What a day! Another beautiful, balmy sort of a day. The coffee boy took pity on us again and set most of the tees well forward. Still no significant rain, so the run available just keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, this means that the bare patches are getting barer, and the number of lies between tussocks is increasing exponentially (or so it seems). You would have to say that conditions were ideal for the fifteen members and one guest to shoot the lights out as far as scoring went. For some, it looked as if the lights were just out.
As of last night, the wearing of masks is no longer compulsory. For a couple of members, they probably should have kept theirs on. Not because of any risk from COVID. Only because of the risk of being hung for being a bandit. As early as the 12th tee, Trev was predicting massive cuts to Brent’s handicap, with thirty points and four birdies to his name. That birdie run meant that Brent was responsible for a fair proportion of the ten that we carded for the day. It was suggested that Trev was just trying to put the mockers on him, and whether this was the case or not, Brent only managed an additional twelve points in seven holes to finish with a very impressive 42 points for the round. Brendon, on the other hand, had only managed to score 27 points by the same stage of the round. However, he was able to rack up 15 points for the seven holes to bring his score to 42 to share the honours with Brent. Brendon claimed not to be aware that he would only lose half a stroke for winning, so he should be happy with his ‘slight’ reduction.
RodG hasn’t been all that regular in recent times, and only racked up his second game for the year today. The Thursday nine holes seem to have formed a pretty good basis for practice, rating a podium finish in both outings and a very impressive strike rate of four after today’s tally of 35 points was good enough to fill second place with daylight between there and first. Stan started off like a house on fire and looked set to emulate the two Brens with ten points after four holes. Unfortunately, the putting left him for a few holes and a series of three putts cost him dearly. He regained some of his mojo on the back, and managed to roll home into third place, just one point behind Rod on 34 points.
Here’s where things deviate a bit from the announced placings. It seems that there was a bit of a cross-over between Club cards and GA cards. Gordon, played pretty impressively on the front nine, and was right up there with a chance when he turned with 20 points to his name. Things went a little cross-wise on the back, and he could only scrape up another 13 to finish with 33 to take out the 4th spot on the podium. ChrisJ also put in a bit of a slump on the back nine to scrape into 5th place with his 32 points. Targe probably isn’t used to his recent handicap cuts and claimed a point where one was not due, and that dropped him back into his share of fifth. Reports have it that Porks ‘played up’ a bit last weekend with the Punter’s, so that could explain the rather nasty run of gashes and singletons that limited his total to 32 points and a share of fifth as well.
Things looked as if they were going to be a bit of a feast for Brent today after he managed to put his name on two of the three NTP cards, including the jackpot ProPin on the 4th. Unfortunately, Gordo put paid to that little hope when he lobbed his in to 2.86m, and he was the recipient of ‘more shrapnel than Ukraine’ as one member so indelicately put it. Brent also had his name on the BallPin on the 15th, until old smiley face, Brendon, came along and rained on the parade. For the ball on the 18th, Stan was not confident that his shot would be close enough to stand. That premonition proved to be correct, and the ball went to ChrisJ.
We welcomed a potential new member, Geoff Lyall, today for his first card outing with us. Geoff has played a bit of social golf and is a bit out of practice, but when he hits the ball it certainly does stay hit. When he hit a tree, it stayed hit and the ball travelled so far back that he had to retreat some 50 or 75 metres or so to play his next shot. Welcome to the Club, Geoff. Speaking of shots that finish further away than where they start, Trev was on the bottom deck of the 18th and suffered the indignity of his putt not making it up the hill and coming to a stop further down the green than where it started. Whether more than one attempt repeated the performance is not clear, but there were reports that he took four putts to get it to stay on the top deck.
Old Reliable wasn’t on his top form today and put one on the 17th into some deep rough that required an ‘axe’ shot to get it out. Ryan’s day was not all bad. Or was it. On the 16th, he was behind a tree with what appeared to be an impossible shot to the green. A shot, best described as a shank, achieved the ‘impossible’ and put the ball onto the green for the putt to produce a par for the hole. And, while on the subject of shanks, SOS was noticed sending a ball in what was obviously not the intended direction at one stage.
Goss from the Punter’s has been pretty thin on the ground, so maybe it is a matter of what happens at the Punter’s stays at the Punter’s. There have been some leaks however (sounds just like Parliament!). There was at least one ‘air swing’, and that was in a chipping competition that was played after the round. It is not clear how many gin shots preceded the air shot. One thing that was probably fairly predictable was that the punting was not profitable, despite pulling in a couple of quaddies. Top marks went to JQ and Gordo for manning the spit roasts and keeping the hungry beasts fed. Mehm and Porks, saved them from going thirsty, which could have been the reason that SOS was noticed using the couch on a number of occasions. BrentR won the golf under fairly benign conditions and, despite a bit of a ‘choke’ on the last three holes for no points, El Presidente, Rob, filled the second spot. Pepsi tallied up enough points to be awarded third place.
Despite what the Calendar says, the AGM will not be held next week. Various matters have prompted the Committee to postpone it until 26th March. Notice of the meeting will be distributed shortly. In the meantime, give some consideration to who you would like to run the Club for the next year. All Committee positions will spill, and it is open to any member to be nominated to stand for any of the positions. The list of positions available can most easily be found in the Committee Members item under the Contacts tab on the web-site. Committee Nomination Forms are also available for download from the website in the left hand panel on a PC. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a scroll on a mobile.
Results for Saturday, 26 February 2022
1st Brent Loeskow (42) 1st Brendon Mitchell (42) 2nd Rod Grant (35) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (34) 4th Gordon Hill (33) 5th Chris James (32) 5th Targe Mifsud (32) 5th Ryan Porker (32)
Seniors Results: 1st Rod Grant (35) 2nd Stan Blackshaw (34) 3rd Gordon Hill (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Gordon Hill BallPin No 1 – 15th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris James