What a lovely day for a game of golf! Well, maybe for some, it was a nice walk in the park. Sixteen members made it to the tees. They were joined by CJ’s frog prince Peter, and Dan’s big hitting mate, James. The weather was pleasantly cool to start with, and warmed up just enough to be comfortable by the end of play. The course was looking good, but everybody did seem to find the bare patches that persist in significant numbers. There have been some ‘major’ improvements with the installation of three ‘target’ pins and mini-greens on the teaching fairway, which was voted to be a long over-due addition to the course. However, despite the benign conditions, we could only manage to put away 6 birdies between us. However, the scores and handicaps did change enough for us to now have a tie in the Eclectic. With one round to go, that means that the result could be determined by a fractional difference in handicap change next week.
SOS set out with a steely glint in his eye, and proceeded to play as if he was going to take the course apart, and, after a birdie on the 7th, he was sitting on +4, and starting to count his chickens. So much so that he put the ProPin marker out, instead of the BallPin marker. But, more of that later! He was through the green on the 8th, when he was ‘momentarily’ distracted as he ‘watched’ a nubile young thing jog past on the adjacent shared path. It obviously did his eyes good, because, when he recovered his senses, he chipped it in for his par. A couple more pluses followed, but then the rot set in, and he dropped four of the next eight for losses, finishing the day just two on the credit side of the ledger. Still, that was enough to win the day, and to do some damage to his handicap for the Stroke Championship that kicks off next week.
Gordo won a few and just as easily lost a few to finish the front nine square after sinking a ‘monster’ putt on the 9th, that was somewhere between nine and eighteen metres, depending on who you listened to. A slight surplus of wins on the back won him second place with +1. Targe’s handicap has been known to give some scoring problems with three strokes on some holes, but, today, all was good, and he too was credited with a +1 to line up for the second place points as well. Wazza freely admits that he can be a bit erratic at times, and that did show up a few times during the round. However, the rest of the round was good enough for him to finish square with the card for 3rd place. Blighty started out smartly with a par on the first, and a birdie on the 4th, but these were followed by something of a slump through to the 9th. He obviously gave himself a good talking to, and finished in positive territory for the home run, and only one down for the day. Porks took things quietly, and finished the front nine just the one stroke over par. A three over on the back was just enough to keep his points accumulation ticking over, as he tied it up with Blighty for the two points. Stan and CJ brought up the rear of the points places, and were grateful to get one point each for their card of -3.
Did you ever see such a schemozzle!? Prez noticed the error with the ProPin box out on the 7th, and ran after SOS to get him to put it on the proper hole (15th). In the meantime, the BallPin was to be placed out on the 12th, given that most had been through the 7th already. When Prez’s group finished, the question was asked, where was the ProPin box? Raj was sure that SOS had put it out. Harry felt sure he had seen it at the back of the green. But the last group also didn’t see/collect it. Raj headed off to retrieve it. Harry texted SOS, who reported back that it was safe and sound in his bag! It’s definitely hard to get good help these days! Anyway, the 12th was hard fought. SOS got on, and put his name on the card. Nalin and Porks got closer than SOS, and it took several measurements to separate them by the length of Wazza’s big toe. CJ took it off of Nalin until SteveG came along, and it took another round of detailed measurement to give the ball to him by about a thumb width. On the 18th, Raj was the only one to get within cooee, much to his surprise. Anyway, the Jackpot BallPin will be on the 7th next week, and the Jackpot ProPin will be on the 15th. Provided, of course, we can get some decent help on the job.
Dan lined up for his tee shot on the 10th, and seems to have had a mind to knock the cover off of it. The resulting ‘snick’ did remove the ball from the tee to finish about 400mm in front of the blue markers. He finished the hole with a chip-in from the fringe, but not for a par. Prez suffered a brain-fart (his words) on the 3rd tee where he watched Targe tee off, and then proceeded to smash his ball down the centre into the midst of the group in front. He arrived, breathless, full of apologies for his lack of care. The ravens were extra inquisitive today. They were particularly taken by Ryan’s packet of ball markers, and managed to extract it from his bag pocket on a couple of occasions. They were even more adventurous with Raj’s cart, which was noticed spinning its wheels in some shrubbery after a raven had apparently pecked on his start button sufficiently hard to start the drive. Either that, or Raj forgot to turn it off!
The end of the year draws nigh, and we need to know numbers for the breakup lunch on December 20th. The registration form will be open shortly, so please register as soon as you can so that we can liaise with the caterers to ensure adequate goodies for all. You don’t have to play on the day to come along and enjoy the Christmas cheer, but please let us know, for caterings sake.
Results for Saturday, 22 Nov 2025
1st Stephen O’Sullivan (+2) 2nd Gordon Hill (+1) 2nd Targe Mifsud (+1) 3rd Warren Capes (â–¡) 4th Andrew Blight (-1) 4th Ryan Porker (-1) 5th Stan Blackshaw (-3) 5th Chris Priems (-3)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (+1) 1st Targe Mifsud (+1) 2nd Andrew Blight (-1) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (-3) 3rd Chris Priems (-3)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th No Contest BallPin No 1 – 12th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Rajesh Mahto