It was a good day to be thinking about necking a stubby. There were a few clouds and about half a dozen spots managed to reach the vicinity of the ground but it was still a great day to be out and about on the course. The chill came and went with the breeze and the coming and going of the breeze brought on some mind-changing in relation to club selection on certain holes where the breeze was perceived to have a greater influence. The results of the shots didn’t necessarily reflect the benefit of the deliberations that were made. But, it must be said that the malaise that struck the field last week was not so much in evidence among the twenty members who did battle today but even so, there was only one member who played better than his handicap.
And he wasn’t backward in grabbing a stubby and the picture doesn’t show him trying to bite the cap off to celebrate his first top placing since he joined the Club a while back. Taner has been quietly gathering a few points with placings and has managed to protect his handicap as a result. Not today however, as he kept finding the centre of the club off the tee and the short game wasn’t too shabby as well. The putter worked well enough and the points tally could have been even higher if some of the longer ones had gone in.
Another couple of Seniors managed to keep their heads down and play to their handicap to gather the points for second place in both levels of the Championship events. Harry inspired the Beast by being two over after six holes and they virtually matched scores over the front nine but as the run faded in one it faded in the other just slightly more so for Bill than for Harry. Targe, on the other hand was just a bit more consistent between the halves if not so much on fire in the front half.
ChrisV came in next with a card that could very easily have been a front runner except for a handful of ordinary scoring holes. Perhaps he was distracted because he was scoring the card for the birdie blitz that was being executed by StephenK (aka Ned). Steve managed at least four out of the total of 11 that were carded for the day but they were separated by runs of scoreless holes so, although the eclectic improved markedly, the bottom line was not so flash. Next came the Beast who also scored a birdie after putting his drive pin-high on the 14th and only missed the eagle by a whisker with a tricky down-hill putt. Bill also decided that as nobody in the group had sunk a long putt all round decided to ‘have a go’ from near the edge of the green on the 17th and went close to making what would have been an unlikely par after flirting with trees and hazards along the way.
Noodles and CraigC rounded out the list of points getters in today’s field. Our Championship leader, Ryan, missed out on points today, which should have suited those that had a chance of catching him before the end of the year. But, with only two rounds to go, the field of contenders to overtake has dropped to two so there is still some room for excitement leading into the final rounds. Unfortunately for the Seniors Championship aspirants, this event is now done and dusted as Gordon cannot be caught. The minor placings are still open for contention however. Simon was another birdie getter today and his very first in competition since he started with us for a coloured square on his Eclectic card. The Eclectic is still there to be won, it only requires a birdie or two (or three) from the four or five people within that range of Pepsi.
It was unkindly suggested that Snags might be tempted to leave his garage door open again after some dissatisfaction with his clubs/own performance today during which he was heard cussing like a mule-skinner. That didn’t stop him from putting his tee shot pin high on the 12th to take out the much prized Nearest the Pin for a ball. Despite being out of the points today, Ryan probably did better than most by getting onto the 18th and being close enough to collect the jackpot ProPin.
Michael was back on deck today after his bout of frozen shoulder(s) and though he is still a bit restricted he didn’t do too badly at all. One drive didn’t come off on the 6th and Blighty stepped up and creamed his shot to up by the bunker. He turned, puffed out his chest and said ‘ If I was an arrogant type, I’d say that is how you are supposed to hit the ball’. Ryan stepped up and out-drove Blighty by 40m, turned and nonchalantly said ‘ That’s how you are supposed to hit the ball’. Take that! Maybe it was karma taking its time for pay-back but it seems that Blighty then managed a draughtie (second week in a row) on the 12th and Michael was very pleased to accept his first free shout back in the Clubhouse.
Gordo was persuaded to carry a new demo driver on the round today and maybe that is what kept him out of the points. Apparently it has more loft than his old driver but he was hitting it lower. Maybe it is the nut on the end of the shaft that is the problem. Targe could be considering a change of career as he was noted giving physiotherapy advise after the round today. Strangely the exercise that he was advocating was very similar to one that was ascribed to a sex therapist some years ago. Chrispy had to dash off early today and not sure whether it is a carry over from the Mansfield weekend but ‘oil on troubled waters’ did get a mention. Trevor spent some time teaching the trees a thing or two and he reckons he started off playing a white ball but finished playing with a yellow one even though it was the same ball.
The Annual Calcutta for the Vin O’Meara is coming up in a couple of weeks. If you are not planning to play in any or all of that event or, if you do not want to be included in the auction, please let Harry or Gordon know as soon as possible to simplify the book-keeping for the event.
Results for Saturday, 14 November 2015
1st Taner Kemal(39) 2nd Harry Boughen(36) 2nd Targe Mifsud(36) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(35) 4th Bill Eastoe(34) 5th Stephen Butterfield(33) 5th Craig Cameron(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Taner Kemal (39) 2nd Targe Mifsud (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (36) 3rd Bill Eastoe (34)