The weather over the past week was a hot topic of conversation, with tales of mountains of windfall and future ‘burn-offs’ among them. CJ’s neighbour thought that his recent yucca removals were the result of the wind, rather than the rather expensive arborist that was the reality. And, would there be cause to go ‘nuts’ about the greens once again? Alas, the gum nuts were in relatively short supply, but the recently applied sand was there aplenty, which could have served as an excuse if one was needed. The temperature was reasonably mild, but the wind chill was enough to require some degree of rugging up, although there were still a couple of stand-outs in shirt sleeves and shorts. Twelve members put on a brave face and headed out to do battle with the wind that was not violent, but was a bit swirly at times. The rain gods made a few vain attempts to put on the dampeners, but the use of umbrellas was hardly required, and could be hazardous in the gusty conditions. A view was expressed early on, that a square card would likely win the day.
One person had other ideas about that little prediction. Having sharpened his skills out at Windy Hollow (aka The Frog), CJ could be almost heard saying – What wind? With a square on the first, he stepped up to the tee on the second by the back blocks, and smashed his way to a par (the only one to do so on the day), the first of a total of five pluses on the front nine. A couple of losses limited the score to plus three at the turn. Another three wins (and a couple of losses) rounded out the final score line to +4 from 76 off the stick, which was easily the best points performance for the day, a three-way tie for best off the stick, and well deserving the eight points that came with it. CJ had been bemoaning the fact that his handicap had been drifting out more than he liked, and it was getting too close to Rob’s for comfort. He can take great comfort with the new wider margin, but it was probably not the best result for the upcoming Annual Challenge. Oh well, win some, lose some.
Harry started out with a par for plus on the first, and was going well on the second until a well struck nine iron headed the ball for the green only to intercept an intervening tree branch and drop vertically to the ground, which spoiled any chance of a square. From there, if the hole wasn’t squared, then a plus was followed fairly closely by a minus. Fortunately, on the back nine, the plus tally managed to exceed the minus tally and the final reckoning was plus one, which resulted in second place in both the main competition and the Seniors. Steve was getting ‘high’ on the contents of JQ’s tube of liniment at the registration table, and was reminiscing about his days on the Rugby field. Whether it was the liniment or the effects of too many concussions, he seemed to think that today’s event was GrandPar, and he took two pluses for his par on the 10th. Or, was it his marker ($%#** angry Michael) who led him astray? Anyway, that brought his score line back to minus one, rather than the square that was announced. Brendon also just missed out on playing to his handicap, and also presented with minus one to make a tie with Steve for third place.
Old Reliable expressed the view that he didn’t deserve to get a point for his announced fifth place with a score of minus three. It will be interesting to see his view on getting two points by dint of having been promoted to fourth place. Craig was reasonably happy with his front nine, which ended up square, but he expressed some disappointment about how things went on the back. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the trio that will now get a point for their efforts by bringing home scorecards showing minus five. Michael might very well blame getting hit by a stray ball from the 15th tee while waiting on the 16th. The lack of a warning call, and the fact that the perpetrator was from a four that had been in front, but stopped for coffee, and butted in between our groups, got Mike’s dander up more than somewhat. SOS was reported to be quivering behind his buggy, mumbling, “You can get two years for hitting a copper”, as words were exchanged. Pepsi and JQ, on the other hand, can console one another with the fact that they both missed plenty of ‘gettable’ putts on the way to their scores.
There was a pair of balls on offer for the BallPin on the 7th. There were some that went close, but none finished on the dance floor. As a result, there will be a trio of balls on offer for the Double Jackpot there next week. The ProPin was set for the 12th, and a few got on, and a few felt hard done by when their shots propped, stopped and trickled back down the hill. However, none managed to outdo Brendon, who made a shot to 3.65m to take home the cash on offer. There was a claim that a split had been agreed, but everybody knows that is like urinating into the wind where Brendon is concerned. The second BallPin on the 18th was taken out by CJ to boost his ball count even more. In the process, he seems to have outed $%#** angry Michael. The fact that it was about 11m from the pin cheesed off Pepsi, who was much closer, but just off the back of the green, more than somewhat. Brendon did get his birdie on the 12th, and that brought our tally for the day to eight.
The Birthday Birdie has a call to make this week, and that is to wish Matt one of the best. Also, if Blighty fronts up next week, be sure to wish him all the best as well. Rob was ‘bending them like Beckham’ at times today, causing people to wonder how on earth does he do that. But then again, perhaps the ‘power fade’ just runs in the family. Prez also copped a bit of stick over the state of his golf shoes, which are looking just a little the worse for wear. But, at least, the soles are still attached to the uppers, so what’s the problem? During the week, Pepsi spotted Brendon walking the dog in a disused cemetery near home, and gave him a call to attract his attention. Brendon’s response was to look quizzically around at the tombstones, possibly in the expectation that one of the occupants was trying to make contact. After another call, he looked further afield, and realised it was a call from this world rather than the nether.
Results for Saturday, 31 Aug 2024
1st Chris Priems (+4) 2nd Harry Boughen (+1) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (-1) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (-1) 4th Craig Cameron (-3) 5th Michael Gourlay (-5) 5th Andrew Petricola (-5) 5th John Quinlan (-5)
Seniors Results: 1st Chris Priems (+4) 2nd Harry Boughen (+1) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (-1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 1 – 7th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Priems