There were a number of big questions to be answered this week. Would the requirement to wear a face covering put lots of people off playing? The answer would appear to be , No. We still managed to get a field of twenty players and we had the OK to try for at least one more group. What was the best method to stop your glasses fogging up? Coating with detergent, tissue under the top edge, tape over the top edge or not breathing. The latter option was ruled out early in the piece as was the option of running around the course and riding a bike. The application of tape seems to be about the most effective provided that it is both long enough and adequately attached both to your skin and the mask. Access to a good mirror is highly recommended to aid the application.
It has been a couple of months since Stef has been able to join us after a foiled attempt to grab a vacant spot a week or so ago. He racked up a couple of one pointers early in the round but then settled right down to finish the front with a very handy 20 points. Although the handicapper did wonder why he had circled a 7 on the 5th. In actual fact it was one of Stef’s odd looking 4s so it was a birdie that contributed to the 10 that we scored for the day. The back nine was a little less impressive, but a 17 points and a total of 37 for the round was enough to take the honours (and the dividend) for the day.
Mark is keen to get his handicap down as low as possible but he didn’t do his chances of getting there today as he was only able to play right to his handicap. However, it must be said that, when he did score he scored well and there were plenty of holes there that just begged for improvement. Brendon tried to improve his chances by nearly taking out JQ and Stef on the 8th tee with his drive from the 5th. A birdie putt on the 18th that just rimmed the hole and hung on the edge would also not have helped the cause. JQ managed to overcome his shock on the 8th to be just the one point behind his partner in crime though he did lay claim to some assistance from trees along the way. Whitey managed to drag Pepsi around and also played right to his handicap as well but with quite a few ‘could have done better’ scores.
Peter had a bit of a whinge about his recent handicap cuts and how he had lost all of these strokes on the back nine. It still didn’t stop him from going close to playing to it and, if not for a couple of no scores on the back, could very well have fronted the judge again. MattA continues to finish there or thereabouts and if he can just clear up on the ‘horror’ holes he soon won’t have to worry about mis-scoring on holes that he gets two strokes on. A chip in for a birdie on the 5th helped the scoring along no end. Rob didn’t start off either nine with any sort of form but made up for lost time around the rest of the course to score a very creditable 33 points to take the almost (actually) worthless fifth place.
It took a few groups for somebody to get a ball onto the 18th for the BallPin but, when somebody did, it was a beauty that finished a metre or so from the hole. Whitey was the man who put it there and it was pretty much unchallenged by the rest of the field. The ProPin on the 12th also took a while to get a contender on the card but Pepsi’s shot was not quite good enough and it was Brendon who was close enough to collect the pool. There was no estimate of distance so one can only assume that it was outside the 5m limit of the tape.
Bill was another one who took advantage from the surrounding forest. His drive on the 3rd went sharply right and into the trees and fell he knew not where. Despite there being every chance that it was outside the fence, the Beast continued looking and found the ball in the open just on the good side of the cut line along the fence. His drive on the 17th looked to be heading for Dight’s Falls until a convenient tree intervened and tossed it back into the fairway with a clear shot to the green.
Gordon reckons the only putt he sank for the day was for his birdie on the 15th although that did not stop him from placing third in the Seniors! Dennis managed to buy himself a draughtie on the 15th and so had to persuade Brendon to unmask to drink his cappuccino after the round. MattH never was all that comfortable wearing the mask but there was no suggestion that it had caused him to fall short of the red markers on the 3rd. Matt was blaming the presence of a witches hat marking work in progress by the ground-staff but a little birdie suggests that was not to blame and that he almost didn’t make the grade with his second shot.
Results for Saturday, 25 July 2020
1st Stefan Belevski(37) 2nd Mark Minney(36) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(36) 2nd John Quinlan(36) 2nd Rodney White(36) 3rd Peter Damou(35) 4th Matthew Aforozis(34) 5th Robert Priems(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Bill Eastoe (30) 2nd Harry Boughen (29) 3rd Dennis Ward (28) 3rd Gordon Hill (28)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 1 18th Rodney White BallPin No 2 – No contest