The weather forecasts hadn’t sounded too promising, but the radar indicated that the worst of it might have passed. So, ten hardy members (a couple of softies pulled the pin) set off to try for a medal and some valuable points, even though there was some gentle rain that was not quite enough to need the umbrella to be unfurled. They were not alone, though. Two guests lined up as well. Connor, as guest of James, put in his second card, and they both made sure that they introduced themselves in the carpark. Charlie Wood was a guest of Brent, and plans to join us as well, so a big welcome to him. As a refugee from the Old Dart, he didn’t seem too fazed by the weather, but maybe it will be a bit more pleasant when he comes along to put in his second card.
It wasn’t too long before the wet weather gear came out, and the greens started to resemble duck ponds with an automatic ball washing station situated around the flag. Undaunted, the intrepid band pressed on in the belief that it was only a passing shower. As predicted by Prez, it eased off at about the 8th, the umbrellas were furled and the rain jackets came off. On the 10th tee, the view was expressed that it was coming from the south-west, and it was looking pretty bright in that direction, so the worst was undoubtedly past. By the 11th, it was bucketing down again and the green was awash. There was a ‘river’ running across the 12th green, and the thought took hold on the 13th that the Clubhouse was looking like a good option. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and the round was completed in comparatively good spirits.
The handicapper is beginning to wish that he had the option to handicap on potential. He’ll certainly be delving into the records to see if a new one has been set. Given the conditions, it’s perhaps not unexpected that a 21 handicap would produce a front nine total of 53 strokes. But, given that the back nine conditions were just as bad, if not worse, to then return a total of 35 strokes almost beggars belief. But, that is exactly what James did, a turn around of 18 strokes, to front the judges with an 88 off the stick and a net score of 67. Well and truly enough to take out the May Monthly Medal with plenty to spare, and without too much damage to his handicap. It’s to be hoped that Connor was joking when he said that James usually plays off twelve. Well done, James. And you join a long line of new members to collect a medal early in your career with us.
Not too far behind, in terms of turn-arounds, if not net score, was Brent, who had a fairly ‘average’ 48 off the stick on the front, but then rocked home with a 37 for a total of 85 and a six stroke gap in second place. Adam broke with the turn-around tradition, and produced a couple of reasonably balanced halves on his way to third place for his net score of 75. Craig didn’t sound too impressed with his game today, although he didn’t flirt with the ‘b’ word. Despite any dissatisfaction with the bottom line, you are only playing the rest of the field, so his net score of 77 was good enough to score a spot on the 4th podium level with a couple of points in the main game, and top billing in the Seniors.
Brendon started off a bit slowly, but then seemed to hit his stride as the weather improved briefly in the middle of the round. His drive on the 13th was deemed to have finished in the middle of the 10th, but could not be found despite an extensive search. This brought on some deep soul-searching that seemed to last for most of the rest of the round. Despite this, he managed to tie it up with Craig in 4th place. Porks had what might be called a shocking start to his round. He was spotted making a complete air shot on the fairway of the first hole. He followed that up with two tee shots into the pond at the front of the back tee on the second. Having used up one and a half times his handicap on the first two holes, he could have been forgiven for thinking that his chances were gone. But, he pulled himself together, and barely put a foot wrong for the rest of the round, recording fours on thirteen of the remaining sixteen holes. SOS gave a yelp of joy when it was announced that his net score of 78 was enough to tie him with Ryan for fifth place. It does seem that he had a fair bit of help from the shrubbery. He finished the round with the same ball he started with, but not before it looked to head out of bounds and into other trouble too many times to count.
The first ball pin was set on the 4th again this week, and it proved a fair sort of challenge with the tee well back and the rainy conditions at the time. However, James did manage to get his ball on and collected an extra pill for the day. On the 18th, the ball went to Brent after he was able to get closer than Harry’s 12.6m effort. The ProPin on the 15th proved to be a target too far, and the pool will Jackpot to be contested again next week in the first round of the David Ford Autumn Cup event. Probably because of the difficult conditions on most of the greens, the birdies were very thin on the ground, and we could only manage to report two for the day.
The Birthday Birdie will have to flutter over to wish Geoff a happy day during the week.
Rob was pretty happy with his game until he ran out of dry gloves, and he started to fret about loss of grip and so forth. Despite this, he announced that he was trying for the green on the 17th, with the contents of the Eagle’s Nest too good a thing to pass up. Whether it was the wet glove or the wet grip, but the ball was driven off the tee into the ground, and barely made it off the back tee box, let alone to the red markers. Steve also came adrift on the second tee with two shots into the pond in front, before the third attempt finally made it past the red markers. Connor also had a draughtie on the 18th, but he then put his second shot to about 1m from the hole. The par putt eluded him. It should also be pointed out that he turned up today without hat, rain jacket or umbrella. Needless to say, he was thoroughly soaked by the end of the round.
Harry is thinking he should invest in windscreen wipers for his glasses after playing numerous ‘unseen’ shots due to drops in the line of vision. On the second, he settled on what he thought was the flag stick, selected his club, and cracked the ball to the back of the green, the perfect length for his target. Turns out his target was the post of the sign to the third tee, whereas the flag was fairly close to the front of the green. Brendon is one of those who has infinite faith in the stability of his buggy, and he lets it roll down hills with impunity. That is, until he tried it from the back tee on the 15th. It made it down the first slope OK, but then it kept rolling and rolling until it reached the front of the bottom tee, where the changing slope proved too much and the whole box and dice capsized. It was not revealed how many tees, balls and miscellaneous other stuff was spilled, but it did take a fair while for him to get back on track.
Results for Saturday, 06 May 2023
1st James Hale (67) 2nd Brent Loeskow (73) 3rd Adam King (75) 4th Craig Cameron (77) 4th Brendon Mitchell (77) 5th Ryan Porker (78) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (78)
Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (77) 2nd Harry Boughen (80) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (85)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th James Hale BallPin No 2 – 18th Brent Loeskow