Troy Sneaks in the Win

The later starting time at Carbrook revealed some fine weather, just what we needed for the second round of the championships. 17 people arrived, including two locals to this course, plus the van Dyk clan and Ian Davidson. The ninth hole construction was nearing completion, but was still out of play, so the 12th remained bifurcated into 12A par 3 and 12B par 4, setting the course par to 70. Since we set off the first tee, the longest drive would remain on the usual 13th.

At the commencement of the presentations, no one had beat their handicap, so the winning prize was given to President Dennis Hogan with his 70. Just one stroke back on 71, the treasurer Steve Friedrichs was briefly awarded the runner up. That’s when Troy van der Haar piped up claiming he scored a 69. Checking back through the cards confirmed this, so the other prizes were shuffled leaving the treasurer with nothing.

No one got the pin shot on either 7 or 12A, so the remaining ones went with Tony Armbruster getting on the second, Josh van Dyk getting on 11 and the 14th going to Dennis Hogan. Longest drive was won by captain George Young.

Sister club Klover will be playing Carbrook the following Tuesday, so the Rocklea Sparks can brief them on the layout. They get to return the favour, since they play Windaroo Lakes the next Tuesday, five days before our trip there. That game is the third round of our championships and is also to be played at Windaroo Lakes. That’s a 6:54 tee off on May 19th.

Captain’s Carbrook

Eleven folks arrived at Carbrook for the Treasurer’s trophy game, to find the weather was a perfect spring morning. There was one local member here, but the rest of the field were quite surprised by the extent of the renovation work being undertaken. The ninth hole was out of play, since the green there was to be replaced by a practice putting green, with the 9th green being moved closer to the tee. The missing hole was replaced by hitting to the temporary 12A green off the 12th tee, with 12B hitting off a temporary tee beyond the lake about 250m into the original 12th green. The scorecard reflected these course alterations, with the 10th hole now belonging to the front nine. The other consequence was a long travel between the 8th green and the 10th tee. The carters in one group had bought food at the clubhouse BBQ and finished consuming it at the 10th tee before the walkers had arrived.

The alterations dropped the par for the course to 70, and pleasantly, both placegetters managed to beat that. Winning the day with a 65 was captain George Young, just one stroke ahead of Noel Gilby’s 66 for the runner up. The treasurer himself thought his 67 would be in with a chance but just lost some handicap for his trouble.

No-one got the pin shots on 2 or 12A, so the remaining ones went with Tony Armbruster on seven, treasurer Steve Friedrichs on 11 and our winner on 14. Longest drive on 13 also went to our captain.

Next game is in two week’s time on October 1. That’s a 6:22 tee-off at Windaroo Lakes and is the Matchplay semi-finals. The seedings were documented here, but if any of them can’t play, reserves would be needed.

Allan and Cohen Conquer Carbrook

A fine morning dawned at Carbrook for the donor’s choice teams event from local Phil Dacey and Secretary Mick van Bemmel. For the format, they chose a four-ball stableford event, with a putting contest. Thirteen people arrived, requiring a man-in-the-middle, and that was Tony Armbruster in the last group. Another peculiarity of the field was the requirement of a team to be split across two groups to allow the cart-riders to stay together. We teed off the tenth hole first. and soon discovered that this format required a lot of space on the scorecard, so several numbers had to be compressed together to fit everything in.

Right from the get-go the second group pairing of Allan Gillam and Cohen Blanchette were performing well, including a run of five three-point holes on the second nine. This added up to a very promising 46 points which was enough to take the win. Less obvious was how well the runner-up team was doing. Steve Friedrichs was playing in a different group than his partner Ricky Ong, so only had his 31 points to compare to Ricky’s 32. Back at the clubhouse they combined surprisingly well to score 42, enough for the minor place.

Pins shots went with the 11th going to local and sponsor Phil Dacey, the 14th going to Eric Brunovs, the 2nd going to Noel Gilby and the 7th going to secretary and sponsor Mick van Bemmel. Longest drive was moved to the par five fourth hole, and was won by local member Phil Dacey, taking advantage of a peculiar left-side bulge in the fairway cut that only a local would know about. The putting prize was won by President Dennis Hogan with 30.

Since the championships finished the previous game, the captain has calculated the results. A grade was won by Tony Mraz with a 227, with 284 getting runner up for captain George Young. B grade was won by treasurer Steve Friedrichs with 311, over Cohen Blanchette getting runner-up with 318.

Also calculated are the seedings for the matchplay, with A grade having:

1. Tony Mraz
2. Mick van Bemmel
3. George Young
4. Dennis Hogan

B grade lines up like this;

1. Steve Friedrichs
2. Eric Brunovs
3. Cohen Blanchette
4. Allan Gillam

There are probably one or two reserves available if any of the top four don’t turn up to the matchplay semifinals on 1 October at Windaroo.

But before that is the next game in two weeks’ time on 9 July at River Lakes, teeing off at 7:35.

Phil Comfortable at Home

A fine day dawned on Carbrook for the matchplay semi-finals, as thirteen players arrived, including visitor Roy Cohen. The captain was unable to play, so everyone shuffled up the A grade matchplay table and the president popped onto the end. The sponsor was unable to play, so his place was taken by Tony Armbruster.

Playing on his home course, Phil Dacey returned a net of 64 to easily win the day. Still beating his handicap with a 70 was sponsor Tony Armbruster gaining the runner up. On the way to victory, Phil also grabbed the pin shots from seven and eleven, leaving the 14th for Troy van der Haar, and the second unclaimed. Secretary Mick van Bemmel won the longest drive on 13.

The A grade matchplay had the pairings re-mixed so that secretary Mick van Bemmel played president Dennis Hogan, with the secretary prevailing 5&4. The other pairing had the battle of the Tonys, with the day’s sponsor Tony Armbruster defeating Tony Mraz 2&1.

The B grade matchups also had someone missing, so reserve Eric Brunovs popped onto the end. Good fortune for him, as he prevailed over Allan Gillam 2&1. The other matchup unchanged, was treasurer Steve Friedrichs against Noel Gilby, with the treasurer winning 5&3.

Next game is in two weeks’ time at Redland Bay on October 9 with a tee-off at 6:30. That will include the matchplay finals, and we’ve been warned that the greens will have been cored and sanded, so prepare for that.

Carbrook Bests us All

Fine winter weather greeted the field for their return to Carbrook after a rain effected cancellation. Twelve arrived to the course to find that the rain of the last few days had left for a while. The sponsor chose a stableford/stroke hybrid, beginning on the 10th hole, so stableford on the shorter 10-18 meant par for this format is 18.

The course was still a little wet underfoot, but was a vast improvement from even one day earlier, as attested by our host. Everyone still found it hard going, since no-one was able to beat their handicaps. Best score on the day was sponsor and host Phil Dacey getting a 21, but by prior arrangement he handed his prize along to the next best score. Claiming the win with 22 was Allan Gillam, just edging out Gavin Muir’s 23 which got runner up.

Keeping in the theme, only one pin shot was claimed being on 14, that went to captain George Young. Not content with that, George also bagged the longest drive on the hole just prior. Plenty of prizes left for the rest of the field, yet the 14th was got on at least twice.

Next game is in two weeks on July 17, but has had a change of time and venue. It’s been moved to Windaroo Lakes, with an 8am tee-off – plenty of time if you accidentally find yourself at Nudgee.

With the championship rounds finished, the captain has sent me the results

Winning A grade with 257 was captain George Young, with runner up on 267 being Tony Mraz. B grade was won by treasurer Steve Friedrichs with 299 just ahead of Allan Gillam on 300.

Also available are the matchplay seedings, with the qualification order as follows:

A Grade

1. George Young
2. Mick van Bemmel
3. Tony Armbruster
4. Tony Mraz
5. Dennis Hogan

B Grade

1. Allan Gillam
2. Steve Friedrichs
3. Noel Gilby
4. Ricky Ong
5. Eric Brunovs

Typically 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3, but if anyone doesn’t arrive at Carbrook on September 25, the reserves may be needed.

Blair Conquers Carbrook

Fifteen people arrived at Carbrook on US independence day to play the only event of the year at this venue. The field included new member Grahame Howard, and visitor Dave Carr. The course started us off the tenth, so the sponsor held a stroke/stableford hybrid event with stroke contested first on the 10-18 half. Because of the order of play, the sponsor moved the longest drive from the usual 13th to the later 6th.

The course was a bit wet underfoot, but the weather remained dry all day. The start was quite foggy, but as usual for such things, once the sun gained enough strength to burn it off, it revealed a glorious winters day.

Par in this format is a score of 18, and that’s all it took for our winner Blair George. Just one behind him was our host and sponsor Phil Dacey, taking the runner-up prize on this his home deck.

Pin shots went with the 11th to our sponsor, 14th to our winner, 2nd to our newest member and 7th to Allan Gillam. The fairway for the longest drive ended up seeming narrower than all expected, with Eric Brunovs the best of the minority that could stay on it.

Next game is in two week’s time on July 18 at Nudgee. Tee off is 7:04, and we’ll all find out what permutation of the course we’ll be playing when we get there.

Dave Persists at Wet Carbrook

Six people arrived at Carbrook, and we were surprised there were so many. The weather was consistently raining, – we all drove through rain to get to the course, and the weather radar showed more was on the way. With much trepidation they set off from the 10th, with one pulling out after the 14th. The criticism wasn’t too harsh, as the rain had been annoyingly persistent up until then and we’d all been thinking about it. They joined together into a group of five and pressed on.

The remaining five persisted, and the rain cleared away by the turn. The ground underfoot remained significantly saturated, with the Captain producing a splash of casual water on Every. Single. Shot. Despite that, the putting greens were in really good condition, with some struggling to understand how they could hold their speed while so damp.

Throughout the worst of that, Dave Brain and treasurer Steve Friedrichs held their nerve to both finish on net 74. The countback gave Dave the prize. They also both carded 29 putts which will be a useful contribution to the year-long contest. This is the third time these two have been pitted against each other recently, with Dave taking out the prizes that mattered the most, by the smallest of margins.

Pin shots went with George Young awarded the prize for eleven and seven, our winner getting on fourteen, and sponsor Ricky Ong getting on the second, plus taking out the longest drive.

Next game is in two week’s time on August 9, with a 6:30 tee-off time at Oxley. That’s now the second round of the championships, and another putting round.

 

Carbrook a Winter Warmup

Ten people arrived at Carbrook for an overcast morning of golf. I didn’t hear much in the way of results, but many would have considered it as a practice round the for Solomons Matchplay qualifying to take place at the same venue two days later.

Encouraged by that, we’re considering resuming competition starting from next game which is 7:15am, June 27 at Gailes (starting time a little later than previously advised). Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted on a weekly basis, so we’ll be monitoring conditions to see what can happen at Gailes then.

Phil Makes Himself at Home

Thirteen players arrived at Carbrook for the last 6am start for a while. Perfect autumn conditions prevailed with low wind lending itself to accurate shooting. Our sponsor selected Stableford for the day, and the field set off on the 10th hole first. There was a bit of a delay at the halfway mark, perilously downwind of the BBQ and within viewing distance of the Master’s third round on the big screen.

First group member Chris Young set the pace with a promising 39 to hold the clubhouse lead for a good while, until the last group dropped in. Newest member Phil Dacey wasted no time putting his new handicap to work, returning a 41 for the win, relegating Chris to the runner-up.

As a supplementary prize, Chris Young’s longest drive on the 4th hole of the day withstood all comers. No-one in the first two groups got on any of the pin-shot holes leaving them to the later groups with Tony Armbruster taking two, Scott Porter taking one, and the other one going begging.

We’re giving you next Sunday off golf for Easter, while after that on the 28th is the first round of the championships, along with a putting round. The 7:18 tee-off will be a welcome sleep in, since you’ll need to be on-song to play stroke around Windaroo.

 

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.