Country Cup

 

SOS Celebrated its annual Country Cup event at Mosquito Springs.

Andrea nails the over-the-water shot while the gallery watch in the background

 

Opened in 1987, Mosquito Springs Golf and Country Club offers ‘golf as nature intended’. The course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jnr., presents a highly regarded test for players but is also renowned for its playability. (!)

 

During its short history the West Australian Open Championship has been held at Mosquito Springs on seven occasions.

Boris on the first tee...

...and he nails the drive

 

Masquerading as Meadow Springs, and measuring 6189 metres from the blue tees, the golf course promises a unique experience through open bush land, the layout dictated by the natural features of the land. 

Mark in the pro-shop

Towering 200 year old Tuart trees line generous fairways and subtly rolling greens. Few holes run parallel enhancing the sensation of being alone in the wilderness.

The girls getting lost in the wilderness

 

Those of us who didn’t play well struggled to find excuses. The weather was perfect, the course was in good condition, and the handicaps were generous.

 Perhaps the provision of extensive bunkers, and the absence of flat lies on the fairways were what created significant challenges for those of us with a limited repertoire of shots.

Gardy in trouble

It was, as always, a fun day out in the country with friends, and a rumbustious ‘afters’ with a generous donation of fines.

Karl exploring the further reaches of the course

Steph not intimidated by the water features

Two in the bunker, balls in the water and lost balls generated significant fines this week.

And special thanks to Andrea, Shelley and Goochy for all the hard work, that made for a well-organised and seamless experience for all of us.

Birdies were hard to come by, but the following deserve mention:

Paul B on the 18^th

Lynne on the 7^th

Gary on the 5^th, and

Frances, with birdies on both the 4^th and the 14^th.

The novelties were hotly contested:

NTP in 3 on the 13^th, Trevor, Lynne, bested by Mark Wilson

NTP in 2 on the 10^th, Andrea, beaten by Stephy, beaten by Shelley

Oh dear! Looks like someone's buggy followed them into the bunker. 

Osprey waiting for stray balls on the eighth. No eagles here!

Everyone from Group 5 on the green in one

and Shelley birdies it

NTP on the 11^th, Popey, beaten by Trevor, beaten by Vicky, beaten by Gardy

Shot of the day - Paul B on the 12th, par 3
Landed the ball 10 ft from the pin -but missed the putt coming back.

NTP on the 4^th, just one name, Karl

and NTP in 3 on the 17^th, Paul B, then Earle, then Lynne, Bernie and finally Shelley

Gardy's marker. A long way from home. 

 

	PLAYER	SCORE
	Gardy	37
	Gary	34
	Popey	33
	Stephie	33
	Don	32
	Vicky	32
	Andrea	32
	Lynne	31
	Colin	31
	Roland	31
	Shelley	31
	Frances	31
	Gim	30
	Bernie	30
	Coops	30
	Earle	29
	Karl	28
	Paul B	28
	Lynley	27
	Boris	25
	Birgit	24
	Gerry	24
	Mark W	23
	Andrew	22
	Greg	22
	Trevor	21
	Derek	15

The results range from the sublime to the ridiculous, but no doubt about the winner.

The Big Three

 

A clear winner by three strokes, and not much doubt about the wooden spoon either!

A special thanks this week to all those who contributed pictures - a great effort.

Congratulations to Gary, winner of the South Australian All-Abilities
Net Champion last week. 

Nest week, it’s the first round of the BenKer Cup. Let’s see the ROW team displaying their allegience with their dress, where possible, and remember - it’s an averaged calculation for the winning team, so everyone’s score counts.

In the meantime, if you’d like to see how the new barmaid at the Spencer’s Brook pub is managing to pull pints, take a look at this:

STABLEFORD

IT was a lover and his lass,
   With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass,
   In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

 

Yes, it’s spring time, and for that piece of doggerel we have to thank William Shakespeare, who really should have known better.

 

Fortunately, Saturday was another of those days that Perth is famous for - a perfect 24 degrees, sunshine and the merest breeze.

Which probably goes a long way to explaining the excellent Stableford scores. Also perhaps a relief after a couple of punishing stroke weeks.

Colin throws in the towel

It was good to see Kerry back, after something of a peregrination around the globe

And Bernie, taking time off from behind the bar at the Spencers Brook pub.

Interesting problem registering first thing - the printer wasn't working. We had to use the tiny cards, and manually enter our scores at the end of the day. 

Carol wonders how she's going to fill in the tiny card

Congrats to Gardy, with his new job, and to Popey, who in the absence of the President, the Captain, the Vice-Captain, the acting Vice-Captain and the Treasurer did an excellent job of masterminding the ‘afters’.

Let's see what you do with that one, Gardy.

As reported last week, if you’re not present at the end of the game, you won’t be eligible to win the novelties. No problem this week, with all the winners being there to collect their vouchers.

Nearest the pin on the 2^nd: Popey, outpointed by Gardy

Nearest the pin on the 18^th: Keith in the first group, who put one about one metre from the flag and was never bested. And yes, he got the birdie.   

Nearest in three on the 13^th: Keith again on the marker, but this time beaten by Roland, then Lynley, and finally by Coops.

Nearest on the 6^th: Shelley, bested by Mark W

and LD on the 8^th (for all genders and orientations), Derek, Keith, Lynley, Frances, Steph and finally Bernie!

Roland not in best position

The Golden Hole was unclaimed this week.

A fair sprinkling of birdies:

Popey on the 3^rd

Roland on the 16^th

Keith on the 18^th

Lynne on the 18^th

Gardy on both the 7^th and the 8^th!

And an Eagle for Mark Wilson on the 15^th, with a monster drive down to the tree on the left, a 7-iron to the green and one putt. Well done, sir!

Easiest hole on the course!

And so, to the results - no trophy today, just a gentle round of Stableford.

A great round there from Greg, outpointing Keith and Popey, all of whom had an excellent game.

And special thanks to everyone who sent photos, especially Gardy who always has a keen eye for a picture opportunity.

Next week it’s the Country Cup at Meadowsprings on the Sunday, with a 9am tee-off. There will be no game on the Saturday.

Apparently there’s a possibility of a freeway closure between Warwick Road and Karrinyup Road on the Sunday. If that forms part of your route, you are advised to check well before time.

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen it before, Kitty Flanagan’s Beginner's Guide to Golf is worth a view:

SPRING CUP - ROUND TWO

Group 1 on the 18th 

 

This was it - the second round of the Spring Cup.

Was there an air of tense expectancy - a feeling that today great scores would eventuate? Maybe an unexpected winner would emerge from the ranks of the participants?

Not really. Just a very pleasant spring morning, with a forecast of a warm 25 degrees and not a cloud in the sky at the rather more respectable time of 8:25 for the tee-off.

A somewhat meagre field, with only 14 players available. Birgit decided to add her name to the list once she discovered she could be in the first group and get her name on the girls’ longest drive novelty. More on that later.

Birgit and Frances anticipating not much competition this week for Longest Drive

But where was everyone else? They can’t all have been called up for the AFL finals. BTW, the Orange Team lost.

We welcomed back Mark Hill, after a 5-month lay off caused by a dodgy toe.

Did pretty well, first week back. 

Good to have you back, Mark.

Birgit practising with a bag - all the holes were occupied!

Shelley turned up at the start, and again at the end, even though she wasn’t playing.

And Steph turned up at the end, to return the trophy and join in the socialising.

Yes, it was one of those

Another report from the recovery wing - Peter Baird is going well, augmenting his pain killers with wine and whisky.

Roland (Group 1) and Mark (Group 2) share the space between 10 and 11

No birthdays this week, although Paul Cooper reminds us that is his wife’s birthday, but he accepts that there will be very little interest in that observation. Happy Birthday anyway.

Congratulation to Gary. He has just won the Gross Champion award in the WA Blind and All inclusive Championship over 36 holes. He's now off to SA for the South Australian All Abilities Championship Monday week, for which he is the defending net champion. After our Country Cup he goes to Kalgoorlie for the WA PGA Chamionship, then the WA Championships at Mandurah. 

Our novelties this week:

NTP in 3 on the 13^th : Glen Pope, then Gary, but Mark Wilson right on the precipice of a birdie.

Longest Drive on the 16^th, Glen again, Mark Wilson, Gary, but Hilly got just a toe in front (but not that toe!)

NT bunker on the 5^th, Keith, but Mark Wilson got over the bunker and stayed (just) on the fairway.

NTP in 2 on the 10^th: Glen again again, but Earle was closer.

NTP on the 18^th: Birgit, and no-one got inside on that far left pin placement.

And some important news about the novelties - if the winner isn’t present at the presentations afterwards, the voucher will from now on go to the next closest, and next closest, etc. If that ends up with no winner, the voucher goes back into the SOS vaults.

Nearly finished!

This decision by the committee is as much as anything an attempt to cope with the onerous bookkeeping of keeping track of winners over several weeks.

Lovely swing, Glen.

Another innovation is replacing the reward of two or one ball for birdying the hardest holes with two or one vouchers instead.

A number of excellent entries for the caption competition - this was my favourite:

 

Currently the annual Gala dinner is scheduled for November 30^th - this will be confirmed once details of venue and food have been finalised.

There were a number of birdies yesterday,

Mark Wilson on 11 and 15

Gary on 5 and 15

Colin on 15

Earle on 10

and Hilly on 7.

Don’t you love that 15?

So, the scores yesterday:

 

Which leaves the Spring Cup leader board like this:

Keith 147

Frances 148

Mark Wilson 150

Congratulations Keith, and a great effort by the runners-up.

And thanks to everyone who contributed photos, ideas etc. 

 

I've waited all day for this

 

 

 

Next week - probably Stableford, although yet to be determined. On the Tuart at 7:56 am. 

The following week, there’ll be no game on the Saturday, but the Country Cup will be played at Meadow Springs on the following day (29 Sept).

Two spaces still left, at last count. 

Your menu choices at Meadow Springs will be as follows:

Chicken burger and chips

Beef burger and chips

Salad roll (for vegetarians) plus order extra portions of chips so they can have some too.

 

You’ll put your order in when you arrive at the ground, so give this question some thought before you arrive.

 

 

SPRING CUP ROUND ONE

The Early Birds

 We had been warned to set those alarm clocks and boy, was it still dark when they went off this morning. 

What do you mean late? I'm here aren't I?

A 7:23 tee time is welcome in those months of summer, finishing before the heat of the day has got too intense.

Keith's nursing a cold. Earle's nursing Keith.

But this morning, it was still definitely "fresh" standing on that first tee.

The dew slowed down anything that tried to run along the fairway.

And we were teeing off straight into the sun on the first three holes.

However, it was a beautiful morning, the sun shone and those umbrellas came out, not too keep us dry, but to keep us cool. 

There was some excellent golf played by a number of players

in what is the first of a two round stroke competition. 

Golf in its purest form. 

Glen hands Frances the NTP marker on the tee. 

That's right, just count the strokes. No funny business like Stableford or Par. 

If you're in trouble, you're just going to have to get out of it. 

Now, here's a revival of the caption competition. No prizes, but let's see what you can offer. 

There were plenty of birdies, most of them by Paul Boquest.

The first, the 5th and the 12th. Great golf, Paul.

Andrea scored a beauty on the 4th, with a lovely pitch shot from 50 metres that skipped into the cup.

Paul Gardner (welcome back, Paul) netted one on the 12th. (Another on the 12th, index of 1!)

And Paul Cooper, with knee fixed up now, on the 11th. 

Talking of which, Peter Baird is doing his best to keep up with his recovery exercises, feeling the pain  a bit, but persevering. Hope to see you back soon, Peter. 

Frances covers her ears while Glenn explains how he incurred his groin injury.

Good to see Mark Wilson back from Europe, A reasonable effort today in spite of jet-lag, and wrangling daughter Isobel on long stretches to and from London. 

We missed Paul Gardner's birthday, so we gave him an acknowledgement today. 

Drive for show, putt for dough! 

Two places still available for the Country Cup, and three people still not paid. Next week, you'll be named and shamed, so transfer those funds into the SOS Booking Account asap, please. 

So, the novelties:

NTP in 2 on the 13th, Andrea, Glen and Frances all crept up to the hole, but Paul Boquest got even closer. 

Gardy manages to find the gap right here on the 18th.

Men's Longest Drive on the 12th: Glen Pope got right round the corner, but Mark Wilson unleashed a monster to beat it. 

Nearest the bunker on the 14th had Frances close, but Mr Jet-Lag got inside that.

And the women's longest drive on the 7th - Andrea put a huge drive down the middle, and unsurprisingly, no-one else got past it. 

Nearest the pin in 3 on the 5th saw Andrea on the card, Glen Pope inside that, beaten by Puggy but, as we've seen above, Paul Boquest trumped all by birdying the hole. 

Neither Golden Hole was captured today. 

And Steph managed to 5-putt on the 10th. She was also censured by Puggy for giggling while he was putting. 

So, today's results for the first round of the Spring Cup. 

Next week, 8:36 (phew) on the Tuart, for the second round - everyone still in it!

And yes, he won the raffle too,