Memories Of Drier Days
It's your first shot of the day in the Saturday competition. You're standing on number 1 tee hoping to get the round off to a good start. You've hit a few in the practice nets and sunk a few putts. It's time to assemble it all together.
​
Your name is Neil Cameron and everyone else has got a half decent drive away. You give it your best swing with your driver and at first sight, all looks good. But then the ball starts to drift ever so slightly left. "Should be OK" your compatriots say encouragingly. "Think it ended up OK". So you wander down hoping for the best but fearing the worst.
​
Sadly your worst fears become the truth as you see your ball nestled against the trunk of a large tree half way down the hill. These things happen.
​
Then there's Eddie on the 15th.
It wasn't a bad tee shot from Eddie on 15. But just like Neil's drive on 1, the ball just drifted a bit in flight. "Think it might be in the bunker" one eagle eyed opponent suggested.
​
Now the good thing about our new bunkers is that they not only have the flat bit at the bottom, but they also have a face with a vertical component. Trouble is if your ball flies in on the full, you can end up with a fried egg. Which is what you see here. Now there was some talk of technique to deal with this, should you open the face or close the face ? Whatever you do, you swing as hard as you can, dig your club in behind the ball, and hope for the best.
​
I can report that Eddie did manage to get out at the first attempt, and came within a puffteenth of holing his putt for par.
​
Remember those blue skies and shadows - they won't last forever.
Let's Tee Off Early
It's Going To Rain
Everyone who arrived at Balmacewen this week had one eye on the weather forecast and another on the skies surrounding the hills. The forecast wasn't flash, with strong wind warnings and heavy rain warnings littering the Metservice website. But we headed out.
​
I think everyone got through the front nine dry and in one piece. But with temperatures dropping alarmingly, and the wind freshening, it was only a matter of time before the rain arrived. And it did. At first it was steady and some of us said "this is not too bad", but for the last couple of holes it was survival mode. The rain started to lash down, and we scraped through on the last green with no more than a minute to spare before the green flooded and became unplayable. I don't think the rain has stopped since and is forecast to continue for a good while yet.
But to the golf.
Shooting 72 off the stick is never easy but with the weather and uncertainty this week, it was a magnificent effort. Taking a well-earned break from teaching duties, Westy joined the field for a full 18 holes of golf and boy did he make the most of the opportunity. Scoring his first individual Blue Jacket, 39 points was enough to get the job done but only just and we did have to use the countback rule. More of that in a minute...
​
History does record that in September 2022, Westy shared a Blue Jacket with The Nugget scoring 38 points at St Clair.
​
In the 6s, hot stepper Bruce Grant, Duncan, Lloyd and lonely Tom Abbott won the first and third sets with 32 and 48 points respectively. I say lonely because Tom's usual golfing mates looked at the weather and decided to give golf a swerve for the day. Being the all-welcoming and friendly group we are, we gladly accepted Tom into the fold.
​
The middle six went to the other Bruce, Flellis, Hamish and Keith with 46 points.
​
We sang Happy Birthday to John Marsh - thanks for the shout John :}
So Why Did We Need Countback ?
Two people had 39 points this week but a sad story emerged of folding like a wet T towel on the final green for one of those people. We know Westy won with 39 points, but what of the other 39 pointer, who was it ?
​
A sad story emerged of the red rag man Bruce Grant. As we know he assembled a fine round with 39 points. But on the last green it could have been sooooo much more. As we interrogated him for his last hole score, a story emerged where not only did he not 2 putt, he didn't even 3 putt, no with the flat stick it took 4 attempts to get the ball into the hole. "That's a lot of pacing backwards and forwards" suggested someone, "your step count would be well up for the day". So we know that with a regulation 2 putt, or even a 3 putt, Bruce would have had a Blue Jacket wrapped around his shoulders.
​
Both Brucie and Westy had 3 birdies, but as an act of kindness, we awarded the night out in Balclutha as something of a consolation prize.
With a fistful of dollars, Bruce is all set for a big night in South Otago. Check out the condition of the 18th green in the background. A warm dry clubhouse was a better place to be.
Orders To Bolty
If you're on the look out for eggs, Eric is your man. If you're on the look out for the latest in men's fashion, see Bolty.
Here we see our man modelling his latest acquisition from Temu. A very stylish Wagglers short sleeved summer shirt. Ideal for a BBQ, a meal out at a fancy restaurant, you too could own one of these creations. Somebody suggested the NZ map didn't look quite right with the South Island looking a little stretched in places. I wouldn't say that but someone did.
​
Now if you want one, it's all yours for less than 30 bucks. You can have it in all sorts of different colours, perhaps you could collect all colours and go for the full set. I'll leave it up to you. See Bolty on how to get your hands on one of these hot little clothing items.
​
And that was a wet Wednesday.