The Spring Carnival is all but done and dusted and the Nation struggles to get back into first gear after being stopped last Tuesday. The recent rain events have freshened up the course no end with the fairways nice and green and the greens in excellent condition. It is no wonder, then, that 21 members were out and about on a day that started off a bit on the cool side but which soon warmed up pleasantly. There was absolutely no excuse for not scoring well.
As if to thumb his nose to those who suggested that he had done his dash last week, JQ put together an even better round this week to propel himself to the top of the Championship ladder but at the expense of another couple of strokes off his handicap for his +3 result. The putter was working well today and reports have it that about nine missable putts proved to be no problem and this made the difference between also-ran and winner. Daniel hasn’t been with us all that long but he has been doing a bit of sniffing around in the placings and he has now been rewarded with his first win with the Club when he also carded a +3. This puts him well up in the rankings for Strike Rate and if he could keep that up for a full year, the Championship would be his in a canter. A year is a long time in Golf however. He misses out on qualifying for the Vardon Trophy and it looks as if JQ could have his hands on the inaugural award of this new gong. But, there are still two rounds to go.
Peter has also been quite successful in his short time with the Club and, being only a point behind the winners, there were probably any number of chances that could have made all the difference. One shot, in particular, was his effort from the tee at the first as he drove, with all of the membership watching, right into the garden bed in front and so scored the first draughtie for the day. A good effort to come back after that. Damo started off a bit on the scratchy side but by the 6th he had gotten his eye in and scored his first birdie for the day. He followed up with another three in the rest of the round and contributed as much as anybody to the total of 17 that the Club managed for the day.
Bob was heard to be giving himself a good talking to, which is not surprising as we know what a perfectionist Bob is when it comes to his game. Whether the self-admonishment did any good can probably be debated but it was good enough to get him home in +1. Gordo came in with the same score at the end of the day but he needed four birdies and Targe to get him to the line. Three of the birdies were the regular golfing type (two were chip-ins – or should that be chips-in?, which hardly count) and one was a magpie. The bird was obviously in big strife after taking a hit and Gordon couldn’t bring himself to deal with it and a call went out to Targe who detached himself from the group in front to do the necessary deed.
And, speaking of Targe, it was great to see him back on the track after his recent attempt at learning to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing. The final score probably reflected the time away from the clubs but he was good enough to put his ball to 3.26m on the 18th to take out the ProPin and he sank the birdie putt as well. There was a suggestion that Targe was a couple of centimetres shorter but a broken tape-measure did not allow a check to be made other than to have him stand alongside JQ.
Simon (aka Coughin’ Nail) pretty much achieved his aim of winning the Seniors Championship by coming in with a square card. Si was concentrating so hard on his next shot that he ran his remote buggy half up the trunk of a tree and turned it base over apex and then had to spend several minutes gathering together all the bits and pieces that spillled far and wide. Rounding out the place-getters was Dennis who expressed some surprise at collecting a point for his score of -2.
The BallPin today was on the 4th and getting onto the green proved to be elusive until later in the morning when Noodles and The Beast slugged it out over the ball on offer. Noodles took the day by squeezing one closer than Bill. The ProPin on the 12th was also proving difficult to get close enough to and the best on the ticket was JQ who had just made it inside the limit at 4.93m. Then, along came The Beast. As calmly as you like, he landed the ball onto the green and it ran true, up the hill and fell gently into the hole. In the process he took out the Eagles Nest (all of one ball), the ProPin and scored the elusive Hole in One and so joined an exclusive little group among the Club Membership. And, no, there is not a special HIO table reserved for them.
There were a couple of extra draughties taken on the 2nd where the tee markers were some 18m behind the black blocks and the red markers were towards the front of the front tee box. Perhaps they were put off by the non-existent view of the fairway but both Rob and Matt managed to make a hash of it. In fact, Rob was taking his sixth shot only 90m in front of the reds. Matt had a bit of a shocker overall and managed to lose at least 4 balls, including one into the drink on the 17th, but then he compensated by chipping in for birdie on the 18th.
Noodles had better cut back on the number of potato cakes that he eats at half way as he must be packing on the pounds. He chose to sit on the chain around the 10th tee and it broke sending him sprawling backwards and scattering potato cakes far and wide. Whether Noodles or the magpies got to eat them was not reported.
Rob fancies himself as a bit of a tradesman and so, when his buggy broke last week, he set off to Bunnings and bought all the bits and pieces that he needed to make repairs. Wouldn’t you know it, but the buggy broke again today. Not where Rob had done his repairs but somewhere else entirely. Obviously the repairs transferred the strain to the next weakest link.
Harry was beginning to think that somebody had stuck a target on his back after a ball from Matt rolled past him as he stood on the 15th tee and a provisional ball from JQ landed a metre or so away as he stood on the 18th tee. A timely call of ‘fore’ meant that the latter was not entirely unexpected.
It’s Membership Fees time again. $30 for Club membership and $90 extra if you are maintaining a GA handicap (total $120). Please pay by bank transfer into the Club account (with your name as the entry for the Club account) as this greatly facilitates keeping track of who has paid and the Treasurer doesn’t want to be saddled with large amounts of cash to deal with. If you are planning to change your status with respect to your GA membership please advise as soon as possible so that the necessary changes can be made before the census date (end of December).
If you have registered interest in going to the Annual Challenge next September please transfer your $50 deposit to the Club account (with your name). If you have to change your mind later, the deposit will be refundable but we do not want to subsidise people by having to dip into Club funds for the due Deposit to guarantee the booking.
Results for Saturday, 10 November 2018
1st Daniel O’Rourke(+3) 1st John Quinlan(+3) 2nd Peter Damou(+2) 2nd Damien Lee(+2) 3rd Gordon Hill(+1) 3rd Bob McDonald(+1) 4th Simon Powell(□) 5th Dennis Ward(-2)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (+1) 1st Gordon Hill (+1) 2nd Simon Powell (□) 3rd Dennis Ward (-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Bill Eastoe ProPin No 2 18th Targe Mifsud BallPin 4th Stephen Butterfield
Hole in One Results: Hole in One 12th *** Bill Eastoe ***