Friday Skins
Five turned up for skins on Friday but only one man walked away victorious. With a 3 pointer on hole 2 that was enough to secure the skin. But with the ever popular " balls out of the bag " method for awarding skins, it was a mystery until the draw took place as to where the money would go. As luck would have it, the Hole 2 ball was the eighth ball out of the bag meaning a tidy cash award for the Friday skins.
You would think that would make the recipient very happy. When asked if he was happy he replied " not really, only 5 people played, would have been better with more " That man was Bruce Grant.
Well played sir. Skins again this Friday but it might be a bit windy.
Royal Perth Golf Society Scotland
It was a pleasure to welcome Syd House from Royal Perth to the Wagglers this week. As we mentioned yesterday, Royal Perth in Scotland was the first golf entity to be awarded royal status. In their clubhouse there is a hand written letter from the then king, William IV conferring that royal status and that letter dates back to 1834. The sense of history is palpable.
In what is becoming an everlasting mystery, on the wall in the foyer in our club we have a series of ancient golf clubs which were donated by Royal Perth with that donation being in the early 1960s. We have records of letters between the 2 clubs formalising that donation but what we have yet to find out is why a club in Scotland would donate something so interesting and valuable to a golf club on the other side of the world. There must have been a connection between the 2 clubs but we don't know and will probably never know the names or the identities of the individuals involved.
Syd is touring New Zealand with his wife Nicky playing music, playing golf and enjoying our lovely summer weather.
If you are ever in Scotland about an hour north of Edinburgh, I can guarantee a warm welcome. It is one of the genuine joys of the game we play that we can form friendships and fellowships across international boundaries. Go to Scotland, you won't be disappointed.
Red Alert
Beware The Rebounding Golf Ball
We needed a ruling yesterday but I think we know the answer before the sentence asking a question had even finished. The question was .....
"What happens if you drive a ball which goes past the green pegs and the ladies tee, but then hits a tree so hard that it rebounds back and finishes not only behind the green pegs but also the silver and blue pegs ?"
Answer - " you buy whisky "
Here we see Murray Cooper playing his second on Hole 3.
On a serious note there have been some nasty injuries with golf balls rebounding off concrete tee markers and fence posts. Worth keeping an eye out for those strays and low flying objects.
The Prince of Darkness
or
The Dark Prince
There's a growing trend to award nicknames to some in the group. John Alexander is well known as The Nugget, the other John, Marsh, is Bookend Marsh. Senaka is the ATM or with his latest hairstyle is he now Tommy Wickramagedara after sharing a hairstyle honouring the other Tommy, Fleetwood. Another nickname is brewing ...... but we don't know if it's The Prince of Darkness or The Dark Prince.
Wikipedia tells us there are numerous references to The Prince of Darkness in film, literature, politics, music and biblical history. Take your pick from Miles Davis and Ozzy Osbourne, Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost, numerous books dating back to the 1860s, and a couple of films with Dracula in the 1960s and another horror film in the 1980s.
The Dark Prince is narrower referring to a 1999 romantic novel revolving around the ancient race of the Carpathians.
So watch this space to see if this one comes to pass or is just a passing trend.
Not A Bad Wednesday
This was the scene outside our house on Tuesday. With torrential rain all day I'll be honest and thought that the chance of playing golf this week was no better than 50 : 50. However on Wednesday with the sun shining, the club website confirming the course open, it was with keen anticipation we all mustered for the weekly event.
The first order of the day was to recognise the 66th birthday of our own Bob The Builder, Richard Freeman. Happy Birthday young man, thanks for the shout and trust you had a great day. With 41 points in the bag it wasn't too shabby !
Unlike last week, we had multiple people with a score greater than 36 points. With softer greens maybe the course was there for the taking. So distributing the $ in the 6s was no forgone conclusion.
The first set was shared in 30 points with the ATM team of a happy phantom, Lloyd, Nick and the ATM himself halving the chocolates with KC and The Sunshine band of Kallum, Bolty, Murray Edgar and a bewildered visitor Jackson Zhang.
The second set was no contest. 47 points was more than enough to put daylight in that contest. It was our group who notched up those 47 points with 2 Davids, Hamish and Scottish visitor Syd doing the business.
We were only one shy of a share of the 3rd set but 49 points saw birthday boy Richard, Bruce Carvell, Murray Edgar and a fast finishing Phantom win that race.
Shooting a very tidy 80 off the stick and accumulating 25 points on the back 9, it was Hamish who took out line honours for the day. 42 points is normally enough for a comfortable victory but it was only on countback that Hamish took home the jacket. Tony Attenborough also had 42 points but he lamented that having to finish on the tough hole 12, he could only clock up a 4 for 1.
But that 42 points for Tony is enough to slingshot him into the lead for the Eric Olsen Trophy for 2026. Both Hamish and Tony have 42 points from this week, but Tony's second best score of 32 edges out Hamish's second best score of 30. There's time for that to change as the year will unfold.
Hamish made the par 3s look easy. He knocked it to no more than 2 feet on hole 7 and the back pin placement on 15 proved no obstacle either where Hamish knocked it to 4 feet. Both birdie putts found the back of the hole. No PBFU either as Hamish went on to birdie 16 and in doing so closed out the haggle. So with 3 birdies in the bag and 42 points to his name it was off to Balclutha.
Bruce Carvell was a popular winner of the raffle, no more succes stories from Fairway Phil and his air fryer, and with that it was over and out for another Wednesday.