COUNTRY CUP

 

The Country Cup.

The pinnacle of the SOS Golfing Calendar.

(One of the pinnacles, anyway)

When we all decamp into the further regions of the state

And scare the locals

Scaring the locals

A couple of showers on the journey down

But a pleasant day for the golf

Somewhat overcast, but not too warm.

Secret Harbour

A real golfer’s golf course

With fairways that ran forever

And bunkers like craters on the moon.

Those of us who like to run the ball up to the green found ourselves confronted by gnarly sand traps

And we kissed goodbye to any ball that landed in the bush.

World's smallest lunch box!

Gerry remarked that with his association with Komatsu he would be in a perfect position to bulldoze those bunkers should we find ourselves playing there again.

I can do this!

The wind got up later in the day

And somehow we always seemed to be playing into the breeze.

Peter complained that he had been wrestling all day with the new shaft on his driver

Found it!

But it was lots of fun

Well-organised by Karl from start to finish

Who having sent out an email to 28 players with details of their handicaps

Was asked 29 times for handicap details on the day.

Yes - herding cats is a necessary skill for anyone hoping to organise anything at SOS.

Earle retired hurt after eight holes - get well soon!

Second shot...still not past the ladies'

The novelties were hotly contested as always:

The men’s longest drive on the 3^rd was initially claimed by Earle, but he was surpassed first by Karl, then by Paul B, before Keith unleased a monster.

Nearest in one on the 5^th also had Earle on the card, but Andrea did better.

Nearest in one on the 7^th had Lynley in the first group on the card, and there it stayed all day.

The ladies’ longest drive had VIckie first, but Shelley got further,

Nearest in two on the 15^th had Colin’s name on the card, and no-one did better.

The 18^th in three was competitive, with Don looking good until Roland snuck inside that, but Karl had a magnificent second shot that stopped a couple of feet from the pin, which he then holed for birdie!

.....anyone see where that one went?

We were reminded of Alex Tessier’s role as Captain of the Canadian Women’s Rugby Team. Gerry is convinced as a result of her heroic performance in the final versus UK that she must be related. We’ll take his word for it.

There were birdies a-plenty, surprisingly given the nature of the greens:

Earle and Gary on the 5^th

Roland on the 4^th and 11^th

Gary again on the 8^th

^{Colin on the 15th}

Gardy on the 10^th

Shelley on the 11^th

Lynley on the 7^th

Maureen and Andrea on the 16^th

(Andrea hit the pin - could easily have been an ace!)

Keep it low...watch it go!

Popey on the 15^th

and Karl on the 18^th.

There are two important dates coming up for your calendars. The first is October 2^nd when the Golf Connect handicap system comes into play. More about that later in this blog.

And November 29^th, the date of the SOS Gala Dinner at Lot Six Zero. This event is usually very popular and places are filling up fast. It’s first come, first served, so let Frances know as soon as possible if you’re planning to come (and/or bringing a guest). (falonghurst1@gmail.com)

So, a big day out in the country, and the results:

 

	COUNTRY CUP		SCORE
	Jo Ann	Cooper	37
	Glen	Pope	35
	Keith	Barrow	34
	Andrea	Williams	33
	Barry	Treak	33
	Karl	Wolzak	31
	Shelley	Yeo	30
	Stephanie	Jeffares	29
	Maureen	Sundari	29
	Birgit	Reinartz	29
	Roland	Petrie	29
	Lynley	Hunter	29
	Faye	Millar	28
	Greg	Bennett	27
	Lynne	Malone	26
	Paul	Boquest	25
	Carol	Barrow	25
	Vickie	Scarff	25
	Gerry	Tessier	25
	Colin	Kerr	24
	Paul	Gardner	24
	Gary	Burgess	24
	Don	Beesley	22
	Derek	Longhurst	19
	Frances	Longhurst	18
	Peter	Baird	18

 

An amazing result from Jo Ann, and some very creditable scores from (most) of the others.

(The cards were in a bit of a scramble when I copied the results. If I’ve got your score wrong, my apologies, but don’t worry too much - it’s only a game!)

A special shout-out to Karl, who not only organised a great day out, but also contributed all the prizes, including a pot of honey from his very own bees and copious bottles of wine for the podium winners. Well done, mate!

And now for the serious stuff:

Here is the process for the migration of handicaps to the new system. As far as SOS is concerned, it should be fairly seamless, as all our records seem to have been transferred across OK - however, there will inevitably be stumbles along the way. I’ll have a go at downloading the new app on October 2^nd, just like everyone else, and we’ll see how we go.

While I’m no better informed than anyone else at this stage  - I’ve only read what everyone else has read -  let me know if you struggle, and we’ll work through it together.

Sept 28 (8pm AWST / 10pm AEST) ·                     GOLF Link permanently shuts down. ·                     All your handicap details will start transferring across

 

Sept 29 - Oct 1 ·      Offline period ·      Handicap services offline – no score submissions.  ·      Current GA Handicap App and golf.org.au handicap lookup remain view-only.  ·      Handicaps will be recalculated to align with World Handicap System changes.

 

Oct 1 ·      Major transition day for both websites and handicap services.  ·      Expect interrupted access as systems are cut over.  ·      Handicap lookups and related services may be temporarily unavailable.  ·      You may be redirected between multiple old and new sites as GOLF.com.au comes online throughout the day.  ·      We recommend avoiding the use of websites and handicap services today, and checking back once the new system goes live on 2 October.

 

Oct 2 ·      New Golf Australia App available to download in your app store. ·      New golfer portal live at GOLF.com.au.  ·      Members’ recalculated handicaps available. Most golfers will see a small change, projected to be less than 0.5 strokes on average. Some players may see a bigger adjustment based on their unique scoring history.

 

Oct 2 - 10 ·      Clubs start to come online. ·      Some clubs may take until around 10 October to complete their transition. ·      This is normal and part of the phased migration of more than 1,900 clubs – including integration with third-party apps and platforms used by clubs.

Next week, it’s round one of the BenKerr Cup, our very own version of the Ryder.

Format will be Stableford, with the average total of each team’s Stableford scores determining the winning team - so everyone’s score counts!

Captaining Australia will be Greg Bennett, with Paul Cooper taking care of the ROW.

Thanks to everyone who contributed photos and snippets. And if you’ve ever wondered what your $600 driver looks like inside - here you are:

Now, email Frances if you're coming to the Gala DInner on November 29th. Here's her address again:

falonghurst1@gmail.com