Ian turns up at Oxley

Being the last Sunday before Christmas, a small field was expected. Only eight of us attended the year’s close at Oxley, fitting into a very compact two groups for this stroke event.

Definitely turning up, was Ian van der Hoeven, who netted 68 strokes to take the prestigious Steve Friedrichs trophy from Eric Brunovs with his 71.

Also sparse was the pin shots, with only Dave Brain’s somewhat distant effort on the 3rd hole bothering the ball-boy. The longest drive wasn’t even contested until the last group, when Steve Baxter stretched past two other contenders.

That’s the last game of the year, but we’ve got a whole schedule ready to go for 2015. Check out the dedicated webpage on this site for dates and times, with printed versions to follow soon.

Gailes looking Good

Inspired ahead of the final day of the PGA championships, we fronted up to Gailes, which was benefiting from the recent rain. I for one was glad to see half the bunkers out of play, and 16 players took advantage of the welcome cool change. Tony Armbruster took out Mick van Bemmel’s Stableford competition with 40 points, only just shading Troy van der Haar’s 39 on his new home course. Tony also bagged the longest drive, taking advantage of the widest part of the 10th fairway. Pin shots went to Dave Brain, Mick van Bemmel and Troy van der Haar, with the fourth one going begging. The AGM was held after the game, and in record time it seems we got a new Secretary! Memberships for 2015 can be paid anytime now!

Gilby takes The Glades

This year, our annual away game was held at The Glades course. Most members had never played this course before, but nineteen decided to take it on. They eventually all got set up in their GPS carts, before heading out into the unknown, but picturesque layout.

Noel Gilby enjoyed it more than most, taking the Tony Armbruster trophy with a 72 nett. Will Williams got runner-up with a 74, further highlighting the difficulty of breaking par on this course.

Pin shots went to Dave Brain, Blair George, Mick van Bemmel and Troy van der Haar. Troy also landed the longest drive, though my group never spotted the hole it was on.

Most of us took advantage of the lunch special afterwards, and all seemed to enjoy the facilities.

Mick’s McLeod

Eleven folks arrived at McLeod for this stableford event to find some tee-time confusion, resulting in us being sent off the 10th tee, and a little later than we’d planned.

In addition to the stableford, the B-grade Matchplay final was also being contested between Mike Brennan, and Steve Friedrichs. In that contest, the 10-18 nine played pretty straightforward, but it’s well known that this course has teeth on the 1-9 holes. Mike Brennan maintained his consistency through the hard nine to win the Matchplay 3&1.

For the Stableford, Mick van Bemmel conquered both nines to return 41 points for the win of the Matt Hogan trophy, and the Matchplay winner Mike Brennan carded 38 for the day’s runner-up.

Two pin shots went to Eric Brunovs, with the rest going to Mike Brennan, Noel Gilby and Chris Young. Rarely, the longest drive went to Noel Gilby, also!

The Website is Live!

At the 2013 AGM, it was requested that the activities of the club be documented on a website. So after much research, and considerable delay, here it is!

It’s expected that each event will have a timely blog entry documenting the results and other general observations from the start of the field.

In general, I’ll endeavour to post the results within a day of the round being finished, but I’ll back-fill the last few events to cut my teeth on the blog format.

In addition, I’ll gradually document static historical information as a way of preserving it and making it accessible.