Carbrook Capitulates to George

Sixteen people arrived for the first round of the Rocklea Shield at Carbrook. Visitor Phil Dacey again evened up the numbers as the early start rewarded the attendees with some milder conditions. Carbrook was in great condition as will be seen below.

Winning the day with a superb 12-below his handicap was George Young with a 59. This club doesn’t document course records, but that would have bested the Solomon‘s one by two strokes. I heard it was 78 off the bat, showing that his handicap of 19 is going to take a hammering.

Also staking his claim for the Rocklea shield was our runner-up Dave Brain with a normally-spectacular 63. That’s also going to cause some handicap damage, though that won’t help the rest of us for the second round of the Shield, as first-round handicaps are retained for the purposes of that trophy. The scorecards for the second round will show a split handicap for those two, so the extent of the carnage will be easy to spot.

Pin shots went to Gavin Muir, George Young and host Dave Sullivan with the windswept 11th going unclaimed. Longest drive went to visitor Phil Dacey whose shot from the first group intimidated the rest of the field.

Next game is the second round of the Rocklea shield at Gailes, starting 6am on March 3. Our two leaders will be under intense pressure from the rest of the field, including the current holder President Dennis Hogan trying to finally win it three in a row.

 

Blair and Mick Defeat the Damp

Visitor Phil Dacey again increased the numbers to 16, that arrived at Windaroo Lakes with the skies threatening rain. The Lew Llewellyn shield is one of the two perpetual trophies the club offers each year with eight teams competing this year. The random draw for the Stableford teams competition again produced some unusual pairings with the odd number of competitors requiring a middle-man, plus one of his partners playing in a different group.

The promised rain manifested as a series of light showers sweeping through, which while not soaking, was enough to dampen all the equipment. As the last group left the course, the sun came out, and kept the rain away for the rest of the day.

Unperturbed by the conditions was the winning pair of Blair George, and secretary Mick van Bemmel, who returned 47 points to clear the field. Quite a way back on 43 was the runner-up team of Tony Armbruster and David Brain.

Pin shots were spread around to Steve Gifkins, Gavin Muir, George Young and Phil Dacey. The longest drive on the 8th went to our newest member, David Cunneen.

Captain Noel Gilby demonstrated a trick shot on the 6th hole by shooting his drive precariously close to the lake on the right. It landed on the lakeside cart path before bouncing back on it another three times gaining a further 70 metres, clearing the lake’s corner to rest only 70 metres from the green. Witness Steve Gifkins was rattled by the sight, and the group spent the rest of the game trying to duplicate the feat on later holes.

The next game is the first round of the Rocklea shield – the other perpetual trophy on offer. It tees-off at Carbrook at 6am on February 17. The treasurer will begin glaring at those who haven’t paid their memberships by then.