SPRING CUP #1 @ OLD COURSE

SPRING -  a word with various meanings

A season

A jump

A water source

A mechanical device

Today though, the SOS Spring CUP is in our focus. Unfortunately for those still believing in the WA weather forecast - see below - it was the perfect golfing day.

Only 15 of us made it to the 1st tee, a small but committed field.

A bit of wind, a couple of clouds ... but most of us wore short sleeves and left those rain jackets & umbrellas packed away...

...most of us!!

The reporter of the day was in the first group, so she didn't have the chance to take lots of "pre-shots"

BEFORE THE GAME

Derek, the bearer of placing
the novelties

Steph & Earle a bit on the grey side 
of their wardrobe...thanks for 
a bit of colour in between

DURING THE GAME

While looking for Steph's ball, 
we found the first signs of spring

yep, winter is officially finished

Gardy's ball closer to the tee box of #12 than
to the green of #11.

Boris, aka Barry, aka "The Terminator"

"Where are youuu?"
"What ball are we searching?"

Gardy....

That's Faye's ball left vs right...
She chose left...
afraid of the bunker Faye, heh?? 

AFTER THE GAME

Look, who's here! Popey 😊

THE WINNER OF THE FIRST ROUND

Barry with a comfortable advantage of 5 strokes

followed by Shelley and Keith

Is Barry on a winning streak?

and Steph winning the LOLLIES 

Thanks Steph I enjoyed the mini Haribo bag while blogging.

The Novelties

Nearest to the stick  #1                Greg, the only one!

                                                     Records show that you hadn't had a novelty win in a while.

Longest Drive Hcp +15  #4        Shelley, beaten by Faye....

                                                    None of the first group of four +15 handicappers got 

                                                    a drive onto the fairway...all their balls kissed the rough.

Longest Put  #  12                      Steph, beaten by Boris

                                                    Shall we keep a measuring tape handy to keep track of 

                                                    "THE longest put in a month"?

Nearest Bunker  # 14                   Derek, Boris, beaten by Goochy  

Both silver and golden holes are still up for grabs.

Kudos to the committee/vice captain for varying the novelties... 😀

The Birdies...they are rare nowadays

Keith # 4

Coops # 16

      

Nearest to the stick.
The latest SOS highlight..
Thanks to Derek!

 

Shelley's "Blonde Moment Confession"

To raffle...

or not to raffle

YESSS, we DID

Popey got 2 (!!) lucky numbers..

... and Coops 2 too!
The raffle is rigged!

WHAT ELSE?

Those blond moments?

• Shelley having a banana peel in one hand and a ball in the other ....guess what she threw into the next bin while her buggy drove off? Too bad there are no photos of her "bin diving". 😆
• Birgit marking a ball on a green, walking back to her bag...while forgetting to remove the ball.

THE COMMITTEE

Country Cup

• Numbers are low, too low! We still have 12 spots available, give yourself a push and subscribe. The Country Cup is always a good outing away from "Old & Tuart". Please let Gardy & Shelley know within this week
• "Too far" is not an excuse....it's "country," and we're "Down Under". 
• Those having tickets for the footy grand final are certainly excused.

The Chips paid by the SOS club...

• Is the bowl too small or too big? 
• Are there enough chips in a bowl?
• Anyway, it looks like we get half the chips for the same price. 

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND 7

 

The final round of the Club Championship, to determine the prestigious honours that will be revealed at the Annual Dinner, Gala Celebration or Yearly Piss-Up, depending on your perspective on the event.

Here is a reminder of the rules for the Club Championship. Members must have played at least 11 games during the winter season, including at least 5 championship days.

A member can only receive one of the following championship trophies per year, which trophies are listed in order of priority:

MEN’S CHAMPION Perpetual and Personal Trophy.	OPEN to MEN	5 Best Gross.
LADIES’ CHAMPION Perpetual and Personal Trophy.	OPEN to LADIES	5 Best Gross.
CLUB HANDICAP CHAMPION Perpetual and Personal Trophy.	OPEN	5 Best Nett
A GRADE CLUB CHAMPION Perpetual and Personal Trophy.	HANDICAP 17 - 24	5 Best Gross.
B GRADE CLUB CHAMPION Perpetual and Personal Trophy.	HANDICAP 25 - UP	5 Best Gross.

The Club Captain has the discretion at any time prior to the 6th Club Championship fixture to adjust the handicap ranges of the above Club Champion Grades to ensure that the groups are reasonably balanced.

(As far as I’m aware, this didn't and hasn’t happened.)

The day started bright, but cold.

But not for long. After freezing on the first tee, it was time to get out the sunscreen on the second, and we enjoyed a delightful day of winter golf, with blue skies and 22 degrees the forecast.

We understand this wasn't Earle teeing off on the ladies' tees, 
but taking his second shot on the first.

Not a huge field, with members spread far and wide as often is the case during a northern hemisphere summer. Karl sends greetings from Finland, which is about the furthest north from which we have received reporting.

Meanwhile Gerry is still languishing in Murdoch Hospital. We need you back, sir, so we wish you the speediest of recoveries.

David either admiring the fungus or
cursing the ball

Scores were evenly spread, with few excuses. That’s golf, as we know. 

Anyone for beef wellington tonight?

The usual crop of “spots of bovver”, but a couple of very good rounds that may well have a bearing on the final calculations for the Championship.

Didn't they do well..

The novelties were indeed novel this week, with our Vice-Captain giving us some unusual challenges.

On hole 7, it was the nearest in three that saw Dave Millar looking good, until Gary came along.

Number 10 was looking for nearest to the 100m mark, which meant a pretty long hit. Here we had Gardy in good shape, beaten by Dave Millar, edged by Keith but monstered by Coops.

Steph's umbrella flies off into the clear blue yonder

The longest putt on the 12^th had Fran in good shape (after Paul had holed out from off the green and birdies, but off the green doesn’t count), then Coops, but Tom was further out still.

Nearest the bunker on the 14^th, always a favourite as anyone has a chance here, had Fran, then Earle, Boris better but Tom closest of all.

There were birdies:

Shelley on the fourth

Paul on the twelfth, and

Boris on the fifteenth.

After the game, we decamped to Perry Lakes for the reading of the scores and a celebratory sausage sizzle, always a popular event.

We found ourselves somewhat leaderless, missing not only our Captain and President, but losing our Vice-Captain too (who was heading for the theatre, no less!)

Andrea and Shelley filled in, and Carol and Faye joined us for the celebration.

There were, as ever, a number of people who contributed to the smooth running of the show, co-ordinated by Frances and supported by Earle, Keith and Boris on drinks, Shelley on onions, Faye and Gim on cooking and cleaning up, Derek on running to the Forum to get fresh rolls and Peter reimbursing all those paper receipts.

A big thank you from the rest of us.

If you're playing in the Country Cup, you can now pay into the 

 

Next week, it’s the first round of the Spring Cup, a stroke competition on the Old Course at 9:08, and if you ever struggle to get out of bunkers, take a lesson from the master here:

 

 

MATCH PLAY SEMI FINAL

 As a result of the Matchplay Semi Final being postponed due to Armageddon like weather on  8 August, play finally got under way on Saturday. Initially the sky looked perfect as all gathered reflecting on how magnificent the conditions of play promised to be. This euphoria however was short lived as Earle, playing in my group looked to the sky and said I don't like the look of that, as a large grey, menacing cloud moved towards us.. Earle's observation proved astute and and shortly after the whole sky changed from blue to grey as a drizzling English like rain descended upon us. The BOM had got it horribly wrong and some were heard to say it's about time that BOM installed a window in their office so that they could observe what's actually going on outside instead of relying on their computer screens.

Coops was back from swanning around Australia resplendent with a toasty, coffee, and a big smile.

.

The Three Musketeers.

Earle dressed to kill in his Aussie pants.

Shelly hard at work.

Stephanie Experiencing some control issues with her electric buggy.

THE MAIN EVENT

Pre match photo, all smiles

The Match Play semifinalists comprising Colin and Garry were the first to tee off closely followed by Shelly and Keith.

The match between Colin and Garry was closely contested with the lead fluctuating between the two right up to the 15th hole which saw Colin go 1 up. Then on the 16th Colin sunk a long putt from off the green to take go 2 up lead. Ever the fighter Garry birdied the 17th with the match being determined on the 18th and Colin winning 1 up.

In the match between Shelly and Keith Shelly won 5/4. In Shelly's post match interview she attributed her win the long drives, staying on the fairway, and putting well. Not a bad combination.

Played in good spirits, as always.

Both Shelly and Colin were bargain base purchases for Birgit at just $120 for Shelly and Stephanie/Bernie for Colin at just $100.

The winners.

I'm not sure when the Match Play Final will be held so stayed tuned.

THE FRINGE STABLEFORD COMPEITION

At the conclusion of play there was mass confusion because the Wembley GC had decided to make the round stroke despite advice from Shelly that it was Stapleford. Anyway all was good in the end and scores were recorded correctly.

SPOTS OF BOVVER

We had a couple that were recorded, some may have gone unrecorded. The first was before play when Stephanie's buggy went a little out of control, however she managed to get it in a head lock before it created too much chaos. 

The other two were Peter who was having a forgettable round.

THE RESULTS

THE WINNERS

First place with a sensational 41 points Barry, second place with a very respectable score of 40 points Tom, and third with a distant 32 point Dave Williamson.

THE LOLLIES

A very happy Faye being grateful to take home something after a 3 week absence visiting her daughter and family in India.

BIRDIES

Barry on the 4th and 18th

Dave Millar on the 16th

NOVELTIES

No 3, Golden Hole - Club

No 5 Nearest the bunker - Keith followed by Andrea

No 7, nearest the pin in 3 - Shelly followed by Coops

No 12, Longest putt - Derek

No 16, nearest the 100m mark - Colin followed by Keith

No 18, nearest the pin - Club

THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Cancelled because of lack of numbers.

COMING UP - THE COUNTRY CUP

AT THE PINJARRA GC ON 27 SEPTEMBER

If you haven't already made a booking please do so as there are only 28 spots available. 

The cost is just $45 for the round with a shared cart, what a bargain. Direct bookings to Gardy and payment to the Club's account.

NEXT WEEK

Next week its its Club Championships Round 7 played on the Old with a tee off time of 9.00am, an excellent time for Coops to enjoy a pre game toasty and coffee. See how accommodating the SOS GC can be.

Most importantly though is that it's also a free sausage sizzle with drinks following the match at Perry Lakes

In conclusion my thanks to all those that contributed photos to the blog, Peter, Faye, Derek, and Coops.

I'll leave you with this video (Scroll across the link and open). I'm sure we have all been there.

I'm off swanning around the UK for the next month or so. Happy golfing.

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