There was a lot of angst about today as sixteen members and one visitor milled about before tee time discussing the pros and cons of the clubs that they chose to leave in their bag for the duration. Some were deciding by the end of the first hole that maybe they had made the wrong choice. Should have taken less loft to keep the ball below the wind. Should have taken more loft to get the ball to stay on the green. Should have, should have! And the wind was there and the rain held off almost to the very end. And, in the end, there wasn’t a lot of rain before everybody finished (or at all for that matter). So, you could say that a good day was had by all. Except that Mal had to dash off for an urgent call of nature that we all hope was something simple and not a portent of something more serious. Our visitor was none other that that long lost member of the Maltese Mafia, Tony, slightly taller, brother of Targe.
Now, it very often happens that people play in the three club challenge and go out and break their handicap. Which , surely, must prove something. Maybe it was the blustery conditions but it was not to be the case today. The best that we could manage has a still very commendable 35 points gathered together by Dale. And there is a very good chance that Dale could have had a break as he was noticed buying a round after the game. It transpires that, on the third, Dale’s drive hit the tombstone and bounced back over his head to be well and truly behind the red markers. However, his saving grace was apparently a putter ‘loaned’ to him by a mate that was sinking putts from all over. The mate is going to have a hard time getting it back if that is the case.
Just a point behind Dale with 34 was one of the Priems boys, Rob by name. After a bit of a shaky start, Rob put together a bit of a run of pars which probably got his hopes up a bit before the golf gods struck him down on the 8th. He must have made the correct sacrifices to them because he was rewarded with a birdie on the 11th for a massive four points. That birdie was one of just four that were returned for the day.
SOS wasn’t too happy about his choice of clubs on the first or the second or the third. However, he seems to have found his mojo after that and began racking up points at a good steady rate to finish the day with 32 and a spot on the 3rd podium level. He was supposed to share the spot with Chrispy but, yet another scorecard malfunction served to relegate Chris to fourth spot which he then had to share with Bob. Bob thinks that he might leave his driver at home from now on after putting in just as good a performance off the tee as he does with the heavier artillery.
And for a point, and they are not ashamed to take it, with 28 points were Porks and JQ. JQ had to dash off, probably to a footy match or the races or somesuch. Ryan hung around for a bit longer to hear his name mentioned in despatches before he, too, had to dash off for a very important luncheon date.
The BallPin today was on the 15th and the only thing on the card was a Mifsud which created a bit of confusion about which one until somebody realised that Tony was really Anthony and the name was A Mifsud. There were Jackpots to be had on the ProPins today and there were some offers of sharing any spoils. On the 12th, Jason managed to get his ball to 2.73m but there is no news on whether the pot was shared or not. On the 18th, the pin was, once again, on the ‘difficult’ top deck and with the gale force winds blowing across the fairway it seemed like there was a good chance that the pot might go begging again. However, Damo managed to finish his at 2.5m from the hole, having missed hitting the pin, and he seemed happy enough to be sharing the pot with his partners. For some reason though, Chrispy kept trying to give his share back.
Joe did manage to get a few good shots away, particularly off the tee, but the short game seemed to be a bit prone to the ‘shanks’. At one stage, Harry moved forward to his ball to have one of said shanks head very much in his direction. One of Joe’s lesser tee shots was off the 13th. Harry was so used to being shortest off the tee that he lined up and hit the first ball that he came to, only to be appraised of the fact that it was the wrong ball when Joe realised that he was looking at Harry’s, distinctively marked, ball rather than his own.
Yes, the wind was pretty much gale force. Yes, it did start to rain. Did the wind deter Jason from getting out his umbrella? In a word, no! And so you see the result of one very dead umbrella looking very much like some exotic bird with a broken wing fluttering around on the ground. Maybe Santa will bring a new one for Christmas.
And, while we are thinking of presents, the Birthday Birdie thinks he might know why SOS was left baby-sitting today. The family are probably off organising his birthday party for tomorrow. Have a good one , mate.
Not only was the wind so strong that it nearly blew Targe off his feet, it also blew his tee shot from the 14th way off course as well. That’s Targe’s story and he is sticking to it. But he did inspect three balls further down the 16th fairway before admitting to the fact that his was the ‘closest to the (16th) green’.
Ed wasn’t too happy with his game but he reckoned he would have made a bigger mess of it if he had more clubs to chose from and so he was happy – that it was the three club challenge, that is.
We all know that Bob played a bit of cricket so he might be expected to be able to recognise a cricketer when he sees one. But, to ask an expatriate from the USA (a well known cricketing nation) if he had played the game was perhaps stretching the friendship just a bit. Though it must be admitted that Joe does have a short backswing and a big follow through.
Results for Saturday, 14 April 2018
1st Dale Webb(35) 2nd Robert Priems(34) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(32) 4th Bob McDonald(31) 4th Chris Priems(31) 5th Ryan Porker(28) 5th John Quinlan(28)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (31) 2nd Harry Boughen (27) 3rd Ed Kloprogge (23)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Jason Hopkins ProPin No 2 18th Damien Lee BallPin 15th Tony Mifsud