By Ron Hottes
Wednesday 6 December, Stroke and Bag-day play-off:
10 talented members had qualified in 2023 for the bag-day playoff and as often happens, most of that group posted a reasonable to mediocre score on the day. At one stage, ex-Captain and most consistent A-Grader Noel Cross, looked like he had it in the bag, but the cream always rises and another consistent A-Grader, ex-President David Hatt, came in with a splendid Nett 68 – outdoing Crossy by a couple of shots.
Well done Hatty, a lovely new and expensive bag for Tracey who is just showing interest in taking up the game (What a generous & thoughtful husband you are).
But, the equally big news is that Henk De Graff finally put it all together, and with the help of some extraordinary putting, returned a super Nett 64 to win the day, the B-Grade voucher and qualify for next year’s M. McGrann playoff (and, finally, Mrs De Graff might shut up and let you brag Henk, at least for the next week/month/year). The B-Grade runner-up, making sure the girls didn’t get forgotten this week, was Annelies Duivenvoorden, with a none-too-shabby Nett 68. Balls extended to 73 in this grade. In A-Grade, Hatty took home that prize, too with his Nett 68 being too good for the runner-up, Noel Cross and his Nett 70. Balls in this grade reached 72. Finally, the NTPs went home with Rob Ferguson (3rd), Trevor Porter (5th), Henk (9th), Your Loyal Scribe (12th, must be a mistake) and Ken White (15th).
Twilight:
With only 3 Twilight sessions before the festive break, Twilight fields are getting bigger by the week. Under cloudy, but pleasant skies, there were 50 plus who were feeling relaxed and festive. Pacey Luttgens had every right to be the most festive, posting a very impressive 21 points to take home the top voucher and add 10 valuable points to his growing total. This day’s runner-up was Geoff Fall, who recorded a 20 point nine. Again, balls only got down to 18. The four NTP winners were Danny Fox (1st), Glenn Patrick (3rd), Seth Spenceley (5th) and Peter Fox (9th).
Saturday 9 December, Stableford:
All golfers know that the Stableford system tends to produce the most impressive scores. And, so it follows, if you are playing in conditions that are not favourable, Stableford is the most forgiving. It was certainly most forgiving to Clinton Toohey, who managed to accumulate 35 points in most inhospitable conditions. The next best, in the small field of 15, was Ray ‘Happy’ Gilmore with 32 hard-earned points. No surprise then that balls reached 30 points. But, it was a surprise that there was a full complement of five NTP winners; James Stewart (3rd), Matt Maloney (5th), Peter Whitehead (9th), Roger Mataele (12th) and Pacey Luttgens (15th).
