There was a lot of scratching of chins and poring over radar images around the tee marshall’s table this morning. Has the rain almost gone, or is there more coming? What are the greens like, puddled or not puddled? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, ten members and a guest decided that it was worth a shot and the fivers came out and the names went on the sheet and we repaired to the first tee. And the rain came down even harder and the wind made a desultory effort to blow. By half way down the second, a fair portion of the field was beginning to question the wisdom of the decision that had been taken so lightly only half an hour or so earlier. But, they pressed on and, by the fourth, the rain had eased to a drizzle and by the seventh you would have to be wondering what all the fuss was about. By the eleventh, the first shadows were spotted and all was well with the world.
There was some puddling on the greens while it rained and this did cause some problems despite taking relief from casual water. There were chips that went long and chips that ended up short. There were putts that went long and putts that ended up short. But the long and the short of it was that the conditions were the same for everybody. Now, everybody knows that Simon has been getting some stick from the handicapper about errors on his card and so he has been extra careful to get his scores and maths correct. He was concentrating so much today that he kept claiming ‘five a two’ despite it being a par event. And, despite his best efforts, it turns out that he got his handicap wrong and, in actual fact, he tied with Gordon for first place. Which will cheese Gordon off no end as he was hoping to peg Simon back a notch in the Seniors Championship. But, he was pretty pleased with his two birdies today. The one on the 15th was a bottler with a 10m putt that never looked like missing the hole. And two birdies was a fairly significant percentage of the five that were tallied for the day.
Damo was one of the ones on the verge of chucking it in on the second and that was when he was still about 200m out from the green as he headed for one of his few misses for the day. But, as the weather improved, so did Damo’s golf and he managed to play to equal par on the back nine and to finish up with a square card at the end of the day. Although the weather did remind him a bit of New Zealand, Brendon, too, was only inspired to press on by the fact that he had managed to get himself out of bed and onto the course. However, it did pay off in getting him some points and despite the -2 scoreline he volunteered to take them anyway.
Gordon was obviously very excited about his performance and the fact that he thought that he had beaten Simon and so he made something of a blooper when he filled out the Beast’s card. As result, our newest member Peter has scored himself some points by filling 4th place with a score of -4. Welcome to the Club Peter. Undoubtedly, Bill would have corrected the placings on the spot had he been around as he had filled out the points on his card correctly although he did sign for the points that Gordon had written down but he still gets a point thanks to Si.
The BallPin was placed on the 4th today as a change from the 12th where it has resided for the last little while. Wouldn’t you know it, nobody managed to get their ball onto the green. Harry put his close enough to win it on the 12th which says a fair bit about Harry’s game today. The first ProPin was a Jackpot on the 15th from last week. And, if you go back through the records, the fellow that has managed to take it out on a fairly regular basis in recent times is none other that Si, who managed to make it to 1.71m Couldn’t sink the birdie though. He then nearly had an attack of apoplexy when Damo’s shot whistled in and landed closer to the pin but spun back to finish just a little further away. Big sigh from Si! On the 18th, Gordon creamed it and, from the tee, he was quite convinced that he would be about 50mm off the green at the back. As it turned out he was on the green and 2.23m from the hole. Then, he left the putt about 50mm short.
Daniel joined us again and put together a much improved round for his second card. The spies suggest that there is a bit of potential there and we look forward to seeing him on the podium when he gets his wings and qualifies for competition.
Steve joined us for the first time in a little while and maybe that showed a little in the scoreline. He did own up to what seems to have been the only draughtie for the day. A monster shank from the 14th tee finished in the shrubbery and unplayable (plus it probably counts as garden bed in any case). The next shot from the drop on the tee was scarcely better and came to rest still short of the red markers. So, another of the so-called ‘double draughties’.
Maybe we can put it down to the feelings of joy and happiness around Christmas time but the Birthday Birdie has a busy week this week with good wishes being distributed to Brendon, ChrisV and el Presidente, John. Have a good one guys.
On the injury front, Targe has checked out of rehab and will be staying with family for a little while as his recovery continues. He has promised to make it to the course on occasions just to keep tabs on us all though it will undoubtedly be some little time before he can swing a club again. He really appreciated the many visits from members while he was in hospital. Allan is off his crutches and seems to be little the worse for wear after his bunker mishap. He is adamant that the reason for having to crawl from the car to the front door was not due to overindulgence and he reckons he could be back in harness in the next week or so. Mal’s hand has healed well and he was able to play nine holes on Thursday without too much discomfort and we look forward to seeing him back with us particularly as the weather improves and warms up a bit.
Results for Saturday, 11 August 2018
1st Gordon Hill(+3) 1st Simon Powell(+3) 2nd Damien Lee(□) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(-2) 4th Peter Damou(-4) 5th Bill Eastoe(-5)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (+3) 1st Simon Powell (+3) 2nd Bill Eastoe (-5) 3rd Harry Boughen (-7)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Simon Powell ProPin No 2 18th Gordon Hill BallPin 4th Jackpot