Friday Skins - House Full !!
Last week we announced a record field for Friday Skins with 15 people turning up. Little did we know we were just getting started. Here's what happened this last Friday.
With glorious weather we knew it would be a good field. Car after car turned up in the car park and the field started to grow and grow. It got to our designated tee time so the masses assembled on the first tee. Callum came out to advise a couple of people had booked in and they had a tee time before we all teed off. But when they saw the happy group and figured out what was going on, they were more than happy to join in the field. So two more.
In the end we had 21 in the field - TWENTY ONE !!. First on the tee with his ball picked from the bucket hat was good old Nick Nicolson. With his ball teed high and an empty fairway ahead, Nick took an almighty swing. The crowd roared in approval. Nick assumed he had smacked the ball squarely down the middle of the fairway and was happy to receive the adulation. However on closer inspection Nick soon realised his ball wasn't down the middle but had travelled all of 1cm and was stuck square between his toes. Whisky for the four in the group if nothing else.
With 21 in the field we knew winning a skin would be tough. After golf we gathered in the bar and proceedings began and the format was very similar to a Wednesday but on an individual basis rather than a team basis. But rumours were flowing of putts holed and even bunker shots holed. "Did he get a shot there ?" was a common refrain as people tried their best to sort the truth from the whispers.
It came to hole 1. "Hold up your hand if you had 2 stableford points or better". A million hands shot in the air. "Keep your hand up if you had 3 points". Many hands dropped but a few were left standing. "OK, keep your hand up if you had 4 points on hole number 1". One hand was left in the air and that belonged to the walking ATM himself - SENAKA. So Senaka claimed the skin on hole number 1 with a birdie with a shot thereby earning 4 stableford points. 20 bucks in the pocket.
Long story short the next 7 holes jackpotted so it came to Hole 9. Lots of money up for grabs here. With 21 in the field by the time we reached hole 9 we had $168 in the pot. Worth winning for sure. What transpired was Mahmoud holed a 10 footer for birdie and scored 4 points. But then we also found out Jarod holed a 30 foot bomb also for 4 points so the skin was halved.
Upon receiving his $8 back Chris Timms said "that's the best return from a Friday afternoon I've had all year.
For sure it was a great way to spend $1 on Friday afternoon but little did we know the weekend was just getting started.
Saturday Shenanigans
Google Earth provides us with this view from up above the 14th tee, the hole known as McGlashans. The silver tees are at the bottom of the picture and the green tees which used to be the tees used by the women are halfway to the corner of the dogleg. Running alongside the hole is Cannington Road.
Saturday afternoon and Vaughn, Eric, Nick and Jamie are playing in a friendly four. Vaughn and Eric hit good tee shots which must mean it is Nick's turn. As we have seen and heard of before, Nick failed to make decent contact, the ball came off the heel, skipped over the hedge and made its way onto Cannington Road. The usual " Oh No !! " was yelled out.
Walking up Cannington Road were 2 young ladies. They picked up Nick's ball and walked back towards the tee. Now we don't know the age of these ladies, considerably younger than Eric I would suggest, however Eric described their appearance as " comely ". The dictionary on the internet suggests this term refers to people who are pleasant to look at and is typically used to describe ladies.
In handing the ball over to Eric, who was now deep in conversation with these comely ladies by the way, proved to be a real distraction for Jamie who had yet to hit his own tee shot. Lo and behold at the top of Jamie's backswing Eric and the ladies burst into laughter causing Jamie a significant amount of distraction. Although it didn't make it over the hedge, Jamie's ball too came up short of those distant green pegs.
An argument followed. " At least my ball went further than your ball" said Nick. "Only because it bounced up Cannington Road" countered Jamie. "Still my ball went further ...." The bar is doing a roaring trade on whisky sales at the moment.
But Wait There's More
Much More .....
It was a veritable whisky festival in the clubhouse yesterday after golf. First of all we should say thank you to Sandy for the generous shout celebrating the recent arrival of Luca James Ross, a grandson for Sandy. Congratulations sir and we trust the family are all doing well.
But before we got to sing our congratulatory song, there was whisky arriving in all directions from behind the bar.
Here's that man again on one of his favourite holes. This wasn't the only misdemeanour for the day so it was double measures for Nick's group. Happy days. We know from the photo this was hole 1 and yet again the other culprit was hole 14. What is it about those 2 holes ? But let history record that in a day of mixed emotions for Nick, he was able to record a birdie 2 on hole 7. We don't know how this was achieved; was it the putter from 20 yards off the green or a gorgeous tee shot to 4 feet. It doesn't matter.
But then more whisky arrived with a furtive Nugget trying to hide the glass jug and 4 glasses. Hole 15 this time. "I've been playing the par 3s well recently" advised John. However not this time. His playing partners noted the ball barely got off the ground, and in heading towards the green smashed into the wooden bench sitting behind the forward tee. The bench wasn't that forgiving and the ball bounced back towards the silver tees thereby denying John of further progress towards the green.
Some people would have had a rosy glow leaving ther clubhouse after golf this week.
To The Wednesday Scores - Finally
It was a cold cold morning and it didn't bode well for a pleasant afternoon on the golf course. The wind started to blow and it had a real edge to it. Only the brave wore shorts. However as we all teed off, the wind dropped, the temperature seemed to rise a bit, and after a while the big yellow ball even tried to make an appearance. It turned out very pleasant after all.
With $135 up for grabs it was all to play for. The first six was shared by Team Fairway Phil with Phil, the walking ATM Senaka, Nick and Eddie, with Team Nugget, John, Bolty, Richard and Murray Edgar. 31 points did the trick. Jamie, Duncan, Vaughn and Warren cleaned up the middle with 42 points. "Didn't we have 43 points ?" suggested Bruce in our group. "Yes for the last set of 6" was the answer. Which was nowhere near enough as Team Nugget once again waltzed away with the chocolates on the back of 48 points.
It's the second time this year Richard has worn the jacket. Scoring 22 points on the back 9 Fairway Phil was hopeful of line honours but agonisingly came up 1 short on 39 points. It was 40 points from Richard which did the trick.
Birdies on holes 8, 13, 15 and 16 in a score of 80 saw Eddie score the night in Balclutha. 4 birdies is a good haul.
Murray Cooper won the raffle and that's a wrap for another Wednesday and Waggler week.