The calendar year has just begun, and the first Monthly medal was up for grabs. After a couple of cop-outs, we could only muster 13 members, but the total playing was boosted by the inclusion of Andrew Nobel, who is planning to join our happy little band. You couldn’t have wanted for better weather with calm sunny conditions for most of the round, although the breeze did pick up just a bit later in the day. The bare patches on the third are filling in nicely, and you actually get a chance to play off some grass if you happen to venture into that area of the course. And, it has reached the stage where the management of the course will require the addition of some water. Who’d have thought, when only a few weeks ago it was effectively under water. Some of the rough areas have been allowed to lengthen, which resulted in a fair bit of searching as well as a number of ‘lost’ balls, all of which does not help the pace of play.
There was a fair sort of a gallery at the first tee when Bob lined up for his first shot of the day. The result was not great, and the ball finished in the garden bed just in front. Almost unperturbed, Bob recovered well enough to finish the hole with a score that would have still scored him a point had the event been Stableford. From there on, there was no holding him back, as the pars and bogies kept rolling in with great regularity. Despite getting the front wheel of his buggy tangled up in some sort of a Gordian Knot (no, it has nothing to do with Gordo) on the 12th, Bob was on track to a gross score of 93 and a field beating net score of 64 to take out the January Monthly Medal.
Meanwhile, Gordian (I mean Gordo) was also showing some of the form that has been largely absent in the recent past. He was feeling pretty pleased with his card, that showed nothing worse than a single double that netted him a score of 65. He opined that the double on the 17th was the unforgivable sin that cost him the Medal, that he would have won on countback had he tied the event. You know what they say about aunties and uncles! And, what is more reliable than playing exactly to your handicap? Old Reliable, of course. Yes, Craig did it again. Straight down the middle and two pretty evenly balanced halves to card the ‘perfect’ score of net 68 and third place.
ChrisJ rocked up today, bragging about how his brand new Chrissy bag was going to help his game out of sight. For the first four or five holes, it looked as if it really was doing the job as the teed off on the 6th, equalling par so far. Then things started to unravel just slightly. A couple of fat ladies between there and the end of the round meant that he was only able to report a net 70, which is by no means an embarrassment as far as scores go, plus it gave him fourth place for the day. Harry was quite keen to put his new handicap to the test, and things were going well until the 6th when a disappearing ball from a second errant shot, and the resultant penalties meant that double figures were only just avoided by sinking a longish putt. In the end, he was not too unhappy with the final score of 72 and the one point for 5th place. Steve had a couple of ‘bad’ holes, but the one that really took the cake was the 15th, where he ended up playing three balls from the tee, and finished carding a nine for the hole. Despite all this, he was able to limp home with net 72 as well, and collected a point for fifth as well.
The first BallPin was set for the 15th green, and there could have been a fair contest for the ball after Beast put his ball not all that close from the first group. Harry managed to get somewhat closer than Bill, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. In the end, no improvement was made and Harry collected the ball. The BallPin on the 18th was a jackpot from last week, and Craig was keen to improve his ball collection statistics. However, he was foiled by Steve, who seems to be making a bit of a thing of winning the ball on the 18th. The ProPin was a jackpot on the 12th, but maybe people were trying too hard because nobody succeeded in getting within the required distance. Brendon thought he might have made it, but the tape stretched out to 5.06m. Close, but no cigar! Given his propensity for being able to grab the money, perhaps he was still suffering from his close encounter with a tiger on the third. It obviously scared the birdies as well, for we only scored 5 for the day.
Ryan could have taken out the ProPin on the twelfth with his tee shot, except that it was not his first, after he power shanked that one out onto the road and almost onto the oval. There were a lot of ‘stray’ balls out on the course today. Adam was playing with a Titleist number 4 ball, which you might have thought was fairly distinctive. On one occasion, while searching his group came across four balls, same brand, same number before coming across the one that was his. At least one other search required checking several balls to find the correct one. Our guest, Andrew, used to play Junior golf back in England, but he claims to be a bit rusty these days. The evidence suggests that the rust could very soon be cleaned off when a few ‘trouble-making’ shots are straightened out. We look forward to seeing Andrew out and about with us when life and family allow.
Results for Saturday, 07 Jan 2023
1st Bob McDonald (64) 2nd Gordon Hill (65) 3rd Craig Cameron (68) 4th Chris James (70) 5th Harry Boughen (72) 5th Steven Gervasoni (72)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (64) 2nd Gordon Hill (65) 3rd Craig Cameron (68)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 15th Harry Boughen BallPin No 2 – 18th Steven Gervasoni