There are several things to note about this photograph. First, there is the exemplary position of the hands and club at the top of the backswing. Second, there is the location of the red (ladies) tee markers. Third, and this is not something that anybody would have expected, is the golfer involved. In case you don’t recognise the style, it is Constable SOS. Not that he was alone in having a draughtie. He had been preceded by David and was followed a little later, on the second tee, by Jan. Jan even went close to not getting past the men’s markers.
In case you are wondering, a draughtie is that ‘not quite a windie’ that costs you a draughtie for your mates.
Despite some shivering while waiting for the sun to struggle above the trees on the horizon, the day turned out to be quite a nice one in the scheme of things. The course was soft in places and the course management had declared preferred lies through the green. So, there really shouldn’t have been any excuses. But, other that a select few, by and large the field didn’t quite manage to play to their handicap.
Once again, it was Oliver who reigned supreme to snatch the medal by a stroke from Bill. And he was in the last group, so Bill had been sitting there for quite some time holding out hopes for the ultimate prize. On the way to his victory, Oliver also delivered something of a hiding to Dennis in their matchplay round. It was all over by the 11th at 9 and 7. Then Dennis started to play and the result could have been quite different if he had started out that way.
Despite his less than auspicious start to the round, PC SOS pulled his socks up and managed to match his handicap. A better score on the first could have made all the difference. Chrispy, Damo and Quack, who also made a creditable comeback from a shaky start, filled fourth spot with a couple of old stagers, Harry and Bob, filling the last of the points.
Speaking of points, Oliver has now matched Damo and there are a few others straining at the leash to make their run for the Championship now that the season is just past the half way point. It is also fairly tight at the top of the table in the Seniors with Oliver alone in top spot, but not by much.
Speaking of Oliver, he also got his name on the marker for the nearest the pin on the 15th (thought it was supposed to be the 18th) and Harry lined up again for the ProPin money on the 12th. The group behind tried to break his heart by suggesting that he had been beaten by a centimetre but it was all hot air. Chrispy has promised that there will be a tape measure available for next week. The birdie count was thirteen and the eagle was allowed to rest for another week.
As a matter of interest there were also thirteen scores of 8 or more plodded, which seems to be a fairly large number compared to a normal week. One of the mega-scores was down to Ben on the 13th where he set what is believed to be a Club record of six (yes 6) putts. Brendon also put in a sterling effort on one hole to rack up four. Three putts, while bad, don’t rate a mention in the scheme of things. Noodles also had a couple of moments and it was observed that his B-player was doing much better than his A-player after errant shots required him to re-load off the tee on the 14th and the 16th.
The arrangements for the Club Challenge in November are coming along well according to Ben with everybody having paid their deposits. There is an option for an extra night accommodation on the Sunday but you have to let him know as soon as possible as he has to finalise the accommodation requirements within two weeks.
The arrangements for implementing the changeover of members to out own GolfLink register are progressing and an update will be posted and an e-mail circulated later in the week when a last couple of details are finalised.
We had three guests along today. Mostyn Gregg put in his second card and Sinan Cekuc put in his first. Another guest, Bernard, played a casual round.
Next week is the last week scheduled for the second round of the matchplay and there are still a few to be played. If you think you should be granted more time an approach to the president would be in order and an extra week or so might be granted. Otherwise, if you can’t fit in that, a forfeit by the one unable to present is the appropriate action.
The player statistics page has been updated so that you can check how you have been going over the past little while.
A new chart has been added like the one shown at the left though the ones on the stats page wont have the pretty coloured lines on them.
The idea of this chart is that it indicates how you are going relative to your average score over the period of time covered by the record shown.
If your line is running horizontal (more or less) then you are playing at or about your average score. In this chart these times are indicated by the thick red lines.
If you have been consistently playing worse that your average, then the chart will trend downhill and the steeper the line, the worser the performance. This is indicated by the thick yellow lines.
And of course, if you are playing better than your long term average, the line will trend up as indicated by the thick blue line. You’ll have to imagine your own thick lines but hopefully you won’t be too thick to do that. Hope you find it useful. And all you have to do is work out what it was that changed in your game when your trends changed direction and fix it. Just do it!
Results for Saturday, 08 June 2013
1st Oliver Gross(66) 2nd Bill Eastoe(67) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(68) 4th David Howard(70) 4th Damien Lee(70) 4th Chris Priems(70) 5th Harry Boughen(71) 5th Bob McDonald(71)