To start off, our valiant Tee Marshall looked as if he was going to have to declare the second group the first group as the numbers were fairly light on the ground and it seemed that nobody wanted to be first cab off the rank. Maybe it was the arduous prospect of having to carry the marker pins all the way to the 12th and the 15th which were the nominated holes. In the end, Blighty (was) volunteered for the task and just to be sure, his playing partners were detailed to be sure to remind him at the appropriate time. As an extra precaution, the following group on the 11th green put in an additional reminder. Lo and behold when they reached the 12th green, the ProPin marker was nowhere to be seen. Safely ensconced in Blighty’s bag, it was. And what happened at the 15th? The following group had teed off and headed up the fairway to the green to spy none other that the big B walking across from the 16th tee with the NTP marker. Nuff said!
Not sure whether there was an isolated shower over the course overnight or whether the sprinklers had been in use but there was a bit of water lying around in places and there were quite a few wishes that preferred lies were the rule with muddied balls affecting (or in some cases not affecting) the run of the ball. Whether this was a contributing factor or not is hard to say, but the scoring didn’t really set the world on fire though the range of scores was remarkably small. So much so that everybody who played scored points. Then again, isn’t that what a handicapping system is supposed to do – level the playing field.
So, the big point scorers (and handicap losers) today were those two foreigners, Brendon and Oliver who came in with +1 apiece. Oliver was creaming his drives despite some back twinges but on the first couple of holes his short game let him down. Then he changed his putting style – he called it a paintbrush grip but not too many painters would own up to it perhaps. Whatever, it allowed him to pull off some pretty spectacular putts. One set some sort of a record by travelling further around the rim of the cup than it did straight along the ground – exceeded 360 by a fair margin! Brendon started off well on the front nine and managed to improve his eclectic tally but the strain was too much and he faded a little on the back.
There was a five way tie for 2nd place that required a score of -1. The happy quintet included Goroo, Bill, Mostyn, Damo and Harry. Actually, that’s Gordo but Chrispy’s tiny hand was frozen this morning and his ‘D’ looked more like an ‘O’ on the tee sheet. Gordo reckons Harry could have had a much better round as he counted four of the first seven holes missing a plus by the merest of a couple of inches. Damo was also chuffed to be scoring points without further murdering his handicap and, just in case you don’t already know, he is on 5.
Then there was a quartet of players just a point further back including Chrispy, MalA, SOS and ChrisV. Interestingly, three out of the four had a square nine on their card. Just missing out on the barber-shop quartet was Blighty who will not be missing out on the barber-shop as his trouble and strife had him booked in for the afternoon. Not sure whether Andrew is suffering some sort of mid-life crisis but he was heard discussing ways to get rid of grey hair. And last but not least, the only two players left, Targe and Ryan brought up the rear and collected the last point on offer.
After all of the kerfuffle with the pin markers both trophies did go off. Chrispy got close enough on the 12th to get his name on the board and reckoned he couldn’t believe that nobody else had managed it. There were others who got onto the green, just not close enough, and he collected almost enough dollars to offset his outlays with the Club today. Damo scored himself a ProV1 on the 15th. The birdie count wasn’t fantastic this week with only 7 being plodded. One of these had the Eagle shaking in its boots when Gordo chipped one that ran around the cup on the 17th and finished less than 100mm outside the hole after having had a very good look inside.
Today was week one of the June Bonus Trophy Event and there isn’t anybody with a run-away lead. For those of you that weren’t here today, you still have two weeks in which to register and pay your sub though the longer you leave it the fewer chances you have to get a good one in the mix. Despite some concerns the trophy was not left sitting on the wall outside the club-house but was securely tucked away inside out of harms way. And, just to clarify things, today’s scores will be converted to effective Stableford points by adding 36 to your points score. Next week, please keep your Stableford points score as well as your Stroke score.
During some discussions about gauging whereabouts on the green the pin was from the tee, it was opined that it was more difficult when Targe was in the group because he always looked further away than he really was.
Results for Saturday, 31 May 2014
1st Oliver Gross(+1) 1st Brendon Mitchell(+1) 2nd Harry Boughen(-1) 2nd Bill Eastoe(-1) 2nd Mostyn Gregg(-1) 2nd Gordon Hill(-1) 2nd Damien Lee(-1) 3rd Malcolm Adey(-2) 3rd Chris Priems(-2) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(-2) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-2) 4th Andrew Blight(-3) 5th Targe Mifsud(-4) 5th Ryan Porker(-4)