The weather could not have been kinder to the twenty-one members and one guest who took to the field today. The staff had been up at sparrow’s and the greens were freshly mowed so there were few excuses to be had for not scoring low though, it must be said, there were a few low scores returned. Now, before you get your backwards all forwards, the competition today was Stableford and so low scores get high scores and vice versa. If that makes sense.
So, it is a bit grim when a member hands in a card on which he played to his handicap for him to be told sorry, that doesn’t get a point. And, one of the reasons for that was that el Presidente, JohnQ, beat his personal best by five strokes and coasted home with a total of 46 points to leave most of the rest of the field in his dust. Chrispy reckoned he was getting RSI from having to write threes on the card so John very kindly scored a four pointer on the 17th to give him some relief. What made it worse for Chris was the fact that his sump plug had fallen out completely and he was putting gashes on his own side of the card (some of the time, anyway).
Dale also had a round of doing nothing much wrong and he was Clubhouse leader for a little while. He was noticed to heave something of a sigh of relief when news of John landed so that he wouldn’t get the winners penalty even if there were a few less points as a result. Dennis had also been Clubhouse leader for some time (he was in the first group) and his result could have been somewhat better with a total of four lost balls for the round. Two on the 13th when his tee shot finished in the right hand hazard. His penalty shot over the hazard and trees went so well that it finished in the hazard on the other side of the fairway which resulted in a casual walk to the green.
CraigC made a bit of a come-back today and showed that a break from the course hadn’t done him any harm though he did admit to having played around a bit – I mean having played a few rounds. Mal filled out the fifth position with a small break of his new handicap and showed that there is life in the old dog yet. And the result could have been even better if he hadn’t had a run in with three trees on the one fairway (well not exactly ‘on’ the fairway) and a couple of other little aberrations.
There was a Jackpot ProPin on the 12th from last week and the pin was tucked into the far right corner of the green (again). As a result, nobody got within the required 5m distance and so there will be a Double Jackpot next week. Actually, somebody did get within 5m, but Porks couldn’t claim the pool because he wasn’t on the green. He did get the birdie though and in the process he contributed to the total of 19 for the day, which is a pretty respectable total. The BallPin was on the 15th and there was a bit of a contest that was won by Brent. The ProPin on the 18th was even more fiercely contested. In the first group, Simon eased out Dennis by a margin that varies from a few millimetres to a few inches depending on who you listen to. But the prize went to Craig who managed to put it to 40cm.
The Birthday Birdie has a small job to do this week and he will be hunting down Noodles later in the week to make sure that he has a swiping good time for his special day.
Targe has been getting pretty familiar with the pumping system beside the 9th fairway. His drive from the 1st was just by the pump-house while that from the 9th ended in the enclosure around the valve set. When said drive looked as if it might have finished under the big deciduous tree on the left side, Ed reckoned that there was enough room for a full swing under there (even more so for Targe!)
Brendon didn’t have much of a day, even his playing companions felt sorry for him. On one hole, he had his ball ‘stolen’ with a far inferior ball left in its place. On another hole, as he lined up his putter behind the ball he touched it and it moved although, apparently, Brendon was the only one who noticed. Plus he also had lots of problems with trees interfering with the flight of his ball.. As Chrispy said, it wasn’t a day for ‘good’ golfers. Perhaps that is why Chris could be heard proclaiming his displeasure from one end of the course to the other.
Bob also had a few words to say and there is a move afoot to count the blasphemies to see whether he uses more than he takes strokes. Another person who perhaps had a reason to swear, but there are no reports as to whether he did or not, was Jason, who left a putt about 50mm from the hole, and who went to ‘tap’ it in whereupon the ball did not move from its spot.
Next week will be our first GrandPar event for the year. They are scheduled for any month when there are two ‘Club” Par rounds in a month. The idea is that, if you win a hole without using all of your strokes you score extra points for the remaining strokes. So, if you have a stroke on a hole and you birdie the hole you score +2. This will require some concentration, particularly if you are playing inside as well as that will be a standard Par event and so it is possible that your scores will be different.
The AGM is scheduled for the week after. If you have a hankering to be involved in the management of the Club you can nominate for any position on the Committee by downloading and printing a nomination form from the website (under Forms on the side-bar) and strong-arming a couple of your mates to nominate and second your nomination. Any current Committee member who is planning to stand down it would be handy if you could persuade a replacement to stand or at least let the President or Secretary know of your intentions.
After next week’s round, the seeding for the Matchplay will be done in preparation for the start of the event the week after. If you do not want to be included in the seeding for any reason, please advise by using the Registration Form as soon as possible so that the draw is as ‘clean’ as possible and all contestants intend to abide by the Rules of the competition. The most important one is that, if a pairing have not played or advised an agreed result by the end of play on the closing date of the round, both contestants will be eliminated. Please talk to each other. Phone numbers and emails are on the Contacts/Member Directory. As a hint, the security question still includes the sand trap that used to be on the 1st fairway.
Results for Saturday, 17 February 2018
1st John Quinlan(46) 2nd Dale Webb(44) 3rd Dennis Ward(40) 4th Craig Cameron(38) 5th Malcolm Fleming(37)
Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (40) 2nd Craig Cameron (38) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (37)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Jackpot ProPin No 2 18th Craig Cameron BallPin 15th Brent Rowley