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.
