The effects of Club Breakup, work Christmas parties, family Christmas parties, Christmas Day and miscellaneous celebrations in between seems to have conspired to limit the number of members attending to fourteen. Although, there was a modicum of surprise in some quarters that so many did make it. Maybe making points wouldn’t be so easy after all. It was a bit overcast to start and the humidity was high. The clouds managed to squeeze out a handful of drops before they cleared away and the sun broke out with a vengeance. The sprinklers had obviously been working hard through the night around the tees and the greens but the rest of the course has an increasingly bonier look about it and there was plenty of run to be had although some of the resulting lies were pretty bare. Which is probably better than there being bare-faced lies.
Now, we all know that Peter, not to put too fine a point on it, can be a little erratic at times and, it must be said, he was spotted playing the 3rd from the 5th fairway. However, that was one of the few errors that he made all day on his way to showing that it is not how it looks but how many go on the scorecard that counts. A very creditable 85 off the stick and a tally of +5 garnered him the top spot on the podium, a swag of points, a couple of balls and a nice new handicap to boot.
Targe says that the medical fraternity are happy with his most recent set of scans and his New Year Resolution is to get his handicap back down to where it was before his accident. The handicapper has the exact same resolution. Targe’s drive on the 7th was high and wide and caught the tree on the right and the ball plopped back down onto the hard pack. Two more shots left him with about the longest putt possible on the green. Undeterred, the little fella rattled it in for a four and a plus for the hole. With only two minus scores on the card, there was little between the +4 that he got and something much better meaning that the resolution is off to a very good start.
Harry also managed a plus on the7th. His chip onto the green looked to be perfectly directed and weighted but, in the exact spot where the ball landed, there lay a small twig that effectively stopped the ball dead and left a rather longer putt than anticipated. Fortunately it was one of the ones that went in and helped to get the tally of +3 at the end of the round. Porks really laid into his drive on the 1st hole and very nearly reached the green, the 10th green, that is. But, despite a bit of a scratchy front nine, Ryan went up a gear on the back and also came home +3. Rob was torn by indecision on the 18th tee. The first club to hand was his wedge but then he decided he needed a bit more so he reached for his trusty 9 iron. Instead he picked up his 6 iron and overshot the mark to blazes. That’s why they have the underline, Rob, so that you can tell them apart. Anyway, he still managed to tie for third place with his +3.
Just a small gap then to fourth place where we find Michael whose knee seems to be holding up just fine though we do wonder about his mental state as he was heard promising to introduce his daughter to Noodles. Jason seemed to be just flirting with the could have/should have brigade today with just a couple too many minus scores on the card. Dale was in fine form with his wedge today and fairly peppered the pin on any number of occasions from off the green. Particularly so on the 14th, where a less than spectacular approach left him in the grass bunker out of which he popped up and once it hit the green and started running it never looked like missing the hole. A fine group of +1s to take out 4th place. Which just leaves that old (oops, I mean all) square, Noodles, to finish fifth.
Despite Michael’s claim that he thought today was the first Senior Points that he has won, that is demonstrably not true. What is demonstrably true, is that Chrispy has yet to blot his copy-book in that matter. Rob reckons that there is a fair chance that he will end up scoring points in the Seniors before Chris does. How far can sibling rivalry go? It must be said that Chris did get a birdie today on the second hole. Unfortunately, it stopped his ball.
And, while on the topic of birdies, there was a somewhat unusual occurrence today when all three members of a group, (Michael, Noodles and Ryan) scored a birdie on the same hole, to whit, the 11th. And, just coincidentally, the whole group scored eleven birdies today.
In the Nearest the Pin competitions today, the ProPin was on the 12th and, despite carefully hiding his mark under another piece of paper, the money went to Ken with a fine shot to 1.155m. The first BallPin was on the 15th and Targe was adamant that Harry’s ball was closer than the marker already on the green. Let’s put it down to the effect of perspective from such a low angle of view. Anyway, it was Jason who had dibs on the prize on offer. The second BallPin on the 18th was a closely fought thing after Dale took out Daniel by quite a wide margin. Then, along came Michael to ease out Dale in a bit of a close run thing.
There was a claim being made that Noodles was consistently out-driving Ryan while using his hybrid. Michael seemed to be backing Noodles story while Ryan was only allowing one instance where his ball hit a tree. At the end of the day, Porks out-scored Noodles by a bit of a margin so what does it matter? Daniel seems to be developing a bit of an appreciation of nature if the swathe of territory that he covered today is any guide. On the 10th his drive finished under the tree by the distance marker on the first. From there, he played the shot of his day to bypass numerous trees blocking the way and finish on the edge of the 10th green.
Well, another calendar year has flown and is almost gone. The Birthday Birdie is fluttering off to deliver his last message for the year to Big Joe (although the birthday is in 2020). Hopefully Joe will be able to tear himself away from Little Joe to join us on Saturday mornings on a more regular basis.
Most of the subs for 2020 have been paid, for which the management thank you. For those still outstanding, it would be nice to get it all out of the way at the earliest. And, don’t forget to put your thoughts to volunteering for a role on the Committee with the AGM and elections coming up in March. All positions will be spilled and there are nomination forms available from the web-site side bar. If you don’t want to do it, talk your mate(s) into it. New blood always welcome.
Have a Happy, safe and, perhaps, not too sober New Year and we look forward to seeing you all soon on the tees at Ivanhoe.
Results for Saturday, 28 December 2019
1st Peter Damou(+5) 2nd Targe Mifsud(+4) 3rd Harry Boughen(+3) 3rd Ryan Porker(+3) 3rd Robert Priems(+3) 4th Michael Gourlay(+1) 4th Jason Hopkins(+1) 4th Dale Webb(+1) 5th Stephen Butterfield(□)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (+4) 2nd Harry Boughen (+3) 3rd Michael Gourlay (+1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Ken Watson BallPin No 1 15th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 2 18th Michael Gourlay