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Par Competition on 30 January 2016

Mal winning and grinning
I’ll beat my age yet, even if it kills me.

Twenty players turned out today to support the Michael Gourlay Benefit event.  The fairways are looking greener already after the rain in the last few days though there are still a few dry weather lies to be had around the course.  The temperature was cool to start and there was a bit of mist along the rivers before the sun came up.  When it did get up and come out, it didn’t take long for the temperature to rise and the extra layers of clothing to be stripped away.  All in all, another great day to be out and about on the golf course.

The conditions obviously suited Mal who fairly played out of his skin today and he even went close to playing under his age.  He would have done it too if it hadn’t been for a triple bogie on the second.  So his +8, from an 84 off the stick, smoked the rest of the field and caused some to ask what he had been smoking.  This result scored him the points to snatch the lead in both sides of the Championship tables.  There’s definitely life in the old fella yet.

Michael got off to a shaky (or should that be shanky) start on the first and made the observation that it took a few holes for his shoulders to loosen up enough the swing the club properly.  It really only took two holes to shake out the cobwebs and he put together a string of pars and birdies that brought him home with a par round (68) and a +2 on the points line to score him second place.  Just imagine what he might be able to do when the shoulders are fully recovered.

Chrispy spent the whole day agonising over whether just to buy the same club set-up as the set that he has borrowed from Snags to try out before he buys his own.  Will he have a proper fitting, does he need the ‘toe up’ lie that Snags has,  will he get the Big Bertha or the Great Big Bertha.  So many questions, so few answers.  Regardless of what the answer ends up being, the day out with a borrowed set didn’t work out too badly and Chrispy came home in third place with a +1 on the card.

Brendon got into holts with the trees on the left of the 4th and finished in the hazard and the shot from there went close to being OOB.  A half baked chip raised visions of a negative result on the hole but he got so excited when he chipped in for a square that he completely didn’t notice that the 4th was the BallPin hole  and spent the rest of the round looking out for the marker (sort of like others and the ProPin marker, but more of that later).  And so, the mix of stray shots and brilliance continued to produce a square card at the end of the day.  Brendon was joined on that score by Harry who looked to be heading for a much better result before fading a bit on the back with some less than accurate putting being the main cause of angst.

Then came a swag of players, almost too numerous to mention with a score of -1 to fill the final points spot for the day.  Mehmet, Steve, Bob, Pepsi, SOS and ChrisV formed the happy band who collected a point apiece for their trouble.  Steve needs to get into the habit of checking his handicap on the sheet provided as it does change from time to time and he could easily have missed out.  Just imagine the agony of missing the Championship by a point if the cards had been accepted at face value.

Blighty apparently had a shocker today.  He was tasked with putting out the nearest the pin markers on the 4th for the BallPin and the 12th for the ProPin.  He managed the BallPin OK but the ProPin wasn’t remembered until the death-knock at the 18th.  As well as that, he sat down somewhere right where a bird had left a deposit and, to add insult to injury, he also managed to drop the dimmy that he had purchased at great expense at half time.  When the nearest the pin holes were announced before the round, Michael declared that he had to win the BallPin because he was running short of balls.  Guess who’s name was on the card for the BallPin, Michael.  Guess who’s name was on the (Jackpot) ProPin on the (eventual) 18th, Michael.  So, between the ball run, the BallPin and the ProPin, Michael should be able to be well supplied with balls for some time to come.

There was a fair swag of birdies today with a total of 13 all up.  Only one of those were down to Pepsi who didn’t improve his Eclectic today and the gap has closed a little with quite a bunch of players within a couple of strokes.  The changed handicap calculation could easily make this event a lot more interesting as the year progresses.

Rod was taking the opportunity to give his putter a rest today with a couple of chips-in though one should probably be classified as a pitch-in as it was from at least 30m out from the green.  Steve played in the group with Rod and Gordon and submitted a request to play with them every week on account of the free issue of cream caramels and liquorice during the round.

Some people have to make a statement
For Chris’s new clubs?

The Bingo Barrel was used to good effect to make the draw for groups today and pretty much removed the thought that the system of randomisation could be somehow ‘fixed’.  Except of course that the tee marshall only realised almost at the end that his ball wasn’t in the barrel.  Chris reckons that he will have to lose weight in his fingers so that he can pick up the rather small balls without fumbling so much.  A couple of more tweaks in the ball management area should have the system working flawlessly.  The plan is that the draw will be done every second week except for the second week of majors when the leader board will determine playing order.

The Matchplay Championship is coming up and the Rules for this year are now on the Rules page.  Basically, everybody that has played at least one round since the start of December last year as of the last round in February will be seeded using their most recent three gross scores (calculated for Par and Stableford Competitions). The Competition draw will be filled based on that seeding order.  Anybody who doesn’t want to be included in the seeding should advise by using the Matchplay Registration Form on the website before 27 Feb (and the sooner the better).

We have now paid the dues to the VGL for our membership for this year and the Club coffers have been severely depleted as a result.  So, could those who have not yet paid their subs (GolfLink and Club) please do so as soon as possible or in a week or two we will start naming and shaming.

Gordon has obtained a set of variations to the Rules of Golf that he would like to see accepted for the Seniors in the Club (and maybe the not so seniors).  The list is rather long so they will be used from time to time as a filler (along with some real Rules of Golf determinations).

Rule 1.a.5: A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough with no penalty.  The senior should not be penalised for tall grass which ground keepers fail to mow.

Rule 2.d.6 (B): A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree.  This is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game.  The senior player must estimate the distance the ball would have travelled if it had not hit the tree and play the ball from there.

Now from the real world.  Ball strikes edge of hole-liner and bounces out of hole. 

Q: A player’s ball struck the rim of a hole-liner which had not been sunk deep enough, and bounced out of the hole.  Should the ball be considered holed in such circumstances.

A: No. Under the Definition of ‘Holed’, the ball must be at rest within the circumference of the hole.

Results for Saturday, 30 January 2016
1st Malcolm Fleming(+8) 2nd Michael Gourlay(+2) 3rd Chris Priems(+1) 4th Harry Boughen(□) 4th Brendon Mitchell(□) 5th Mehmet Akdag(-1) 5th Stephen Kelly(-1) 5th Bob McDonald(-1) 5th Andrew Petricola(-1) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(-1) 5th Chris Vinecombe(-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Malcolm Fleming (+8) 2nd Harry Boughen (□) 3rd Bob McDonald (-1)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Michael Gourlay BallPin 4th Michael Gourlay