Wet Mt. Warren Bests us All

Thirteen folks arrived at Mount Warren Park for a Stableford Competition. The numbers were bolstered by our newest members, Jae Bourke, Adel Hewedy and Omar Hewedy, who have played a few games with us before but were just awaiting the new fiscal year. They celebrated their joining the club by mixing up the tee-off time and rushing to the course to arrive at the last minute.

This course had also experienced some heavy rain, so lots of casual water was even on the fairways. Contrast to last time we played here, the lakes were now full of water so had to be carried properly. Due to its low level near the Albert River, the 8th hole had been flooded and was still out of play, so it was replaced by a temporary hole between 17 and 18 as a 72m par three to the chipping practice green. Stableford was selected as the game format, and the longest drive was returned to the 14th hole. No rain fell on the day, but steamy conditions persisted all morning, making for discomfort the whole game.

Chris Young returned 32 stableford points, which shouldn’t have been enough to win anything, but it was. Similarly, our sponsor Cohen Blanchette got 30 which was good enough for runner up. Suddenly, those of us that scored in the late 20s were feeling better about our games.

The course was playing hard with the wet conditions, but other problems occurred. The entire first group got caught out by an expanded out of bounds on the 7th hole, that so ruined that hole, that they decided to by-pass the rest of the hole to avoid the long backtrack along the out-of-play 8th fairway and just headed directly to the ninth tee.

No-one got on the long par 3 number 5, but unusually 3 and 16 were missed out too. New member Adel Hewedy got on the 10th, while the 9th was Secretary Mick van Bemmel. Our winner got on the 8T hole, which was somehow missed during the presentations. Longest driver on 14 was captain George Young.

Next game is in two weeks’ time back at Windaroo Lakes on February 4. That’s a 6:54 tee-off and is the annual Lew Llewellyn shield teams competition. It’s conducted as a random draw, so arrive in plenty of time to enable that.

Secretary gets a Three-peat

Thirteen people arrived at Windaroo Lakes for the first game of the year. There had been a lot of rain in the week leading up to the game, such that the Albert River had burst its banks and overflowed adjacent parts of the course. The water had receded, but considerable mud was still compromising the 10th, 12th and 17th fairways, so those holes had been reduced in length. The 10th and 12th had been reduced to a 60m chip shot, while the 17th was off the par-three artificial turf, so was around 100m.

The sponsor selected stableford as the game format, and originally the captain said to ignore the on-course signage and play the holes with the pars on the scorecards. He revised this when the now 60m par five 12th witnessed numerous Eagles, and a spectacular Albatross to Micky Reid. Reverting them back to par threes restored sanity to the scorecards.

Despite a considerable shortening of the course, only the winner managed to beat his handicap, that being the secretary Mick van Bemmel with 37 points. The group recognised that this was the second win in a row, his having won last week at Wolston Park, but checking further back shows he also won at Gailes, making this a three-peat. second place stayed in the committee with treasurer Steve Friedrichs returning a handicap-preserving 35.

The temporary par threes were not awarded pin shots, so the remaining ones went with the 5th to captain Dennis Hoga, the 7th to Micky Reid, the 11th to Michael Brennan and the 15th to Ricky Ong. Longest drive was on the 8th and was also won by Micky Reid.

Next game is in two weeks’ time at the nearby Mount Warren Park on January 21. That’s a 6am tee-off to try and avoid excessive heat or perhaps afternoon rain. Last time we played there the course was so dry that some of the lakes were empty – expect it to be quite different this time.

Dry Mount Warren Suits Tony

Warmer weather greeted the field of twelve at Mount Warren Park for the last tee-off of the spring. Visiting us was former member David Brain, up from Melbourne for the Klover Noosa weekend. The early tee-time would allow us to avoid the heat we knew was coming, but a fortunate overcast took the edge of what could have been. We teed off the tenth hole first, which would normally be a very intimidating thread between two lakes but due to a dry spring, the two lakes were completely empty. Turns out most of the lakes had considerably less water in them than usual, meaning that many shots were able to be played off the dried beds.

The sponsor chose a single stableford for the game, and the best score on the day was 41, achieved by Tony Armbruster. The captain George Young also got that same score but got runner up on the countback. Our winner took out half the prizes, because he also got the longest drive on 17, and the pin shot on the last-played ninth hole. That left only the pin shots on 16 for treasurer Steve Friedrichs, and the 3rd for Chris Young. The two hardest par threes which were the first hole played tenth, and the long fifth remained unclaimed.

Next game is in two weeks’ time at Redland Bay, which is a 6:35 tee-off at on December 3. There may be an extensive price rise for 2024, so it remains to be seen how many games we’ll be playing there after this one.

Mount Warren a Walk in the Park for Phil

Thirteen people arrived at Mount Warren Park to play what turned out to be a stroke event. The weather was quite pleasant, with the humidity not yet impacting the player’s comfort.

Gaining a place did require both of them to beat their handicaps, with 66 getting the win for Phil Dacey, and a 68 getting runner up for Gavin Muir. Phil’s been improving at his home course of Carbrook, and his Rocklea Sparks handicap hasn’t yet caught up to where his AGU is at. No such reason for Gavin Muir, who just returned a consistent performance the whole morning.

The longer 5th and 10th holes eluded our pin shot attempts, but president Dennis Hogan got on three, our runner up got on nine, while our winner got on sixteen. Longest drive on 14 was captain George Young from the last group, with several good attempts from the second group just off the fairway.

Next game is after a three-week gap on February 12. This 6:54 tee-off is back to Windaroo Lakes again, for our annual Lew Llewellyn pairs event. Arrive in plenty of time for the captain to conduct the draw and make up the groups.

Day at the Park for Tony

Good weather again greeted twelve people at Mount Warren Park, with numbers again bolstered by the now correctly named Cohen Blanchette. The sponsor selected single stableford as the competition, as we played the back nine first. Due to the president’s trophy event being washed out, the putting round missing from then was held today, so holes needed to be putted out.

Tony Armbruster won with his 41 points, just one ahead of runner-up Eric Brunovs.

Pin shots went with our winner really close on ten, Tony Mraz on both 16 and 9, captain George Young on five, and visitor Cohen Blanchette on the third. Longest drive was pushed back to the 17th hole, and out visitor got that one too.

Next game was to be after the BBQ, but the secretary has created an extra event to occur on December 4. That will be an 8am tee-off at Windaroo Lakes, with the BBQ pushed back until the next Sunday, 11 December at 11am. There’s been a change of venue for the BBQ, so contact a committee member to get the new location.

Captain’s Knock a Good Walk

An overcast morning dawned on the field of nine attending Mount Warren Park golf course. The later-than-usual starting time had the arrivals expecting a slower pace, as we were sent off both the first and tenth tees. The sponsor selected stableford as the scoring system, and a local rule allowed preferred lie as there were still some damp patches from recent rain. The two halves of the field waved as they passed each other at the clubhouse half-way through.

Winning with a 38 was captain George Young, putting a stop to winners not needing to beat their handicap. Joining him on this was treasurer Steve Friedrichs getting 37 for runner-up. There were two lost balls in Steve’s round, so the rest of it must have been quite tidy.

Not content with just the placings, the winner also bagged the longest drive on 14, while the runner-up got nearest on five. Tony Armbruster got the pin shot on three, and Chris Young was nearest on nine, leaving both the back-nine prizes unclaimed. All-in a good day for the three walkers of the field, with Tony taking the only prize from a cart-seat.

Next game is in two week’s time at the nearby Windaroo Lakes course on January 30. Another later tee-off time of 7:34 will allow the field to assemble in plenty of time for the captain to arrange the pairings for the Lew Llewellyn four-ball stableford event.

Defended, but President is the Ace

Ten people attended the Mal Curnow Memorial game being defended by Blair George and secretary Mick van Bemmel. The defenders chose stroke scoring for the five teams. The field of ten made two groups of three, so that required the team of treasurer Steve Friedrichs and Gavin Muir to be split across groups – more about them later.

It’s difficult to forecast how the scores are affected by this format, but a 62 result was enough to place. Indeed two teams got that score, one of which were our defenders, Blair George and secretary Mick van Bemmel. That was looking the goods but the split team of treasurer Steve Friedrichs and Gavin Muir combined their scorecards after the game to also card a 62. A countback ensued, which declared the defenders the winners. That’s only the second successful defence since the inception of the competition, so good work from Blair and Mick.

Pin shots went with the third going to Ricky Ong, the fifth going unclaimed, 9 going to treasurer Steve Friedrichs, 10 going to president Dennis Hogan and 16 going to secretary Mick van Bemmel. Longest drive unusually was on 13, and went to secretary Mick van Bemmel.

The president’s pin shot on ten was notable since his group couldn’t see how close it was. It was only upon arriving at the green and undertaking a search that they found his ball in the hole! At that point the cheer could be heard across the entire field. That’s only the fourth hole-in-one in Rocklea Sparks history, and it’s been over a decade since Henry Treasure at Pacific, Richard Maher at Gailes and Eddie Fisher at Wolston Park. Seems to be yet another benefit of the president’s knee surgery.

The previous game was the end of the year-long putting contest, so here are the results. The winner of A grade with an aggregate of 175 putts across six rounds, was Chris Young. B grade was won by secretary Mick van Bemmel with 193.

Next game is in three week’s time at Gailes on November 28 with at 6:30 tee-off. This will likely be a small field with several of the regulars missing while they’re at the Solomon’s Noosa weekend, so an improved chance to grab a win for those attending Gailes.

Peak Performance for Gilby and Porter

After a four-week gap, players were keen to get out there, and a glorious winter morning plus course in good condition awaited them. Twelve folks arrived at Mount Warren Park for this game, with visitor Dave Carr again bolstering the numbers. The later than usual start seemed to be caused by a large group of Kiwis on the course ahead of us, but they ultimately didn’t cause us too many delays. The sponsor chose a basic stableford game and we placed the longest drive on the usual 14th hole.

The relaxed pace and later start must have helped people out, as there were some really good scores returned. None better than the 45 points for Scott Porter on this, his home deck, yet that was only good enough for the runner up. Former captain Noel Gilby also returned 45 but nosed ahead on the countback. That’s one place better than he got last game, so perhaps the forced change of cart-buddy has been good for him.

There are five pin shots on this layout, but only two were got on today, with the other three missing out. Successful, was the third hole by treasurer Steve Friedrichs, and the 9th by Eric Brunovs. The Longest drive features a narrow, sloping landing area, so accuracy is needed to keep it on the fairway. The best of those was visitor Dave Carr.

Next cheduled game is in two weeks at Oxley. This 7pm tee-off on 29 August is the last game of the winter. It is the treasurer’s trophy so also includes the second-last putting round of the year.

Mt. Warren Park Good for the Young

Overcast weather greeted the small field of eight for this game at Mount Warren Park. The cooler conditions were a welcome break from the high-summer conditions that had been prevailing. The sponsor and host selected a simple game of stableford, with the longest drive to be contested on the 14th.

For a course with minimal bunkers, good scores should have been in the majority, but that was not the case. Keeping his end of the bargain up, was the day’s winner with 38 points, Chris Young. There wasn’t some super-secret strategy in play – he just kept it simple and out of trouble.

Alas that would be the only score to beat handicap. Daylight came second, while the runner-up went to the winner’s son, and new captain George Young. His score of 33 suddenly got everyone else in the field to look more favourably on their own scores.

No-one got on the first two pin-shots, but it was worth the wait, as Tony Armbruster hit to within 52cm of the 9th. The remaining two went with Dave Brain, and our runner-up. Longest drive went to Tony Armbruster, on only the second hole of the day he’d tried his driver.

Next game is in two week’s time on January 31, teeing off Windaroo Lakes at 6:45. That game is the annual Lew Llewellyn teams event, so arrive in time for the captain to determine the pairings.

Golf Played at Mt. Warren Park

Eight people arrived for our booking at Mt. Warren Park. No competition was to be run, and the players were here to take advantage of the course booking, to get some essential exercise. They joined up into groups of two, and headed off. The last group got around the course in 3 hours 20 minutes, and the pairs ahead of them were even faster.

Hearsay has it that Phil Dacey had a good game, but results weren’t formally gathered, and handicaps were estimated.

Our next booking is two weeks away on April 19. It’s at Gailes at 6am, so we’ll check closer to the date about what’s happening there. It was supposed to be the first round of our championships, but that seems unlikely to occur.