There were no party ‘pies, but there were snags and patties for the fourteen members who were sufficiently disinterested in other events of the day to try their hand at the Grand Old Par rather than fret about the Grand Old Flag. Mark, from the ‘afternoon’ group, joined in so that he could get to the ‘G, but, unfortunately, he is a Lions supporter, although, it must be said that his side did not let him down and was in there with a chance right until the siren blew. The weather was fairly warm, so conditions should have been ripe for some good scoring to be had, particularly with the chance of some extra points for the net eagle hole. However, looking at the bottom line of some of the cards handed in, one might have been forgiven for thinking that the course was in bad condition and that the weather was foul. However, despite the less than stellar appearance of some of the scores, we did manage to come home with five birdies and four double pointers for the day.
There was one member who did manage to revel in the conditions. Stan was a contributor to the birdie and double tally when he nabbed one on the 3rd, after a couple of square holes to start the round. He took advantage of his two strokes on the 4th, 7th and 8th, which should have made for a very impressive total for the front nine, except for a couple of minuses that left him just plus three. The back nine looked like having nothing on the debit side of the ledger, until a minus on the last blotted the copy-book to finish the day with plus four and an easy win from the rest of the field.
Gordo could very easily have been right up there with Stan, if it had not been for three holes that did not even rate the entry of a number in the left-hand column of the card. Now, it seems that Gordon had got rid of a lot of ‘rubbish’ during the week, and as a result, he had none left for the course (ignoring those three holes, of course). However, there could have been a modicum of luck involved as well, when a very skinny shot for the green on the 6th looked gone for all money until the flag stick intervened and dropped the ball into the hole for a par (and a plus). And there were a sufficient numbers of pluses on the card for Gordo to finish plus two and in second place for the day.
Charlie lined up for his first round of competition today, and, as had been predicted, he did not take long to feature in the considerations. He kicked off the round very smartly with a pair of pluses, whereupon, the tension got too much for him and a quad of minuses followed in short order. Another pair of pluses restored the equilibrium position, and he rounded only one under the card. The back nine was not so much of a roller-coaster, and the eventual square result slotted him nicely into third place, and left his handicap nicely intact.
Steve is really looking forward to defending his Mustard Jacket in a couple of weeks time. Today’s result of minus one will help a little towards that goal, although that tally was helped more than somewhat by his pair of doubles on the 7th and 16th. What might not help his Cobram campaign was the fact that he managed to ‘smash’ his driver on the 13th, so he will be urgently shopping for a replacement, and will have little time to get used to the new kit before the Challenge weekend. Porks started out with a couple of holes on the wrong side of the line, but he managed to rectify that and finished the front nine square to the card. A couple of bogies and a double on the back brought him home on minus one as well for a piece of 4th place. Adam was pretty happy with his square for the front nine, but less happy about the minus three on the back that relegated him to fifth place. Connor showed signs of being a little on the rusty side, with holes being either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ with nothing much in between. It seems that he took two shots to get onto the 18th green, the only problem with that was, he was playing the 17th hole. Peter didn’t make much of a fist of the front nine, although he did snag a par on the 5th. The back nine looked as if it was going to be a lot more promising with a string of plus scores, only to see them frittered away by a corresponding string of losses, and the tally of minus three was the final result for a spot in 5th place.
What to say about the Nearest the Pin competition? It will be interesting to see if the Double Jackpot BallPin on the 7th will go off next week from the Black tees, because the Jackpot from last week certainly didn’t go off this week. The 18th green also proved to be difficult to get onto (it took Connor two shots from the 17th), so there will be a Jackpot there as well. And, as for the ProPin, that was set on the 15th, and there was nobody who could get within the required 5m to collect the money, so there will be a jackpot to play for there as well. That should be enough to attract a few of the hungry types out of their den.
SOS was noted buying a couple of beers after the round. One was for his drive on the 2nd, which did not quite make it as far as the red markers. The other was for a too-vigorous putt on the 6th that carried on past the hole and off the green. Andrew was very tentative and took quite a while searching for his ball at the back of the 8th green after a snake was spotted in the area. Probably best not to go tromping about in the long stuff now that the weather is warming up and our slithery friends get more active. Our Lion-loving guest, Mark, scored a birdie on one hole, and promptly followed that up with a triple bogie, which gave rise to speculation that this could be a portent for the result of the match to come. ChrisJ made the last of the double pointers with his birdie on the 10th, but his other three pars fell quite a bit short of propelling him into contention for points on the day.
There have been no reports about the true believers, but there is a possibility that they will have sobered up sufficiently to play next Saturday.
Results for Saturday, 30 Sep 2023
1st Stan Blackshaw (+4) 2nd Gordon Hill (+2) 3rd Charlie Wood (□) 4th Steven Gervasoni (-1) 4th Ryan Porker (-1) 5th Adam King (-3) 5th Connor McIntosh (-3) 5th Peter Sein (-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Stan Blackshaw (+4) 2nd Gordon Hill (+2) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (-1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Jackpot