Another lovely day out on the course. The cool change was still pretty much in effect but, once the sun got up above the tree-line, those cold-blooded ones who needed an extra layer to start were soon able to relieve themselves of it. The little bit of rain that came with the change has done little to soften the fairways and there was plenty of run to be had for those that don’t make all of their distance through the air. There were 21 members on the tees today and, following on from some discussions after the round, a quick count showed that nine of them have a handicap of 10 or less. The old-timers don’t recall such a large number of members on single figures in the Club at the one time. Something else for the guardian of the database to ponder in his spare time.
Chrispy was back on deck this week and, after the stellar scoring last week, he was pleased to see that he had been able to drag the playing standard back to his level so easily. Except, of course, for Targe who has been known to complain about being hard done by on the handicapping front. But, today, he proved that he really is better than a bogey golfer by coming in with +3 in a game format that is probably not his favourite (along with just about everybody else in the Club). And especially when it is combined with the Yellow Ball Teams. Championship and Seniors points to the Club Captain.
On the subject of Yellow Ball Teams, there were a few who managed to return their ball to the tee marshall and the best of those were Team Pepsi, Mal and Rod who managed to put together a total for the team of +1 and collect a ball each for their efforts. The two teams that lost their ball had sort of similar stories to tell in that the person losing the ball was the only one to have scored a plus with it up to that point and both claimed that, if anybody had a right to lose it, they did as a result of that fact. On a question of rules relating to the YBT event, if the ball goes out of bounds, but is found, it is still out of the event, as the requirement is that the yellow ball player finish the hole legally (according to the rules of golf) with the yellow ball. An exceptional case would be if no provisional ball had been played and the yellow ball had been retrieved from OOB and had been taken back to the tee (or other playing place) to be replayed (with the appropriate penalties). For interest, the YBT wins will be totalled on the Handicap Sheet but will not attract any Championship points.
Zimmer’s team was doing quite well and was +3 when Zim took the yellow ball on the 14th. He judged the pin placement and decided that it was within his range and, in order not to over-shoot, that he should tee up behind the tee markers within the allowed two club lengths. In the pic, you can see, the tee peg, the ball and the blue markers (unfortunately the divot some distance behind the tee peg is out of frame). For the first time in the Club history somebody has not even made it to the blue, let alone the red, without having a complete air shot. This was really the draughtie to beat all draughties. Even the one down to Simon on the 11th which ended almost back on the spot from which it departed courtesy of an intervening tree branch (and quite a small one at that) that flung it back whence it came with the ultimate of disdain. At least Simon’s had some chance of going somewhere. Despite the team going backwards for the rest of the round, Zimmer was able to finish the round with a +1 on the card.
There were rumours swirling around the course that Gordon was on fire and that a call to FES might be in order for an extinguisher to hose him down. It does seem, though, that there might have been a little exaggeration involved, as the dizzy heights that were rumoured did not appear on the card. But, on the day, the square result for the old square was enough to gather third place and some valuable points in both sides of the Championship.
Mal was an obvious contributor to the success of his YBT and, on a day not noted for high scoring, his card of -2 was a pretty good result to keep his total in both sides of the Championship ticking over. John and Chris rounded out the points getters with their cards of -3 apiece.
The BallPin today was on the 7th hole and for once the tee markers were well down to the front of the tee area so the green was well within the reach of everybody. There is no tally of how many actually finished on the green from the tee but the one who finished closest was Zimmer. It obviously wasn’t close enough to score the birdie and, for whatever reason, the low scoring was also reflected in the birdie count with only 10 tallied for the day. The poor old eagle is never going to get a family going at this rate as the nest was raided again today with Pepsi collecting ‘half’ a ball for his on the 17th. It was close to having to be a draw for it as SOS left a 1m putt for his eagle teetering on the brink of the hole and he had to settle for his birdie. Mehmet’s drive on the 17th finished about 300mm from the hole (plug) where the hole had been placed for the last couple of weeks. Mehm was rather irate that the ground-staff had had the temerity to shift it when he had aimed for where he thought it would still be. Noodless to say, the concept of an eagle putt reaching the hole was beyond the realms of possibility.
While on the subject of Noodles, the ProPin was on the 12th and our favourite flanneled fool was spot on for length and only 2.32m off line from the pin and when he get back from scoring his undoubted century there will be a heap of dosh waiting to be collected. As it so often does, his mind was obviously elsewhere when he marked his card, put the pencil in his mouth and promptly pulled out his cigarette lighter and went to light up. Graphite would probably be a bit hard to ‘draw-back’ through.
Ryan started off pretty well with his new handicap and managed the front nine not too far off the pace. At some point, his game went off rather suddenly and it seemed to correspond with one of his playing partners mentioning Megan Gale in some context or other and other things started to occupy his fertile mind and that could easily have interfered with his golf stroke. Rob is on record as wanting to get his handicap down by at least four strokes this year so we can look forward to some good results from him. He also reckons his team was trying desperately to lose the Yellow Ball today but they just kept finding it. That’s not the spirit Rob!
The Birthday Birdie will be tired out this week with a swag of wishes to deliver. Tony doesn’t play with us any more and doesn’t have internet but Targe will undoubtedly pass on our best to his bro. Robert will also be lighting up the candles this week as will StephenK. Have a happy day chaps from all of us.
The Membership subscriptions are coming in but there are still quite a few out-standing and we really would like to get this sorted as soon as possible. Also don’t forget, the Matchplay rounds will be starting in March and, if you definitely don’t want to be involved, please register your wishes so that we don’t seed you into the first round unnecessarily.
Results for Saturday, 16 January 2016
1st Targe Mifsud(+3) 2nd Kazim Akdag(+1) 3rd Gordon Hill(□) 4th Malcolm Fleming(-2) 5th John Quinlan(-3) 5th Chris Vinecombe(-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (+3) 2nd Gordon Hill (□) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 7th Kazim Akdag
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Andrew Petricola