Friday Skins ....
The ever popular Friday Skins continues to go from strength to strength. With benign and calm conditions, and for those who work no doubt having one eye on the clock, we had a record turn out this week. 15 yes FIFTEEN people turned up to play. They came from all angles and out of the woodwork.
With that many in the field it's well nigh impossible to win any money. But some did.....
With $15 per hole up for grabs, it was a very happy Eddie who bagged a birdie on hole 5, and with a shot made it a 3 for 4. That was enough for the 5 skins which had jackpotted and a very nice $75 was trousered. Fairway Phil got a bogey on hole 6 but with 2 shots came home with the only 3 pointer of the day. "How can you win a skin with a bogey ?" asked some. "Should we allow it that you can win a skin with a bogey ? asked others. It was reminiscent of the time a certain Nuggety player didn't make the green tees on McGlashans, yet went on to make a 5 and in doing so won the hole. "How can you win the hole if you're buying whisky ?" asked those on the receiving end that day. Back to Friday and Mahmoud birdied 8 to win those 2 skins and finally we all won $1 back to make it feel like we all got something from the day.
It's looking like another cracker afternoon this Friday so you'll need to bring your A+ game as anything less than that won't win a bean.
In recent events Fairway Phil was shopping at the Roslyn Pharmacy picking up his medications. As we all do .... As the lady came out from the back holding a brown paper bag and announced " prescription for Mr Broughton" a certain man on the radio ( ONZM ) was heard to shout out for the whole shop to hear " are those your viagra pills Phil ?" Penny was sitting next to him and chided Jamie for being so confrontational. "Jame, you can't say that" she said. Maybe Jamie was hoping Phil had a few to spare. Who knows.
Then at the weekend our only hope in the Smeaton fell at the penultimate fence. Good effort though from Cameron and Cooper.
Talking Of Saturday
Our group was down on The Glen when an uproar and almighty commotion came down from the 12th tee. It was so loud 2 of us 3 putted ..... We figured out what might have happened.
It was clear something special had happened with the group in front and we suspected someone might have holed their tee shot. We just didn't know who.
So it was great to hear that our club president had nailed his first ever ace. Using one of his trusty rescues, Lloyd made the perfect shot and unlike some who roll it in down chopper's bank, this one was of the purer variety hitting the green and making its way to the hole.
Playing a match Lloyd and partner were 4 up at the turn. But the hole in one must have got the heart rate up a bit as Lloyd went on to lose the match.
It was a great whisky shout in the bar afterwards and Lloyd wasn't leaving any time soon after that .....
Just Another Glorious Wednesday
Having played a very wet and soggy Taieri on Sunday, it was a pleasure to back on the home track yesterday in glorious golfing conditions. Once we got going and warmed up, most played in just a polo top and only went for the extra layer when the sun went down behind Flagstaff. It was a great day for golf.
Before we get to the scores, for the record Bob Griffiths was back in town and very generously came along to help us all celebrate with him his recent 70th birthday. Thanks for the drink Bob and congratulations from us all on reaching this milestone. He still looks like he has the golf swing of a 20 year old ...
In the sixes, the first set was shared with Team Senaka ( Senaka, Warren, Phil Ellis and Sandy ) and Team Richard ( Richard, Lloyd, Pro Shop Mike and Derek ) on a mere 29 points. Team Bolty ( Bolty, Neil, Keith and Tony ) won the middle set with 41 points before Team Senaka made off with the last set in 51 points.
Mention should be made of the good golf being played by some in the group. In our group, someone announced that it would be hard for Derek to win any money playing off a PLUS 1 handicap. Someone didn't quite hear right. "What, Eric playing off PLUS 1". "No" we all said " Derek not Eric". Oh ..... So all credit to our man from the Scottish Highlands. That's a mighty consistent effort to get your handicap down to that kind of level. Good man.
A very popular Bruce Carvell won the raffle.
Our Individual Winners For The Week
Keep your eye on this man ..... If you check out the Waitahuna page our leader is Mahmoud with 519 points. Yet back in 8th place on 498 points is our winner this week Tony. Those 498 points have been scored from 14 rounds of golf meaning that if Tony knocks it round next week and scores 30 points, he'll jump straight into a decent lead on 528 points. As we know it's early days but with a proven pedigree from his victory last year, Tony could well be chasing his second Charteris Cup come December. 40 points was enough yesterday, 2 clear of Vaughn, and 3 clear of Kallum and Bruce Carvell.
We tried a selfie yesterday which didn't quite work but for the record a chip in from off the green on 5 and a 12 foot putt on 16 made for 2 birdies and that pipped out Hamish on countback from yours truly. Swingers Trophy in hand, Balclutha here we come.
And that was that - remember to bring your A game and as we all say, "don't wear shorts on a Friday"