There was quite a gale on Thursday/Friday. The course was closed on Friday morning, as it was deemed too dangerous. Looking at the tally of fallen branches and felled trees, it is not hard to imagine that it would have been downright life-threatening. There was hardly a fairway without a roped-off area, and the ground staff were out in force removing the smaller stuff or mulching it with one of the mowers. They even had a mobile leaf-blower out doing its bit to shift some of the litter out of the way. Despite all that, the course was in very good condition and there were quite a few comments from the nineteen members who played, about the speed of the greens in relation to the outcome of putting and chipping. Or was that just down to the extended lay-off from the game?
Rob wouldn’t have been too unhappy about his first few holes back in the harness. Then the shanks set in, and things went down-hill in a big way, so that he finished the front nine sitting on minus three. There is no suggestion that he nipped into the clubhouse for a heart starter at the turn, but you would have to think that it was a different person holding the club on the back. A very hefty plus five on the back resulted in a plus two for the round and the first top spot finish for Rob in quite a long time. As they say in the classics – he’s back!
Now, Trev is known to have a word or two to say about his own game during the round. Today proved to be no exception and his dulcet tones were heard drifting across the fairways from time to time. Matt reckons that some of the self-admonishment was going on while the swing was still on progress. Despite all that, Trev managed to keep the scoring pretty well-balanced to finish with one on the positive side of the ledger to take out second place in the main event and top spot in the Seniors. Not to be out-done (almost), Matt also kept his card very well-balanced to finish in third place with a square card.
Ben was looking resplendent today in one of his hi-viz muscle shirts. A bit shaky for the first couple of holes before he settled down to finish with only one point below the line and a share of fourth place. Ben reckons Bob dropped the f-bomb thirty-seven times during the round, but this is not a statistic that is kept on file, but it is thought to be not a record. Brent finished the front nine just in positive territory, and faded just a little on the back to share the spot with Ben. Brendon started out sinking putts from just about anywhere, whether on the green or not. So much in love with the putter was he, that he walked up to the 8th tee with his putter still firmly gripped in his hand. Over firm chipping, and less success from a distance with the flat stick left him in fifth place with minus two. He’ll happily take the point, though.
The final semi-final of the Matchplay was fought out today between Brent and Mark. For a while, it looked as if it was going to be an easy job for Brent as he marched to a position of four up after eight, and he still retained that status after 12. A loss on 13, followed by consecutive birdies by Mark, put the match in a very finely balanced position. Brent gathered his wits and won the next two to retrieve the situation and take out the match 3 and 1. Brent now meets up with Stef in the final, and Mark meets up with Michael in the play-off.
Perhaps it was repayment for his forthcoming loss in the Matchplay, but the golf gods were kind to Skip today. He managed to collect a ball for the first BallPin on the 12th, and, he collected the jackpot pool for the ProPin on the 15th. His birdies on the 14th and 15th contributed to the total of ten that we achieved for the day. The second BallPin on the 18th was taken out by Ben.
Another birdie today was on Pork’s card. His drive on the 17th whistled out over the trees and never looked like missing the green. It did finish near the edge though, and left a rather long putt for the eagle. Porks checked the slope and squinted down the line before giving the ball a good solid rap and sent it on its way until it finally rolled to a stop, pin high and about 50mm from the hole. Close, but no Eagle’s Nest, and it barely needed a tap to gather up the birdie. Bob was quietly confident before the round that any problems with his electric buggy would be down to the operator rather than the equipment. It didn’t get to the second tee before it gave up with a flat battery, despite being on charge for 24hours (according to Bob). The Beast was on deck for the first time in quite a while, and, although he had hoped that the break would be good for his game, his general feeling after the round was disappointment. It’ll be better next week, Bill.
The Birthday Birdie has a couple of calls to make this week. Life member, Rodger Clarke, is one who will be celebrating in the next few days. Damo could very well be looking at the Brightside of life if things go well later today, and the celebrations could very well carry over to his birthday later in the week. If the nag delivers, Whitey will probably be celebrating in a big way as well.
End of the year is rapidly approaching. Two monthly medals and the postponed Fred Kitson over the next four weeks.
The Calcutta auction for the Vin O’Meara will be held on the 27th November. There is a registration form on the website to let us know whether or not you want to be included in the auction, either due to reticence or to the fact that you will not be playing in the event. Please let us know one way or another, so that we don’t complicate things by selling non-runners. There is also a form to indicate whether you want to take part in the $25 buy yourself, winner-take-all competition as well. This is less critical, but we would like to be able to gauge the interest.
The club stroke play championship also starts on the 27th and this event runs over that and the next two weeks
Results for Saturday, 30 October 2021
1st Robert Priems (+2) 2nd Trevor Jackson (+1) 3rd Matt Hunt (□) 4th Ben Akdag (-1) 4th Brent Rowley (-1) 5th Brendon Mitchell (-2)
Seniors Results: 1st Trevor Jackson (+1) 2nd Rodney White (-3) 3rd Craig Cameron (-4)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Mark Minney BallPin No 1 – 12th Mark Minney BallPin No 2 – 18th Ben Akdag