STABLEFORD ON THE TUART

The day before the start of summer - a very pleasant and balmy 30 degrees, with the sea breeze dropping the temperature a little for the last few holes.

 A field of twenty-one, with a few adjustments to the groups before teeing off.

Progress was brisk, with few delays - the public groups in front of us were unusually quick, so didn’t hold us up.

Roland suffered the ultimate disappointment - losing a brand new ball off the first tee. We feel your pain. (He also has a birthday next week, but won’t be here so we acknowledged it this week instead).

I haven't played for a while

Most of the announcements were postponed until the Gala Dinner in the evening, but there was one that had to be brought forward to the afternoon.

Pug Dog’s receipt of the lollies! (He was attending the Crowded House concert, and wouldn’t have been able to receive the generous round of applause that greeted the award in the clubhouse.)

We welcomed Peter Baird to the afters, who reports that he hopes to play next week.

And we also welcomed Brett to the dinner. Good to see you again, sir.

There were birdies, of course.

James and Don on the 3^rd

Derek on the 7^th

Colin on the 10^th

Gardy on the 15^th, and

Paul B on the 16^th.

There was some concerted discussion as to exactly whom Gordon was channelling.

Speculation centred around Tom Selleck, the Mario Brothers or Borat. You be the judge.

The novelties?

Longest Drive on the 1^st? That went to Gordon.

The golden hole remained unclaimed, although James missed by only a couple of inches.

Nearest in two on the 10^th, saw Gordon put down a marker, only to be outpointed by Andrea, Coops and finally Colin, who went on to birdie the hole.

Nearest in three on the 11^th had James on the board, but Roland to within a hair’s breadth of the hole.

Nearest on the 12^th went to Paul B, uncontested

And finally the 18^th, which had Derek feeling comfortably in an unassailable position, only to be bettered by Dave with the following drive. (Incidentally, both of them missed the birdie).

Second, third and fourth on the day

And the results for today?

 

The festivities were, as always, a lot of fun, with excellent food, drinks and entertainment, most of the latter being, of course, unintended.

The bag man arrives 

Copious thanks, as always, to Glen and Lindsay for making their venue available - it really does suit the event perfectly.

The group responded most generously to the fines round, contributing $66.85 to the Kings Park Honour Avenues Fund.

And the good news is - Subscriptions next year will only be $165. This compares very favourably with similar groups who seem to deliver fewer benefits to members. You will need to have made a decision as to whether you wish to renew your membership by December 31^st.

Interestingly, the largest fields of the year were on the Australia Day Cup and Ladies Day, both with 30+ players, while the smallest field contested the WA Cup, when only 11 players were available. The Club Championship rounds were well attended, with an average field of 25 players, while generally Par seemed to be the least popular competition.

And trophies were presented as follows:

Eclectic Old: Glenn Kelly

Eclectic Tuart: Mark Wilson

Consistency: Andea Williams

Lady Champion: Linley Hunter

B Grade Champion: Kerry Edwards

A Grade Champion: Earle Scarff

Handicap Champion: Andrea Williams

Club Champion: Mark Wilson

Congratulations to all those trophy winners.

 And if you weren't there, here is some of what you missed: 

THE PRESIDENTS CUP

The sun had barely risen as a diminished but hardened crew of SOS golfers slowly assembled, all a little dazed and confused by the early tee time of 6.52. What dedication. The previous week Gerry had gone to great lengths to explain that he had nothing to do with the tee time - it is determined by the Gods!

Among the absentees was Pug Dog who had traveled to Sydney for the Mardi Gras, apparently!

The early start did prevent any loss of "dinner to the dog"  resulting from a late return home from golf.

Speaking of which does anyone have an Old Dog with this problem?

Andrea was desperately trying to find a spot in the sun to warm up 

and shortly thereafter Keith arrived from warming up on the range.

After much consternation the field accepted their lot and the first group teed off into the glaring light led by Shelly, Andrea and Mark W.

Mark W teeing up after first reciting the "Lords Prayer"

At this point mention must be made of miracles and the power of prayer - Stephanie was on time, for for the first time ever - no reshuffling of the field required by Andrea.  Halleluiah.

Because of the excessively early tee time and the Zombie like condition of most of the field there were quite a few "Spots of Bover".

Either Gardi, Hilly or Earle's ball? 

Whoever was playing with a yellow ball will know.

Again either Gardi, Hilly or Earle's ball? 

Earle heading into trouble, apparently

Hilly with a beastly lie on the edge of the bunker. 

(This goes some way to summing up Hilly's round and his fate that lay ahead)

Our guest Wayne, who miraculously played his second shot from out of these grass trees

on the 13th and managed to walk off with a bogey. 

Also on the 13th Popey had is buggy highjacked and was again ambushed on the ride between the 13th green and 14 tee. 

Does anyone recognise this bottom?

So we come to the results.

Novelties

Hole 1 - Longest Drive (all) - Stephanie 

Hole 3 - The Golden Hole - Club

Hole 10 - NTP - Paul B

Hole 11 - NTP in 3 - Karl

Hole 12 - NTP - Club

Hoe 18 - NTP - Earle

Birdies

Hole 18 - Gardi

Hole 14 - Andrea

Holes - 9, 15 & 18 - Paul B (Mr, Greedy)

Hole 18 - Earle

The Scores

The Winners

Karl (on a count back from)

Earle (who took the loss graciously but gave me a clip behind the ear as he departed for home)

Mark W (a valiant attempt to defend his Cup win from last year)

Mark had to leave earlier and couldn't join the podium

The Lollies

Hilly (commiserations but enjoy the fruits of your loss)

Birthdays

Happy Birthday Andrew

A few snapshots at the after's

Andrea reading the results

Shelly balancing the books

Gardi surprised by something Keith or Barry have said

Wildlife Threatened

There was a near tragedy on the course today when Carol's drive was a little wayward and hit a white cockatoo on the head, knocking it unconscious. Needless to say Carol was mortified. Initially everyone thought the bird was dead with one saying, at best it will never fly again. Meanwhile all the other birds in the flock had gathered around it to pay their last respects, when suddenly like Lazarus, it rose from the dead, and flew off much to the relief of all.

Next week it is a stableford format with a slightly more agreeable tee off time of 7.24 and this will be followed later in the day with the SOS Annual Dinner and Presentation Night at "Lot Six Zero". 

I'll leave you with this photograph supplied by Shelly showing that even Christmas is not exempt from severe commercialisation. Triple Brie will be off the Christmas menu this year.

Diggers Trophy - Tuart

The Diggers Trophy was contested on the Tuart Course in a par format. The 7.24am start proved challenging for many as the overnight temperature attempted to climb up to the forecast maximum of 21°c. A persistent strong wind at the start brought the wind chill factor to near freezing!

Thanks to President Gerry for this pic!

Barry, Keith, Dave & Carol attempting to keep warm against the Pro Shop wall!

Crazy temperatures for mid November!

News from Kalgoorlie

The SOS ladies who participated in the 2024 Goldfields Ladies Open Golf Championship at the Kalgoorlie Golf Course last weekend arrived safely back from Kalgoorlie!

While they were unable win any trophies this year, apparently it was an enjoyable trip with Andrea featuring with a full page spread in the Kalgoorlie Miner!

Meanwhile, back to the battle for the Diggers Trophy, President Gerry Tessier found little room for a backswing!

Gerry in a spot of bother?

Wildlife Rescue

Shelley did her best to rescue a Monarch butterfly which had crash-landed on the 10th fairway! The insect, which was showing a bit of wear and tear on a wing, was released on the 2nd cut, hopefully to live another day . . . . . . 

 . . . . . . or, pehaps not!

There were many ducks on the course, with several near misses reported, as the occasional swarm of ducklings were herded here and there by their parents!

 

Carnage narrowly avoided on the 18th tee

Believe it or not, Shelley is shown taking her 2nd shot on the 18th, some 50 metres behind the green tees, after her tee shot hit the left white tee marker and rebounded at astonishing speed, narrowly missing Karl & Peter and some 30 ducks !

To Shelley's credit, her recovery shot cleared the ducks, tee area, water hazard and bunkers to come to rest in front of the green.

 

Shelley executes her recovery shot on the 18th.

How could I have missed that ? ? @#$%^*

SOS President Gerry Tessier welcomed members to the post match meeting and the return of the SOS ladies team that had played last week in Kalgoorlie at the Goldfields 2024 Ladies Open Golf Tournament.  Gerry also welcomed Peter who had returned to competition after a 10 week break  recoving from knee replacement surgery and wrist injury. While the knee is apparently in excellent shape, Peter is complaining of shoulder and wrist pain for today's score!

Gerry noted next week's game is a stableford competition for the President's Trophy which is currently held by Mark Wilson.  The competition will again be played on the Tuart Course (4th week in a row), and will commence at 6.52am !  So set your alarms accordingly.

Competition Results

SOS Captain, Andrea, advised that Peter had managed to claim the lowest score for the day and the bag of lollies! Peter's -7 score was apparently confined to the first 9 holes, while on the back 9 he managed to square each hole! 

Roland Petrie however claimed the Diggers Trophy with a solid score of + 2.

It was a 3 way tie on + 1 with countbacks awarding Glen Pope 2nd place and Earle Scarff in 3rd place. Stephanie was unlucky to be placed 4th in the 3rd countback position.

Roland dsiplays the Diggers Trophy watched on by Glen Pope and Earle Scarff

The Golden hole, on hole 3, was won by Shelley who collected the $74 pot.

A total of 6 birdies were scored by:

   

    Colin on hole 5

    Shelley on hole 3 (+GH) 
    Don on hole 5

    Glen P on hole 16

    Puggy on holes 4 & 18

Results of the Novelties were :

    Hole 1 (All) - Roland, beaten by Andrea

    Hole 10 NTP in 2 - Glen P

    Hole 11  NTP in 3 - Glen p

    Hole 12 NTP - Andrea

    Hole 18 NTP - Earle, beaten by Puggy

Glenn Kelly, aka Puggy, kindly took on the role of Ash Tray crier for the Diggers special list of fines.

It was pointed out that fines raised during November were all donated to maintenance of the Kings Park Avenue Honour plaques. Members were asked to dig deep resulting in a near doubling of the normal 'take' - $58.45 ! 

Puggy reads out the Diggers' fines list

The raffle draw was conducted by SOS Vice Captain and general multi disciplinarian, Glenn 'Puggy' Kelly, with Glen Pope claiming at least two of the prizes!

Steph & Carol discussing the Annual Dinner decorations
 for Saturday, 30 November?

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