Have yourself a Clayton’s on 5th September 2026.
Craig stuck by his decision not to risk his health by venturing out in the rain that started just as we were arriving at the course. Raj was running late, so it looked as if our field of eleven might be down to nine. However, Whitey lobbed up after a month and a half break, and Raj turned up right at the death-knock to keep the field size almost respectable. There was quite a bit of action on and about the first tee. There were quite a few umbrellas unfurled, and, with a few gusts of wind about, there were at least three buggy capsizes, including two by Steve’s kit. It also seems that the black and white Ping umbrellas have a bit of a weak spot, as two of them were sporting broken ribs in the same spot. Nalin was in the first group, and stepped up to the tee full of confidence, wound up for his best possible swing, almost missed the ball, and moved it forward a handful of metres. You could say he book-ended his round, because, on the 18th, he shanked his drive at ninety degrees and into the pond on the right. Anyway, the rain soon petered out, the pools of water soaked into the greens, the sun came out, resulting in quite a nice day for golf,, even if some of the golf did not match the quality of the day.
SOS is one person who reckons the odds on the prize pool on the 18th are pretty good, with at least 1500 shots to get an ace before you are out of pocket. So, as usual, he fronted up today to spend his $3 only to be informed that the option wasn’t available other, than between 1330 and 1630. So what does he do. He takes his seven iron and hits it as sweet as you like. You guessed it, it finished fairly and squarely in the hole. As a result, he collected a nice little trophy for the pool-room, a ball for the BallPin, and seven balls for the eagle from the Eagle’s Nest. Which is all well and good, but still has the taste of a Clayton’s, after missing out on the $6500 on offer in the pool plus a video of the event. The eagle also saved us from the ignominy of producing not one birdie or better from an event. The ProPin was set on the 4th, and, if the last group was any guide, even getting onto the green was a challenge, let alone hitting the 5m circle. So, there will be a Jackpot pool on offer next week. SOS will be loaded down with balls after today, as he managed to get onto the green (just) on the 7th, to take the BallPin there.
The drink you have when you’re not having a drink was not finished with us yet. There were no reports that Whitey had been away having sneaky lessons or otherwise practicing his game, but he certainly brought it with him today. He did misstep slightly on the handicap that he used on his card, but that did not affect the overall result. Unfortunately, his little break away meant that he did not meet the qualification requirements for Monthly Medal, so he had to be satisfied with the pair of ProV1’s for first place (not forgetting a bit of a handicap adjustment as well). Whether the balls did have the numbers one and two was not revealed, but there is a suspicion that SOS might have been winding up JQ, who has some sort of an aversion to balls sporting high numbers.
As a result, the Medal was awarded to Raj, who didn’t appear to be setting the world on fire over the first nine, but who came back with a vengeance on the back to produce a very respectable thirty-six off the stick (the best nine holes from the field for the day), which belies the fourteen handicap that he played from. Pepsi seems to have forgetten that your handicap can change from one week to the next, and scored his card with last week’s handicap. Theoretically, the Rules of Golf state that that handicap should stand, but that is one rule that we choose to ignore (and besides, the ‘system’ doesn’t allow for such a case). As a result Pepsi, stands in third place by himself, not in a tie as announced by Prez at the call of the cards. This pushed CJ down to fourth place in the main event, though he did hang onto second place in the Seniors, which now has him level-pegging with Harry in that Championship. This also meant that Pepsi and CJ agonising over count-backs was even more of a sip of Clayton’s. JQ filled the last spot available, thanks to the second best back nine after an ‘average’ front. Nalin thought he had scored a point despite his two draughties, but that was not to be despite having entered his inside card for consideration.
Ken was probably very pleased that there was a round of drinks on offer courtesy of the Club after taking four shots to even get off the tee box on the 4th. Plus another one didn’t make it to the red markers. He wasn’t alone in the draughtie stakes with Steve scoring one on the third with a rebound bringing the ball back along the path to be saved from the pond by the collection of buggies parked at the front of the tee. Other than that, most of the reports were ‘Nuthin’ really’. In other news, Blighty will be out celebrating during the week as the Birthday Birdie flutters around trying to track him down.
Results for Saturday, 05 Sep 2026
1st Rodney White (65) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (67) 3rd Andrew Petricola (73) 4th Chris Priems (74) 5th John Quinlan (76)
Seniors Results: 1st Rodney White (65) 2nd Chris Priems (74) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (81) 3rd Robert Priems (81)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan
Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 18th *** Stephen O’Sullivan ***