The humidity was so high you could almost cut the air with a knife. And, as the fog and low cloud cleared away, the sun really began to bite and by the end of the round some players were struggling to make it up the last hill to the 18th green. Chrispy could probably blame the after effects of his Australia Day celebrations. Mal and Rod probably put it down to advancing age while Darklands Dennis was just relieved that the cricket and soccer are out of the way and the footy hasn’t started (yet) giving him a chance to get out for a game or two. As for the other thirteen members who braved the conditions, or didn’t go away for the long weekend, they just grinned and bore it in the hope of playing some reasonable golf.
And, obviously, there was no reason not to play good golf if the score-lines that came in are any guide. Noodles’ new year resolution still holds good although it seems that a series of three putt greens on the front nine required a bit of teeth clenching to maintain the focus on the job in hand. The grip seems to have relaxed on the back nine and the putts began to fall and the score began to mount as the result of a ten stroke differential between the two halves. In the end, a total of 42 points was enough to take the day though Noodles did express the view that 50 was a possibility if the flat stick had worked on the front.
On the other hand, John went gang-busters on the front nine and looked set to continue the blitz on the back but a bit of a wobble set in from the 14th to the 16th where three singletons took just a little of the shine off a bottom line of 41 points. John had been going point for point with Jason as they agonised over who could least afford to win and take the winner’s penalty. As it turned out the banter was all for naught and Noodles took the blow on their behalf. Darklands was also wishing for somebody to come in and take first place so that he would avoid the penalty. He got his wish but dropped more points because of his relegation to third place.
Jason has been working hard at his game with practice and games during the week and his dedication continues to pay off with another round that ended up delivering just a little less than it promised. Matt H played a very consistent hand with 19 points on each half and he too bemoaned a few chances left out there. Harry got three birdies today although only two of them would count to the Eclectic because one of them was of the actual feathered variety. No wildlife was actually injured though and the total count for the birdies that mattered was 14.
SOS, by his own admission, hasn’t really been in the race of recent times and so he was pretty pleased to both play to his handicap and to score his first point for this competition year. There were a few holes with room for improvement and so it might be that we see more of SOS on or about the podium in weeks to come. Just out of the main points, but sneaking in for another point in the Senior’s Championship, was Simon who seems pretty pleased with his front running at this stage of the year.
The BallPin today was on the 4th and once again, somebody in the first group put it close and shut the rest of the field out. The man of the moment to collect a ball was Mal who tried valiantly to follow a pretty speccy round on Thursday but he might just have wilted a little in the heat. The mobile ProPin was on the 12th and Chrispy was able to keep his head down enough to put his ball to 4.5m and collect the cash on offer. The ProPin on the 18th needed a shot to the top shelf and, as has been often the case, the target eluded the field and so there will be a Double Jackpot Pool up for grabs next week.
While on the subject of Chrispy, his backside has been a-peeling but it’s certainly not appealing. After a particularly unsatisfying second hole, he knocked his ball into the cup and couldn’t be bothered (or wasn’t able) to bend down to pick it out and so a rather bemused following group speculated, remarkably correctly as it turned out, as to what had happened. SteveK did try to claim that it was actually his ball that had gone into the hole without anyone noticing but that did not explain the ‘extra’ ball on the green that he was standing next to at the time.
Harry was bent down teeing his ball on the 15th when a call of ‘Fore’ came from the 14th. Rather than move and make a larger target, Harry stayed put and the ball landed a metre or so away and bounced harmlessly over head and ran down the hill and settled in a puddle on the path. Rob arrived, full of apologies and was searching for his ball on the tee box but had to have it pointed out that he had parked his buggy almost on top of the ball and that he must have just about stepped on it in the process. Maybe something was distracting Rob because he scored the wrong person on the card for about five holes. Fortunately, the error was discovered in time, and he had been using a pencil, so an eraser was all that was needed. Pepsi wasn’t quite so lucky in avoiding a errant ball and took a rap on the ankle at the practice green after Steve ‘shanked’ a chip. Shankfully, Chrispy was virtually shank free although he did own to a couple and Rod reckons he caught the disease from Chris.
Dale had a round of ups and downs but not necessarily the usual golfing variety. One of the ‘downs’ was on the 15th when he sprayed his drive into the shrubbery and it bounced off a tree out into knee-deep kikuyu. He left his bag after a brief search and went back to the tee to re-load. A low vicious slice was saved from a similar fate in the long grass by hitting his bag dead centre. That put paid to any scoring hope on that hole. However, one of his ‘ups’ came shortly after on the 17th when his attempt to drive to the green strayed across onto the 18th. He then lobbed it up over the trees and the chain-wire fence to a metre and a half from the hole and sank the putt for what turned out to be a pretty simple birdie and probably the ‘up and down’ of the round.
There are still one or two people who have not paid their subscription for this year so, if it has slipped your mind, it would be nice to get it fixed up as soon as possible. Just a quick bank transfer into the Club account is all that is required. And, just in case you don’t know, the Club sub is $30 and, if you have GolfLink with us, the total is $120.
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Results for Saturday, 27 January 2018
1st Stephen Butterfield(42) 2nd John Quinlan(41) 3rd Dennis Tiernan(39) 4th Harry Boughen(38) 4th Jason Hopkins(38) 4th Matt Hunt(38) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(36)
Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Tiernan (39) 2nd Harry Boughen (38) 3rd Simon Powell (34)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Chris Priems ProPin No 2 18th Jackpot BallPin 4th Malcolm Fleming