NEW YEAR'S CUP

 

New Year’s Cup

A stroke (ugh) competition on the Old Course.

Running repairs

An opportunity to brush away the Christmas cobwebs, and get back to the serious business of playing golf.

It was windy.

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.

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)

Anyway ... on to the golf...

We greeted guest Jason Warburton, who joined group 3.

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.

There were the usual shenanigans on course, reports of some errant club-throwings, and a good crop of fines to be levied.

The 17th is hard enough already, without doing this

We seem to have incurred an unusual number of hitting of wrong balls.

One by Steph, who managed to wreck her scorecard with a two-stroke penalty.

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.

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”.

We are reminded of course that the responsibility for hitting the wrong ball rests with one person, and one person only (!) 

No, not Earle.

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 18^th. Novel, but nonetheless an interesting test. So, in conclusion, and in no particular order:

NTP in 2 on the 10^th - 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 2^nd - Paul Cooper, beaten by Gary (in spite of Shelley’s birdie)

Nearest the bunker on the 14^th - Paul Boquest

Men’s longest drive on the 18^th - 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 15^th.

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

Which brings us to the birdies, of which there were a grand total of seven:

Shelley on the 2^nd and 12^th

Puggy on the 11^th

Brett on the 14^th

Gary on the 10^th and 17^th

and  Paul Boquest on the 13^th

Well done, those golfers.

The results:

Next week, a Stableford competition, teeing off at the usual (for this time of year) time of 7:24am, so set those alarm clocks.

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.

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.

So, a Happy New Year to everyone - may our 2024s be even better than our 2023s.