The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ tee-marshals, gang aft agley! (with apologies to Robbie Burns). There were those who had to get away to see a man about a dog. There was Trev who couldn’t get a cart. There was Pepsi who couldn’t drive (don’t ask!). And, there was Stef, who was made an offer he couldn’t refuse to go watch some little known nag run at some little known country course. The fact that he does own a share of said little known nag might have contributed to the decision. In the process, he robbed Michael of the opportunity of playing a match where Michael actually received a stroke. It was just about enough to get CJ on the Snags. It wasn’t that he was hungry (at least no more than normal), it was that he was scheduled to go and visit with our erstwhile member and playing companion Craig (aka Snags) Sharp. So, after more ins and outs than a honeymooner’s tackle, 17 members teed off onto the course that was a bit wet underfoot in some places and a bit wet overfoot in others.
Now, the reason that Michael didn’t get to play with his coveted stroke allowance in the Matchplay was that he both topped the scoring today and broke his handicap. So, when he and Stef finally do get together to match off, there will be no strokes either way. Unless, of course, they can engineer it to gain or lose a stroke in the meantime. Michael did leave a few out there today, with some putts that were eminently gettable slipping by the hole. Of course, Michael was not alone in mastering the course as he was joined by Brendon who started off in fine style with a birdie on the first. A bit of a bad result on the third was followed by another birdie on the 4th, although he was obviously not within the 5m as the ProPin on that hole went begging and there will be a Jackpot to next week. A third birdie on the 17th made a fair contribution to the 12 that were carded for the day.
Old Reliable claims not to be all that reliable any more and this was borne out by half a dozen singletons on the card. But, there was also a fair smattering of three pointers, and so he was able to claim second place with his tally of 34 points for the round. Craig was pretty impressed by the new water feature on the 5th and reckons efforts should be made to keep the pond filled. MattH would have been fairly happy with his 18 points on the front after starting off with a zero on the first. The touch seems to have slipped just a bit on the back and the fifteen there gave him a third placing with 33 for the round. Harry flirted with the trees and OOB on the 3rd and a ball that was in the billabong, almost for sure, found its way back into play in the manner favoured by CJ. It ended up all for nought after some less than exemplary play around and on the green. So, despite being assessed as ‘playing well’ by some in the group, the final result of 32 points was just good enough to gather the two points for 4th place.
Jim took a few holes to warm up and then started to hit the ball like he meant it and the points started flowing. There were just a few interruptions to the flow as the day progressed, but, on the 18th he hit a cracking shot that showed promise to be worth a ball from the BallPin. Unfortunately, Michael got away a fairly ordinary tee shot that managed to finish less than half a metre from the hole to ‘rob’ Jim of a ball and probably scored him the inside ProPin as well. Jim did get the birdie for a nice little four-pointer to finish the day. ChrisJ took out the BallPin on the 12th, having made it close enough in the first group to close out the rest of the field, but not close enough to make the birdie. Chris took pretty much all of the front nine to warm up before sprinting home with 19 points to join in the group in fifth place. Brent, on the other hand, sprinted around the front nine to tally up twenty points, but seemed to have faded badly on the first half of the back before making enough of a recovery to finish on 31 points as well.
Gordo had some surgery during the week that will put him out of the golf picture for quite a few weeks. It remains to be seen whether his request to the surgeon to put in a new golf swing as well was complied with. Whatever the result of the latter, we wish Gordon a speedy recovery from the former and look forward to seeing him back at the ‘Hoe.
Speaking of new golf swings, Rob has decided that – It’s Time. Not to go into politics, but to have some lessons. Possibly this was influenced by today’s effort where he was tempted to dash off to Dan’s for a slab rather than buy from the bar. According to reports, he set a new Club record for the depth underground that he managed to hit the ball. It has to be conceded that the ground was pretty soft and muddy at the time. Noodles was pretty chuffed today with the birdie that he contributed to our tally. This was on the 13th and maybe the second time in his life that he has done it. A hybrid from the tee and a ‘blind’ seven iron put the ball to about 1m, and the putt pushed Noods just a little bit further in front in the Eclectic.
Bob definitely has the cart that just keeps on giving. Not sure exactly how it happened, but Bob managed to gash his finger, and had to bludge a Band-Aid from the ProShop to staunch the bleeding. Maybe that is why Bob claimed that it was the worst round he had ever played today. Or, have we heard that story somewhere before? Michael went to the 15th tee with no less than three clubs in hand. He reckoned it was perfect five iron distance for him, but there was no five iron to be seen. Mainly because he doesn’t carry one because he ‘doesn’t like the look of it’ after he shanked it a couple of times a while back. For a ‘perfect five iron distance’, his well-struck four finished pin high.
Results for Saturday, 19 June 2021
1st Michael Gourlay (37) 1st Brendon Mitchell (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 3rd Matt Hunt (33) 4th Harry Boughen (32) 5th Jim Belevski (31) 5th Chris James (31) 5th Brent Rowley (31)
Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 3rd Harry Boughen (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Chris James BallPin No 2 – 18th Michael Gourlay