New Year’s Cup
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A stroke (ugh) competition on the Old Course.
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| Running repairs |
An opportunity to brush away the Christmas cobwebs, and get back to the serious business of playing golf.
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It was windy.
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Some of us will of course remember that insipid soft-rock number by marshmallow band the Association.
Who's peekin' out from under a stairway
Calling a name that's lighter than air
Who's bending down to give me a rainbow
Everyone knows it's Windy…
Which makes about as much sense as
the Rubaiyit of Omar Khayyam, but then it never pays to study song lyrics too
closely.
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Not only windy, but warmy too -
the sea breeze didn’t make an appearance at all, and the temperature got to 35
degrees, but not until 3:30pm, although the BOM helpfully comments that it only
felt like 33.7, so that’s OK then. (Interestingly, it also notes that there has
not been a single drop of rain for the whole of December)
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Anyway ... on to the golf...
We greeted guest Jason Warburton,
who joined group 3.
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A string of expletives floated down
the fairways from this group. Not sure who was having problems there, but one
could make an informed guess.
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There were the usual shenanigans on
course, reports of some errant club-throwings, and a good crop of fines to be
levied.
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| The 17th is hard enough already, without doing this |
We seem to have incurred an unusual
number of hitting of wrong balls.
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One by Steph, who managed to wreck
her scorecard with a two-stroke penalty.
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Another by Vicky, on the first
hole. However, she reports that it was all Earle’s fault, as he dropped her off
in the cart by the wrong ball, and that therefore he was to incur the
two-stroke penalty, not her. (The rules have been consulted; they appear to be
silent on this issue).
And another by Paul Boquest. On
addressing the ball, he was confident that he had the right one, as he always
marks his balls with his initials, PB.
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Unfortunately, it was only after
having struck the ball that it became apparent to him that the full marking on
the ball had been obscured by a leaf.
Clearly the ball had been lost by
an earlier player, with a remarkably similar method of marking his (or her)
ball. In recognition of this unusual feat,
we propose a new fine for hitting the wrong ball, namely “doing a PB”.
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We are reminded of course that the responsibility for hitting the wrong ball rests with one person, and one person only (!)
No, not Earle.
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Group 1 were so engrossed in their game that they struggled with
the responsibility of putting out the markers for the novelties. (The word “Meathead”
was mentioned at one point). Embarrassingly finding themselves still with a bagful
on the final tee, they planted the longest drive marker on the 18th.
Novel, but nonetheless an interesting test. So, in conclusion, and in no
particular order:
NTP in 2 on the 10th - Shelley, beaten by Gary, who
birdied the hole
Women’s longest drive - Gemma, beaten by Steph, beaten by Susan
(you had to be there)
NTP on the 2nd - Paul Cooper, beaten by Gary (in spite
of Shelley’s birdie)
Nearest the bunker on the 14th - Paul Boquest
Men’s longest drive on the 18th - Paul Cooper,
outpointed by Puggy, crushed by Brett.
Next week, Shelley will be away, but still managing the field as
usual, and we are promised the return of El Presidente Goochy.
We are also reminded to have let Peter Baird know by today whether it is our intention to maintain our membership into 2024, and to have paid our membership fee of $150 to the SOS account, (not the booking account) by January 15th.
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| Pay up, or else... |
Failure to have done so will bring consequences. After that date,
you will be unable to play in competition, unless the committee deems there to
have been exceptional and mitigating circumstances. If you still remain
unfinancial after three months, you will lose your membership entirely, and
will need to reapply should you wish to rejoin.
That account again:
SOS Golf Group
016-305
581761157
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Which brings us to the birdies, of which there were a grand total
of seven:
Shelley on the 2nd and 12th
Puggy on the 11th
Brett on the 14th
Gary on the 10th and 17th
and Paul Boquest
on the 13th
Well done, those golfers.
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The results:
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Next week, a Stableford competition, teeing off at the usual (for
this time of year) time of 7:24am, so set those alarm clocks.
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| Beaten on counterback. Bugger. |
Before we go, this is perhaps the right time to say thank you to all our friends at SOS, for making it the very best ever social golf group, for providing so much fun throughout the year, and for helping everyone enjoy their golf and play it in the spirit in which it should be played. Well done all of us.
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And a big thank you to Birgit and Peter who've added their unique take on the games so many times this year - we all look forward to and enjoy your blogs enormously.
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So, a Happy New Year to everyone - may our 2024s be even better than our 2023s.
