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Ben Dover boys, I’m back for GrandPar on 25 August 2018

Ben brings home the bacon.
You can’t judge a round by the first drive…..

It was a bit nippy bright and early this morning with one of the coldest mornings since early July.  There was a hint of frost on the grass and the digits were feeling the pain and the balls seemed decidedly hard.  Thank goodness for chemical hand warmers some would say and thank goodness for generous playing companions who take pity and lend you one.  However, the clear sky presaged a beautiful day and eighteen ventured to the tees to try their hand at scoring the elusive ‘grandpar’.  Trevor turned up for a chat with the news that he had been hospital for some time recently and would not be able to play for a few more weeks yet.  We all hope that any pending news is good and that you are soon well and back among us, Trev.

An appreciative crowd gathered behind the first tee to watch the first group on their way and the crowd was not disappointed when Ben skulled his drive and the ball popped up and disappeared into the bushes beside the front tee-box never to be seen again.  The only known draughtie for the day and not an auspicious start to a round.  However, Ben had crafted his new handicap well and, although he didn’t check the starting sheet he still managed to carry the day with a score of +2.  The bottom line was helped no end by a grandpar though his playing companions were a little dismayed by the fact that he scored it with a par on a hole that carried two handicap strokes.

Hot on Ben’s heels were a veritable pack of contenders with +1 on the card.  Quickdraw McNoodles squandered a few potential points with some poor work around the greens and a couple of his drives did not help as well.  Pepsi finished the front nine one under the card on a stroke basis but then again he almost has to with a handicap that low.  Dale was deep in conversation with Joe about the the merits of various clubs and their loft and carry and the impression was that, if there wasn’t already new gear, there was certainly some in the offing.  A share of second place suggests that all is not too bad.

Continuing with packs of three, there was another trio lining up for third place with nice square cards.  Porks was making a bit of a hard go of it and was four down at one stage.  He then decided that he was going to catch up with Noodles and put his foot down to go very close to achieving that aim, just falling short at the 18th after Noods put his drive to 4.24m to take out the ProPin on the hole.  Chrispy asked to be paired with brother Rob and sibling rivalry obviously spurred him to greater things and he joined Ryan.  JohnQ had other things on his mind but despite possible distractions he too came home square.

Yet another threesome filled fourth place, MattH, SteveK and Whitey all presented with just one point below the line.  Steve didn’t help his cause by hitting the wrong ball while playing the 11th.  Not only did he hit the wrong ball, he was on the wrong fairway (6th) when he did it and only realised when he came across his own ball on the 11th where it should have been.  In fairness, the ball did hit a tree and nobody saw the fall.  Whitey bemoaned his abominable putting and could easily have won the day if not for multiple three putt greens.  Last, but not least, and he will take the point, was Rob  who pushed a couple of hopeful Seniors out of the main points table.

The BallPin today was on the 15th and the Beast was able to snatch that one from Whitey’s grasp.  The very nice little Jackpot ProPin on the 12th was taken out by Steve who managed to sneak inside the circle at 4.82m.

Today also saw the finalisation of the 2018 Matchplay Championship.  The main match took place between JohnQ and Matt.  And a very worthy match it turned out to be.  For the first nine there was not a lot in it and, although the lead did not change, Matt had the lead at one up at the turn.  A couple of quick wins at the start of the back looked as if he might have John  on the ropes.  A couple of right crosses from John just as quickly restored the status quo.  A stray drive and a muffed pitch over the trees by John on the 14th could have turned the match back to Matt’s favour but the hole finished even.  There followed a flurry of body blows through the 15th and 16th before John landed the upper cut on the 17th.  John’s pitch in close to the hole made Matt question his choice of club but he chose to ignore his doubts and he paid the penalty by losing the hole and the match 2 and 1.

The play off for third was between Stefan and the Beast.  This was a slightly more one sided match with the match finishing after the 15th with Bill coming up trumps 4 and 3.  Stef was a little frustrated that, every time he went well on a hole, Bill managed to match him or had a stroke up his sleeve.  Stef did manage to have a couple of victories but, for the most part there was a steady progression of scoring to Bill’s side of the card.  Not much result for a quiet dig on the first ‘See you later, Bill’.

There was not a definitive count of the ‘grandpars’ scored on the day.  Harry did manage to get on on the 7th with a chip-in for a birdie.  That was one small addition to the total of 10 that we managed for the day.  Ryan was talking about the possibility of scoring another eagle to help his score in the Eclectic along though it would need to be on a hole other than the 17th which he already has.  As it turned out he went close to doing it on the 17th when his pitch into the green just missed the hole on the first bounce and finished tap-in distance past.  Pork’s mirror twin was spotted playing on the 2nd hole.  Slender build, grey jacket, dark jeans, black cap with white flashes, scruffy beard.  Only difference was, he played right handed.

It was a tough day at the office today for Damo and it has been a tough week at the office for him as well.  All that sleeping in hotel rooms and international flights has apparently put a crick in his back that interfered with his normal exemplary game.  Gordon also had a bit of a rough day and things were not helped by playing companions taking side bets on whether he would avoid racking up double figures on the bottom line.  And, to add insult to injury, a crow raided his golf bag and made off with one of his muesli bars.  Must have been good as the crow was hotly pursued by a flock of noisy miners.

The Birthday Birdie has one wish to pass about this week and that is due to our new member Peter.  Maybe Peter was celebrating early and that is why he didn’t join us today.  Have a great one, Peter.

And, it just has to be mentioned that the Seniors were right out of the points today but Simon was fairly sweating on finding out how Gordon had fared when he found out that Bill wasn’t in the mix (took his match too seriously) and there was some chance of increasing his lead in the table even further.

Results for Saturday, 25 August 2018
1st Ben Akdag(+2) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(+1) 2nd Andrew Petricola(+1) 2nd Dale Webb(+1) 3rd Ryan Porker(□) 3rd Chris Priems(□) 3rd John Quinlan(□) 4th Matt Hunt(-1) 4th Stephen Kelly(-1) 4th Rodney White(-1) 5th Robert Priems(-4)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (-5) 1st Simon Powell (-5) 2nd Andrew Blight (-6) 3rd Gordon Hill (-9)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Stephen Kelly ProPin No 2 18th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 15th Bill Eastoe