SOS - Last Game for 2025

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and Boxing Day.

Here we are, the 27th December 2025 and the last SOS scheduled game for 2025. Numbers were predictably low, only 14 players registerd to play, as many are on holidays or still recovering from celebrations!

It was a perfect day for a round of golf with the temperaure in the mid 20's, blue skies with the odd white cloud. The wind picked up during the game and became quite gusty after midday

Ready to start on the Old Course

Group 1 on the 1st tee

Hmmm! Nice aftershave!

Coops finds Gerry's ball after extensive search!

Gerry plays recovery shot!

Derek checks his focus! Is there one or two balls?

Post Match Meeting

SOS President, Gerry Tessier, opened the meeting by congratulating all present for participating in the last SOS event for 2025!

Gerry mentioned that there would be much to promote in the new year with the committee members meeting in several weeks to plan the run up to the AGM in late March. This will include receiving the 2025 financial statements as well as the draft 2026 budget. A notice will be sent to members in the new year providing further details of the AGM and calling for nominations for positions on the 2026 committee.

Next week players will contest the New Year's Cup in a stroke event on the Tuart Course.  Timing will be advised later, but probably shortly before 8.00am. There are 2 Golden Holes. Hole 3 is $150.  Hole 18 will be $21 plus GH players on the day!

Membership Renewal for 2026 has been set by the committee at $180 (which includes Golf Australia fee) and should be deposited to the SOS Operating Account on or after 1 January 2026.  Details of the SOS bank accounts are shown at the end of this blog.

Individual Results

 Competition Results

SOS Captain, Karl Walzac, after some tricky calculations, announced the winners of the days competition as Shelley Yeo and Derek Longhurst with an excellent score of 46.

In 2nd place was team Barry Treak and Lynne Malone on 43 points, closely followed in 3rd place by Dave Millar and Birgit Reinartz with 42 points. 

The team pairings and results were:

While the competition was slated as 4BBB, there was a late change to the rules due to the low numbers. Instead, each player was paired to another, not necessarily in the same group. At the end of the round the best stableford score on each hole by either player was recorded on the score card and totalled.

Shelley & Derek in 1st place!

 

Barry & Lynne in 2nd place !

Eagles & Birdies

No Eagles or Birdies were recorded!  

Novelties

The Golden Hole on the 16th went unclaimed resulting in the $41 pot rolling over to the next event on the Old Course.

NTP on hole 2 won by Lynne

Ladies longest drive on the 4th hole also won by lynne

NTP in 3 on hole 8 claimed by Dave M, but bettered by Derek

Nearest the 150m marker on hole 15 won by Birgit

Men's longest drive on hole 18 won by Boris

 

Ash Tray Collection

Roland & Paul, recipients of the 'Bag of Lollies' award for placing last, did an excellent job in collecting fines from the small number of players. A total of $22.95 was raised toward the club's philanthropic war chest.

 

Raffle

The raffle was not held due to absense of an experienced Raffle Master.  Puggy !! How is your recovery going?

SOS - Westpac bank account details

End 💨

CHRISTMAS CUP 2025

 

Unbelievably another year has passed in quick time and a strong field of 27 players registered to play in this year's Christmas Cup, possibly enticed by the promise of some delicious Christmas fare.

Again, this year Kerry & Wally Edwards generously offered to host the post-match presentations and festivities in the magnificent gardens of their home. Unlike the previous two years the golfing Gods had been kind to us and the temperature was a very mild, albeit a windy 27 degrees.

Everyone got into the spirit of the festive season, and some went all out in their effort to not only dress for the occasion but also go to great lengths to get their carts and buggies kitted out as well.

Roland optimistically had two Christmas sacks hanging from his cart and it was sad to report at the end of the day they remained empty. Roland is now questioning if Santa actually exists?

Outstanding efforts above.

Coops striking a classic pose eating a bacon and egg toasty went all out with some tinsel on his hat.

It was great to see Peter back after getting the all clear from his GP on Tuesday.

Also fantastic to see Vickie back to contest the Christmas Cup

SPOTS OF BOVVER

Only one reported by Gardy in relation to Goochy's round where he was travelling reasonably well with 18 points at the completion of 11 holes when something went horribly wrong and he notched up 4 wipes in a row. Why do we do this to ourselves, what a cruel game golf is at times.

Our Christmas lunch at the "Edwards Botanical Gardens" post match was spectacular and our thanks go out to all those that played a part in catering for the day. Shelly for the cheese and dips platters, Frances for the brioche rolls, sausage rolls, party pies and quiches, Kerry for the cakes, Keith and Carols grandson for the fruit platters, Earle for attending to the champagne and wine and Wally for our ice requirements and setting up. Personally, I woke up this morning 3 kilos heavier, although I did go on to another Christmas dinner later in the evening and overindulged there as well.

Yet another highlight of the afternoon was Wally's juke box, a birthday gift from Kerry, and  filled with his collection of 45's that got a few up dancing, while others simply enjoyed the nostalgia of listening to some classic hits.

It's a beautiful thing to behold.

Doris joined us as well as the day is fast approaching where she must return to the much cooler climate of Germany. Hopefully we will see her return in the not too distant future, and possibly swinging a golf club?

After we had all enjoyed our Christmas feast and Gerry's speech the novelties were read out with the following results.

NOVELTIES

Nearest in One on Hole 2 - Coops followed by Fran and won by Stephanie

Ladies longest drive on Hole 5 - Frances followed by Lynne

Nearest the hole in three on Hole 9 - Coops, followed by Keith and won by Mark H (in the hole for a bird)

Men's longest drive on Hole 12 - Gerry, followed by Karl, followed by Paul B and won by Gardy

The Golden Hole - Club

Longest putt on Hole 18 - Keith followed by Barry

THE RESULTS

First place with a great score of 39 points playing off a very low handicap - Popey

Second place with 37 points - Lynne

Third place with 36 points - Dave M

THE LOLLIES

As Andrea pointed out golf is a fickle game with great form one day and a shocker awaiting you the next, we've all been there. Albeit there was 365 days separating Gim's spectacular victory with 41 points last year, this year's result was rather disappointing, and with just 25 points Gim took home the lollies.

BIRDIES

Popey - Holes 13 & 15

Dave Millar - Hole 13

Frances - Hole 2

Paul B - Hole 11

Garry  - Holes 4, 10 & 17

Goochy - Hole 7

Mark H - Hole 9

Something went horribly wrong and Barry and Mark Hill neglected to register their rounds.

BEST DRESSED AWARD

It was a tough contest between Mr. Sartorial Elegance Roland and Lynne's. However, in the end the combined talents of Lynne and Lynley swayed the judge to award them the prize, what a great display.

THE SECRET SANTA

Always an integral part of the Christmas wind up and renowned for creating some controversy the Secret Santa gift giving did not disappoint again this year.  Carol was overjoyed to have selected the Monkey head cover and fondly cuddled it as she read out the draw for the gift getting.

However, lurking in the shadows of an umbrella a fella had his eyes on it, and when his number came up he was quick to swoop on it, prying it from Carol's firm grasp. There he sat with a sheepish grin desperately trying to hide it from the view of others yet to select their gift in the hope that no one would notice it or may had forgotten about it when it was just as quickly torn from his grasp by another gift getter keen for a new headcover. Someone quite famous once said "Such is Life" 

There was however one very happy and satisfied gift getter in Moon who was delighted to get a box full of fairy lights to add to her now expending collection.

As the day progressed the music got a little louder as Wally found he was out of range for Bluetooth on his mobile app for the Juke box and therefore not able to reject selections that were becoming a bit tiresome having been played repeatably. As many dispersed the usual suspects sort shelter from the sun and the chilly breeze that had swept in as English wicket continued to fall in the Third Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval.

Christmas in Australia, how good is that!!!

NEXT WEEK

It's the 4  Ball Best Ball round on the Old with a first group teeing off at 7.56. This will be our last round on the Old before returning to the Tuart for the New Years Cup and falling back into the routine of 2 on the Tuart followed by 2 on the Old going forward.

The format for next Saturday's round is teams of two where both players play their own ball and the best stableford score for the hole gets put on the team card (use a generic course card for the team

results). Everyone gets their own score card from the machine so they will also lodge a personal stableford round for their handicap purposes. 

Our Thanks again to the Edwards and all the volunteers that made yesterday memorable.

WISHING YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS 

I'll leave you with these to contemplate and look forward to a big field participating next Saturday.

AMBROSE FOURS

Ambrose Fours? Quickly, what are the rules for that? Is that where we alternate shots and hit the pink ball?

No - it’s where everyone tees off, we pick the best ball, and then all hit off from that same spot, again choosing the best ball. Must take at least three drives from each player during the round. (Not 6, unless you’re playing 24 holes!)

Forecast was for an absolute scorcher, but really wasn’t too unpleasant until later in the afternoon, by which time we were all safely in the clubhouse. A few more carts that usual, but that’s to be expected.

And a relaxing fun team game, in contrast to the rather more serious two-week stroke competitions that we’ve been having recently.

Played in good spirit, and in some cases with gay abandon, when our team mates had already put a usable shot into play.

There were some creative team names, and some incomprehensible ones too, but that was all part of the fun.

Plenty of room at the afters, as many players had other commitments to attend to at this busy time of year.

The novelties:

Nearest the pin on the 2^nd had Earle, then Lynley, but Coops got nearer.

Ladies longest drive on the 4^th, Kerry, then an absolute whopper from Frances.

Nearest in two on the 6^th, Phil, Brett, then Wayne.

Longest drive for the men on the 11^th had Popey, then Wayne, but pipped by Mark Wilson.

And the Golden Hole went off, delivering a whopping $21 to Coops’ superannuation fund.

Nearest in three on the 18^th was claimed, (not surprisingly, given the format) by a consortium consisting of Karl, Dave, Carol and Mark, but I believe Carol picked up the prize

As it was her birthday!

Which one? You never ask a lady her age.

I won the raffle!

In future weeks, Karl will be mixing up the novelties a bit, making them rather more novel. Expect to see longest putts, longest drives for handicaps 18+, nearest the bunker, etc. The idea is to spread the opportunities around more.  

Drama on the 13th. Fines were levied.

One of our players was somewhat affected by the heat, you’ll be pleased to hear recovery has been swift and complete.

Save the day.

The annual Par 3 competition is booked for Wednesday February 4^th at Lake Claremont. We’ll be teeing off between 5 and 6pm - there’ll be prizes and trophies. Details to follow.

The Christmas Cheer will take place after the game next week. We’ll all decamp to Kerry’s place as we finish our round, no congregating in the clubhouse.

And many thanks to Kerry and Wally for putting up with us, yet again!

There is an expectation that players will wear something Christmassy for the game and the afters. Gerry has promised there will be a prize.

So, to the results:

The Early Birdies (Derek, Frances, Peter and Faye) brought up the rear, with a somewhat underwhelming 65.875. 

(Their one and only birdie was indeed on the first hole!)

The Early Birdies

Next up where Glen’s Eagles (Andrea, Glen, Lynley and Lynne) with 61.875

Glen's Eagles

Closely followed by Dave and the Divots (Karl, Dave, Carol and Mark) with 60.625

The All Stars (Earle, Gary, Brett and Don) with 59.625

All Stars

Just ahead of them, the Screaming Eagles (Kerry, Phillip, Paul and Shelley) with 59.375

The Screaming Eagles

But clear winners, Zukacan(!) consisting of Coops, Gerry, Wayne and Roland, with a very commendable 57.875

Zukancan

Well done those players, and if you’re the sort of person who waits for the green to clear for your second shot on a par 5, here's something you can relate to: