In the week leading up to the weekend set aside to celebrate Liz Windsor’s non-birthday, it looked as if the membership was taking the celebration to heart and staying away in droves. But, after a rousting up by the GOAT marshal, there was a late rush of registrations and we ended up with 21 members and a guest of Whitey, Mark Minney. Mark seems not to have been too put off by the company he found himself in and plans to join us in competition just as soon as he gets two more cards in for his handicap. The score he carded was not too shabby so he might be well placed to add some competition to the Club. A big welcome to Mark and hopefully, not too far down the track, we will be able to do more than bump elbows in greeting.
The weather has stayed fine, if a bit on the cool side and only the soggiest parts of the course are still soggy. Soggy enough for the ball to plug quite deeply and virtually disappear from sight as a number of people found out in the course of the round. Simon has been back for a while from his ill-fated excursion to the west and has been staying away from crowds as a precautionary measure. For some reason, on Thursday, he suddenly changed his mind and nominated to play today. Perhaps the surgery to remove the rather nasty looking lump from his cheek also re-aligned his vision because he was right on song today and brought home the bacon (and the Monthly Medal) with a net score of 67.
It’s not difficult to tell when Peter thinks he is in with a chance of a NTP on the 18th as he hangs around on the bank behind, casting nervous glances in the direction of the green as every new group comes through. There does not seem to be a similar idiosyncrasy that indicates that he has a chance in the main comp. That was certainly the case today and a few strokes left out there could have made all the difference to his net of 68. MattH managed to come in third with a 69 despite having taken a 7 on the seventh. That is bad enough but, apparently, his drive was only about 5m off the green. Does that look like five putts or did he put his second out of bounds?
Enzo was in a chirpy ‘Italian’ mood and seemed to be intent on being a one man cheer-squad for Harry at various stages of the round when their paths crossed. He also got carried away and hugged Moz after the round instead of an elbow bump. Maybe it was because Mostyn had come in with the same net score. Ryan was in a different group and so missed out on a hug, despite joining them on the fourth place podium. Last, but by no means least, was the trusty President, Rob who snared himself fifth spot, probably because of his tee shot on the 8th nearly taking Harry’s head off and finishing in the garden bed behind the protective fence.
And it was a pretty draughtie day despite there being no wind. Rob was not the only one to have problems on the tee at the 8th. Brendon’s tee shot was uncharacteristically short and he was faced with the prospect of buying a round for the rest of his playing group. He made a reasonable fist of the hole, despite the setback, and scored a bogie. Fortunately for Brendon, both Bob and Ken had had draughties on the 3rd and it was agreed that things cancelled out all round and, so, Brendon did not have to extract one of his origami banknotes to shout for the boys. Except that they are not taking banknotes at the moment but you wouldn’t want to spoil a good story. There was some contention among the protagonists but it is reported that Targe managed to have at least two and possibly three of the frothy buying shots today. To finish off the sad tally, Whitey stepped up to the mark on the 15th to join the parade.
The first BallPin was on the 12th and Harry cracked one that looked as if it was in with a chance. Unfortunately the marker was on the green just a little bit closer to the hole and H wished that whoever it was had missed the birdie. The whoever was Brendon and Harry got his wish as he had missed the birdie. Harry did as well so neither contributed on that hole to the rather paltry total of 5 for the day. The second BallPin on the 18th, and as presaged earlier, went to Peter with the pin on the, generally agreed, difficult top deck. Despite everybody’s best efforts and intentions, nobody was able to get close enough (from the tee as far back as it could possibly be) to take out the money and so there will be a triple jackpot next week and the pool could be pushing towards the $100 mark depending on numbers. A good reason to get in and register early (but not often).
Dennis was heard to say that he had had the best nine that he has had for a long time. So, why, you may ask, did he not appear on the podium list. It turns out, that ‘best nine’ was on the first hole. Dennis only flirted with double figures, there were a number who actually had to enter the dreaded double digits onto the card. Which brings us to the , newly instituted, Captain’s Balls Up Award. Club Captain, MattH, is going to award a pink ball, that must be used on the first hole of the next round played, to the player presenting the NARGA card for the day. And, talk about rooster to feather duster, the inaugural award went to the other Matt and Stuart Clarke memorial winner, MattA. Chin up Matt, only eighteen more rounds to the next ‘great’ one and twenty to the next ‘shocker’. Hopefully! Or not, as the case may be.
Results for Saturday, 06 June 2020
1st Simon Powell(67) 2nd Peter Damou(68) 3rd Matt Hunt(69) 4th Enzo Cirone(70) 4th Mostyn Gregg(70) 4th Ryan Porker(70) 5th Robert Priems(71)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (67) 2nd Enzo Cirone (70) 3rd Bob McDonald (74) 3rd Craig Cameron (74)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 18th Peter Damou