What an absolutely magnificent day for a game of golf. The rain event that the BOM had forecast did not quite come off although there were a few little downpours in some parts of the city and surrounds. Not a lot at Royal Ivanhoe however and so the course continues to be in tip-top condition, although there are a few complaints about the presence of bare/tufty areas that are claimed to interfere with the high standard of shot-making that is to be expected of all and sundry. At the end of the day, we had 21 members turn out for the fray, but only twenty managed to pay their comp fee. Stan was so keen to get out of the house to get to the course that he forgot his money. Trevor was in a similar rush and forgot his hat, but he did have a cap and a supply of jelly-beans to help him to complete his round. Well done Trev. Now all you have to do is get that swing back in the groove and get your form back. The real story of the day however was down to Bob who lined up on the 15th and whacked his drive deep into the out-of-bounds. Undaunted, Bob reloaded, launched the ball out over the trees, landed it on the hill, the ball bounced down onto the green and ran, ever so delicately, into the hole. Unfortunately, second shot doesn’t count for either the hole-in-one, the Eagle, or the nearest the pin.
But, what, you might ask, did Damo do to warrant getting his picture plastered all over the blog. Well, it seems that he left a number of putts short of the hole on the front nine which might very well have prevented him from adding to his laurels in the Par Makers and Breakers table. As it was he scored three birdies on the back nine for 32 off-the-stick (one under par) to go with his three over on the front to finish just two over for the round and a net score of 59. Come in handicapper!
For the second week in a row, Porks has come in with a score that you could be forgiven for thinking might be in there with a chance. And, for the second week in a row, he was beaten by a fairly wide margin. Still, he can probably take consolation from the adage, play often and come second, and be happy with his second place with a score of 64 on the bottom line. Ryan was right up there in the birdie scoring stakes and one birdie putt was travelling so fast that it nearly broke the pin on the 12th. If it hadn’t hit and dropped in he was looking and a rather long putt or even a chip to get back.
Blighty went ‘loco’ today and played a full round without losing a ball. Technically, but not strictly, true it seems. His distinctive Dunlop Loco Motion golf ball went missing on the 3rd, but while coming up the 5th a ball was spotted hiding under a leaf and, lo and behold, it was that darned Loco ball. Must have been alright though because Blighty was able to front the judges with a very nice net score of 65.
Pepsi was quite convinced that Patrick was going to be in for the big ‘chop’ on his first round in competition. Now, Pepsi has been known to stretch things a little but Pat did manage a birdie on the 6th and a fairly reasonable collection of pars, but suffered something of a slump on the last four holes. Pepsi called it a handbrake job, but who can tell. Craig has been away on King Island and in Tassie honing his bisection skills which were standing him in very good stead today when he carded a one over on the front nine. A lost ball on the 17th probably robbed him of a higher placing than the fifth that he got for his net of 67.
Trev nominated the holes for the first BallPin and the ProPin today. He set the 4th for the ball again, because he reckoned he had a chance of reaching that one. He was going to leave the ProPin on the 12th but Harry suggested that maybe it should be moved, so on the 15th it went. Wouldn’t you know it, but Harry’s shot on the 12th finished just over a metre from the hole. Enough of the back-story. The Bisector (Craig) took of the 4th and, after a tight contest, Zimmer was victorious to collect the ball for the 18th. The ProPin on the 15th eluded everybody, including the ill-starred Bob, until Pepsi came along and plonked his ball to 1.31m. The birdie eluded him from that distance and so the tally for the day was limited to 20.
The Birthday Birdie is going to be a bit busy this week as he has a triple header to deal with Ken (Grist), Bob and Brent sharing a day to celebrate during the week.
JQ has been taking some coaching and one of the tips given was to widen his stance. John obviously took this very much to heart and widened his stance so much that the crutch of his shorts split. Luckily, he wasn’t travelling commando!
Rob and Bob had certified draughties today. Bob’s was a beauty as his club hit the big ball several centimetres behind the little ball and bounced clean over leaving the little ball sitting tauntingly on the tee and the big ball nursing a head-ache. In something of a disputed decision, Zimmer shanked his ball OOB from the 4th tee, and he was not prepared to concede that it had not made it past the red markers. And, while on the subject of shanks. SOS, a past master of the art, went close to taking out Brendon beside the 14th green. It was only lightning fast reflexes, an evasive duck and a collapse back onto the slope of the 15th tee mound that saved the expat Kiwi from a fate worse than death.
Another call for people to register for the Matchplay seeding draw. If your name is not on the register, you will not be included and seeded. Only three more weeks until registration closes.
Also, a similar time frame exists for nominations for positions on the Committee with the AGM to be held on 06 March. Don’t be frightened to nominate, a bit of competition is a good thing. Otherwise, why do we keep turning up every Saturday.
Results for Saturday, 06 February 2021
1st Damien Lee (59) 2nd Ryan Porker (64) 3rd Andrew Blight (65) 4th Patrick McSweeney (66) 5th Craig Cameron (67)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (65) 2nd Craig Cameron (67) 3rd Bob McDonald (72) 3rd Harry Boughen (72)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 1 4th Craig Cameron BallPin No 2 18th Kazim Akdag