What a beautiful day to be out giving a little white ball a flog while calling it a game of golf. Though some did favour balls of various hues, including a musk stick pink one that went close to matching the shirt that Brendon was wearing today. The morning started out remarkably mild as promised, and it was not long before the predicted maximum was sure to come to pass as the temperature climbed steadily. There was a bit of a breeze to take the sting out of the temperature, and the occasional shot might have been helped or hindered depending on the fairway being played. The couple of warmer days and no significant rain meant that there was a fair bit of run available, and the tipping is that preferred lies will soon be for the high jump. The big game at the ‘G this evening did not seem to be attracting too much attention, at least among ten of the members who took part today. The stand-out (and eleventh player) was Craig who needed to dash off to don his best Hawks drinking gear to make it into the stands in plenty of time for the late afternoon bounce down. Next week might turn out to be a different story with stories of traditional gatherings regardless of the teams contesting the GF. So, it would be good to get registrations in early so that we can let course management know what numbers we will have if they are going to be significantly down on normal.
The major item of interest today was the Matchplay Championship Final between Harry and Matt, with a mere fourteen strokes between them. Matt was very keen to know which holes he didn’t have to give a stroke on. His spirits took a little rise when H got up on the first tee and went close to missing the ball to knock it into the environmentally sensitive area (aka garden bed) off to the left of the tee. A draughtie to start the day was not part of the plan. Nor was it any part of the plan! With no stroke on the hole, it was an almost foregone conclusion that there would be a loss, but Matt did own to being a bit nervous when he finished with a five for the hole and H had a putt (long) to make a square. Wins on the next two holes switched the positions and Harry had his nose in front. A run of bogies to Matt’s pars held the fort until a couple of missed putts by Matt on the 8th and 9th gave Harry a bit of breathing space to be 3 up at the turn. Making good use of his strokes, another three wins on the trot brought the match to dormie six after the 12th. Matt now needed to win every hole to stay in the match, while Harry merely needed a square to seal his very first Major, after all these years. Matt pulled out a great shot over the trees in the penalty area to finish on the green for two, and with no stroke to give, his two putts for par secured him the win. Dormie five. Despite making par on the 14th, Harry was able to magic a bogey to square the hole and take the match and the Championship 5 and 4. Despite predictions that he would now lie down, the young fellah kept up the pace, and finished with a very creditable 41 points to take the daily prize as well. The two wins did give his handicap a ferocious beating though.
Ken has been spending a bit of time at the driving range, and he was wondering why he had so much difficulty in reproducing his form there when he gets out on the course. Well, he will just have to remember what he did today. At least on the front nine, where he put together a pretty handy twenty-two points. The back nine did not go quite so well, but, on what he terms the JQ Thirst Quencher (Hydration Hole), the 15th, he produced a birdie for four points, and helped our total for the day to 10. His thirty-seven points, and second place earned him a Rocket in the Order of Merit. In third place, on thirty-three points were Craig, Steve and Marc. Craig might have been thinking ahead to this evening’s frivolities, as he needed to tally up three birdies, including one for four points to add a little more respectability to the bottom line. Steve, on the other hand was very keen to point out that his card was flawless today. Marc also blitzed the front nine for 22 points, but lost the plot a little as he walked across to the tenth. Brendon had trouble buying a putt today, but he accepted the two points for fouth place with alacrity. This left just Andrew to pick up the single for his 31 points.
The first BallPin was on the 15th, and it was up to Brendon to knock off Ryan who had put the marker in so close to the fringe that it was hard to tell whether it was on the green or not. Matt was suitably relaxed with the match out of the way that he lofted one onto the top deck of the 18th to do JQ out of the ball on offer there. JQ wasn’t to be denied on the 12th where his shot to 0.56m was executed with a ‘thin’ nine iron. But, it is not ‘how?’, it’s ‘how close?’
Ryan has been suffering from some back problems, hence his recent absences. However, on the second, his pitch shot bisected the pin, and came to a halt on what was judged to be the edge of the hole. How did that not go in was the question, as he turned to return his club to the bag. When he turned back, the ball had vanished. Not stolen by a raven. fallen into the hole. One lowlight of his round was the fact that he lost a ball in a penalty area. So what, you might ask. He was hoping to be able to complete his sixth round using it. Talk about a favourite ball! There was a fair amount of Priems action, at least in one of the groups. Brendon had one saved by a tree to stay on the fairway. Harry’s second on the 11th was heading left of the green when some intervening greenery took some pace off and deflected it back onto the green to help him to one of his ‘wins’. Matt’s drive on the 15th was judged to he heading for Heidelberg (if not The Boulevard) until a tree brought it back into line and deposited it just short of the green. The only Birthday on the list this week is for the Beast, who we have not seen in quite a while, but the Birthday Birdie will still flutter across to wish him a happy one.
Results for Saturday, 19 Sep 2026
1st Harry Boughen (41) 2nd Ken Watson (37) 3rd Craig Cameron (33) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (33) 3rd Marc Phillips (33) 4th Brendon Mitchell (32) 5th Andrew Vogan (31)
Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (41) 2nd Ken Watson (37) 3rd Craig Cameron (33) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (33)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th John Quinlan BallPin No 1 – 15th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Matt Hunt