Some of the forecast rain did arrive during the week, but the last couple of days have been dry, if not drying. The greenkeepers did manage a bit of mowing, but there is still a fair bit of fur around out there. The soggiest patches look to be capable of swallowing a ball whole, but, other than that, it was a pretty nice day to be out and about. The fact that a swag of people had better offers meant that, at one stage, there was a chance that there would be no competition for want of sufficient numbers. However, a few ‘forgetful’ members meant that we did manage to get eight to the tees to tackle what the day had to offer.
Ryan was spotted taking delivery of a handful of new clubs in the ProShop, which raised a few eyebrows given the newness of his current outfit. Turns out the manufacturer had redistributed a little too much mass away from the face, resulting in warping and failure in some cases. So, a recall was issued, and Ryan was picking up his replacements. Being of an engineering bent, he decided that he wouldn’t risk his usual full-blooded swing, and only took ‘half’ a back-swing. He was so pleased with the result at the end of the round, that this could very well become his preferred option. With a fair sprinkling of five singletons on the card, the general standard was obviously better than the thirty-five points that he ended with.
Harry had a few problems with some of the wet/furry lies playing havoc with approach shots to the green. One such ‘failure’ did prove to be rather fortuitous on the 12th, where the duff skittered up onto the green, and went close to finishing in the hole for an easy par and three points. He also topped the Senior’s competition today, but he reckons he should get all the points, as he really did fill all three places. Marc has been out of the loop for a while due to work commitments and a bout of the bug that is going around. He was a bit rusty from time to time, but he did scramble his way into third place, helped along by a four pointer for his par on the third. JQ was adamant that he had been driving well all day despite the fact that his playing companions tried to rope him into the debacle on the 2nd where the three of them (not counting JQ) accumulated a total of about 100m off the tee. All passed the red markers, reportedly. Porks managed two points for the hole, but used driver, mini driver and three wood to get to the green. Nalin was the other one who gave the red markers a scare, at one stage. Raj played a steady enough game, but his ridiculously lofted chip shots tended to leave him just a little too far from the hole on the day. A couple of triples made the difference. Nalin was a bit tentative on the green, leaving quite a number of putts well short of the hole, and misses from close range did not help the cause. SOS reckoned that he wasn’t at all embarrassed about taking the points for his tally of twenty-eight. He also laid claim to scoring two birdies on the one hole. One, he named Kevin, the other scored him three points on the 12th. That was one of just four birdies that we managed for the day. We won’t mention that Brendon was the only member not to score at least one point today.
The first BallPin was set on the 4th, and, as is often the case, it went begging, and there will be a jackpot on offer next week. The ProPin was on the 12th, which was SOS’s glory hole where he sank the putt from 2.02m to take home the $8 on offer. The BallPin on the 18th went close to being declared a Jackpot, when JQ suddenly piped up – *&%#, I forgot to put out the marker. The evidence of his name being on the ProShop marker was sufficient to ratify his claim. He is being a bit precious about his balls, though. Although he has a preference for ProV1, he is highly suspicious of the provenance of those on offer with two-digit numbers on them. Probably reckons it throws them off-balance or something! While on the subject of JQ, it was his birthday today, and, over a couple of drinks, he did reveal that Pepsi was coming around tonight. Don’t expect to get too much sense out of either of them later. Next Saturday, Dan will be lining up for a similar occasion, so, if he doesn’t show, the Birthday Birdie says hello.
Harry and Nalin fought it out in their semi-final match today. With six strokes the difference, the match promised to be a hard-fought affair. Harry won the first, and took the early advantage, although it was short-lived when he lost the second. The situation fluctuated over the next few holes, but a string of halves meant that, after the 10th, Harry was clinging to a single hole advantage. A couple of wins, including the result of his fortuitous duff on the 12th, put Harry in a much stronger position at three up, going into a stretch where the received strokes were few and far between. Another series of halves brought the match to dormie three after the 15th, and Nalin was faced with the prospect of having to win all three to force a chip-off for the result. He won the 16th easily, dormie 2. The 17th was a half, and the match ended Harry’s way 3 and 1.
Results for Saturday, 15 Aug 2026
1st Ryan Porker (35) 2nd Harry Boughen (33) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (32) 3rd Marc Phillips (32) 3rd John Quinlan (32) 4th Nalin Samaranayake (29) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (28)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th John Quinlan