The Day That Nearly Wasn't ...
Let's be honest it wasn't looking good. MetService records show that 11.8 mm of rain fell on Tuesday the 11th of March and a further 18.6 mm on the morning of Wednesday the 12th. Although the forecast was for a better Wednesday afternoon, we all knew the course would be pretty damp with that amount of precipitation.
The club website showed the course closed until 10:00 am with an inspection scheduled for mid-morning. The rain continued to fall adding to the misery. There was talk maybe of a swift 9 holes at 3 pm when things had dried out and the rain had stopped. 11:00 am came and went with no further news and we all feared the worst. Then just before 11:30 am, the e-mail from Eddie arrived. GAME ON !!
So after a quick lunch it was up to the club to see who had the gumption to play golf, who hadn't got the message, and who had better things to do. In the end 21 turned up to play; a worthy effort. The draw was hastily re-arranged and off we all went.
The Day Wasn't Without The Odd Challenge
This is the sort of thing you cop when there's been a bit of rain and the greenkeeping staff haven't had the chance the get out and repair the rain damage. Debate in the clubhouse was animated as to whether you should get a drop from a situation such as this. But this is the beauty and the challenge of golf. It's a game where you have to take the rough with the smooth and as the basic rules of golf always state, "you play the course as you find it and the ball as it lies." Easy as that.
In our group we had one drive which headed for the trees on the left hand side of the fairway. But the ball got a lucky bounce, and ricocheted to the middle of the 4th fairway. Nobody suggests that isn't fair and you should go back and play from the trees, you take the good breaks and you wear the bad breaks.
Only two groups won any money. The team of Murray Cooper, SENAKA, Kallum and Vaughn won the first set with 30 points and half of the middle set with 39 points. They shared the middle set with two Phils, Richard and Tony Attenborough with that second group cleaning out the last set with 47 points. Not the highest scoring but it was that kind of day.
The Happy Man From Mosgiel ...
There's a story which goes with this photo. 40 points for Phil would be the usual way to describe that Phil finished one point ahead of the field. But closer analysis is necessary.....
For the front 9 Phil was 2 over after 2 holes, but birdies on 5 and 8 and the rest in pars made Phil level with the card at the turn. His birdie on 5 was almost an eagle with a tap in from inches.... The back 9 wasn't quite as spectacular and on holes 16 through 18, Phil finished with outer, bogey outer. It could have been so much better with a stronger finish.
3 birdies did the trick for the trip to Balclutha.
Given we only had 21 for golf it was a surprise nobody shouted for their birthday or other significant life event. Whisky was procured as Murray Cooper had a whoopsy on the 15th.
We didn't have a raffle but if we had have done, Kallum would have won.
It's going to be 27 degrees this weekend :}