15 blokes turned up.
It was hot.
Course is “browning-up.”
A bit of fear for next week if the extreme heat comes as predicted and there’s no rain this week.
They were out watering greens while play was on today. Many greens were wet with puddles!
Let’s start from the bottom up.
The eight who missed the points were Prez Priems NAGA 23, Marc 24, Dan 26, Steve G 28, Targe 30, Porks 30 (who didn’t drive the 5th this week, about 20 metres short and didn’t quite drive the 11th either). Also, Gordo 31. Enough said about them.
We especially won’t mention Steve’s 9 points on the back after turning on 19, or Porks being the first man ever to have 3 birdies but still miss the points. He also gets a special mention for banging his drive on the 2nd into a tree and having it rebound to just in front of the ladies tee.
But we can talk about Heath, a mate of Rob’s who put in his second card.
108 off the stick for Heath today (the same as his first card) but the way handicapping works anything over a double bogey gets counted as a double. So Heath’s 8 on the 4th today becomes a 5 etc. Adjusted, the handicapper will give him a 97. His first card 108 converts to 98, so expect Heath to start with a handicap of about 30 after his next card.
Welcome Heath!
Sharing 5th on 32 were two old stagers SoS and Peps – fist pumping for the Championship point after the round (but did it too quickly for me to get the photo).
Peps might have gone one better but suffered the same fate as Porks a few weeks ago on the 3rd. The new Saturday morning groundskeeper seems unable to get himself organised to change the pins before play and insists on doing it while we are playing.
Like Porks, Peps hit a nice shot in close on the 3rd and was thinking birdie before the hole got moved and he found himself with a longer birdie putt.
The groundsman wanted to do the same on the 4th, our NTP Pro Pin hole, and was told in no uncertain terms to cease and desist.
There were a range of discussions in the Proshop after the round about the issue and Peps is going to follow-up during the week. If it happens to me next week (when I hope to back from injury and playing again) I’ll make a citizens arrest using my normal calm never ever angry on the course approach to diplomatic public relations.
PS. The Pro Pin on the 4th has jackpotted again, so three weeks worth of money on offer there next week.
Andrew V is putting his hand up to be the New Old Reliable. Despite his chopped handicap after last week’s win, Andrew was in the points again with 33 and 4th place on his Pat Malone.
His 2 Championship points were enough to sneak him past Porks into the joint lead in the Championship race, joined there by today’s 3rd placegetter.
Matty had 5 points on his card after 6 holes, including a wipe on the 6th. He was seen mumbling away to himself on the 7th tee and his partners wondered if he might need a straight-jacket and some therapeutic intervention.
The “good talking to myself” was a resolve to get his act together and par the rest of the course off the stick. And he did, birdieing the 7th and 14th with just two bogeys to go with 8 pars and the result was 34 points and 3rd place.
Nalin returned to form with 37 points and second place. But for a “touch of the Harrys” – a few putts that shaved the hole and refused to drop, Nalin could well have had 40+ and given our winner a better run for his money.
Along the way Nalin hit a shot that is the third entry for a new annual club trophy I want to donate, Most Remarkable Shot of the Year.
Second entry was Porks driving the green on the 5th last week.
First entry was Heath’s drive on the 9th the week before.
This week it was Nalin’s second on the 3rd.
Put the kettle on and settle in, even without my usual embellishments, it’s not a short story.
Nalin’s drive on the 3rd went so far right (and short) that his playing partners didn’t even bother to offer help him look for it. Nalin hit a provisional from the tee (which he hit well) assuming he wouldn’t find his first one.
But while his playing partners showed no interest what-so-ever in helping him look for the ball, Nalin wandered down the line just in case and sure enough, there it was, in the right rough, but playable about 80 metres from the tee.
The plan was a 7 iron down to the corner and pitch it on from there.
Nalin took his usual big swing and it came out flush. On the TV they might have said “oh he has got a flyer from the rough there” but it was heading dangerously right straight towards the big tree.
He’d hit it well and it had plenty of height and it brushed leaves of the tree then hit a branch with a glancing blow that corrected its line a bit to the left and to the absolute amazement of his partners it finished on the green!
He took three putts of course (but being in the first group he was putting to the “original” pin, not the later moved one). If the pin had been moved earlier, he surely would have made the birdie putt.
Meanwhile that 7 iron is in the book as this year’s most Remarkable Shot so far. That’s the one to beat.
The handicap of our winner this week had snuck out to 9.4 before today (which is only one bad round away from going to 10). 9 is probably at least 3 or 4 more than a player of his talent should be on. With so little lead in his saddle bags, Brendon cantered home in the heat with 39 points, easing up towards the finishing post (22/17). And only a very minor handicap adjustment down to 8.
Ever gracious, the up-standing Brendon doing the scores report speech at the presentation noted it was a “popular victory”.
Speaking of graciousness, Heath hit the shot that deserved to win the NTP ball on the 18th but due to a technicality he graciously let the previous closest, Peps, take the prize. Peps graciously accepted the offer. Raj won the NTP “ball” on the 15th.
The field had a total of 8 birdies. I don’t do birthdays. Apologies to who I have missed, which might have included Prez Priems a week or so ago. Belated happy birthday Rob.
Results for Saturday, 24 Jan 2026
1st Brendon Mitchell (39) 2nd Nalin Samaranayake (37) 3rd Matt Hunt (34) 4th Andrew Vogan (33) 5th Andrew Petricola (32) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (32)
Seniors Results: 1st Matt Hunt (34) 2nd Andrew Vogan (33) 3rd Gordon Hill (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 15th Rajesh Mahto BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola