The Spring Carnival is all but done and dusted and the Nation struggles to get back into first gear after being stopped last Tuesday.  The recent rain events have freshened up the course no end with the fairways nice and green and the greens in excellent condition.  It is no wonder, then, that 21 members were out and about on a day that started off a bit on the cool side but which soon warmed up pleasantly.  There was absolutely no excuse for not scoring well.

As if to thumb his nose to those who suggested that he had done his dash last week, JQ put together an even better round this week to propel himself to the top of the Championship ladder but at the expense of another couple of strokes off his handicap for his +3 result.  The putter was working well today and reports have it that about nine missable putts proved to be no problem and this made the difference between also-ran and winner.  Daniel hasn’t been with us all that long but he has been doing a bit of sniffing around in the placings and he has now been rewarded with his first win with the Club when he also carded a +3.  This puts him well up in the rankings for Strike Rate and if he could keep that up for a full year, the Championship would be his in a canter.  A year is a long time in Golf however.  He misses out on qualifying for the Vardon Trophy and it looks as if JQ could have his hands on the inaugural award of this new gong.  But, there are still two rounds to go.

Peter has also been quite successful in his short time with the Club and, being only a point behind the winners, there were probably any number of chances that could have made all the difference.  One shot, in particular, was his effort from the tee at the first as he drove, with all of the membership watching, right into the garden bed in front and so scored the first draughtie for the day.  A good effort to come back after that.  Damo started off a bit on the scratchy side but by the 6th he had gotten his eye in and scored his first birdie for the day.  He followed up with another three in the rest of the round and contributed as much as anybody to the total of 17 that the Club managed for the day.

Bob was heard to be giving himself a good talking to, which is not surprising as we know what a perfectionist Bob is when it comes to his game.  Whether the self-admonishment did any good can probably be debated but it was good enough to get him home in +1.  Gordo came in with the same score at the end of the day but he needed four birdies and Targe to get him to the line.  Three of the birdies were the regular golfing type (two were chip-ins – or should that be chips-in?, which hardly count) and one was a magpie.  The bird was obviously in big strife after taking a hit and Gordon couldn’t bring himself to deal with it and a call went out to Targe who detached himself from the group in front to do the necessary deed.

And, speaking of Targe, it was great to see him back on the track after his recent attempt at learning to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing.  The final score probably reflected the time away from the clubs but he was good enough to put his ball to 3.26m on the 18th to take out the ProPin and he sank the birdie putt as well.  There was a suggestion that Targe was a couple of centimetres shorter but a broken tape-measure did not allow a check to be made other than to have him stand alongside JQ.

Simon (aka Coughin’ Nail) pretty much achieved his aim of winning the Seniors Championship by coming in with a square card.  Si was concentrating so hard on his next shot that he ran his remote buggy half up the trunk of a tree and turned it base over apex and then had to spend several minutes gathering together all the bits and pieces that spillled far and wide.  Rounding out the place-getters was Dennis who expressed some surprise at collecting a point for his score of -2.

The BallPin today was on the 4th and getting onto the green proved to be elusive until later in the morning when Noodles and The Beast slugged it out over the ball on offer.  Noodles took the day by squeezing one closer than Bill.  The ProPin on the 12th was also proving difficult to get close enough to and the best on the ticket was JQ who had just made it inside the limit at 4.93m.  Then, along came The Beast.  As calmly as you like, he landed the ball onto the green and it ran true, up the hill and fell gently into the hole.  In the process he took out the Eagles Nest (all of one ball), the ProPin and scored the elusive Hole in One and so joined an exclusive little group among the Club Membership.  And, no, there is not a special HIO table reserved for them.

There were a couple of extra draughties taken on the 2nd where the tee markers were some 18m behind the black blocks and the red markers were towards the front of the front tee box.  Perhaps they were put off by the non-existent view of the fairway but both Rob and Matt managed to make a hash of it.  In fact, Rob was taking his sixth shot only 90m in front of the reds.  Matt had a bit of a shocker overall and managed to lose at least 4 balls, including one into the drink on the 17th, but then he compensated by chipping in for birdie on the 18th.

Noodles had better cut back on the number of potato cakes that he eats at half way as he must be packing on the pounds.  He chose to sit on the chain around the 10th tee and it broke sending him sprawling backwards and scattering potato cakes far and wide.  Whether Noodles or the magpies got to eat them was not reported.

Rob fancies himself as a bit of a tradesman and so, when his buggy broke last week, he set off to Bunnings and bought all the bits and pieces that he needed to make repairs.  Wouldn’t you know it, but the buggy broke again today.  Not where Rob had done his repairs but somewhere else entirely.  Obviously the repairs transferred the strain to the next weakest link.

Harry was beginning to think that somebody had stuck a target on his back after a ball from Matt rolled past him as he stood on the 15th tee and a provisional ball from JQ landed a metre or so away as he stood on the 18th tee.  A timely call of ‘fore’ meant that the latter was not entirely unexpected.

It’s Membership Fees time again. $30 for Club membership and $90 extra if you are maintaining a GA handicap (total $120).  Please pay by bank transfer into the Club account (with your name as the entry for the Club account) as this greatly facilitates keeping track of who has paid and the Treasurer doesn’t want to be saddled with large amounts of cash to deal with.  If you are planning to change your status with respect to your GA membership please advise as soon as possible so that the necessary changes can be made before the census date (end of December).

If you have registered interest in going to the Annual Challenge next September please transfer your $50 deposit to the Club account (with your name).  If you have to change your mind later, the deposit will be refundable but we do not want to subsidise people by having to dip into Club funds for the due Deposit to guarantee the booking.

Results for Saturday, 10 November 2018
1st Daniel O’Rourke(+3) 1st John Quinlan(+3) 2nd Peter Damou(+2) 2nd Damien Lee(+2) 3rd Gordon Hill(+1) 3rd Bob McDonald(+1) 4th Simon Powell(□) 5th Dennis Ward(-2)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (+1) 1st Gordon Hill (+1) 2nd Simon Powell (□) 3rd Dennis Ward (-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Bill Eastoe ProPin No 2 18th Targe Mifsud BallPin 4th Stephen Butterfield

Hole in One Results: Hole in One 12th *** Bill Eastoe ***

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Hopes were high and the clouds were out, but the sun was soon shining through. Golf was also played. There was speculation about some low scores and with the Championship coming to a close in the near future, all eyes were on the leaders. Will noodles choke? Will Simon win the seniors so he can finally stop talking about it?

It turns out that the scoring was not that crash hot, and playing to ones handicap ended up being enough for the top spot. There were equal winners on 68 points, SOS, Chrispy and JQ. With a count-back being required to decide the medalist, it was JQ who had his nose in front to win the medal. It was smooth sailing for SOS, as he reported that on the 16th he was showing Brendon how to play an approach shot, and Shankyouverymuch his one and only shank for the day was the result. He was also fortunate on the 18th as he was chipping from beside the green, he bladed it and sent it flying towards Brendon who was admiring the result of his tee shot. The ball struck Brendon and ended up stopping on the green.

With Johns win it places him only 2 points behind Noods in the championship, who ended the day in second place, tied with Brendon. Noods was playing solid and consistent early on, but the scoring started to dry up on the back 9 and Noods was relaying his frustrations to his playing partners from then on. Nonetheless 5 points maintains his lead in the champs. Brendon had an up and down day, but was blitzing the par 3’s. On the 12th he hit it reasonably close to take out the ball prize and on the 18th as mentioned earlier, hit his tee shot to 3.56m with the flag at the back tier.

Scubba Steve, Joe and Bob were not that far off the mark and tied in 3rd place on nett 70. Bob’s place also won him 1st place in the seniors for the day.  There were a few differences in the placings from those broadcast after the round, as a few players were working off incorrect handicaps, or could not work out the intricacies of gross minus handicap = nett score. Ryan played pretty average all day, but persevered and placed in 4th place on his own with a nett 73. He was in all sorts on the 10th after finding the trees and chipping over the green, with his ball hard up against a large gum with no possibility of a backswing. As peps walked past he suggested that he hit it into the tree… taking note of his advice, Ryan played the trick shot and hit it in the opposite direction of the hole, with the ball popping off the tree and running past the hole. He proceeded to sink his put from about 10m after it took a right angle jump off some gumnuts for a solid 6!

After a reshuffle of the final placings, in 5th place we had a few fossils in Trevor, Simon and Dennis who tied for 5th with a nett 74. All three tied for 2nd in the seniors, with Gordon placing 3rd for the day. This leaves Simon with an 8 point lead over Gordon in the seniors championship. Theoretically Gordon is still a chance to win with 3x wins in the remaining 3 rounds, as long as Simon does not place at all. The trophy is almost in Simon’s grasp, who claims this would potentially be his first ever championship trophy.

Speaking of placings, the main championship is very close and realistically Noods (78), JQ (76), Simon (71), or Gordon (65) can win it. Simon also claimed the 15th pro pin with a spectacular shot with the heavenswood (7 wood??) who put it to 40cm. Refer to photo for evidence. East Birdie was the result

 

There were no reports of drafties, however Ryan came very close on the second, thinning his drive with a worm burner that went through the water and ladies tee, but still somehow managed to go about 120m down the fairway. Blighty did manage to hit one at right angles with his approach on the 8th, almost cleaning up Dennis in the process. Gordon was travelling ok until the 14th, where he pulled his drive and hit it out of bounds to the left. Noods and Ryan also followed suit, but Ryans managed to do a Priemsy and deflect off the tree onto the fairway. Gordons second shot off the tee leaked right, and once he got to the fairway the ball was gone. He had to jog back to the tee, with his 5th off the tee almost striking his bag in the tree line. All things considered, walking away with an 8 was not too bad.

The eagles nest was again raided by Damo, who sunk a bunker shot on the par 5 6th. Only 4 balls were in the nest so not too much damage, although it took some convincing for SOS to give up 4 shiny new ones. Damian also celebrates his Birthday this week, who is also joined by Mal Fleming and Craig Cameron. Happy birthday guys.

Reminder that subs are not payable for next year and it would be good if they can be paid before the end of year. See SOS for any enquiries. Also Gordon is requesting deposits for the trip away next year of $50 for those who are intending of going.

Results for Saturday, 03 November 2018
1st Chris Priems(68) 1st John Quinlan(68) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(68) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(70) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(70) 3rd Stephen Kelly(72) 3rd Bob McDonald(72) 3rd Joe Wagenecht(72) 4th Ryan Porker(73) 5th Trevor Jackson(74) 5th Simon Powell(74) 5th Dennis Ward(74)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (72) 2nd Dennis Ward (74) 2nd Simon Powell (74) 2nd Trevor Jackson (74) 3rd Gordon Hill (75)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Simon Powell ProPin No 2 18th Brendon Mitchell BallPin 12th Brendon Mitchell

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 6th Damien Lee

In stark contrast to the previous week, the rains were no where to be seen and there was a buzz around the practice greens as there were still a few in contention to take out the Fred Kitson Spring Cup. Early money was on the Beast to take out the chocolates after a +4 the week before, but it was Simon who had a cracking start to proceedings and was observed to be smoking the course early (figuratively, or was it). He was well on the way with a lead in the club champs and turned at +3, but faltered under the pressure massively to come home in a whimper.  Noods was also in contention most of the day and “what could have been” was again heard mumbling from him at the completion of the round.

In the end, talent beats luck and the Beast maintained a square card to win on a total of +4 for the competition. Noods ended up sneaking in for second place on +2 overall to take second, and a narrow lead in the championship table with only 4 weeks to go. A few supportive members muttered after the round that this would be his last points for the year as he is sure to crumble. Only time will tell. After a demoralizing back 9, Simon limped home in a respectable 3rd overall on +1 for the tournament, and with it a healthy lead in the Seniors champs and close in 2nd behind Noods in the club champs.

A trio of companions shared the points for 4th all on -1, Daniel, Brent and JQ, who missed a putt from 4 inches on the 18th, leaving it short! Blighty snoozed home in 5th place for 2 points on -2, who was also joined by Jason who had an up and mostly down day after being right in contention after week 1.

Course conditions were suited to scoring as there were a total of 13 birdies carded from 16 players. Numbers where a bit disappointing, especially as there were some notable absentees from the week before **cough cough… Rob**.  Maybe it was the second week of PAR in a row that was the bug bear for some, we will have to thank Fred for that one, as Damo mentioned after the round with some kind words of Fred’s time at the club.

The ball hole was on the 12th hole and was hotly contested, none other than Blighty took out the prize with a very nice shot from the rear tee position. He also sank the birdie for good measure, which improves his eclectic position to 2nd overall. The first jackpot pro pin was on the 15th and Brent played a beautiful butter cut to hit one to around the 2.5m mark. He almost repeated the feat on the 18th but was narrowly beaten by Noods, who again won a jackpot in a tricky pin position on the ridge.

There was some confusion on the 14th where the would be putters at the green were waiting for an eternity for Peter to find his ball.  After the guys at the 14th tee decided to play through and tee off, it was revealed that Blighty had in fact taken Peters ball by mistake after he slotted it way down the 16th fairway and he was waiting for it to be returned.

As mentioned above, there are only 4 weeks left of points rounds for the season, and the club champs are very close indeed.  Anyone’s game from here in.

Results for Saturday, 27 October 2018
1st Bill Eastoe(+4, □, +4) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(□, +2, +2) 3rd Simon Powell(+2, -1, +1) 4th Daniel O’Rourke(+1, -2, -1) 4th Brent Rowley(+1, -2, -1) 4th John Quinlan(□, -1, -1) 5th Andrew Blight(-2, □, -2) 5th Jason Hopkins(+2, -4, -2)

Seniors Results: 1st Bill Eastoe (□) 2nd Simon Powell (-1,2,1) 3rd Andrew Blight (-2,0,-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Brent Rowley ProPin No 2 18th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 12th Andrew Blight