SOS Golf: CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6

Another absolutely beautiful day - Perth at its absolute best. Blue skies and a warm and balmy twenty degrees. We could have been sitting by the pool drinking cocktails.

What did we do instead? We played golf.

Round Six of the Club Championships. Those of us who had already carded several decent rounds carefully husbanded their strokes while surreptitiously adding up the scores of their rivals.

The rest of us blithely smashed balls down the fairway and took advantage of the maximum stroke score of ten when the inevitable disaster beckoned.

Such is golf for those of us who are not blessed with the ability to play off a single figure handicap.

Anyone got any suggestions?

But we can still enjoy the unique companionship of playing with our SOS friends. It is a very special club.

Greetings to Mark Hill, who celebrated his 60^th, and no doubt had a better offer than SOS today. (Actually , as avid readers of the blog will know, he’s on the injury list. Talking of which it was good to see Paul Cooper back for the afters today. The knee has been fixed, and he’s in rebuilding mode for a few weeks more. Wishing you both speedy recoveries and looking forward to seeing you back playing. )

A bit soggy in parts

Where had the birdies gone? Flown north for the winter?

They were few and far between today.

Keith on the 15^th - usually a birdie magnet (Keith and the 15^th)

And Paul Boquest on the 18^th. Another pair of birdie magnets.

The novelties?

Ah, the new markers. A special thanks here to TJ, who managed to deliver the rather impressive new markers.

Apparently they’d been ordered two years ago. A classic case of WA just-in-time supply perhaps?

No, really. A great innovation. Continuous improvement is always our watchword at SOS.

Some of us have thirteen of those...

So, how did they go?

Women’s longest drive on the 10^th. Andrea, and only Andrea. (however, Carol was fined for wondering how to write her name on the new markers. For those whose names didn’t get on the markers this week, you take the top off. There’s a card inside.)

Nearest the pin on the 6^th. Maureen - the only name on the card.

Nearest in three on the 15^th? Earle (right on the eedge), Popey a little closer, then Andrea, but pipped by Keith.

Nearest in two on the 12^th? Carol got to the middle of the green, with a nice chip from thirty metres out, but Maureen gets inside that, Andrea (again), and Lynne closer still.

Men’s longest drive on the 5^th? Not that easy to stay on the fairway here - Karl gets his name on the card, but Keith (again) gets further.

Many thanks to all those who provided photographs of their day. Always warmly appreciated.

How they do it when the driving range tractor is in for service

Today’s results - a tough round of stroke play with the course getting the better of a number of players.

Puzzlingly, Earle Scarff's name doesn't appear on the list. (It would feature at #24, however when he entered his card into the computer, it did crash the system. That may or may not be a commentary on the score it was supposed to be computing.)

However, he would like it to be known that his aim for the day was to improve on last week's performance, where he hit three in a row into the water on the 14th. He did improve, only losing two balls this week, and none in the water!!

He not unreasonably blames Maureen for shattering his confidence.

What a day! What a club!

Incidentally, Carol mentions that in a previous club, the names of the last five players each week were never read out loud to save their embarrassment.

Some of us can appreciate the benefits of such an arrangement more than others.

And now, were you paying attention yesterday? Can you identify these holes from the photos?