Royal Wellington - Well The Weather Held ...
Phew - 2 tough courses back to back. With a grim weather forecast telling us to expect driving rain and winds, it was with some concern we headed up the Hutt Valley today to Royal Wellington. We had the odd bit of rain but the day was dead still and all in all it wasn't a bad day out.
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The hosts were terrific and we could not have had a warmer welcome. All thanks to Phil and James Porteous from the host club for organising a day which will stay in the memory for a long time. Many of the Royal; Wellington people we met had or have strong connections to Dunedin and Balmacewen. It was a great day out.
It's an interesting observation when we get to play on a different course. My take is that these courses tend to punish a bad shot more than we are used to. If you're not careful one bad shot on a hole can lead to a double or triple bogey and they can soon wreck a card. Greg Turner has had a go a redesigning the course and in particular the greens. As the members told us, the greens have a lot of dead elephants buried underneath meaning there are some interesting slopes, hollows and bumps. There are no flat greens. It's a tough gig.
Welcome - A Great Day Out
Here's James Porteous welcoming The Wagglers to Royal Wellington Golf Club. We arrived and had a nice lunch of Lancashire hotpot, mashed potato and peas which was just wonderful.
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It was then a few putts and practice swings before heading out. We played what is known as an 8 ball competition which essentially means that you take the best net score from the group of 4 golfers. If you weren't making a 3 pointer on each hole you were off the pace.
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After golf we had showers, freshened up and then had a wonderful meal in the clubhouse. Stories were told linking the two clubs, jokes were told, and memories shared. Some of the jokes were better than others .....
And The Winners Are ...
Given that today was a winner takes all scenario with 280 bucks on offer, it's no surprise the group in the picture are grinning from ear to ear. Individual scores were not that flash but apparently they combined well.
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Nick Nicolson, Yatesy and John Marsh need little or no introduction. The big fella at the back is local member John Rattray - now that's a good Dunedin name.
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For the record, they came in with a 10 under par net 61 which won by quite a margin I hear.
Avoid The Water ...
Long par 5s are interesting, particularly when they have a deep lake right in front of the green. This particular specimen claimed the balls of Wozza and Ray Grubb as what they thought were decent approach shots to the green ended up in the drink.
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Not much to report today in the misdemeanour department. We didn't even have a sheriff session so no stories to report of people doing things they shouldn't.
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Tomorrow we go over the hill and become Wainuiomartians for the day so let's see what that brings.
