Tales From Afar
Played a couple of games of golf this week. First at Tain Golf Club and maybe you saw the piece in the Monday club newsletter about the link with Kenneth Ross. Tain was a lovely links course and very enjoyable to play.
The following day I played at Strathpeffer Spa. I googled local courses and this one came with a few good reviews. " A Hidden Gem" "Worth A Try". If I thought Glencruiten in Oban was hilly this was hilly golf on a whole new level. Here's a picture of the first hole which reputedly has the greatest change in elevation of any golf hole in Scotland.
As always the picture doesn't do it justice. But let me tell you if walk miles down to the first green the next eight holes went only one way, up, up and more up. Have a look on YouTube if you have a spare 5 minutes.
See below as to how hilly it was.
After 2 days of recovery went out and about and today have been in Todd Country - Thurso in the far north. It's a happening place, saw this on one prominent building.
Then they're wise people these Scots people, they have words of wisdom useful for all of us......
So as you can see I'm learning a lot this trip.
Then this weird stuff happened today.
Had been out for lunch and decided a pitstop was in order before jumping in the car. Opened the door to the Gents and was confronted with this. Now I hope this picture does it justice. My first thought was "Geez, they're a long way up, I'm going to have to stand on my tippy toes to get this done." Second thought was "Never realised the majority of Scotsmen were so tall." They were a long way up.
Then I realised these were the sinks !! Found the actual toilet which was at standard height and after the business was complete went outside with a big smile. Two other blokes who I'd never met were standing there smiling as well. They too had made the same mistake.
Now I corrected my error before it was too late. But I wonder how many people made the mistake too late.
Always something to keep you thinking in Scotland.
Anyway, Enough Of Scotland
Moving on, we did have a Skins afternoon from 2.00pm on Friday and had 12 in the group, so plenty of banter going on. With $108 in the money pool, the balls were drawn out of the bag to sort out the winners. Bruce G got $24 for the first 2 skins, Rick Meder got $12 for a single skin, and then Neil Cameron scooped $48 with another 4 skins. There were two remaining jackpot holes, so we all went home with $2 each, all winners.
This was followed by an Emerson's beer tasting night at the club, where our host, Josh or JT, gave us a great run down on how to mix fine beers with fine food. A big thanks to Becs and Michelle for the great food and service.
"Andy" James Mackay - ONZM
A big congratulations to AJ MacKay, who last week won a gong at the Primary Industries Awards in Auckland. This was for outstanding work as an Agricultural Communicator with The Country Show, so a well earnt award for his 30 years of radio media work. This is on top of his Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit received in June 2024, which was for services to agriculture.
Not a bad effort for a bloke who enjoys just a part-time job.
At the same time last week there was another event also taking place in Farmer politics, which was being closely monitored by Jamie on The Country Show. This was a vote for a change in leadership at the top of The Federated Farmers, where the existing President had offered his services for another year. He was young, popular and favoured by Jamie, so he had him on his show the day before the election to give him a push.... During the show Jamie took a shot at Colin Hurst, the other contender, calling him old, boring, and should really be looking to move into a retirement village....
The next day after Colin had won the vote, he was on The Country show and being interviewed by Jamie. As to be expected Jamie got on the front foot and said: "Firstly Colin I want to apologize for calling you old and boring on my show yesterday."
To which Colin replied " That's OK Andy, I know how tough it is being old and boring in any industry.
There was a stunned silence (2 truck horns) until Jamie spoke up and said "Hey where did that come from, my name is Jamie not Andy."
Following on and to his credit Colin apologized and used the Jamie word every second sentence to the end of the interview. For the members of the Wagglers, we only know him as Jamie MacKay and the first initial (A) has always been a bit of a mystery to us all.
Anyway, while Andy Mackay has a good ring about it, the correct version is Alexander James MacKay (ONZM).
Whilst We're Recognising Winners ....
Let us recognise the remarkable achievement of the New Zealand test cricket team. In a 3 match series and being one down after playing on a dodgy Lord's pitch, with magnificent back to back performances at The Oval and Trent Bridge the Black Caps won the series 2 - 1.
Let us also recognise that number one ranked bowler in the world Matt Henry was unavailable at Trent Bridge, as was Kyle Jamieson as was Glenn Phillips.
All of the talk here was of Ben Stokes and his crazily timed resignation, about the way England self-destructed in the second innings playing Bazball, and very few paid credit to the way New Zealand played superb test cricket.
How good would it be if they go 3 from 3 beating the Aussies on their home soil at the end of 2026.
Well done New Zealand cricket and here's hoping the All Blacks repeat the same result this weekend.
And in more news about winners......
Duncan Croudis played a solid round on Sunday to assist the Bombers in beating Chisholm Links in the Pennants. After a 4 putt on the 17th hole to be one down, he drove his 3 wood onto the 18th green to make birdie and square his match. This gave the team a victory over Chisholm Links.
The final next week against St Clair, at St Clair so will be a great watch.
Looked Like A Cracker Of A Wednesday
Waggler Newcomer "Feijoa" Rick Meder had a 53rd birthday whisky shout, together with providing some food. Thank you Rick and best wishes.
Another sunny day for Wednesday golf, although there had been a morning frost in the city and we played in very cool temperatures. We all thought that Crossways would be in play and not the Glen, so on descending down to the green, it was very frozen and clearly not suitable for play.
With a field of 31 players, we all teed off in good time to ensure we would all get into the 19th before the sun went down. There was only one disagreement with slow play, which was with the groups off the 13th tee, where it was Bruce Grant who complained about the slow group in front. ( Pots and black kettles spring to mind ... ) This was The Nugget's group, who being total gentlemen, allowed Bruce, Tony A and Derek to play through. Although as we found out later, they had other thoughts and were more focused on the money.
Thanks to Duncan for this view of a very summery looking Glen green .....
Come On, Cut To The Chase,
Who Won ?
The first 6 holes saw a great result from the slow team as above, being The ATM, The Nugget, LIV Henderson and Duncan Harvie, where they scored 33 points to clean up. Having started on the 13th hole, they had a slow start but peaked on the 16th hole, where The Nugget sunk a pitching wedge from 95 meters out to score 5 points. ( As you do.... ) At the same time Senaka drove close to the green and after pitching to 1 meter he sunk his putt for a birdie 3 points, so 8 points thank you very much.
However, despite their claims to a record score, they have been outdone by Bolty and Fairway Phil, who had a 9 pointer a few years ago on The Glen.
The second 6 holes saw the same slow team also scoop the pool with 41 points. While not so record breaking, they showed some steady golf, which faded in the last tranche.
The third 6 holes saw another group emerge from the dust, with a score of 50 points, which was a bit ahead of the nearest contender. This included Mahmoud, Bolty, Warren Alcock and Bob the Builder. They all mainly appeared in the top six, so was a well-deserved win.
No Threepeat from Hamish - it's never been done ....
The Blue Jacket was won by John Alexander with a total of 39 points. While admitting that he had a few outers on the card, he managed a 5 pointer plus a good number of pars to record a very good round.
The Swingers trophy was won by Paul Hubbard, who was a clear winner with three birdies, so best wishes going to Balclutha.
The Raffle was won by Nick Nicolson with number 33.
And So To Other News
Mr Carvell on 15 - Pagoda. It didn't clear those green pegs by much did it .....
There was also a surprise announcement today, being the presentation of a T shirt for the most Guinness pints purchased at the club. Everyone had only one name on their lips, being Bruce Carvell, however it was Tony Attenborough who won the T shirt with 100 pints.
In discussion later, Bruce C informed us that he has multiple prizes from a number of different venues for Guinness and that Tony has a long way to go to get to 20,000 pints.
And finally, Timmsy was in a bit of a mess on 18 in the greenside bunker for 2, but still made a fine par.
I think that's enough for now ....