CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS - ROUND 4

 

Saturday heralded Round 4 of the Club Championships and after the challenging recent Antarctic like weather conditions on the day could not have been better with extended periods of clear sky's interspersed with some cloud and chilly breezes.

The Club Championship is the oldest event on the SOS calendar and arguably the most prestigious trophy to add to a members cabinet. It was first contested in 1973 and won by D Webb. Since then within our current membership one player stands out remarkably from the others having won it no less than twelve times, and that is Colin Kerr, covering a period from 1985 through to 2007. Other winners from the current membership have been Glen Pope with six victories (2012 - 2014 and 2017 - 2019), Garry Burgess on four occasions (2015, 2016, 2022 and 2025 shared with Keith Barrow), Tony Gooch (2020, 2021 and 2023), Earle Scarfe (2011), and Keith Barrow (2025). If I have made a mistake in the tally, my apologies. However there are some outstanding golfers listed and it must be about time that one of our lady members get their name on the trophy.

Yesterday also marked Independence Day for the United States and its 250th anniversary that has been celebrated recently with some pretty strange stuff such as Cage Fights on the lawns of the White House. Who knows what else is in the wings to commemorate the occasion.

Back to the golf where most players were dressed for a chilly day out but as the clouds cleared and the sun came out most jettisoned a few layer of clothing to free themselves up for some big unconstrained hitting. A good example of this was Kerry who unleased a big drive on Hole 5 despite being still being rugged up.

Pre match photos.

All rugged up for the day apart from Dave W who braved shorts.

Paparazzi Paul B was there photographing the official photographer.

Huddle of some of the main contenders, but did they prevail?

No blog is complete unless there is a photo of Coops eating a bacon and egg toasty. I crossed paths with Colin , Greg, Gerry and Coops as they teed off on the 18th and as I completed putting out on the 10th in my Pennants round. Coops said he cooked his own breakfast, yet again because of the late tee times, so I have substituted one of the many photos of him devouring a toasty. This one is quite obviously a stock photo because of the clear blue sky in the background.

SPOTS OF BOVVER

Kerry had a day out not only with the driver but also playing an unorthodox shot to extricate herself from a tricky lie, as pictured below where she played back to the fairway using the back of her club.

Gardy also featured, as he usually does in Spots of Bovver. He does like a challenge.

Like all good showman Gardy also has a passion for colourful balls as shown in the photo below with some of his favourites. That golf glove looks suspiciously like a Bunning's gardening glove though!!!

And so to the winners

THE RESULTS

THE WINNERS

First place - with a great score, Peter Baird. Peter had a great day out and also collected a voucher on The Wheel of Fortune with appropriately number 1.

Second place went to Andrea (Ms. Consistency, which requires lots of practice) and in third place Capt. Keith Barrow (R.N. Retired.)

THE LOLLIES

Not sure what happened there with Colins score not being recorded on MiScore so I'm assuming the lucky guy was Earle?

THE NOVELTIES

No correspondence was forthcoming on the novelties apart from Peter who said the Golden Hole on #16 went unclaimed and now totals $150 and the newly named Silver Hole on # 2 also went unclaimed and now stands at $118 so they both roll over.

THE WHEEL OF FORTURE & PENALTIES

Paul Boquest claimed the first number out and a $10 voucher, The raffle raised $58 and the ash tray for penalties raised a remarkable $42.40 (who threw in 20 cent coins!! - shame) so there was a lot of action out there and undoubtably a lot of colourful language.

NEXT WEEK

Next week is a big one. Firstly our Auction Night dinner at Lot Six Zero (big thank you to the Popes) commencing at 6.30 and Round 1 of the Winter Cup which is one of the clubs majors, and contested over two rounds. Winners of two round events then become eligible to play in the Masters.

Tee off time is a late one 10.12 on the Old and is a stoke event. Get there early to secure a parking spot.

Thank you to Gardy, Paul B, Peter and Frances for your photos and contributions to the blog.

Matchplay Round 3 on Tuart

 "WET" and "WINDY" was Saturday's weatherforecast .....

..... and for once, the meteorologists seemed to have gotten it right.

BUT upon arriving at the golf course, the skies had cleared, and 14 SOS players were eager for the final battle to earn a spot among the last 8 finalists.

 

Andrea's Welsh, a bit of rain
doesn't deter her, and she's
equipped to the teeth.

Our usual "Die Hards", 
a special applause to Dave for his 
colourful beanie
and to Keith for his baby blue jacket.

Opponents Andrea & Gerry,
with photobomber Earle
plus a bit of sun coming through

Gooooochy! Who is that other bloke?
Easy guess...his brother...
and Shelley chipmunking 😀

Greg doesn't take a chance
and gets into his rain gear

Birgit & Keith, will she be able 
to take advantage of her (too many)strokes?

Peter?
Yep that's Peter prepping the 
full-body rain suit for his bag

Toastie Coops is back!
He claimed that it was
his first toastie in 4 weeks.
😉😉😉

DURING THE GAME

Goochy trying to put in his drive 

Goochie's nephew Sam on #3
putting successfully for birdie!

Look at that cute bird nest...only it's not 
a nest it's Peters 2nd hit on #2
No reports on how he got it out of there.

Tom on #14 with a difficult lie,
standing on the edge of the little lake

Masterfully chipped onto the green.

That's how the pro Yani Tseng
mastered a difficult one: take off your shoes
and get your feet wet

Do we wish to have a caddy?
Nope, ask Gardy why not. 😆

#8 Tom is measuring out
the dropping point for his ball
sitting under the green tree

Earle: Did anyone see my ball?

Last but not least, group selfie at hole #18
Birgit, Earle, Tom & Keith

RESULTS

Let's have a look at today's match plays:

Roland will have to do some homework, add up the results from all 3 rounds and present the list of all qualified players by email.

Novelties

Men LD #4                                    Tom

Nearest to 100 m marker #7          Gary, beaten by Shelley

NP in 3 #10                                    Earle

Longest Put #15                             Gary

Golden hole #3                              ------------------------

Golden hole #18                             Keith tried to claim it, but he had "just" a NP

Apologies, I missed the birdies during Rolies presentation 😖😖

Other business:

Fun & Food Night:

• we have +30 participants...yeah
• thanks a lot for all the donations we have received so far

Shelley on vacation

• Glen Pope will take care of the field bookings during Shell's absence
• Shelley is abroad and won't be actioning any "special requests"
• any requests pls text directly to Glen

Green fee increase as of 1st July

• Wembley advised that their green fee will increase by $1 per 18 holes
• SOS golf club has kindly decided to absorb this increase till end of the year
• Thanks you SOS! 👍🙌

AGGREGATE STABLEFORD

 

Gary warms up the insides first

Well, that was a bit nippy at the start.

Dave prepares for an Arctic adventure

It eventually warmed up enough to take some of the arctic wear off.

Fired up and ready to go

In fact, it wasn’t actually a bad day for golf.

Peter doing the important stuff

Hardly a breath of wind.

But a small field, of some fifteen players

Who turned up for “Aggregate Stableford”.

Where were you all?

Now, we all know about assault on the wildlife, but what about the wildlife assaulting the golfer?

Play started promptly, and the first group soon put a gap between them and the second.

The second group did likewise, leaving the third waaay behind.

In their haste, however, the first group forgot to put some of the novelties out.

With the mythical longest drive on the fourth claimed, in succession, by Gary, Roland, Earle and probably everyone else.

However, without the marker in place, it was all hypothetical.

Kristian unleashed a monster drive on the seventh, which chased Birgit who was just walking off to the eighth. (We won’t mention his second shot, which was less impressive!)

On the eleventh, Earle managed a vicious shank which lobbed onto the roof of Maureen’s cart, startling her.  

She reports that it was like a “near-death experience”.

Roland’s second shot on the eighteenth was a lob to clear the bunker, after a somewhat fluffed drive. He shanked it totally, flying off at ninety degrees to the intended direction of travel. While Roland unleashed a string of f#@!s and b^&***$s, as is his wont, the ball smashed into the bank, bounced off the cart path, rolled onto the green and trickled down to the next level, stopping a couple of inches from the flag.

I meant that!

Goochy was reported to air traffic control for hitting up, not only on the seventh, as is generally accepted, but also for putting those standing on the ninth tee at risk from his shot on the eighth, and aiming for Gerry on the tenth. Gerry reports that he’s prepared to let Goochy have his job as president back - there’s no need to assassinate the current holder of the office for it.  

Goochy putting for eagle after a great drive that narrowly missed the president,

The third group suspected Kristian of using his golf game as cover for researching development opportunities in some of the more obscure and distant corners of the golf course. His partners report that they encountered areas they never knew existed in searching for his five lost balls!

Confrontation after ex-president narrowly misses current president a second time!

Gary celebrates his birthday today. He reports that it will be a quiet occasion, although he entertains the possibility that his wife may have plans yet to be revealed. We wait to hear.

And if you've never had a hole in one, perhaps you just didn't start early enough:

There were birdies.

Maureen and Kristian on the 9^th!

Boris on the 13^th

Goochy on the 7^th, and

Gary on the 4^th. That earns him a voucher, and acknowledgement that his monster drive did indeed reach the narrow gap between the tree and the mound on the right. Great shot, Gary, even if it didn’t earn the deserved longest drive novelty.

We're all looking forward to the Food and Fun Night on July 11th at Lot 60 in Innaloo - Gerry has sent out the details again. Make sure you've paid, so there'll be food for you on the night. 

Well that worked out better than I thought

Who got the novelties, once they were eventually put out:

The first golden hole remains unclaimed. Still.

The second, on the 18^th, fell to James.

Bugger!

The men’s longest drive, which was on the 5^th, saw Earle on the card, but Gerry further.

The longest putt on the 15^th, had Kristian, followed by Earle, Derek went better, but Coops beat them all.

Nearest in three on the 11^th, Maureen, Gary, but Goochy did better.

Goochy's Drive on the 7th!

And closest to the 100m mark on the 7^th, Maureen again, then Tom, with Gerry closest.

Well done, those players, and a considered and thoughtful range of novelties devised by Roland.

Gerry catching Goochy's drive just in time

The individual Stableford scores were recorded, but no prizes here.

So, the aggregate scores were what counted.

 

Boris' drive on the 12th! It was a nervous putt, we gather. 

Lollies for the unfortunate pair with the least aggregate.

A nice ball. Just not mine, unfortunately.

And glory for the winners.

	Player 1	Player 2	Score
	Gerry	Coops	71
	Gary	Maureen	67
	Peter	Goochy	62
	Gary	Earle	61
	Kristian	James	60
	Boris	Dave	54
	Derek	Roland	54
	Tom	Birgit	47

Congrats to Gerry and Coops - two good scores.

No contest, gentlemen.

Thanks to all our photographers this week - Kiristian, Birgit, Gerry, Peter and Goochy.

And I still won nothing!

Next week we’re looking forward to the final round of the qualifying match-play games, before the finalists are revealed, or play Stableford if you prefer. Keep an eye on the forecast.

It’s 9:40 on the Tuart.