Dacey Takes Half the Prizes

Ten folks arrived at Redland Bay to find the weather fine for golf, now with less heat and extra sea breezes. The golf course had holes two and three out of play for green works, but 19 and 10 were back in play, so the temporary 19th and 20th were in use. The course played the 18th after the first, with the 19th played next, then continuing from four. The back nine had the 20th inserted by cutting the 14th in two, then finished after 17. That left the course with two par 5s and six par 3s, so par was 68.

This was the replacement round to complete the Rocklea Shield, so was played as a stroke competition. The longest drive ended up on 17, because no-one remembered it until late enough in the round that it was the only viable option left, since before that, you’d have to go all the way back to 12.

Special guest star Phil Dacey played to his handicap to record a 68 net, and being the only one to do so, got the win. One back from that on 69 was President Dennis Hogan, gaining the runner up.

No one got the pin shot on the difficult 19th, being only the third hole played on the day. The other five were won, with the 4th and 6th going to our winner, 13th going to Allan Gillam, 20th going to captain George Young and 16th to Secretary Mick van Bemmel. The longest drive also went to the winner, Phil Dacey, with him taking half the prizes on offer.

That completed this year’s Rocklea Shield, with the overall winner being the first-round winner captain George Young with a 138 aggregate. President Dennis Hogan was the next nearest, with his 144.

Next game is in two weeks’ time giving you Easter Sunday off. That’s a 6:30 tee-off at Wolston Park on April 7.

Handicap Wins at Redland Bay

It was already warm when thirteen people arrived at Redland Bay to play a Stroke Event. There was no sponsor for the day, so the club provided the prizes. Because Stroke was chosen without a putting competition, a max 10 rule was in place – more on that later. The numbers were again bolstered by the secretary’s visitors Jae Bourke, Adel & Omar Hewedy. The tenth hole is still closed for green renovation, so the 14th continued to be split into a 100m par 3 20th, and a 250m par 4. With the 18th reverting to a par 5 again, par for the course becomes 70. Longest drive is moved to the 18th, and some dampness of the course allowed a preferred lie rule throughout the general area. It got considerably warmer by the half-way mark, when a sea breeze provided some needed relief.

Winning today only required a net of 73, that gained by our captain George Young. Keeping it in the committee one stroke back was the treasurer Steve Friedrichs gaining the runner up prize, albeit on a countback. No-one had to beat their handicaps today to win the places, and the runner up had to take a max 10 on the seventh hole since putting three balls short of carrying the lake caused him to hit a twelve there. Controversy surrounded this result, as one of the secretary’s visitors returned a place worthy score, but the match committee considered his handicap to be only gained after this game.

Five pin shots were on offer, but the long 13th hole was hit from off the back tee-block making it even harder than usual, so no-one got that one. The 6th and 20th went to Micky Reid, the 4th went to visitor Omar Hewedy plus the 16th went to our runner up. The longest drive was won by our winner, the captain, meaning our visitor was the only prize winner that didn’t win two.

The captain produced the results of the annual putting contests, so they were announced at the presentations. A Grade was won by Tony Armbruster with an aggregate 184, while B Grade was won by treasurer Steve Friedrichs with 190. Six qualifying rounds are counted making that come to 30⅔ average putts for A grade, and 31⅔ for B, so that’s your target for next year.

Next event is next week being the annual presentations BBQ on December 10. That starts at 11am, with the venue to be advised on request. The next golf event is in two weeks’ time at Gailes. That’s a 5:40am tee-off on December 17. That’s earlier than previously advised, but with the expected heat, any time earlier will be beneficial.

Captain Manages Changed Redland Bay

Twelve people arrived at Redland Bay to be greeted by suspect weather conditions. A southerly breeze threatened rain all morning, and some fine misty stuff did fall, but not enough to get much of anything wet. New member Micky Reid was keen to sponsor an event so took over those duties today. He opted for a single stableford format, so as we all examined the indexes on the score card we spotted some dramatic differences.

The 10th and 19th greens were being extensively renovated, so those holes were out of play. Looks like the tenth green is being moved leftwards, perhaps to prevent people approaching it from overflying the 11th tee. That makes the left lake now border the green edge, and it’s been doubled in size to cover the entire left-side of the green. To make up for the missing hole, the 14th hole has been split in two, with a 100m par 3 off the original tee to a temporary green just over the lake numbered hole 20, then a temporary tee 250m out from the original green. In addition, a temporary tee chopped about 50m off the 9th hole, so they dropped that to a par four. That leaves the 3rd hole as the only remaining par five on the course, dropping the par to 68. A temporary score card documented all these changes, including new indexes for most of the holes, some of which seemed to be allocated at random.

Demonstrating good change management, captain George Young navigated all of that with no trouble returning 39 stableford points for the win. Tony Mraz was only two points behind getting 37 for the runner up. That’s the first time in while that both placeholder scores have beaten their handicaps, so that’s good to see.

Five pin shots were available and four were won. Unusually for this course, the missing one was not the 13th, but the 4th. The 6th was won by treasurer Steve Friedrichs, with the 13th going to sponsor Micky Reid, 20th to Troy van der Haar and 16th going to Tony Armbruster. Since the usual longest drive hole 14th had been shortened so much, we moved that prize to the 18th, which was also won by Tony Armbruster.

Next game is in a fortnight on August 20. That’s a 7:08 tee-off at Wolston Park, so see you all there.

Secretary Sets the Standard

Thirteen people arrived at Redland Bay to good weather, but with the treasurer notably absent. Calls to his mobile went unanswered, indicating that he was on the road. Indeed, he arrived ten minutes after the scheduled tee-off time, so was placed into group three as punishment. He related that it took half an hour longer to clear the CBD than usual, since there was the Tour De Brisbane cycle race on, that had blocked off most of the CBD roads, sending him way too far to the north. Visitor Mark Sutherland was invited along by Tony Armbruster bringing the actual participants to 14.

The sponsor put on a Stableford/Stroke hybrid event, and the course had two temporary holes in play replacing the usual 4th and 5th holes. One was the 19th, played between 2 and 3, but marked in the fourth spot on the card. The other was the 20th hole, played off the 14th tee 102m to a temporary green the other side of the lake, but marked fifth line on the card. Then the 14th was played off a temporary tee, to the green about 300m around the corner. This cut the course par down to 69, with the front nine’s par dropping to 35, thus making par for the hybrid format 17. The greens had been cored last month, so weren’t quite as fast as usual for this venue. Longest drive was moved from the shortened 14th to the 17th hole.

Some players found the going pretty easy with the best being Secretary Mick van Bemmel, winning with a 12. One back on 13 was President Dennis Hogan getting the runner up.

Five pin shots were on offer, with the 19th going to sponsor Allan Gillam, 6th going to Tony Armbruster, 13th going unclaimed as usual, 20th going to Ricky Ong and visitor Mark Sutherland winning the 16th. Longest Drive went to Phil Dacey.

Next week is Easter, so take that Sunday off. The Sunday after that is at Wolston Park on April 16 with a 6:40 tee off. That’s the treasurer’s selection, so expect stroke with five mulligans, which he threatened to keep selecting until he manages to win it.

Allan Benefits from the Bay

Nine people arrived at Redland Bay, including visitor Roy Cohen again, but this time at his home course. Weather was overcast but with no rain, and while the greens had been cored, they rolled alright and were only slightly slower than usual. The 14th hole had a temporary tee that chopped about 70m off the length and changed the landing zone for the longest drive quite a bit. After some recent shuffling, the captain was selected as the sponsor for the day, which would also feature the matchplay finals.

Without the distraction of playing in a matchplay, Allan Gillam had a trouble-free day to card a net 65 for the win. The sponsor, captain George Young avoided winning his own trophy with his 67 but did enough to win runner up.

No-one got the difficult pin shot on 13, but the others were won with our runner-up taking 4 and 16, leaving Ricky Ong to take six. Longest drive went to secretary Mick van Bemmel.

The A grade matchplay had Mick van Bemmel winning 4&3 over Tony Armbruster. B grade was a little closer, with treasurer Steve Friedrichs edging out Eric Brunovs 2&1.

Next game is in two weeks’ time at Windaroo Lakes on October 23. That’s a 7:10 tee-off for the President’s trophy and the last round of the putting competition.

A Triumph for the Young

Ten people arrived at Redland Bay to resume golf after the recent rain cancellations. The committee decided to play the second round of the Rocklea Shield along with the scheduled Secretary’s Trophy game, so double-value for the winner. The course had a preferred lie rule, but the bunkers were still in play. Patches of water damage were visible, but the course had recovered quite well from the deluge. The staff had cored the greens since the rain, so the putting was slower than usual. The works on the 15th green were complete, so that hole was in play for the first time in a while.

Winning the day with a net 65 was Chris Young, leaving captain George Young four strokes back on 69 for the runner-up.

The two place-getters from the first round of the Rocklea Shield didn’t play today, so Chris’ score of 68 then was enough to win this year’s Rocklea Shield with a 133.

Not content to merely double-win, Chris also took half the pin shots, taking six and sixteen, leaving only the fourth for Tony Armbruster and the longest drive for Phil Dacey. The pin shot on 13 was unclaimed, which is not unusual here.

Next game is in two week’s time at Wolston Park on March 27, teeing off at 6:32.

President wins President’s Trophy

Eleven people contested the President’s trophy at Redland Bay. Good weather found the golf course in good condition, with the fifteenth hole closed for maintenance so the 20th hole was included to make up the numbers. Visitor Dave Carr again joined us.

Winning his own committee trophy today was president Dennis Hogan with a 66 net. That’s the first committee trophy won by the sponsor since 2019, with a long gap before that to the one prior. He recently returned after recovering from knee surgery, and has stated that it’s been better than ever. Four shots back is Allan Gillam gaining runner up with a 70.

Five pin shots were on offer today, with captain George Young getting on the 20th, played between two and three. The fourth went unclaimed, while our winner got on six, the treasurer Steve Friedrichs got on the long 13th, and secretary Mick van Bemmel got on 16. Longest drive on the fourteenth was also claimed by the captain.

That was also the last round of the all-year putting competition, so we have some winners. When the captain tells me who they are, I’ll publish it here.

The next game is at 6:24am on November 7 at Mount Warren Park. That is the Mal Curnow Memorial, a pairs competition defended by last year’s winners, Blair George and secretary Mick van Bemmel. They get to choose the competition format, and may even have some say in the selection of the teams. Ensure you arrive early enough for the pairings to be worked out.

Ricky leads group of Three

Twelve people arrived at Redland Bay for the secretary’s trophy event. Numbers were bolstered by the appearance of Wayne Zammit, who last played with us July 1, 2018 at Nudgee. The secretary chose a stableford/stroke hybrid event, knowing that while on the stableford half, we were still going to have to putt-out all the holes in order to submit a putting total, since this was the first round of the all-year putting contest also.

It was pleasant to play a round without rain falling on us. There were dark clouds threatening in the distance, though we were going to be long gone before they arrived.

When all got into the clubhouse, there were three leaders tied on a score of 17, so a countback was used to separate them. First to drop out was treasurer Steve Friedrichs, who three-putted the last two greens to sabotage his chances. Last-time winner Dave Brain fell just short this day gaining the runner up behind the winner Ricky Ong. Ricky’s game has been improving of late, so he only needed a day without rain to put it all together.

Only two pin shots went off. The usual 13th was missing, but unusually no-one managed to get on the 4th either. The other two both went to secretary and trophy-donor Mick van Bemmel. Tony Armbruster gained the longest drive on the 14th.

Next game is in two-week’s time on March 21 at Wolston Park with a 6:32 tee-off.

Tony Keeps his Prize

Thirteen people arrived at Redland Bay for the final round of the championships and putting contest. Knowing we were playing on the course just before all the greens are to be scarified, the grass was left a little longer than usual, so the putting was a little slower.

Happy to win his own trophy was today’s sponsor Tony Armbruster clearing the field with a 63 net. Our runner-up completed a major form reversal from his recent outing at Gainsborough with Ricky Ong returning a 66.

Pin shots went to our runner-up on the fourth, Blair George on six, our winner on thirteen and Mick van Bemmel on sixteen. Longest drive also went to our runner-up.

Since that was the final championships round, we now have the results!

A grade winner is George Young with 269 strokes.

B grade winner is treasurer Steve Friedrichs with 299 on a countback.

This round also concludes the putting contest, with the A grade winner being George Young with 150, while the B grade winner is Mick van Bemmel with 160.

We also now have the qualifying for the matchplay. Typically first plays fourth, and second plays third, with the rest used as reserves if someone in the top four can’t make the semi-final event.

A Grade.

1. Tony Armbruster
2. Dave Brain
3. George Young
4. Dennis Hogan
5. Chris Young

B Grade.

1. Mick van Bemmel
2. Ricky Ong
3. Steve Friedrichs
4. Allan Gillam
5. Noel Gilby

Those semi finals are at the next game, at Windaroo Lakes on October 18 with a 6:54 tee-off.

Another Day for the Young

Despite perfect autumn golfing conditions, a mere seven people arrived at Redland Bay for the secretary’s trophy event. Attendance was impacted less by COVID-19 concerns, than by the opening weekend of sporting fixtures with uncertain futures. Golf is a great activity for maintaining “social distance”, so this club’s events will proceed as normal for the foreseeable future. The golf course had recently scarified all the greens, so putting on them was quite a lottery, emphasized when the sponsor put on a putting prize today.

With the small field limiting the choices, the placegetters this time were the same as last game, only with the positions swapped. Chris Young won with a great score of 66, while just shading George’s 67. Chris’ driving today was very consistent, which gave him a head-start on basically every hole. His bold approaches to the greens allowed him to manage the difficult putting conditions to just miss out on that prize with 33.

Pin shots went to sponsor and secretary Mick van Bemmel, two to today’s runner-up, plus today’s winner on the often-missed 13th. Longest drive also went to our secretary, with the putting prize going to treasurer Steve Friedrichs for his 32. The only prize-getter outside the first group was the runner-up, but since that group were over half of the entire field, that’s not unlikely.

Next event is in two week’s time at Virginia on March 29. That’s another 6am tee-off, at a course which this club hasn’t played in living memory, if at all.