Despite the prediction of fairways under water and a major dwarf tossing event, for those seventeen members who dragged themselves out from under the doona and made it to the course, the weather was really quite pleasant. It was a little cool but the gale force winds did not eventuate and with the course softened by a reasonable fall of rain over the last few days, it might have been expected that there was some good scoring to be had.
But, as it has turned out, a square card was all that was required to head up the leaderboard and there was a fair group of players that managed to squeeze themselves into that tight little spot.
Stef’s driver continues to work well though he was forced to lay up on the 5th to finish less than half a metre from the front of the green. This helped him to make the birdie (but he obviously missed the eagle chance – again) and he added one to the total of nine that we managed for the day. Chrispy tried to blind his opponents by putting his loud mouth (pants) on display again and, by remaining effectively shank free again, he managed to put himself into the top ranking as well. Not to be out-done by his better-looking bro (or is that the other way around), Rob was right up there as well though he only managed to par the 12th while his two playing companions managed birdies. In the true spirit of the PBSU, they all managed to lose the next hole. SOS is another one who no longer needs hankies because of his shankies and he also climbed to the heady heights of the top spot on the leader board.
Blighty felt a bit hard done by, having received a bit of a rubbishing from Matt about some of his shots and one putt in particular. Maybe that is why he submitted his inside card to us (and presumably our card to inside) and so his status went down slightly and he was forced to share second spot with Pepsi and Whitey (not Blighty) with a score line of -2. And, far from there being a SureShank Redemption out and about, Pepsi managed a classic from the 6th fairway that ended up in the middle of the 8th.
Matt was one who showed some concern about the effects of the weather on our ability to play but, in the end, he did turn up. So, he won’t have to wait until the blog is published to find out what went on. Simon pretty much had the life sucked out of him during the week at the Dyson gig and he seems to have turned his back on the puffer and was spotted hammering nails into his coffin again. He was pretty happy with one shot with his Jailbreak club even if it did go OOB at the back of the 15th.
Bob left his driver at home and used some sort of skinny little club instead. It seemed to work pretty well apart from a couple of aberrations. One put him into the shrubbery that lines the carpark on the 16th. Unfortunately, the ball that he hit out of the long grass was not his. And, to make matters worse, his ball was found only about 150mm from the one that he hit. Bob wasn’t alone in hitting a wrong ball because John managed to hit Noodle’s ball by mistake as well. In the event, it didn’t affect Noodle’s score and he was able to join Bob in 4th place. RodG didn’t start too well, going down on the first three holes. But, he settled after that and finished only two points worse off at -5.
So, the trophy is there for the winning. There are about ten players who would have to consider themselves a good chance and a few more that could pull it off with a bit of luck on their side. As for the rest, the bar-be-que after the game next week offers some hope of consolation. For those of you that chickened out today, do come along next week and join in the fun. You could collect a ball in the ball run and there is the added attraction of food. If you are planning to come, it would be nice if you could let us know so that we can cater adequately.
John will be consoled by the fact that he was able to get his ball onto the green at the 4th and, in the process, he put it close enough to win the BallPin. The first ProPin was on the 12th and Pepsi managed to get it within the 5m limit at 4.5m to take out the money. On the 18th, the pin was on the ‘difficult’ top shelf but this offered no difficulty for SOS, who saved his best ’til last and put his to 99cm and, to add icing to the cake, slotted it home for the birdie.
If the 18th pin was in a ‘difficult’ position for the NTP, the position on the 9th could only be described as diabolical, where it was spotted right on the crest of the swale between the levels. There were a number of ‘just missed’ putts that ended up off the green. But, some people did manage to par the hole, so, go figure!
Targe didn’t disappear in any puddles but he did bring up the rear of the field. Maybe it was the fact that his ‘lady’ friend went flat and he had to do without her soothing tones giving out the distance. Or maybe the exhortations to ‘charge her battery’ served to put him off. Not sure what might have put Noodles off but there were reports of his ball on the 12th having been ‘lost’ on the oval next door.
Michael was back with us today after his enforced absence with ‘a back’. The form was a bit rusty on the front nine but it obviously started to come back on the back, despite his back. On the 18th, his approach shot was something of a ‘flyer’ and likely to be looking at trouble but, it hit the pin which saved it and allowed a bogey to be carded. Harry reckons the bunker practice that he got at Kingswood and Gardiner’s Run stood him in good stead when his shot from the bunker on the 5th lipped the cup and trickled past leaving him with a simple par putt back.
There were two cart capsizes today but no draughties (at least none reported). Harry’s buggy turned turtle while parked on the slope below the 9th. It took about five minutes to gather up the multitude of tees, balls, markers, pencils etc that spilled out of various receptacles. Simon’s remote unit was traversing the hill down from the 17th tee. Maybe Simon lost concentration and pressed the wrong button but it too went belly up but in this case there was no major spillage of small items.
Results for Saturday, 12 May 2018
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Stefan Belevski(□) 1st Chris Priems(□) 1st Robert Priems(□) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(□) 2nd Andrew Blight(-2) 2nd Andrew Petricola(-2) 2nd Rodney White(-2) 3rd Matt Nicholls(-3) 3rd Simon Powell(-3) 4th Stephen Butterfield(-4) 4th Bob McDonald(-4) 5th Rod Grant(-5)
Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Andrew Blight (-2) 2nd Simon Powell (-3) 3rd Bob McDonald (-4)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Andrew Petricola ProPin No 2 18th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin 4th John Quinlan