The weather bureau tried their hardest to put people off with forecasts of rain, hail, thunder and wind. But, seventeen members and one guest refused to be put off and turned up at the nominated time and were rewarded with as fine a set of conditions as you could wish for in the middle of a Melbourne winter. There were about half a dozen spots of rain as one group trudged wearily up from the 16th to the 17th and the wind did show some promise of picking up towards the end but, overall, the conditions were benign and that was reflected in the number of birdies scored with a tally of thirteen in the bag. Ryan bagged two with chip-ins (or should that be chips-in), one on the 5th and one on the 18th, JohnQ snared one with a monster putt on the ninth and Noodles had an easy one on the 18th after putting his drive to 92cm to take out the ProPin on that hole.
But, at the end of the day, the day went to Rob who played pretty steadily to score 37 points. There was one significant hiccup on the 17th where Rob ran foul of the water hazard in which he managed to find a number of balls but not his own. One ball that he did find was emblazoned with the letters SOS which we all know is not a cry for help although, following a claim by SOS that he lost ten balls today, it might very well have been. Rob was very keen to make the point that he reckons MattH is running scared and it is not really work that is keeping him from the course. Seems that there is some sort of side bet going between those two.
Whitey had a bit of strife with the course today. The tees were too far back, the pins were too close to the edge of the green, the greens were too fast and too sloped. But, despite all that, he still managed to play to his handicap and slot into second place. He was joined by Noodles who was helped along no end by the four points from his birdie on the 18th following a couple of uncharacteristic gashes on the previous two holes.
The birdie was a keeper and this helped Noods get his nose in front of Ryan in the Eclectic so there is still a bit of life left in that event yet. Maybe this was the reason that Noodles rushed off and didn’t finish his bottle of Coke. The same can’t be said for the seagulls that demolished Simon’s plate of chips whether he meant them to or not.
SteveK was marking Ryan’s card and, after the first nine, he was somewhat trailing in Ryan’s dust. But, as they say, luck’s a fortune and as they passed the turn, so the fortunes turned and Steve came home with all guns blazing while Ryan was not helped by blazing a couple out of bounds on the 14th.
When the chips are down, the tough get chipping. Simon had hopes of a couple of improvements in his Eclectic but only one of the birdies that he circled counted. He does report being very pleased with his extraordinarily expensive new putter and must be on a commission as he exhorts everybody who will listen to buy one.
Jason, Bob and JohnQ rounded out the points with a tally of 31 on the scorecard. John wasn’t too happy on the 9th having made the green in regulation (a rare event it seems) but was left with a very long putt. You know the rest!
The BallPin today was on the 7th and, from the 6th fairway, it was obvious that somebody in the first group had made it to the green. That somebody was Gordon who collects two balls after the Jackpot from last week. The first ProPin on the 12th went begging when nobody was able to put their ball within the 5m circle around the pin so there will be a bit of loot up for grabs next week on that particular hole.
In something of a rarity, there were no reports of draughties. Or did everybody just stay shtum.
MattN joined us today for a game as he has some time in Melbourne. He was very thankful to Gordon for providing clubs for him to use and in particular for the choice from about seven putters. Matt thinks he might have chosen the ‘wrong’ one and would not countenance the thought that it might have been the fault of the nut on the end of the shaft.
SOS was sporting a new haircut today. It must be something to do with police regulations as nobody would do that to themselves voluntarily! The Beast reckons he hit his ball so hard on the 17th that it vapourised as there is no other possible explanation for the fact that it couldn’t be found even after extensive search.
Brent had his fair share of problems with trees today. Apparently, in some cases, even after taking relief, he was still hard up against the trunk. Rob had a birdie on the 16th after sinking a pretty long putt. That must have gone to his head as apparently, his drive wasn’t as long as the putt from the 17th. And, on top of that, he subsequently lost the ball. In a day that seems to have featured a number of ‘monster’ putts, Harry’s on the third was travelling pretty quickly when it hit the back of the hole, bounced 10cm in the air and fell back into the hole for a par. Definitely a highlight!
Results for Saturday, 18 August 2018
1st Robert Priems(37) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(36) 2nd Rodney White(36) 3rd Stephen Kelly(34) 4th Simon Powell(32) 5th Jason Hopkins(31) 5th Bob McDonald(31) 5th John Quinlan(31)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (32) 2nd Bob McDonald (31) 3rd Bill Eastoe (30)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Jackpot ProPin No 2 18th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 7th Gordon Hill