Ricky Masters the Wind

Thirteen people arrived at Gainsborough for the Treasurer’s Trophy. They were greeted with an icy wind, and conditions didn’t warm up until the sun had risen significantly above the tree-line. This all-cart field featured some very random-looking cart pairings, as the captain chose to mix us up, including cramming five people into the middle group. We also welcomed the return of President Dennis Hogan, who hadn’t played with us since February 16.

Most struggled in the conditions, with none more so than the first group, featuring a clubhouse leader on 81 net. Things improved with the rest arriving, culminating in our winner Ricky Ong getting a net 72. Ricky is our newest member, winning for the first time today in this his eleventh game with us. Runner-up one stroke further back was host Eric Brunovs with 73. That’s the third game in a row where the winner hasn’t had to beat their handicap.

Pin shots went to Allan Gillam, president Dennis Hogan and George Young, with one going begging. Longest drive went to our runner-up Eric Brunovs, while the five-man second group claimed they couldn’t find which hole it was on.

Next game is on Father’s Day, September 6th. To give it a sense of occasion, it will be held at Glades golf course on the Gold Coast, teeing off at 6:28. It will be another cart-only field costing $70 per player, which is after a slight subsidy by the club. That will be the third round of the championships, and yet another putting round.

 

Gainsborough still has some Bite

Nine people arrived at Gainsborough Greens for the Rocklea booking this week. The odd player out attached to the trailing pair during the second and fifth holes, due to the tee-offs there being directly into the rising sun, requiring more spotters to track the balls.

After that, the odd player dived into the gap ahead, and played forward through the field. As he advanced through the groups, the care-factor of those he was passing was dropping substantially.

After everyone in the lead group found water off the tee on the 16th, things began looking up, culminating with them all parring the 18th to finish out.

Next scheduled game is at Wolston Park on May 31. Original tee-off was 6:30, but we’ll see if that’s still the case. To help with that, contact the secretary with your intention to play, so he can coordinate numbers and cart-hires with the course.

 

Slow Greens no Problem for Scott

Nineteen people arrived at Gainsborough Greens for the Matchplay Finals. Visitors Chris Jordan and Mario van Bemmel bolstered the field for this event with stableford on the front nine, and net par coming home. The winner is the lowest score after substracting the Stableford from the net.

Most of us drove through some rain arriving at the course, with some scattered showers sweeping through during the day, but the biggest impact of the day would be the greens having been recently cored, with them being left a little hairy to allow them to recover. Putting speeds were on the whole slow, but varied green-to-green adding quite a lot of guesswork to the puzzle.

Making the best of that whole thing was Ian van der Hoeven, who returned a score of 11, which is seven under his handicap. Normally that would win the day, but it was only enough to gain second, since Scott Porter returned a score of 8. While Scott had twice the handicap of Ian, getting ten-under it would still require some considerable effort given the conditions of the day. The Captain is certainly looking forward to closing that handicap gap somewhat.

Ian obtained further consolation by gaining two pin shots, with the others going to Blair George and special guest star Steve Gifkins. Longest drive on 17 went to Phil Dacey.

Too focussed to trouble the places today were the matchplay finalists, all caught up in their own battles. Emerging victorious for A grade was the day’s sponsor Tony Armbruster, defeating B grade promotee secretary Mick van Bemmel 4 & 3. Mick unfortunately didn’t take advantage of the six-stroke benefit the handicap difference granted him, with Tony winning the holes that mattered.

The B grade match was all square at the turn, but ended up the same margin with Steve Friedrichs getting over Phil Dacey 4 & 3. This match came down to a battle of tee-shots, with Steve hitting about 50% of his, while Phil hit about three total, with one of them on the longest drive 17th after the match was over.

After the game, the whole field was invited back to a housewarming at host Eric Brunov’s townhouse which is walking distance from the clubhouse. Eric, his missus and the two cats provided a wonderful BBQ lunch and drinks ahead of the presentations which was much appreciated by all, as was the cooking skills of our runner-up. We’re trying to convince them to put on a similar spread for future games at Gainsborough, though starting this Tuesday when the Solomons play there might be too soon!

Next game is in two week’s time at Gailes on October 6. That’s a 6am tee-off so welcome back to the early starts.

 

Brennan and Blair Dominate Gainsborough

It seemed everyone was able to find the new clubhouse at Gainsborough, since we had 14 people arrive for the Mal Curnow Memorial game. Our defending team of Peter McSherry and George Young chose a fourball stroke format, and the rest of the field were randomly drawn. The weather was fine, and the course had the first hole closed, with the extra par three after the third becoming number one on the card.

The pair-up of Mike Brennan and Blair George managed to win with a score of 57, which was one better than last year, when there was one less par three in play. I heard that Blair did most of the work, though it’s not my place to understate Mike’s contribution to the team.

Tony Armbruster and Troy van der Haar combined for a 61 to claim runner up, with Tony claiming a pin shot and Troy getting the longest drive. The defending pair got a 62 so weren’t too far away, with George Young claiming three pin shots along the way. The other pin shot went to secretary Mick van Bemmel.

Get used to the 6am starts, with the next game in two week’s time at Gailes.

Misty Gainsborough Plays Hard

A chilly, misty morning greeted the field of twelve arriving at Gainsborough for the Scott Porter trophy. Our sponsor was a little late arriving, but did ring ahead to inform the field that we were playing stableford. Playing his first full 18-hole round was visitor Ashton van der Haar, who certainly struck some good ones during the day, but did find the course hard-going.

As did we all! Once again no-one beat their handicap, with the slowness of the putting greens standing in stark contrast to last week’s venue. Just like last week, two people did equal their handicap requiring yet another countback, with Chris Young, just edging out the day’s sponsor, Scott Porter both on 36. That’s a welcome return to form for Chris, who’s had to be content with witnessing the heroics of George for most of the year.

No-one got on the first pin shot hole at the 3rd – possibly a combination of fog and the sunrise. The 8th went to Steve Friedrichs, 15th to winner Chris Young, and 17th to Troy van der Haar. Longest drive was put on the 16th, and went to our sponsor, Scott Porter.

Next game is in two weeks at Gailes for the Treasurer’s trophy. This 6am tee-off is the last putting round, so after that, we’ll announce the winners.

 

Hogans Reign at Gainsborough Greens Return

This club had played Gainsborough Greens twice before. Twelve people fronted 11 April 1997 and eight turned up 26 April 1998. Attendees then included current members Mike Brennan, Les Friedrichs, Steve Friedrichs, Dennis Hogan and Matt Hogan.

After an 18-year hiatus, we returned to see what had changed. Seventeen people wended their way there in the pre-dawn darkness and most had trouble finding the entrance, cleverly obscured by darkness and a recently-opened McDonalds.

Visitors Carl Sirianni and Will Williams also joined us, and were among the fifteen that took up the popular lunch offer. Everyone was in carts, which channelled the cold air driving along those first few holes. Then the Sun rose on a glorious day, though it was in a bad position for that first hit on the second hole.

President Dennis Hogan had played this course more recently than 1998, and used that to his advantage to post a winning stroke score of 71 which got him the Dave Brain trophy. In only his second appearance this year, special guest star Matt Hogan captured runner-up on 74 with a countback (I suspect he hadn’t played the course since 1998).

Pin shots went to Ian Davidson, Blair George, Steve Gifkins, Dennis Hogan and Carl Sirianni. Longest Drive also went to Ian Davidson, playing his first game back with us since injuring himself in March at St. Lucia. I heard he pulled up alright, so we hope to see more of him from now on.

Next game is in a fortnight at Gailes, 7am. This Treasurer’s Trophy game is the last putting competition round, so if you still have a shocker that needs eliminating, this is your chance.