It was a day that you could only dream about. The temperature was mild so no need for jackets and no sweaty armpits afterwards. The sky was overcast so no need for squinting and sunglasses (for some, at least). The breeze was a zephyr so nothing to blame for the shot drifting off line or pulling up short. Nothing to blame but yourself. So, there were twenty blameless souls out and about to contest for not much more than the points and the glory. And, from the merry band of musketeers, there emerged three who swept all before them to share the honours in first place. D’Artagnan, Athos and Porthos – er, make that Simon, Steve and Ryan, emerged from the pack with virtually identical cards with 22 points on the front and 21 points on the back for a grand total of 43, which is pretty darned impressive in anybody’s books. And, to make sure that they keep trying to improve, they each have a nice new handicap for next week.
Not very far behind, and could have taken them out if the near slam-dunk on the 17th had happened, was none other than Zimmer who is making like he is coming back into form with 42 points when it was all tallied up. He certainly laid into it on the 14th with his drive running up and across the 15th tee to finish just short of the new path and steps on the front face of the mound. The fact that he managed a par on the hole from there says heaps about how well he was going.
Then there was a bit of a break back to a group of four likely lads with scores of 39 apiece. Mehmet is keeping up the early pace towards his aim of getting a minor placing every week for the season. He was joined by Harry and Pepsi. Oh, and of course, not forgetting Damo who managed to get himself out of bed this week to take advantage of the break in the cricket season. Seems it will be the last we see of him until early March.
JohnQ came in next with 37 points and he seemed to be none the worse for wear after nearly being clobbered by one of his playing partners on the 17th green. A couple of points further back was DennisW who took his handicap cut last week well into his stride though the start was a bit shaky with a run of double bogies that went virtually unbroken until he had a birdie on the 6th. As an aside, the Birthday Birdie neglected to mention Dennis’s special occasion that occurred in the last week
While on the subject of birdies, we managed to rack a swag of them today with a total of 19 of which Pepsi managed quite a few. That means that he has jumped even further ahead in the Eclectic table and now has near enough to a three stroke lead. But, it does get harder and harder to improve as time goes by so keep the heads down and he can be caught. One man who did improve his Eclectic score today was Gordon who played his tee shot on the 14th out onto the 16th fairway and then proceeded to pitch it over the trees onto the green with one bounce into the hole for the first ‘official’ (pink square on the table) eagle of the season. Unfortunately the unofficial one a couple of weeks back had cleaned out the nest and there was a solitary ball there for the taking.
The BallPin was set for the 12th hole and, for the second week in a row, Pepsi collected a ball for his trouble which is more than he would have done if that hole had been the BallPin last week. The jackpot ProPin was on the 18th and the ground staff had picked a challenging spot well to the back of the upper shelf of the green. Over half of the field had been through and the green was still clear but Mehmet saved the day and put it close enough to get his name on the card and collected the loot for his empty (his words) hip pocket.
Michael seemed a little disconsolate as he plodded down the 16th to his 14th tee shot but the scorecard suggested that, by that stage, he should have been pretty happy with his lot. Perhaps a bad trot on the tail end of the front nine took a while to wear off despite some more consistent scoring. Pepsi also took the front nine to warm up before running his string of birdies together on the back. There should have been one more but a buzzing fly around the green on the 17th caused him to miss the eminently gettable 1m putt for the birdie. At least that is his excuse.
Damo had a pretty good round despite (or maybe because of) his time away from the clubs while discharging his fatherly duties. One of the highlights was the rattling in of a 13m putt. Blighty also managed one of those (or even longer) from just off the green on the 17th which brought him some joy on a day that had not favoured the flat stick.
Don’t forget that subs are now due. Bank transfer is preferred but please put your name or some identifier on the ‘to account’ so that Hon Treas knows who it is from. Can those that did a transfer in the last week and did so anonymously please get in touch (and provide proof to eliminate false claims) so that the records can be straightened out.
Also time to get your thoughts together about the Matchplay Competition for this year. Everybody will be seeded based on their most recent three rounds prior to the March Monthly Medal. If you notify that you do not want to take part you will not be included in the seeding. If you are seeded, please be aware that the deadlines will be strictly applied and no correspondence will be entered into. If you cannot play your scheduled match within the time-frame allocated for any reason, please have the courtesy to advise your opponent and forfeit the match.
The following has been chosen at random from Decisions on the Rules of Golf. Q: A Player’s ball comes to rest close to the putting green and he wishes to use his putter for his next stroke. However, there is a divot hole just in front of his ball on his line of play. May the player replace the divot before playing his next stroke? A: No. Rule 13-2 prohibits a player from improving his line of play by eliminating an irregularity of surface.
Results for Saturday, 09 January 2016
1st Stephen Kelly(43) 1st Ryan Porker(43) 1st Simon Powell(43) 2nd Kazim Akdag(42) 3rd Mehmet Akdag(39) 3rd Harry Boughen(39) 3rd Damien Lee(39) 3rd Andrew Petricola(39) 4th John Quinlan(37) 5th Dennis Ward(35)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (43) 2nd Harry Boughen (39) 3rd Dennis Ward (35)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Mehmet Akdag BallPin 12th Andrew Petricola
Eagle: 14th Gordon Hill