SOS Matchplay - Qualifying Round 1

It's that time of the year when the rules for matchplay competition are dusted off and the competition can actually gets quite serious!

The 1st round of the SOS Matchplay competition got underway at the Old Course at a respecable 9.24 am under outstanding conditions!  No wind, clear blue skies and the fairways had been freshly clipped, allowing balls that were hit straight to travel further than is usually the case.

Some had presumably been sharpening their game during the week !

Steph & Keith looking confident !

Keith & Earle comparing their balls ?!

Paul & Steph (with coffee)

Faye & Dave Millar with Keith Barrow

Greg Bennett (Honorary Life Member)
 with Club President, Gerry Tessier

Gerry models the new SOS 2025 Shirt

Gonch & Sparky
aka
Paul Gardner & Barry Treak

Shelley explaining to Barry and Mick Fisher
 how she plans to defeat Mark W today !

 

Barry's right foot points to the ball, all but burried in the tree roots!

 

Mark Wilson considers a left handed, back of the club, stroke to extricate his ball from this horrible lie!,

 

SOS President, Gerry Tessier, with Keith Barrow,

Mick Fisher, Earle Scarff & Gordon Gryzb

 

Presidents's Address

Missing Raffle Bag!

The President's address was delayed as a furious search was conducted for the bag containing the raffle barrell, related tokens, instructions etc. which has been missing for two weeks! Regretably, it was nowhere to be found in at least 3 of the likely lockers locations and using several presumed lock combinations!  Whoever knows of its location, please ensure the bag can be available for next Saturday!

Membership update

Gerry opened the meeting by welcoming Jason Mewett and Mick Fisher who are both in the process of completing the membership accreditation steps which includes playing three qualifying rounds. Today, Jason has completed two games and Mick one.

Gerry noted that SOS Golf Group currently has 44 active members which includes 4 recent additions being Faye and Dave Millar, Alexis Mancini and Jo Ann Cooper.

The current membership comprises 40 regular members, 3 honorary members and one associate member. There is still room for 2 or 3 additional members, so keep a lookout for candidates! 

International Night - or variation

The SOS committee members are still looking for a venue to hold the annual auction of matchplay finalists. Traditionally, this has been held at the International Night event. Possible dates are 5th, 12th or 19th of July, with a preference for the 12th.  If you have any suggestions, please contact Andrea Williams, Glenn Kelly or Carol Barrow. This is one of the most enjoyable evenings on the SOS calandar so please assist the social committee, if possible!

New SOS Shirts

The 2025 edition of the SOS Golf Group shirt has been manufactured and Gerry managed to hand out quite a few to members at the meeting. The general opinion is the shirts are an excellent addition to your golfing wardrobe and may even lead to a reduction to your handicap!  Well done Gerry for co-ordinating the production!

Competition Results

There were 20 players today, 8 pairs contesting the matchplay (16), with the others playing stableford - Lynley & Lynne (2), with Jason and Mick (2) playing qualifying rounds.

So, the official result of the stableford competition has Lynley winning with a low scoring 31 points, followed by Kerry (who also played in the matchplay comp.?!) on 29 and Lynne on 26. No prizes were awarded !

Matchplay results

Sixteen started and only 8 were still smiling as they left the 18th green!

There were many changes in the lead and, for the vast majority, it came down to the last two holes before the winner was determined!

So, congratulations to the winners, who all now progress to the quarterfinals!

NOTE:  This was the 1st of 3 matchplay qualifying rounds.  Winners get 2 points, draws get 1 point and losers get 0 points. Scores are totalled after the 3 qualifying rounds to decide the 8 players who progress to the quarter finals.

The Golden Hole on the Old Course 16th hole was not won, so the pot of $102 is carried forward to the next Old Course competition on 7th June.

There are 2 Golden Holes at next weeks' competition on the Tuart Course. Hole 3 has accumulated to $150 while the 2nd Golden hole (Hole 12 or 18?) has accumulated to $38, plus next week's pot.

Eagles & Birdies

No eagles today, although there were many galahs and sulphur crested cockatoos on the course, some requiring herding to the rough in order to take a safe shot! 

Greg Bennett and Stephanie Jeffares were the only ones to score birdies. Greg scored on the on the 16th hole, so his putt would have been longer than the length of the flag stick!  Well done Greg !!

Stephanie Jeffares scored 2 birdies, on holes 6 & 11, on her way to defeating the Gonch!

Tony Gooch led the call for payment of fines,
raising a total of $36.35 for the Ash Tray Fund.

No-one was shy in dobbing in transgressors!

Novelties

Mens longest drive on the 1st - Goochie, out driven by Mark W

Ladies longest drive on the 14th - Steph

NTP on #2    -     Faye

NTP in two on #15   -  Goochy, bettered by Keith

Longest putt on #9 - Goochy

The Raffle

In the absence of the raffle bag and its contents, the treasurer used his Swiss Army knife scissors to cut up scores of paper pieces.  Raffle participants wrote their names on the paper pieces which were then drawn from an empty 'hot chips' bowl. The raffle raised $42.00.

Shelley supervised the process which demonstrated improvisation at its best!

Mick wins the raffle and pockets a $10 Wembley gift card !

Faye nearest the pin on hole 2 - wins a $5 Wembley gift card.

Fines being collected by Shelley

Greg wins a $5 gift card for his birdie on hole 16.

Another lucky raffle winner - The Gonch !

Next Week

Round 2 of the SOS Club Championship competition will be played on the Tuart Course commencing at 9.40am.  This is a stroke competition.

Many thanks to Derek and Gerry for cartoon material.

Obviously players had less time to take pictures while on the fairway, as only one received - from Gerry.

 🍻   💨   

STABLEFORD

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....

 A glorious autumn day at Royal Wembley, but for some unaccountable reason, the golf scores failed to live up to the promise of a golden afternoon.

And the WABGA (Blind Golfers Association) hadn’t managed to get their act together to join us for the annual Austin Cup extavaganza.

No problem - just watch me get out of this

Not to be deterred, we nevertheless encamped to Perry Lakes after the game for the scheduled barbecue, where we shared the space with a Little Athletics meet, but managed to keep both the little tackers and the kookaburras away from our sausages.

More of that later, first we had to play the game.

Earle gets in touch with his feminine side - and goes off the girls' tee.

Birgit entertained us with the story of how she had woken up at 3am Saturday morning to have a discussion with Gerry about their electricity bill,

Karl's in Finland - the land of the midnight sun

and Peter showed us the result of his visit to the barbers. Apparently he’d said “I found an old putter in the woodshed”, and the hairdresser, also somewhat hard of hearing, had heard “Make me look like a skinhead”.

Anyway, it will grow back. The hair, that is.

Earle was chalked in for a later fine, as apparently he’d repeatedly asked Vickie to find the house key, when he had it all the time in his pocket.

Vickie also instigated another fine, after Derek reminded her to send him the password to enter the club’s details into the Dept of Trade website, when she’d already sent it to him ten days ago. His claim that he’d been peeling leeches off his body while rescuing a friend from the swamp around Cooktown at the time he received the mail did not earn him a reprieve.

Keith announced the novelties, which were shared around as follows:

Men’s longest drive on the 14^th, Keith, before Mark Wilson unleashed a monster over the trees to land in the middle of the fairway, within a putter’s length of the green.

yes, let's open another bottle

Ladies’ longest drive on the 10^th, Vickie, outpointed by Lynne. Good to have you back.

Nearest the pin on the 2^nd. Earle got on the card early, and wasn’t displaced.

Nearest in two on the 9^th, Keith gets his name on it again, but this time Gerry got closer.

And finally, the longest putt on the 4^th saw a number of candidates, with Earle on first, then Dave M. Lynne snuck in closer, (needed a flagstick measurement to confirm), but Derek cannily pitched to just past the marker, so that he could claim the chocolates. (Not the only chocolates he earned on the day, BTW)

The Golden Hole had no takers, so jackpots to $84. If you’ve been holding back, it’ll soon be worth playing for.

Birdies were few and far between. We noted one from Andrea on the 11^th, and Keith on the (extremely difficult) 12^th. 

And interestingly, there wasn’t a single lost ball all day. Are we just not hitting them into the trees anymore, or have we all been to Specsavers?

Dave shanked his second shot on one of the earlier holes, causing Gerry to take evasive action. It was suggested Dave was trying to create a vacancy to enable his elevation from associate to full membership. There are other ways, Dave, other ways.

Steph's in trouble - but she still parred the hole!

We were pleased to welcome Kelly, Glen Pope’s daughter, to the barbecue, where she told us how she had formed the group Charlie’s Angels, after she lost her young son at four months. The group aims to ensure that no family grieves alone after such an event, and Gerry presented a cheque to the group from the members of SOS, to help support those aims.

Given the absence of the WAGBA, we have offered them the alternative of rescheduling on May 31^st, or later in January. We wait to hear.

Earle and Boris discuss the merits or otherwise of Trump's tariffs

Captain Andrea announced the results.

A couple of club events still to be finalised - not sure if the International Night will happen this year, and a date and location for the Match Play finalists auction. All will be revealed in due course.

Shelley demonstrates how to play the increasingly popular game of bottle golf

Nest week, a big day for the club - not only is it the first round of the Match Play championship, but the new shirts will be distributed, so you can start using the current ones now to clean the car.