There is an old saying – Make hay while the sun shines, make love while it rains. And the sun was shining today, so it was probably a good opportunity to make some hay because who knows what the next few weeks might bring. The pessimists view is that restrictions will be brought back into play and who knows how that might affect our ability to continue sledging one another mercilessly each and every Saturday. The BOM was forecasting some chance of rain so watch out girls in it does happen to materialise. Pepsi managed to get back into the state before the isolation requirements kicked in, and so he was able to play today. Noodles was suffering from a ‘tinder’ back (or so Brendon said) and he was a late scratching which meant that we ended up with a field of 16 for the first of the 2021 trophies, the January Monthly Medal.
Brendon was his usual methodical self today and barely put a foot wrong the whole round. There was a moment of the 9th when his second finished just off the path under the big elm by the 18th. An impeding stone was blamed for the pop shot into the garden bed. There was some frantic searching to find the ball in the clumpy grass and Craig saved the day by finding it and allowing the free drop. Still, a double bogie wasn’t too bad a result and the final result of a net 62 was more than enough to collect the top spot and the Medal.
Zimmer was asking before tee time why he wasn’t on double figures yet. The score card at the end of the round shows the reason why with no less than three birdies on the front nine. Jason was doing a pretty fine job of making a round of it, but he reckons he ‘hit the wall’ three holes from home and a double and a triple certainly did not help the cause. MattH played a fine hand on the front to plod just two over par and a slight relaxation on the back caused him to join Zimmer and Jason in second place with their score of 67.
Craig (aka “Old Reliable”) just kept smacking them straight up the middle and taking great delight in the amount of run that he was getting from the harder summer ground. He did have a modicum of luck on the 8th when he pulled off a ‘cannon off the bush’ to bring the ball closer in to the green. Porks was supposed to have had a case of the shanks today but that did not stop him from playing to his handicap and tying up with Craig in 3rd place.
Part way through the round Stan said he was going OK except for a couple of holes. The double figures on the 6th was probably one of those holes but, all in all, a result one outside your handicap is nothing to be ashamed of. Pepsi might well have been still suffering from his extended time behind the wheel, but he managed to join up with Stan in fourth place. Last in the field of point-getters with a net score of 70 was Michael who brought up the rear in more ways than one.
There was a ball up for grabs with the first BallPin on the 4th hole. The first group through succeeded in placing the marker on the green and the rest of the field could get no closer than MattH. The same pretty much applied for the BallPin on the 18th except that it was Damo who shut out the rest of the field. The ProPin was on the 15th and the pickings had been pretty slim until the fourth group when Jason managed to get it on. Unfortunately, the distance was 5.1m, so it was a case of close, but no cigar and there will be a Jackpot for next week. You could have been forgiven for thinking that the money was on the 12th after Brendon put his tee shot to a metre and a half. He rattled in the birdie with the greatest of ease and contributed to the total of 16 that we managed for the day.
There were a couple of highlights in Harry’s game today, like the chips in on the 8th and the 16th. Then again, there were some low-lights like a complete stymie at the base of a tree on the 11th and OOB by a centimetre on the 15th. Stef had received news that his bank account had been hacked, and he was on the phone to his bank manager. With the phone jammed between his shoulder and his ear, it was Stef’s turn to putt. Which he did, one handed, and sank the putt from three metres or more. Not once, but twice. On the other hand, he had missed a few from one metre using both hands earlier on. Damo was planning to play it safe on the 13th, after several recent dices with the penalty area on the left of the fairway, by using his 3-wood rather than his driver. Zimmer gave him a razzing for being a wuss and, rising to the bait, Damo pulled out his driver and promptly hit the hazard. He was quickly followed into the same trap by none other than Zimmer and his mate Stef. I think it is called karma.
There has been a good response to payment of subs, but there are still a few outstanding. We don’t mind if you want to put off paying for a bit, but we really would like to know what your intentions are. Just drop an email to Harry, Noodles and Gordon so that we can keep our records in order. Those members with GolfLink membership with us who did not advise before the deadline have had their membership deactivated.
Results for Saturday, 02 January 2021
1st Brendon Mitchell(62) 2nd Kazim Akdag(67) 2nd Jason Hopkins(67) 2nd Matt Hunt(67) 3rd Craig Cameron(68) 3rd Ryan Porker(68) 4th Stan Blackshaw(69) 4th Andrew Petricola(69) 5th Michael Gourlay(70)
Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (68) 2nd Stan Blackshaw (69) 3rd Michael Gourlay (70)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 4th Matt Hunt BallPin No 2 18th Damien Lee