Maybe it was the shortest day of the year (or even the first day of winter if you follow the idea of a solar calendar) but the scoring wasn’t that fantastic. Half the field was in and -7 was still in the points. Maybe the conditions improved as the day progressed but the best scoring was reserved for the later groups. Certainly, some parts of the course were pretty soggy and there has been some significant damage by carts in places. Looks like someone even got bogged. The management have issued guidelines but just maybe there should be a ban.
Eventually, somebody did come in in positive territory and the points cut-off ended up being a slightly more respectable -3. The glory was shared in the end with Whitey and Ryan being the ones to beat with +1 apiece. Well done to Ryan who has now racked up his first win with the Club so it will be onwards and upwards from here on in.
Mehmet was pretty happy with his square card as it garnered him 5 points and did absolutely no harm to his handicap. Always have to be happy about that. Following closely behind was a veritable bevy of talent including Noodles, Mozzy, Gordo and ChrisV who all had their fair share of misses on the card. Gordo was pretty happy with a couple of birdies that helped to improve his Eclectic just that little bit.
Mozzy didn’t do anything to improve his total in the June Bonus Trophy event and although there were some moves in the ranks there is still a bit of work to do to catch him. If SOS can come in from night shift again and put together a 40 pointer he can snatch it away. Plenty of sleep doesn’t seem to have done him any good today. Some of the other mathematical possibilities are rather more complicated.
Next bus off the rank another point behind was our Craig who was heard having a bit to say about the course of the game. Who’s not surprised then?
The last little group was made up of Bill, Ed and Chrispy. For the umpteenth time, Ed’s points calculation was not up to scratch so he didn’t rate a mention at the call of the card. Bill was noticed jumping up and down on the 17th after he missed the eagle by the narrowest of margins. There was some concern that the activity could put his knee into jeopardy. The birdie wasn’t really necessary for his Eclectic but the other two on the 4th and the 15th were enough the get him the full hand. The only way he can improve now is to start getting eagles or for his handicap to move out. There are a couple of people who only need a couple more birdies to mount a challenge while a lot still have a fair bit to do between now and the end of the year.
The ProPin was on the 12th. As seems to happen with great frequency when there is a Jackpot up for grabs, the person to get his name on the marker was Ed. Though there was some confusion about the marking of the marker. Was it the Beast or was it Mr Ed? Fill it out properly folks. And try to leave the marker somewhere obvious as it seems that quite a few groups didn’t notice it where it was.
AndrewH played his first full comp today and despite (or maybe because of) a fair bit of chiacking at the first tee about how well the handicapper had treated him, he proceeded to lose balls at a furious pace and by the end of the round was hoping for an eagle to make up his losses.
There were a few shots that were classified as the sort of thing that beats class. Gordon chipped in from way out on the 7th for a birdie. On the 3rd (maybe it was something to do with the alignment of the planets), Chrispy had hit one of his wild ones that was heading for the Yarra but it hit a tree and finished a metre or so from the hole.
The preferred lie rule was in place and everybody was doing the right thing and marking the ball position while cleaning and drying the projectile. All well and good, but what happens when you forget where your marker is. Just ask Bob. Five minutes of concentrated searching by the whole group turned up nothing.
Notionally, the matchplay competition is supposed to be finalised next week. Obviously, there is no chance that that is going to happen so the committee is inclined just to let it run until people can get together to play. However, in any future competition, the deadlines will be strictly enforced and no correspondence will be entered into. Despite the current competition not being finished, it is being planned to run another sudden death matchplay event and some rules for selection and execution will be formulated over the next week or so.
We also have access to a session at a golf simulator at Coburg and it is planned to raffle this, probably at the July Monthly Medal. Up to four people can play the simulator and there is a wide selection of world famous courses available.
The Orange Ball Teams Event didn’t eventuate today, mainly due to a lack of balls (on somebody’s part) and this will now happen on the next Par event which will be the 12th July.
Results for Saturday, 21 June 2014
1st Ryan Porker(+1) 1st Rodney White(+1) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(□) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(-1) 3rd Mostyn Gregg(-1) 3rd Gordon Hill(-1) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-1) 4th Craig Sharp(-2) 5th Bill Eastoe(-3) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-3) 5th Chris Priems(-3)