Winter is coming on and the prospect of staying under the doona when the Bureau is forecasting showers and possible sleet can be very tempting. One person who did succumb this morning was none other than Hon Treas, Brendon, who apparently surfaced at or about tee time and rang in to see what the state of play was. When told that the second of four groups was about to tee off he decided to cancel but somehow the message got garbled and the last group waited patiently, for a while at least, in the expectation of seeing Brendon arrive in his jimjams if not with a towel wrapped around.
As a result only twelve members lined up for the fray though the numbers were swelled a little by the presence of Ben’s mate Ozkan (call me Oz) and Bob whose playing partners also chickened out for what turned out to be a pretty nice day with the showers holding off (as predicted by the Bureau) until after lunch.
How often does it happen? New kid on the block comes in and starts stealing trophies off the old-timers. Well ChrisV did it today. Talking about what a tricky little course it was and how he had played it five times and was still trying to work out its secrets. Hate to think what sort of scores will come in when he does work them all out. Seriously though, a great round, and welcome to your new , lower handicap after turning in a nett 61 from a 75 off the stick.
Damo continues to be undismayed by his ever decreasing handicap to come under again today and score yet another cut. If he keeps this up, he’ll be challenging Pepsi for the low handicap crown. He couldn’t hang around for the presentations as he had to rush off to the Corporate Boxes at some football game or other. Wonder how his team went?
Ed announced before tee-off that he wouldn’t be putting in a card for his GolfLink handicap, a sure sign that he was feeling confident about his chances. In the event he managed to play to his handicap and come in in third spot to collect some points and keep the Championship points ticking over. Not sure if the pigeon season is going to interfere with his form but he didn’t seem to appreciate the questions about suitable recipes.
A little group of good players out of luck came in next in the persons of Gordon, Ryan and Chrispy. Chris had a good old whinge about having to sit around for so long for the second group to come in but a group of three quickfire players is bound to travel faster than a deliberate four. Ryan was making a fair fist of his round until ChrisV put the mockers on him at about the 13th after a four pointer. Not a big enough slump to come under suspicion though.
Last but not least in the points table was old reliable Oliver who stumped up with a nice round 70 nett to get the last point of the day.
The preferred lie through the green did not seem to help with the birdie count as there was a paltry total of only three though there was some action on the eclectic front for those that did manage to score well. Preferred lies were (mostly) no help on the par 3s with nobody getting within the required distance on the 18th for the ProPin so it will be a Double Jackpot for next week so that really should encourage people to get themselves out of bed. The nearest the Pin on the 12th went to Oliver who overclubbed it a little to finish about 500mm past the hole right on line. Close but no cigar on the Eagle/HIO front.
A big welcome to Oz who seems keen to come back again. He can certainly hit the ball and a couple of aberrations were all that was between him and a very good round. ChrisV played some great golf but he also had his share of luck. His drive on the 11th looked for all money the be somewhere out on the 6th but turned up out in the middle of the home fairway with an easy shot into the green. Trees can be helpful. Damo’s 72 off the beater could easily have been sub-70 except for a mini choke on the home run with a couple of bogies.
Harry managed to run up a Great-Grand Pa(r) on one hole, a par 3 fortunately, though the toll could have been greater if one of the ricochets had hit his bag. Also good to see that the Treasurer has a succession plan in place. Brought his daughter along after the game to help take the money off the men. That’s what is called training them young!
Next week is the first week of the David Ford Autumn Cup one of our Major events for the year. Two weeks of Par, Oh how we love it! The cart bonus trophy was postponed from this week and will be run next week instead for a mere $5 entry fee. Other details on the next week details page. Also be prepared to come and play in June with another Bonus Trophy on offer with the details also on the said page.
Just a reminder, we do play according to the Rules of Golf and there can be no agreement under any circumstances to relax or waive those Rules. This applies for both those playing in our competition and in the inside competition. If anybody detects an infringement of this sort, it should be raised immediately with the offending parties so that the situation can be rectified or the appropriate disqualification can be enforced. If the question can’t be decided on the spot, the situation should be referred to a Rules official at the earliest opportunity for a ruling. This would most likely be one of the Course Professionals.
Results for Saturday, 03 May 2014
1st Chris Vinecombe(61) 2nd Damien Lee(66) 3rd Ed Kloprogge(68) 4th Gordon Hill(69) 4th Ryan Porker(69) 4th Chris Priems(69) 5th Oliver Gross(70)