Last week was wet and only the most hardy (or foolhardy) ventured out and sloshed their way around the course. This week, the forecast promised better things and the hardy and the not so hardy turned out to the tune of seventeen players to try their chances. The rain gods had sprinkled the ground with another six millimetres or so yesterday so there were a few pretty wet spots around and the preferred lie was welcome in most places. Gordon did opine at one stage that he chipped better when he played as it lay but others expressed the view that ‘enhancing’ the elevation of the ‘preferred’ spot was not beyond the realms of possibility. But, the early cloud cleared away and the morning finished in brilliant winter sunshine but the expert view still was that a score of thirty-six would be enough to take the day.
That prediction looked very much like holding true until the last group finally handed in their cards. The waiting masses were torn between the options of the scores being so high that they had run out of fingers and toes or that it was just Blighty. And, just Blighty it was, after he dried out the back nine, so hot was he running. But, the real feature of the round was the birdie on the 7th that netted him no less that 5 points in one fell swoop. Everybody in the group agreed that it was a lovely putt. Not quite a club record for points on one hole, but right up there. Six singletons and a miss prevented the card from being a real show stopper.
Brendon started out like the veritable house on fire and put together a very impressive twenty-three points on the front nine. The first signs of a wobble came with a singleton on the ninth. Four more and a miss soon after put paid to a win and another spectacular score. JQ, on the other hand, played an even hand and filled in the third spot with a creditable 37 points. This was John’s last round for a while as he sets off to foreign fields for a well earned rest and some work just to keep his hand in.
Three unlikely types protected their handicap by coming in with 35 points. Jake joined us for the first time in a while and it seems that a venture into the real estate market has been occupying his mind more than somewhat in recent times. Porks was his usual non-committal self but obviously did enough to get his couple of points and keep his advance up the Championship Table on the go. Ken joined in and put his success down to the fact that he took eleven strokes fewer on the front nine than he did when he played with Chrispy and Rob last time.
And, in fifth place was another trio of Dennis (How good is golf), the Beast and Chrispy, who is looking forward to the Annual Challenge with his recently enhanced handicap. A summation error on Simon’s card meant that he was relegated and did not collect his much anticipated point.
The first BallPin was on the 12th and the only name on the card was Jason although Harry was only a tad further out from Jason’s marker. The ProPin was on the 15th and it was left to the Beast to collect that one with his shot to 3.99m. Bill reckons the best shot he has seen in a long time was down to Harry on the 18th who left it just 1.63m short of the hole to collect the second BallPin. The putt rattled home for the birdie (one of twelve for the day) and one less stroke on the Eclectic.
Gordon really lashed out and bought himself a box of HotDot balls and, on Thursday, played like a bit of a HotShot with one. After a not quite so stellar performance today, he changed horse in mid-stream but did not play significantly better with a ‘better’ ball. Harry played with a Wilson Staff but doesn’t blame the ball at all.
Jake might have scored better if it had not been for a draughtie and Harry’s ‘scone’ shot on the 11th left him well short of the red markers for his second. Gordon is trying to create a new rule that if you putt off the green, that constitutes an offence worth a shout. Jason managed it today on the 18th when a four metre putt finished off the green and a scratch score was the final result. Surely, punishment enough!
After the round, Bill was seen inspecting the backs of everybody’s legs and wondering why he was the only one that had mud splattered from ankle to knee. Maybe it was from his (unsuccessful) foray into the depths of one of the ponds to play a shot. Although Peter absolutely smashed the ball a few times today he wasn’t altogether happy and was heard to wonder whether he might do better if he learned to play ‘normally’. Whatever do you mean Pete?
SOS turned up to do the Treasurer thing and brought Olivia along to fit in a bit of coaching in the subtle art of the putter. When he spotted Jake at the table, he reckoned that Olivia had been to golf more times than Jake.
Tension is building as the Annual Challenge weekend at Rich River approaches and there is talk of handicaps needing to be protected. Play will be from Club handicap adjusted for the slope difference between Ivanhoe and RR. There will be points for both the home event and the Annual Challenge (aggregate) placings. Handicapping for the AC will be based on the highest Stableford score of the two rounds.
Results for Saturday, 17 August 2019
1st Andrew Blight(39) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(38) 3rd John Quinlan(37) 4th Ryan Porker(35) 4th Jake Priems(35) 4th Ken Watson(35) 5th Bill Eastoe(34) 5th Chris Priems(34) 5th Dennis Ward(34)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (39) 2nd Bill Eastoe (34) 2nd Dennis Ward (34) 3rd Simon Powell (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Bill Eastoe BallPin No 1 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 2 18th Harry Boughen