What A Weekend !
With the course closed on Friday following 112 mm of rain in recent times, Friday Skins was a no-show. So all eyes turned to Saturday. Lots to cover so let's begin.
It was the Captain's Trophy, a medal competition off the blue tees. Jamie came close to winning and taking the naked lady home and history suggests he only lost on countback. With a net 68 he came close, very close. But hole 16 was the decider. This the hole of a recent hole in one, Jamie smacked the ball miles up the fairway leaving no more than. 70 metres to the green. Going flag hunting with his second Jamie missed the green. A chip on to the green then followed and what came next can only be described as a disaster. 4 putts. So Jamie walked off with a 7. A 5 would have won the trophy by 2 clear shots. Coulda, shoulda couldn't........
Before that we'd heard the common yell of " Oh No !! " from our usual suspect on McGlashans. Going no more than 3 metres forward our man Nick found himself in Oakmont deep rough and decided a rescue club was the way to go. "Nick, you need a wedge" was the universal advice from those gathered. The rescue did the trick and the ball sailed to the corner but whisky was still procured in the bar later.
But that was only the beginning of the fun..... Fast forward to Crossways, Hole 18.
With The Glen out of action due to rain and frost, Crossways became our last hole of the day. Now it's a tricky walk from 18 across to the tee with a few slopy bits. Given the ground conditions, we found out that poor old Nick had gone base over apex and had fallen quite heavily on the march across from the 18th green. His playing partners were worried and feared the worst. However Nick dusted himself off and eventually made his way to the tee.
Using driver, his ball skirted the out of bounds close to the road, but ran around the bank and found the green. Better to be lucky than good as they say. 2 putts later and given this hole comes in as stroke hole 9 on the card, that was a 3 for 4 points - a net eagle.
Fast forward to the clubhouse 2 hours later.
Callum and Mike came armed with paper and all of the results sheets handed to us the 3 bags of balls used for the Captain's jackpot. I pulled out the first number 2, then a 5 came out and I think the last one might have been a 7. Callum looked at the sheet and rolled his eyes. "Is the winner in the house ?" I asked. "Oh yes" was the reply. So we speculated who it might be, as a number in the middle of the pack meant a surname in the middle of the alphabet. "Might be me" mused Keith with Newton as his surname.
So it came to the results and we found out Jamie had lost on countback but had at least won a dozen sparkly Titleist golf balls. The net eagle hole was drawn ..... " and the winner with a par 3 on Crossways but with 2 shots from the card, that's a 3 net 1 for none other than Nick Nicolson...." Hurrah we all cheered.
"And the winner of the Captain's jackpot is ..............Nick Nicolson". Hurrah again we all cheered. Nick at this point was over 400 bucks better off. Happy days.
But now to the rules. On Tuesday 3 days later, Fairway Phil said he'd also had a par on Crossways and he too had 2 shots so had scored the same net eagle. "What happened ? " we asked. Here's where it gets a bit tricky and you decide what should happen next.
Phil was marking Eric's card and Eric was marking Phil's card. Although we play Crossways last it appears as hole 11 on the card meaning there's a bit of confusion. So when it came to the adding up at the end, Eric had written a 3 in the right box and Phil had added all of the numbers up, agreed with Eric and had signed for a net 75. Eric then scanned the cards. But there was either a problem with the X on the hole for Crossways or it didn't scan it properly, and when Eric pressed the button, the computer recorded a 5 for Crossways and gave Phil a net 77.
Now..... the rules suggest it's about signing your card and making sure there are no errors and clearly Phil signed for the right number and did nothing wrong there. He's in the clear. And this is not pointing the fingers at Eric because scanning can always be a bit of a problem even before you throw in the Crossways confusion. So to correct the error and see Phil square, should the action be...
- No action, it's up to the individual to scan their card and if you let someone else do it on your behalf and they make an error well that's your problem.
- Eric should credit Phil with the required amount
- Nick should credit Phil with the required amount
- The club should credit Phil with the required amount
Answers on a postcard to ............
I Wandered Lonely As A Trundler ...
Sometimes there's a pot of gold on the 17th green and yesterday my trundler went looking for it. Coming off 16 green, there's a rope up so I gently allowed my trundler to roll down the hill on to 17. With driver in hand I turner to walk up the hill to the 17th tee. Little did I know I'd left the power button on and the trundler was off and running.
Following the topography, it made a great arc across the 18th fairway annoying the group playing that hole. Sorry Eddie and co. It then veered left and made it's way back on to 17. At this point our group had made it on to the 17th tee turned around and had grandstand seats for the pantomime about to happen.
The first thing we saw was Bruce Grant sprinting after a trundler heading for the penalty area. "Look at this" I said, "Come on Bruce, get a grip, how hard can it be". Then he left the trundler there once it stopped and walked to the green. "Now look", I said, "what a stupid place to leave your trundler, Bruce has gone to the green leaving his own trundler behind and marched off with someone else's !"
So we eventually played our tee shots and walked down the path. "Hey where's my bag of golf clubs ?" I shouted, "it should be here where I left it". Eddie shouted across " was that your bag you clown ? it nearly ended up in the ditch". With a face as red as the rag hanging from Bruce's backside, I humbly marched forward and offered unreserved apologies to Bruce and his gang.
My bad, it's not been a good week......
Happy Birthday Vaughn
Vaughn had spent the day on the tools helping out his boys erecting scaffold recently but had earned advice from the foreman. With tool in hand his foreman suggested to him " mate it's a spanner not a magic wand " maybe suggesting a little more effort could be required. Only joking :}
Turning a youthful 62 Vaughn shouted us all a well-earned whisky as by 5 pm the day had turned decidedly cold. Very welcome it was to warm the insides. And we all sang the song to wish Vaughn all the best. Thank you sir.
In the 6s with 28 in the field it was a keen contest. The walking ATM didn't feature for once. 32 points saw Mahmoud, Nick, Lloyd and John Marsh walk off with the spoils. Nick went one better and earned a 2 for 5 on Crossways this time doing the cause no harm whatsoever. Hope you entered the net albatrosses Nick. In the middle set our group came home after putting a consistent run in an otherwise inconsistent round. Happy days with 45 points putting smiles on the faces of David B, Jamie, Eric and Fairway Phil. Finally Bolty, Alastair, Bruce Carvell and pro shop Mike scored 49 points for the last set.
Believe it or not we have to go all the way back to November 2023 to see the last time Senaka won a Blue Jacket. But it was a close run thing and there was tiny bit of debate. Both Senaka and Nick had 39 points so we invoked the last hole played rule. Senaka's last hole was Crossways where he had a 4 pointer scoring a birdie with a shot. Some suggested that should count as hole 11 and 18 was his last hole played. The elders got their heads together and decided the last hole played rule stands.
Pro shop Mike was last seen hurrying out of the door heading for Balclutha after bagging 3 birdies.
Talking of pro shop Mike, there was a conversation which followed where the motion put forward was that in the past Mike had been seen to throw and helicopter a golf club. Mike strongly denies this, in fact very strongly. If you have any evidence or have witnessed this please let me know quietly on the side....
And that was another ( glorious .... until the sun went down ) Wednesday at Balmacewen