A number of people were sitting around thinking that there might be some easy points to be had what with the Priems Clan fighting it out at the Frog and the school holidays and all. The Tee Marshall was packing up his gear when a sudden flurry of members arrived causing much muttering under breath and bringing the total number on the tee to a nice round twenty. So, maybe the points wouldn’t be so easy to get after all. There had been a bit of rain overnight and the temperature was somewhat milder than it had been over the last couple of days. The rain must have agreed with some of the grass on the course if the shagginess around some of the greens is any guide. Either that or the ground staff have been giving it a miss. But, provided that you stayed out of the long stuff, the course was very playable and conditions were very pleasant. The clouds thickened up after the round and the rain held off for a little while longer though it probably didn’t amount to much.
The conditions obviously suited Allan who turned up last to the starters desk and so was in the last group and kept everybody in suspenders while they tried to work out how many points they were going to get as they sat around chatting and sipping their beers. Allan was saying that things tend to happen in threes and after his last round when Thunderbird II broke down at the 18th, he drove out of the car park and got to the first round-about when the car temperature gauge went into the red and he found that he had blown a radiator making a third mishap in short order. Not sure what the other one was. Let’s hope that rounds scoring 42 points (or the equivalent) aren’t going to come in threes as well. And that included a gash and a singleton as well, so, room for improvement.
Brendon was noticed wandering distractedly in the shrubbery to the right of the 13th tee. If he was looking for his ball, he can’t have been too badly placed as he managed to par the hole. Maybe he was just helping Noodles who was also in the area. There were a couple of hiccups that limited the scoring to 37 points consisting of a 20 and a 17. Ryan, who also tallied 37, did it the other way around with 17 and 20. Perhaps Porks has managed to tweak his swing.
Gordon doesn’t seem to have been too badly affected by his recent eye problem at least as far as his golf goes. He was able to manage to play to his handicap and finish with the neat 36 points for the day and third place on the podium. Maybe it is close up vision that is affected because he turned up with a fairly significant stubble so maybe shaving is a problem. Or, maybe, he just wants to make Lisa look younger.
Simon called in the coach during the week to give his carburetor a tickle as he reckoned he was running a bit rough after his stint bobbing about on the briny. The rocking must have settled down a bit as he was able to make it to 35 points with a pretty evenly balanced round. Si reckons he is going to teach Allan’s Gopher to swim after he heard the score that Allan produced today. His partner in crime in fourth place was DennisW who started off a bit roughly but came home with a wet sail despite one hole going begging on the back nine. Dennis still hasn’t washed his Club cap.
The last of the points today went to John who reportedly left a few out there but not on the 17th where he scored a four pointer for the birdie that he made. That birdie was one of only eight for the Club which isn’t a really great total considering that there was some pretty good scoring turned in. Maybe it was the long grass around the greens or maybe the greens weren’t as ‘nice’ as they looked. Harry just missed a birdie on the 1st when his putt trickled a third of the way around the cup, balanced on the edge of the hole, without falling in. Perhaps the rest of the round would have been even worse if it had fallen in.
There was confusion at the station for the word had got confused about which were the Mobile ProPin and the BallPin holes. The situation was even more confused by the fact that one of our containers had been misplaced and a non-standard marker was out. Anyway, the upshot was that the BallPin was on the 12th and it was fiercely contested because the container put out had the tape measure and it could have been mistaken for being a ProPin. Mal put his close and wasn’t going to measure it because he reckoned it was outside the (ProPin) range. At 3.83m, you would have to consider that it had a chance given the tight position of the pin on the left side of the green. As it turned out, Brendon managed to get closer to add another ball to his growing collection. The 15th, despite all the confusion, avoided being hit within range and so we have a Double Jackpot for next week. Should be worth coming just for that. The ProPin on the 18th was surprisingly well contested with three names on the slip and the closest of all was MattH with 3.35m.
Now Matt managed to put his drive on the 16th into the trees on the left and he opted to take his chances to thread the ball out and back into play. The ball hit a tree pretty plumb in front and ricocheted back and went close to collecting him right between the eyes. Always a risk with that sort of shot. Some of Noodles coffin nails went missing and the shortage of a nicotine hit every hole had him on a knife edge when he got to the 18th. Maybe he should have tried throwing a club to ease the tension. But then he couldn’t do that to break his resolution so the tension was doubled. No wonder he didn’t hang around. He did go close to raiding the Eagles Nest though when he chipped out of the grass bunker by the 14th green and the ball ran across and past the hole.
The battery of SOS’s buggy died on about the second hole and he had to push it for the rest of the round. He reckons he was pretty much had it by the end of the round which might help to explain the score as well. There were no draughties today although Trev tried his hardest to talk himself into having one. Dennis went close on the 18th when he only managed to pass the red markers by mere centimetres. On the other hand, Stef really got one in the centre of the club on the 13th and the ball finished about 40m from the green, past the group in front. It was not reported whether he called ‘fore’.
Michael managed a birdie on the 8th after executing shots that were described using words that cannot be repeated here. Targe put his second on the 17th into the bushes by the path. Targe couldn’t be seen even though the bushes were not that tall but he managed to explode the ball through the lot to put it within a metre of the hole. Didn’t get the par though. RodG decided to lash out and buy a new driver by having a professional fitting. He took possession but was struggling a bit to adapt to the new equipment. After about seven holes, he noticed that the fitted shaft was not the one specified and so after the 9th he returned it to the staff and played the rest of the round with an iron from the tee. His game actually did improve.
Due to a small software glitch, the Eclectic Table is not correct and it will take a little while to fix up the problem. I will know who hasn’t read this by the protesting emails that I receive in the meantime.
Results for Saturday, 13 January 2018
1st Allan Davies(42) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(37) 2nd Ryan Porker(37) 3rd Gordon Hill(36) 4th Simon Powell(35) 4th Dennis Ward(35) 5th John Quinlan(34)
Seniors Results: 1st Allan Davies (42) 2nd Gordon Hill (36) 3rd Dennis Ward (35) 3rd Simon Powell (35)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Jackpot ProPin No 2 18th Matt Hunt BallPin 12th Brendon Mitchell