It’s amazing what the prospect of a good feed and a few drinks will do. The weather had been dumping on us for the past few days but the forecast was reasonably benign and, other than a few puddles on some of the fairways and a couple of the greens early on, the course was in great condition. As a result, we had 28 players line up and, what is more, we had the first group out early as requested to fit our record number of groups into the course schedule. And there were a couple of members called in ‘sick’ or who had home emergencies that did not make it.
The multiple events being contested caused more than a little confusion when it came to determining the placings but we got there in the end. The main game was, of course, the Champion of Champions and most of that field had to ‘champ at the bit’ as the rest of the mob led the field out onto the course. Peter put the time to good use and spent some time practicing at the chipping and the putting green and that time paid off big time as he romped it home to take out the trophy with a nett score of 63. Goodbye cushy handicap! Well done Peter. For what it is worth, and for the record, it was eventually determined that the runner-up in this part of the field was Stef.
Next it was the turn to decide the leading contender in the rest of the field, known affectionately as the Chump of Chumps. Proving that the was definitely no chump but needing to win on a countback with a blistering 24 points on the back nine was Peter’s partner in crime Daniel. And there was no shame for the beaten pair of reprobates with Brent and Noodles going away and hoping to win again another day.
Needless to say, that little lot also filled the first three placings in the Club Event for the day and so it would really be superfluous to mention them all again. And, besides, there were so many who came in with 36 points that the blog would get far too long. Jason, Matt, Bob, Dave and Pepsi all gathered a couple of points and did their handicap no harm in the process. Harry managed something of a turn-around on the back nine to pick up the last point on offer.
The ProPin that was a Jackpot on the 4th from last week almost managed to resist giving itself away until the very last group when Pepsi managed to get his to 3.9m. Michael indicated that he missed out on being in range by 10cm and hopefully he took into account the 10cm missing from the start of the tape. Didn’t really matter though as Pepsi had his measure easily. The BallPin was on the 12th. The Beast went close to acing it again when the ball just missed the flag to land half a metre past and then spun back just missing on the return trip. He popped in the birdie and made at least one of the 22 birdies reported today. However, despite all that the ball went to ChrisV who also tallied in the birdie count. It was the 18th turn to Jackpot today although the Beast did go close but no cigar.
As well as a near record tally of birdies, there was also an Eagle and the nest was cleared once again by Noodles on the 17th. The versions vary but some said it was a classy shot while others said it was the other thing that rhymes. Anyway, he chipped in from some way out and, reportedly, if the ball hadn’t hit the pin dead centre and dropped dead, it could have been a far higher score on the hole. Matt, on the other hand, put his ball onto the green, not quite in ‘gimme’ distance and then left his ball hanging half over the edge of the hole and it didn’t drop. Chrispy reckons he should be credited with a Hole in One although the story as noted does seem to have a hole or two in it. It was on one of the par 3’s and Chrispy put his close. Gordon’s shot then hit his ball and knocked it into the hole. Sorry Chris, rub of the green for Gordon, ball back out of the hole for you.
RodG has just come back from his eye surgery and although there are a few rusty spots he managed a nice chip and a putt to par the 15th and then chipped in for his par on the 16th from some distance out. Watch out when he can play without the black sunglasses.
After the round, we repaired to the function room and viewed a presentation prepared by One Golf (ex Golf Australia) relating to the new rules coming in in January. Here is a link to the presentation that you can view on-line in your own time. Click here
One of the original ‘Chip and Run’ members, Neil Argall, was present and gave a brief history of the Club’s formation and development before doing the honours and presenting the trophies to the many winners through the year. If you really want to see the complete list, you can go to the Statistics menu and select Hall of Fame and then 2018 (or any year for that matter). After the presentations, the vultures circled and made very short work of the very fine lunch that the girls in the kitchen had so lovingly prepared. All washed down with copious quantities of Peroni and other beverages of that ilk. As to what transpires at the Roo Bar, what happens at the Roo Bar stays at the Roo Bar.
Have a very merry Christmas everybody.
There will be comps if more than six turn up over the next two weeks and
then it is back to serious business for the January Monthly Medal on
the 5th, by which time everybody should be recovered from the excesses
of Christmas and New Year
Results for Saturday, 15 December 2018
1st Peter Damou(42) 2nd Stefan Belevski(39) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(38) 3rd Daniel O’Rourke(38) 3rd Brent Rowley(38) 4th Jason Hopkins(36) 4th Matt Hunt(36) 4th Bob McDonald(36) 4th David Mullenger(36) 4th Andrew Petricola(36) 4th Chris Priems(36) 5th Harry Boughen(35)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (35) 3rd Dennis Ward (34) 3rd Gordon Hill (34) 3rd Trevor Jackson (34)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 4th Andrew Petricola ProPin No 2 18th Jackpot BallPin 12th Chris Vinecombe
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Stephen Butterfield