week is the big 80 which is a terrific milestone and something to be celebrated with a couple of fruit tingles for sure.

That leaves only two players who did not score points for the day. At least Bob won some cash so you could say the only loser for the day was CJ! There was a reported drafty from Stan on the 4th but no others were reported.

Reminder again to register for the matchplay tournament, Harry will be fixing the player list next week if there are some missing. It would be good to see some more numbers down for the monthly medal next week also.

Results for Saturday, 29 January 2022
1st Stephen O’Sullivan (+5) 2nd Ryan Porker (+3) 3rd Craig Cameron (+2) 3rd Keith Delzoppo (+2) 3rd Targe Mifsud (+2) 4th Robert Priems (+1) 5th Stan Blackshaw (□) 5th Gordon Hill (□) 5th Chris James (□)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (+2) 1st Keith Delzoppo (+2) 1st Targe Mifsud (+2) 2nd Gordon Hill (□) 2nd Stan Blackshaw (□) 3rd Bob McDonald (-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Bob McDonald BallPin No 1 – 15th Craig Cameron BallPin No 2 – 18th Robert Priems

It was a warm Summers day with little to no breeze early on which made things a bit uncomfortable. This did not deter the 15 players in attendance, although with a little controversy there ended up being joint winners at the end of the day’s play.

A couple of minor errors on the score card upgraded Targe to share first place on 38 points with Chrispy. The controversy was associated with CJ and his use of balls. On the 4th tee he hit his shot far and wide close to the OOB area and had a little trouble finding his ball. SOS joined the search and plucked one of CJ’s Callaway soccer themed ball that was red and yellow.

He proceeded to take a drop and continue on and played out the hole to eventually get a single point for the hole. Now the problem was he was accused of using a blue and yellow ball instead and it had magically changed colour. For the life of things CJ could not remember for sure what colour his original ball was and they decided to let it slide, where Peps said that it’ll be interesting if he ended up winning. Well sure enough that was the case but after much deliberation the score still stands. There were no such reports for anything untoward on Targe’s card but his win drops him down into the 20’s for his handicap again, well done Targe!

Matt and Ken played together and were solid enough all day to play to their handicaps and, with Targe’s upgrade they also are upgraded to 2nd place. Not too far back is old Reliable hit it down the middle Craig who was not too far away with 35 points for 3rd.

Trevor also is getting used to his new handicap and with some minor arithmetic errors in his card is upgraded to 4th place on 34 points. Rounding out the points placings were Gordon and SOS on 33 points. SOS managed to shank his tee shot on the 12th and the ball ended up in parts of the course that not many would have seen before.

The propin was again a jackpot on the 12th, no one was close enough with a deceptive pin position at the back of the green. The first ball hole on the 15th was won by CJ, it was not reported what colour his ball was that was lucky enough to end up close enough to win another ball but it must have been his lucky ball as he managed to sink the birdie putt.

The last ball hole was on the 18th and Peps hit a nice shot to take it out. There were 10 birdies scored for the day which was a little low considering the conditions were close to perfect with a lot of run on the fairways, little breeze and top notch greens overall. There were almost 2 birdies scored in a row however by Bob on the last two holes, but his putt on the 18th spun around the hole and decided that the hole was not the home for him and it popped out to deny Bob yet again. One could imagine the expletives that would have been heard after such events.

As a recurring story, Bob had issues with his electric buggy but Matty was observed to be having a fantastic time with his new buggy manoeuvring it to all corners of the course, into bushes, over hills etc.

Happy Birthday to Jase who celebrated a milestone during the week.

A reminder to all to register for the matchplay tournament on the club website. The event is soon approaching and Harry has asked for all to register beforehand with a yes or no so the draw can be determined. The intention is if you do not register your interest you will be be included in the draw.

Results for Saturday, 22 January 2022
1st Targe Mifsud (38) 1st Chris Priems (38) 2nd Matt Hunt (36) 2nd Ken Watson (36) 3rd Craig Cameron (35) 4th Trevor Jackson (34) 5th Gordon Hill (33) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (33)

Seniors Results: 1st Chris Priems (38) 1st Targe Mifsud (38) 2nd Ken Watson (36) 3rd Craig Cameron (35)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 15th Chris Priems BallPin No 2 – 15th Andrew Petricola

About the only place to find more ins and outs would have to be a honeymooner’s bedroom! There were dickey knees, leaky roofs, changed circumstances and just plain forgot. At the start of the day, we ended up just about where we started with fifteen of the best (although the latter term is used rather loosely) wondering whether they had made the right decision as the mist continued to settle just enough to constitute a bit of a nuisance, and needing the umbrellas to be unfurled. A couple of times it intensified just enough to be called rain, but fortunately, any such events did not last for long. There were a couple of puddles around that could have resulted from earlier showers, or maybe the sprinklers had been used as well. The course was in fine condition and the greens were smooth with not a lot of leaf litter to brush away. With conditions so favourable, it then begs the question as to why we were only able to score a single birdie for the day.

SOS took on the task of marshalling the troops, and he valiantly tried to keep things in balance as the withdrawals and additions rolled in. JQ rocked up, and SOS searched for his name from the list that he had. Not there, but as he was keen to play, and there was a slot available, SOS was able to fit him into the field. Now, has John been fitting in some sneaky practice, or was he just still on a high after a successful day at the races. Whatever it was, he managed to come home with a net score of 68, thus minimising the damage to his handicap, although he did have a bit of a whinge about the winner’s penalty that he would have to take. The second hole was a bit of a nemesis for a number of people today, and it didn’t start off too flash for JQ either. His drive barely made it past the red markers and finished out on the 6th fairway. The second was cracked fairly well down the 6th and the third finished just off the 2nd green. A simple chip-in made the unlikeliest of pars. As they say in the classics, it’s not how, it’s just how many!

BrentL is back from his visit to the North, and his first stroke (and hole) suggested that he might be a bit rusty. However, he soon settled down and started putting together a reasonable round. It was helped more than somewhat by some good short game, and one putt in particular played a part. His birdie attempt on the 14th was solidly struck, hit the pin dead centre, spun around the hole and finished about 50mm past. A few millimetres right or left could have finished off the green, and half a ball width either way would have left a longish putt back. Ryan’s round was epitomised by his shot into the 15th which landed and spun back to finish 4.83m from the hole, which was just enough to qualify for the Double Jackpot ProPin. He can apparently thank the fact that he wasn’t using a ProV1, which, he reckons, would have spun back off the green. SOS started out well enough, and made par on the first three of the back, but then he ‘faded’ just a little, so that, he too, finished his round with a net score of 70, to share the second place honours.

Keith doesn’t seem to have let his televisual notoriety go to his head, as he has been featuring in the results on a reasonably regular basis in recent times. Today was no exception, and, except for a couple of quads, he could have been much further up the pecking order. The pars proved elusive for Pepsi today, although he did manage to score our only birdie on the 16th hole. This gave him a share of third spot with a score of 71. Craig played a very balanced round with a pair of forty-ones for his score of 73 and fourth place on his own. Dale (Spiderman) was awarded fifth place with his score of 76 once Matt managed to get somebody to read Dale’s spidering.

The first BallPin was on the 12th, and there was something of a contest, with SOS managing to edge out Pepsi for the ball. The second was on the 18th, as usual, and it could easily have been a jackpot, if it had not been for ChrisV who managed to stay on the green and get his name on the chit.

Harry was a bit cheesed with the course management for having extended the teeing area on the second, which allowed them to place the red markers further forward that they used to be. As a result, his heavily ‘sconed’ drive did not make the grade, even though it was past the ‘old’ tee-box. Targe also had some problems with the positioning of the reds on the second, as he went on to accumulate a score well into double figures for the hole. Dale owned up to having played a shot between his own legs on the 8th, but it was not recorded whether this was from the tee or not. Bob had his fair share of troubles today. Although his buggy did not break down, Bob almost did when it capsized as he tried to negotiate his way out of one of the grass bunkers by the 14th green. He also had a lot of problems with ‘crooked’ tees until SOS was able to come up with a ‘straight’ one and teed his ball up for him. Mattie was in ‘shorts’ today, not only from a sartorial point of view. It seems that he left a fairly large number of putts just 30mm or so short of the hole. Harry’s ‘shorts’ were considerably longer, sometimes reaching as far as 2m.

Results for Saturday, 08 January 2022
1st John Quinlan (68) 2nd Brent Loeskow (70) 2nd Ryan Porker (70) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan (70) 3rd Keith Delzoppo (71) 3rd Andrew Petricola (71) 4th Craig Cameron (73) 5th Dale Webb (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Keith Delzoppo (71) 2nd Craig Cameron (73) 3rd Harry Boughen (77)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 – 12th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Vinecombe