Weather turned out to be fine (very brief light shower on first hole). Course was in fair condition. Too many unfilled divots and unrepaired pitch marks in greens.  The reeds in the lakes had been cut back which improved the overall appearance of the course.

Group 1 – Ian, Peter, Phil

I felt a bit rusty standing on the first tee after flying in from Hong Kong the previous evening at midnight and not having a club in my hand for over a month. I hooked my first drive and it landed on the cart path and bounced forward about 60 metres to give me a short pitch into the first green. I followed it with three putts which I repeated regularly over the round.

After being in the water on the 3^rd, Peter sank a long putt to get his 2 points. It wasn’t until the 6^th hole that anyone in the group scored a 3 pointer. Peter again with a long putt. In the meantime, “J Arthur” had already made an appearance for Peter and in fact Ian also joined the club a few times before the end of his round. Editor’s note: What about Rick? I thought he owned the rights to “J Arthur”!

Another highlight was Peter’s second shot into 9 which ended on the edge of the green. Unfortunately, he followed this up with 3 putts.

Ian hit 3 great shots onto the edge of the 11^th green (longest hole) but could not get the par. But he was coming good and followed this up with a great chip to 1 metre on the 12^th hole.

On the par 3, 13^th hole Ian hit an absolute sniveller (Al – you would have been proud of it) along the ground to end up 3 metres from the hole and then sank the putt for a birdie. His comment coming off the green was that he still had not scored a 3 pointer.

Phil finally scored his first par on the 15^th hole with a good shot from the fairway bunker onto the green, but only 2 points due to the totally unfair handicap that he had been given. Peter went one better with a 4/3 on the same hole.

Phil did come good with two 3 pointers on the next 2 holes.

Group 2 – Rick, Nick, Rad

This group provided me with NO highlights, so I have made up a few with the help of their card.

Rad scored a nice par on the second hole to account for half this group’s total score after 3 holes. Pars to Rick on the 4^th and 5^th. Rad and Nick also had par on the short 5^th hole. Par to Rick on the 7^th and Nick finally had a 3 pointer on the 9^th. Nick was overheard saying to the boys that he thought he had about 15 points on the first nine. Unfortunately, the scorecard says he only scored 11 points.

Rad scored a very solid 18 points on the back nine to end up with 33 points. Nick finished very strongly with 8 points on the last three holes which included the two hardest holes on the course. Rick got a bit tired towards the end.

Regards Phil

“Acting Secretary – Again”