I lay tar down, I rip it up again, You are never going to lose that frown. I lay tar down, I rip it up again, One day I'll have to put it all back down. etc, etc..... with apologies to Chumbawumba.
For those members that haven’t visited the ‘Hoe in a while, today was a good time to stand around and have a good guess at what the heck is happening in the carpark. At the moment, it looks a bit like a cross between a cattle-crush, a lab-rat maze and a chess board, with a bit of labyrinth thrown in. There would seem to be some chance that once you get in, there might be a fair chance that you will never get out again. However, assurances have been made that the situation will be much improved when the work is finished, even though there will be fewer parking spots available. But, at least, there will be no nasty run-off to pollute the environment. Once they were able to snap their jaws back shut, twelve full members welcomed new boy Charlie and Jonathan’s three mates Nick, David and John to the first tee to start the day’s proceedings. The forecast promised little in the way of rain, and that proved to be the case. The gale force winds had also abated, and, once the sun had cleared a bank of clouds to the north, the scattered clouds allowed the sun to shine through on occasions, making for a pretty good day for a round of golf.
It has been a little while since ChrisJ graced us with his presence, and, if recollection serves, he had been having a bit of a rough time of it. It wasn’t revealed just what he has been up to during his absence, but you would have to wonder whether he has been practising and/or having lessons because, other than one gash and one singleton, his card was virtually unblemished, and he pretty much streeted the field with his tally of 38 points, and he was the only one in the field to better his handicap. Despite this performance, reports have it that his playing group had their tongues hanging out on the 7th where his drive hit a tree full square, and headed back towards whence it had come. No such luck, and tongues back in. However, on the 8th, he repeated the performance, and got the tree flush enough that the ball did make the extra distance back past the reds, and constituting one of the draughties scored for the day.
Blighty is doing a bit of a Collingwood by making a come-back in the second half. The front nine only had three different results, gash, singleton and three pointer (although he did try to crib an extra point on one hole). The back nine was a completely different story, and nineteen points (despite another gash) brought his total to 32 for the round, and an easy second place. So inspired by his form on the back, Blighty was overheard giving lessons on swing technique to anybody who would listen. Steve managed to put together a very balanced round with fifteen points in either half, and he was suitably surprised to discover that he had managed to come third with his tally of 30 points. He pretty much missed the announcement and the associated applause because he was off retrieving a club cover that he had lost along the way.
Just a single point further afield was Adam, who seemed to have a modicum of trouble with a swag of the par fours. There could also be a bit of a hang-over from the haircut that his handicap took a couple of weeks back. Still, twenty-nine points to get a couple of points, pretty much anybody would take with alacrity. And, finally, we find Raj, Brendon and Pepsi filling out the last spot on the podium with their total of twenty-eight points apiece. When quizzed, Raj did not sound too happy about his game, but he was happy enough to accept the point to maintain his lead over Brendon in the Championship race. Brendon might have been able to have closed the gap a little if it hadn’t been for the appearance of something of a power draw from the tee, and a propensity to miss putts by fairly narrow margins. There was some concern about the colour ball that Pepsi was playing with when the word ‘blue’ came into the conversation. As a point of clarification, it wasn’t the extreme cold that prompted the remark.
The first BallPin was set on the 4th hole, which has a bit of a reputation because of the positioning of trees and OOB markers. It wasn’t clear just who, but a couple of members of Jonathan’s group finished just off the green proper. Brendon hit one straight at the pin and Harry called it ‘in’, but the group in front reported it just barely missed, and it rolled on the finish just off the back. That was it for the day, so there will be a Jackpot BallPin on the 4th next week. The ProPin on the 15th proved to be elusive once more, although ChrisJ did claim that he was 5.1m away, but that was an estimate only. A Double Jackpot is starting to look attractive for all the money-hungry types out there. And, as for the BallPin on the 18th, it seems that somebody ‘nicked’ our highly valuable, container, marker, postit pad and pencil, between it being put out before tee time and the first group arriving at the green. Although there were some unverified claims of finishing on the green, it was deemed that this hole would also jackpot to next week.
Gordon turned up with a new (second-hand) driver that he bought during the week and blooded today. Keenly watched from the first, the ball finished on or about the tree-line on the right. Reviews were mixed, with the suggestion that the 12 degree loft did result in a slightly higher launch angle, but it might take a couple of rounds up at Nurmurkah to iron out the wrinkles. Watch out when he gets back with us in a couple of weeks. The club did come with a rather disturbing head cover that needs to be seen rather than described. It seems that putting provided some challenges today, with numerous responses to requests for comment having the general gist of ‘don’t talk to me about putting’. Rob did the ‘right’ thing on the 15th, complimenting people on their drives. He then proceeded to chunk his about 5 metres, leaving it well short of the red markers, occasioning the customary shout.. Charlie submitted his first card today, and, although he did not get off to a great start on the first, there were several glimpses during the round that suggests, that, once he plays regularly, there is some potential there to perform. Welcome to the Club, Charlie. Stan was also back today after spending some time avoiding the Ivanhoe mud and working on his Castlemaine ‘ranch’ Stan has a big event coming up next time he plays when he will hit 100 games with the Club.
Results for Saturday, 09 Sep 2023
1st Chris James (38) 2nd Andrew Blight (32) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (30) 4th Adam King (29) 5th Rajesh Mahto (28) 5th Brendon Mitchell (28) 5th Andrew Petricola (28)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (32) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (30) 3rd Harry Boughen (27)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Jackpot