Monthly Archives: July 2025

A fairly mild winter’s morning was on offer to the seventeen members who fronted the starter to vie for the July Monthly Medal. There was a fair bit of debate about whether it was light enough to tee off again, but first light should start to get earlier from now on. At least until daylight saving kicks in. It was a red letter day for a couple of members. Matt was brimming with confidence for his 200th game with the Club, following some good form on away turf in recent times. Pepsi was also angling for a birthday gift, giving up a sleep-in and breakfast in bed for a tilt at a medal for the pool-room. Despite the incredulity evident when he announced his age, the records showed that he was telling the truth, and had not started counting backwards. As the morning progressed, the temperature climbed, and the hand-warmers were left to warm the insides of pockets rather than pinkies. This was obviously beneficial, as the majority of players had improved totals on the back compared to the front.

Old Reliable did not quite lead out the field, but he did manage to lead it in. This was largely thanks to a ten stroke turn-around, with the back nine taking just three more strokes than the card. This makes the winner’s penalty seem insufficient, particularly if he can repeat the effort for the first half of the round. There wasn’t a huge margin in the victory, though. AndrewV had Craig’s measure on the front nine, but, just failing to make a few pars on the back, left him just one stroke short of the top spot. This high placing scored Andrew a rocket in the Order of Merit, which has seen a few moves today. Ryan started off with one of our two birdies, but, by the end of the front nine, he had used all of his available handicap. Four over the card on the back brought him home with seventy-two and gathered third place for the day. Ryan was another mover in the OOM, and now sits on the top of the order for the first time.

Matt didn’t win himself a Medal to celebrate his 200th, but he did get some points for coming in fourth. Having used up his handicap, plus a couple on the first nine, he did well enough on the back to make a bid for fourth place, three strokes further back. Gordon could be said to have been playing under difficult circumstances today. On the third green, he spotted a pitch mark, and decided to do the right thing and repair it. As he leaned down to do the repair, he steadied himself with his putter resting on the ground. At this point, the hosel of the putter snapped, and Gordon was lucky not to do a face-plant. However, what was he to do about putting. He tried with his 2-iron, but finally settled on his 3-wood. So, scoring fifth place was probably not such a bad effort. An inspection of the break by the resident metallurgist suggested an existing flaw in the metal, and not a superfluity of force. Ken’s regular attendance seems to be paying off, and he has become a regular in the points distribution.

The Nearest the Pin competition attracted a fair amount of interest today. The first BallPin on the 12th hole attracted three names on the card, but Stan was the man to tip out Prez and Raj for the pill. The story was similar on the 18th, but the changes in fortune must have been marginal. SOS was victorious after edging out SteveG by a matter of millimetres. And Steve had managed to upstage Matt. However, SOS was probably less than half a metre onto the green, so, how far onto the dance-floor had Matt’s ball been? The ProPin was on the 15th, and, as the last group approached, there was no name on the card, and hopes were raised for a Jackpot for next week. Unfortunately, the last group included Pepsi, and he whacked his ball in to 2.31m to collect the money, although he did mention that he really needed a ball rather than cash.

There were several draughties today, all in the one group. Harry and Marc came to grief on the second. There was no doubt about H disappearing into the reeds, but some careful alignment was required to declare Marc’s about 10mm short of the mark. Wazza came to grief on the 14th after heading one in the direction of SOS’s car in the car-park before it caught a tree and stopped dead in the tan-bark. Gordo probably wished he still had a head on his putter when faced with a ball hard against the base of a tree. Also on the 3rd, Raj had a putt of about 5m, which he sent on its way running true to the hole, only to stop about 20mm short of the mark. As he walked up to the hole, the putter ‘slipped out of his hands’, and managed to hit the ball, moving it further from the hole. What didn’t move further from the hole was the putter itself, which wedged itself firmly into the hole, requiring running repairs to the hole surrounds, and a longer putt than before. SteveG also had a slippery glove on today when he repeated his backswing on the 11th tee, taking Blighty by surprise when the club made contact. No damage was done, and this was not the cause of Blighty’s bad back. He was putting the blame firmly on the ‘housework’ that he was doing during the week. Using muscles that he has never used before, apparently. Wazza paid his $3 at the 18th, and put his best effort into making the shot. A cry came up – it’s on the green! Only problem was, it was on the 9th green, not the 18th.

Results for Saturday, 05 Jul 2025
1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Ryan Porker (72) 4th Matt Hunt (75) 5th Gordon Hill (76) 5th Ken Watson (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Matt Hunt (75)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 1 – 12th Stan Blackshaw BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan