Who’d have thought that something like a long weekend would have had such an effect on numbers. Not only were there only thirteen of us, the car park was far from full as well. There were a few that the winter chill had kept away and maybe the forecast of high probability showers with possible hail accounted for a few more. And maybe some donned their moleskins and tweed jackets with the leather patches on the elbows, packed the trouble and strife and the tin lids into the Range Rover and headed to Falls for the season opening. Or not!
The smallish field was no bar to some good scoring though and the man who did his bit towards drying out the fairways, and who is no stranger to a bit of ‘smoke’, was Simon. In a round that was a personal best on this, and possibly any other course, of 76 off the beater and an impressive +7 points, Simon managed to keep his head down despite some serious attempts to put the mockers on him by his ne’er-do-well playing companions. Simon, it seemed could do no wrong. If he was a bit astray getting to the green, he saved the day by putting (not necessarily putt-ing) it in from off the green, wedge or putter, didn’t matter. Well done Simon and welcome to your new handicap, just where you wanted to be, though you’ll have to work a bit harder for a while to get that Medal that you so desire.
Pepsi is still sporting some bandaging on his knee but it obviously isn’t affecting his golf at all. He turned at two under par off the stick and plus three points and could easily have repeated the performance on the back but for a couple of aberrations on the 11th and the 14th. Still a par round, off the stick and +3 points is not to be sneezed at in anybody’s book. The four birdies on his card helped his Eclectic card along and he is now within striking distance of the leaders. They also contributed significantly to the Club total of birdies for today of 11 of the little feathery blighters.
Chrispresident was in the first ‘sprint’ group today as he had to get away to drive to Echuca for a footy match, some drinking and some golf (tomorrow – provided he doesn’t overdo it tonight). So, maybe if he hadn’t been in such a rush he might have scored a bit better on the front nine and gathered himself some more points as a result. But +2 was enough to get him 3rd place and a minor adjustment to the old handicap. The new clubs were a topic of conversation again today and one of the stated intentions is to open the shoulders and give them a good work-out at Rich River tomorrow. Chris also managed to move himself up the Eclectic table today and he is starting to breathe down the necks of the leaders on the main Championship Table. Not sure whether this holds any significance or not, but all first three place-getters today have surnames that begin with ‘P’.
Harry played a very steady game today and managed squares on 11 of the 18 holes. The imbalance on the other seven meant that his final total for the round was +1 and that was enough to gather 4th place and a couple of points in both the main event and in the Seniors. In a bit of a contrast to the last couple of weeks, Seniors made up almost half of the field today. And, while on the topic of Seniors, another Senior came in 5th spot with a square card and that was Gordon who managed to fit in a round with us in between his real estate dealings and weddings in Fiji and so forth.
The BallPin today was contested on the 15th and there was only one person who really contested the event. Michael put it within a couple of metres but he didn’t make the putt to contribute to the birdie total and it was fairly obvious that he wasn’t too happy about the fact as the comment on the slip doesn’t bear repeating in polite company. Whether it was a hangover from the 15th or a similar feeling of disgust about a result on the 16th but Michael was noticed to be well behind his playing group taking multiple practice putts on that green before proceeding to the 17th tee.
The ProPin was on the 12th and our man of the sizzling form could be heard ticking off the list of things that he would be able to afford with the dividend. But, when the tape was rolled out, the reading was 5.02m, just short of the qualifying distance of 5.00m. Still, nobody else managed to get within the required distance and so the pool will Jackpot for some lucky punter next week.
Rumour has it that JohnQ was involved is some sort of a romantic interlude on his recent holiday in Bali. There were hints of moonlight over the palm trees, softly breaking waves, private function rooms, wandering minstrels and personal butler. A bit unclear what sort of questions were asked and what answers were given, but John did have a bit of a silly grin on his face all day.
It wasn’t Trev’s day today but he strongly denies that he was playing ‘Rap’ which is a game sort of like Par except that you try to score as many minuses as possible. And, as it turns out, he did not set a new record for the highest negative score although he did go close. Bob, also, wasn’t particularly high up the rankings today but one of the factors that could have affected his game was the fact that he lost all of the sprigs from his shoes, or maybe even the whole sole, if a late report is any guide. Maybe time to let the moths out of the wallet if that is the case.
Gordon’s life has been busy of recent times and he is full of stories of the things that he has found hidden away in cupboards as the house unloading has progressed. He obviously hasn’t found the sugar bags of fivers that he has stashed away as he arrived today without any money and, what is worse, without his usual supply of licorice.
Blighty wasn’t setting the world on fire but he wasn’t going that badly either. That is until the 13th. After that he seems to have fallen off some sort of a cliff and didn’t trouble the scorer for the rest of the round. One of those holes was the 15th at which Andrew suffered the ignominy of putting in a draughtie that was lucky not to be OOB as well. In what could be a first, Ryan hit the fence on the 14th with his tee shot. What fence on the 14th, you might ask. The one that stops you falling off the path down from the tee to the fairway, you might answer. Whitey was putting like a demon today and single putted five greens in a row on the front nine. The fact that he turned at -2 would suggest that the rest of the game wasn’t exactly up to par, to coin a phrase.
We have a social event with an Ambrose week after next and we would like to have a good idea of the field before-hand. So, we would like to know at the earliest your intentions for that day. Because of the nature of the event, you won’t be able to play the Course Management comp. A set of rules will be circulated shortly.
The Annual Challenge at Numurkah in August is still open for registration. Let Gordon know and deposit the registration fee into the Club bank account with your name and Numurkah as the entry for the receiving account. Lots of novelty events and prizes to be had and a good time is highly likely. Gordon has promised to behave himself on the Friday night so that everything is in order for the round on Saturday.
The Matchplay semi-final matches have to be played. JohnQ has to meet up with Laurie and Brendon has to do battle with Rob. You have until the July MM to get a result finalised one way or another.
Results for Saturday, 11 June 2016
1st Simon Powell(+7) 2nd Andrew Petricola(+3) 3rd Chris Priems(+2) 4th Harry Boughen(+1) 5th Gordon Hill(□)
Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (+7) 2nd Harry Boughen (+1) 3rd Gordon Hill (□)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Jackpot BallPin 15th Michael Gourlay