They’re back. After a period of hibernation due to cold and/or wet weather and footy finals, the members finally came out to play and there were 22 smiling faces to front the starter this morning. And, what a nice day it was. The sun was shining (mostly), the temperature was not too low, the course has dried out a bit and the maintenance staff have managed to get a bit of mowing done. The Cape Weed is in bloom so those that use a yellow ball take an extra risk as even the white ones can be hard to find when they nestle down amongst the succulent growth. Hopefully the mowers will get a full week to get the place all back under control.
The new water feature at the second was in full operation and the fountain in front of the tee will give you a free ball wash if you keep it low enough. Things got a bit out of hand though and the staff had to do a rush job when they were appraised of the fact that their hard won water was flushing down a drain into the already strongly flowing Yarra River.
So, with such nice conditions, there should have been great scoring all round. Weeelllll – that’s not quite the way it worked out for a large proportion of the field. But, for a small proportion of the field, the conditions suited to a tee and Targe was able to strike form with an 83 off the beater for a nett 65 to take the Medal for the month. With a major coming up next week perhaps not the best time to take a cut but, then again, Targe informs that he will be away in the Alice for the next few weeks so maybe that is why he threw caution to the wind.
The Beast obviously put his golfing holiday in China to good use and he played another good steady round to come within a whisker of capturing the top points two weeks in a row. A couple of stray shots from the tee on 16 and 17 could have been the difference. Or maybe it was the shock of almost walking into the flight of Stefan’s tee shot on the 11th which whistled by within inches and finished about 300mm short of the hole. As a result, Stefan, after nearly having scored a beast, had to settle for an eagle and went home with his arms full of eggs from the Eagle’s Nest. Our Sizzling Senior is now well in the lead in both the main Championship and the Seniors and it will be up to the juveniles in the club to catch him in the main event, if they can. Though, Bill will be off on another golfing holiday later in the month, but he will be here trying for the double points in the Fred Kitson over the next two seeks.
Next comes a bloke who has been having one of his better years for a bit of a while and, mostly, he doesn’t have a lot to say. He’s probably not in the running for the Championship but he is right up there in the Seniors and the person in question is Bobbie who came in along with Joe with a nett card of 67. Now, Joe, it seems, was not too happy with some of his equipment and he decided to teach it a lesson in how to swim. Not sure how far Joe had to strip down to get his club back.
Eagle-boy Belevski was next cab on the rank and, for a man who hasn’t been on deck too many times this year, he seemed awfully interested in how many Championship points he had scored with his placing. As well as his eagle, Stef managed to get a birdie on the 6th and contributed to the total of 7 birdies that the whole group were able to manage for the day. Michael spent the day worrying about the double birthday party that he has to organise and could only manage to score himself 5th place.
The ProPin today was on the 15th and CraigC managed to put his ball onto the green. Walking to the green, Craig opined that he was outside the 5m limit but, after some urging, he relented and took the tape to find that he was 4.89m from the hole. And, what is more, that was enough to collect the DoubleDollars for Medal Day. The BallPin has no such limitation and Harry’s shot on the middle of the top deck on the 18th (the pin was on the bottom deck) might have had a chance if it were not for Brendon who managed to put it within a couple of metres. He didn’t get the birdie but he still holds the lead in the Eclectic and the number of rounds available to hunt him down is rapidly declining.
DennisT joined us for the first time in a while today sporting some facial hair that we have not seen before. Dennis was so overcome by the fact that the footy season has finally ended that he stopped counting on the 15th. The other Dennis(W) is obviously a keen Doggies supporter and was wearing his members cap. The only problem was that it was the 2014 version. Maybe he is just a fairweather friend. He did have a bit of a highlight on the 15th when, after two very errant shots that left him not on the green, he chipped in for his par.
Lee Trevino is noted for claiming that not even God can hit a one iron – but Gord can! It seems that the trusty implement was put to good use again today. Rob sprayed his tee shot on the 13th out into the trees and finished with the ball resting on a tree root. The preferred lie offered little, if any, relief so Rob played it as it lay and did a mighty fine job of it in the process.
Rob might be going to take up poultry farming as he was overheard talking about counting his chickens. But, then again, it could be related to the wheels coming a bit loose after a good start on the front nine.
JohnQ was back on deck for the first time in a while. He was in a group with Brendon so it is a good bet that there was a fair amount of sussing out of form and likely strengths and weaknesses ahead of the big Matchplay shoot-out next week. They ended up with equal cards today so it is likely that they will be evenly matched. Zimmer was also back on deck now that the soccer season has finished and maybe playing with the big round ball has affected his game with the little round ball. He was heard pleading for a free shot at the back of the hazard on the 17th though it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
The warm day yesterday must have been enough to wake the snakes from hibernation as one was spotted near the ramp up to the 17th tee today. Doesn’t augur well for the summer.
The Birthday Birdie has one wish to pass on this week and that is to Snags who will undoubtedly share his cake with all of his regular passengers. Trevor’s do is on tomorrow and Trevor would probably love to see you even if you haven’t replied to his invitation.
Results for Saturday, 08 October 2016
1st Targe Mifsud(65) 2nd Bill Eastoe(66) 3rd Bob McDonald(67) 3rd Joe Wagenecht(67) 4th Stefan Belevski(70) 5th Michael Gourlay(73)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (65) 2nd Bill Eastoe (66) 3rd Bob McDonald (67)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 15th Craig Cameron BallPin 18th Brendon Mitchell
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 11th Stefan Belevski