It must be the change in the season. There was a little autumn chill in the air as eighteen members gathered around to take their chances with the last round before the Stuart Clarke Memorial kicks off next week. Geoff came along as well and submitted his third card so that he will be able to join the fray to compete for points and ball runs and Eagle’s nests and trophies and all the other benefits of being a member. As the sun climbed higher, the light improved and there was a slight reduction in the cries of “Did you see where that went?”, although not much, if you ask Ben!. The temperature climbed, the jackets came off, and, in some cases, the golf improved. There were the usual complaints about it being a Par competition, and why couldn’t it have been GrandPar. Not to worry, the next two weeks will be Stableford, so no excuses for not turning up.
Now, Anthony has a little tacker who has some sort of sport on Saturdays, but AB was able to tear himself away today, just to prove that he hasn’t forgotten about the Club. Not sure whether he gets to practice his golf swing at kids sports, but he seems to have had it pretty well grooved today. So much so that he was able to turn with plus 3, and he was able to hold it to square on the back so that he filled half of the top spot. Stan also has to dash away early to take care of family duties, although he did hang around for a bit today to have a bit of a chat with the Prez. Stan only had a couple of minuses on the card, so, except for a couple of putts, the round could easily have been a screamer. The downside is that both will have to get used to playing with fewer strokes up their sleeve in future.
Now, before we deal with second place, just be clear that you and your marker should agree strokes and points on a hole by hole basis, not just the totals. In theory, you sign for the strokes taken, and the points are allocated accordingly. In practice, with us, discrepancies are investigated and the player’s record is given the benefit of the doubt. Thus it was, that compensating errors allowed Blighty’s score and placing to stand, with a tally of two on the credit side of the ledger and second spot on the podium. There is no truth to the rumour that the Club is setting up a Go-fund-me to pay for Blighty’s haircut.
Ben has been trying out a new swing on the driving range, where he reckons it was working a treat. Things didn’t go quite so well today on the course, and one effort, on the 3rd, resulted in the only reported draughtie for the day. Another attempt on the 13th narrowly missed a similar fate. A temporary switch to a ‘scabby’ Dunlop that he found in the rough, turned his game around somewhat, and for a while he was declaring his undying love. What is there to say about Porks? Things hadn’t been going too well, and at the turn the debit side was showing four. It must be said that he was also in a life and death battle with CJ in the Matchplay, and was looking death in the eye in that department as well. The turn brought a change in fortune, but the 12th looked like a make or break hole where he had to give CJ a stroke. So, what does he do but smash the ball straight at the hole to land about a metre short, followed by two little hops into the hole. Hole-in One, Eagle’s Nest, a plus on his card and on the match card, followed by a series of wins to take the match 2 up. The mango and avocado seasons are just about over, so Ken is expecting to have a bit more time for golf. It took him about nine holes to warm up, but he came home well enough to finish minus 1 as well. Dale started his round with par for a plus, and absolutely creamed a shot out of the bunker on the 6th to get his par and plus as well. Unfortunately, the rest of the front was not so kind, and it required three birdies and two pars in the first five holes of the back to get him back into the game. Those three birdies helped a good deal to bring our total to 14 for the day.
Craig didn’t have much to say about his round today, and the card suggests that there might have been a few putts that didn’t quite go in the hole. His evenly balanced round of -1 on each half was good enough to get a couple of points for fourth place. Harry had to wait until the 12th hole to get a plus on his card, and there were more putts than he likes to remember that just slipped past the hole. On the other hand, there were a few that went nowhere near, so maybe his -3 was a fair score for the final spot on the podium.
The first BallPin was on the 4th, and absolutely nobody got on, so there will be a Jackpot on the 4th next week. On the 18th, Brendon was determined to get his name on the chit, even though his ball was 13.4m from the hole. We know that because he measured it to put his name on the inside ProPin. It will be interesting to see if that stands! Unfortunately, he was eased out of our competition, at least, by Anthony. Blighty was having a bit of a weep on anybody’s shoulder that would listen, about the fact that his shot on the 12th had finished 1.2m from the hole and had a good chance of taking home the cash. That is until Porks came along in the next group. The gathered masses certainly appreciated the Club shout to celebrate Ryan’s effort.
In other matches played today, BrentL and Blighty battled it out. Brent suffered a bit of a slump under the weight of his new handicap, and Blighty was on a bit of a roll. As a result, Andrew had racked up his winning margin by the turn, and managed to keep Brent at bay to take the match 4 and 3. Craig and Brendon were evenly matched with equal handicap meaning that there was no quarter given, and it was very much a stroke for stroke affair. Craig managed to get his nose in front by the turn, and then managed to counter any signs of comeback on Brendon’s part for the rest of the round to take the match 2 and 1. SOS reckoned that he was shanking his shanks today, which did not stand him in good stead in his match against Stan. Despite this, he did manage to hold the fort to be square after eleven, but a bit of a miracle run by Stan handed him the match 4 and 3. Targe’s tee shot on the first went close to finishing in the rough between the 9th and the 18th, which ended up giving Harry an early start. Some equally bad play by both meant that the match remained in the balance for most of the round, and they walked off the 17th all square. Targe’s three putts on the 18th left Harry with two in hand to win the match, which he promptly did 1 up.
Rob reckons he believes in getting his money’s worth after he was noticed using a fair bit of the course other than the fairway he was playing. One shot on the 6th finishing on the 3rd fairway was probably further off line than Targe’s on the first. Geoff was apparently complaining about how his short game was letting him down. Not exactly short, but his shot from below the 18th green onto the 17th green was followed up by two putts for par, suggesting that his new handicap might be on the generous side if that is any guide. CJ took up Trev’s offer for a lift on his cart up the hill from the 13th. At the top of the hill, CJ stepped off and started walking while Trev drove on and kept talking to Chris until he reached the 14th tee, not realising that his passenger had departed. Stef didn’t hang around after the round for some reason, and, in the process, he nicked off with the ProPin paraphernalia from the 12th. Let’s hope that he can make it next week! Or delivers it to somebody who can!
Results for Saturday, 12 March 2022
1st Stan Blackshaw (+3) 1st Anthony Browne (+3) 2nd Andrew Blight (+2) 3rd Ben Akdag (-1) 3rd Ryan Porker (-1) 3rd Ken Watson (-1) 3rd Dale Webb (-1) 4th Craig Cameron (-2) 5th Harry Boughen (-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Stan Blackshaw (+3) 2nd Andrew Blight (+2) 3rd Ken Watson (-1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Anthony Browne
Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 12th *** Ryan Porker ***