Ariah Park Golf With preferred lies AKA Nappa away for a romantic weekend with the gorgeous wife Maree in Sydney enjoying the highlife, swimming at Bondi beach, breakfast at Rose Bay, sunbaking at the Opera House and playing golf at Royal Sydney, means that this weeks report comes from Prefers Not To Lie, so you can believe that what’s written here today is the whole truth and nothing but the truth…… maybe. After a wet and rainy week, the sun came out for a cool, cloudy but bright morning with no wind or rain, making the course look magnificent this week. The greens were looking A plus with thanks to head greens curator Darrell. We had 10 players for the day which is a good effort for a “fresh” start. John Pike dressed for the conditions and wore two shirts, three jumpers and an overcoat and the “Russian Woolly” hat but no surprise he was still cold and his scores showed accordingly. By his own admission his tee offs were bad, fairway shots were ordinary, chipping was plain and putting wasn’t great, but there were still plenty of laughs and a great day of golf. Rocky Rollins was Pikey’s partner for the day and some good shots in between all the laughs as well as some bad shots which included searching for some rabbits a few times. Merrill and Ron were in the cart without the windscreen, so it was a bit chilly for them. They both played some great drives with a few good shots in between the “ordinary” ones and didn’t score greatly with a few scrub visits. Pete Quinnell had the pleasure of partnering Zac for the day. Pete was feeling the effects of the later night at the Temora Deb Ball the night before so not his best results. Zac went not too bad, especially having to hit off right-handed and putting left-handed, he does play golf better than he plays bowls though. The elder statesman of the club, the one and only ‘Barry Harper’ was accompanied by the energetic teenager in Jackson. As always Barry played a good consistent day with drives down the middle, chipping and putting very well, a testament to a great sportsman, (is there anything this man can’t do well?) Jacko was his erratic self but played better while being chauffeured around the course by Barry. Their first nine was plain but they also parred the last five holes a good effort if you could only remove the bad scores. Our last pairing was Darrell with Peter Hocking, as usual Darrell was Mr Consistent with a six over Par round, so Peter benefited from not having to play with brother-in-law Nodsa this week. He had a very commendable score and playing with a good golfer certainly helps your own game. Shots of the day: Peter Hocking’s shot on the 3rd hole, placing it a metre from the flag, sinking the birdie putt and having it win Nearest the Pin. Bruce on the 8th getting it on the sand and over the trees twice, parring one and birdieing the other. Darrell had a birdie on the Par 3, 3rd hole, hitting his drive 50 metres from the pin near the ladies 4th tee, then steps up plays next shot and hits it straight into the hole for an easy birdie. Not to good shots as some has the luck and others didn’t… John Pike on the Par 3, 5th hole slicing into the scrub on the right, hitting a big pine tree leaving it in the middle of the fairway. Always the luck on his side. Bruce R slicing into the pine scrub on the 5th hole and staying there, lucky to find it and get out. Merrill’s 2nd shot on the 6th hole had the ball coming off the point of the club so headed for the trees taking two shots to get out not a nice place to be checking the rabbits. Back to the warmth of the clubhouse with a sausage sandwich for afternoon tea, the cards, signatures and dates were all checked the winner for the day was Peter Hocking with a very good score of 66 net to claim his first win at Royal Ariah Park beating Jackson by one shot. Next week will be the Ron Perkinson Trophy with the “has-been’s” (Elders) Versus the “Wannabees” (Younger ones) With everyone looking forward to Rons Lamb casserole, if you see a three-legged lamb on Bruce Weisses farm, you know where the meat came from… See you all next week at Royal Ariah Park. Vets Golf Why would you want to hit a ball around a golf course that had been inundated with rain for over a week? Why would you want to putt on greens that were so slow that snails would beat the ball to the hole? I just didn’t understand the thinking of the Temora Vets last Thursday, but eighteen players turned up to register for the Delta Ag Shield Stableford event. I wanted to call the day off completely, but after dodging flying clubs and receiving some of the most horrendous abusive language that I have ever been subjected to, I quickly changed my mind. The four-iron to the groin area was the persuader. You know, I wasn’t trying to be a mongrel, like I usually am. I was concerned about damage to the course and player enjoyment. We have volunteers who work hard on the course; they give up their time so we can have a course to be proud of, and they all do a fantastic job. I didn’t want to upset the apple cart. But we played, and it was hard work. After receiving medical treatment for the four-iron attack, I teed off, as well, needless to say, I walked the course with a slight limp. Seriously, it ended up being a good day. Please disregard the above rubbish. I get these moments where crap just fills the void between my ears, and I have to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) so to speak. On a bitterly cold, wet and windy day, Ray Jennings (10) won round 11 of the Delta Ag Shield with 36 points. Ray hits a long ball off the tee, and in the conditions, we played under, anyone who can hit the ball long, has a distinct advantage over the rest of the field. Runner-up to Ray was Neville Elwin (10) with 33 points. Ball winners were Anthony Madden (11) 33 points, Mike Daley (11) 31 points, Phil Bleyer (14) 29 points c/b, Trevor Jose (22) 29 points. Delta Ag points: Ray Jennings 6, Neville Elwin 5, Mike Daley 4, Phil Bleyer 3, Trevor Jose 2. Nearest the pins: 7th Ray Jennings 1 metre, 12th Mick Reardon, with no distance recorded on the official results sheet, I’ll give Mick 2.5 metres, 16th Mike Daley, with a gorgeous shot, 4.68 metres. The drive and chip holes were won by Trevor Jose on the 3rd with 1.79 metres, the 8th was won by Ray Jennings with 3.90 metres. Ray was definitely hitting them well last Thursday. There were no skins due to technical difficulties, so the dollars that were allocated for the skins, were banked into the barbeque fund. Next Thursday 9 July, we will be playing round 11 of the Intersales Cup stroke event. Normal times apply, 10.30am registration for an 11am tee off. Visitors are welcome. I won’t be playing as my limp became worse and I am now getting around on crutches. Ladies Golf Saturday’s golf was the monthly medal round, sponsored by Nat Irvine. It was a very cold day in tough conditions - celebrations with cream puffs always help. Winner on the day was Di Starling with 88 off the stick and 77 nett. Runner up was Marg Townsend with 104 off the stick and a 78 nett. Ball winners - Nat Irvine 95 off the stick, 79 nett Jacinta Watson 92 off the stick, 80 nett Paige Starling 130 off the stick 80 nett Helen Miller 102 off the stick, 83 nett Nearest the pins: 3rd (D&C): Pip Bleyer 1.8m 12th (NTP): Jacinta Watson 6.08m 16th (D&C): Nat Irvine 45cm Sunday Golf On Sunday we had 33 players compete in the July Monthly Medal with held in conjunction with the second round of the Westpac Matchplay. Many thanks to Westpac for their support. The field consisted of 5 juniors and 2 ladies. Good to see again the juniors and ladies having a hit. It was a cool day and wind playing havoc. However, winner of the day was Steve Steinhardt (handicap 3) with 37 points. Runner up on a countback was one of our upcoming juniors, Jobe Block (12) with 35 points. Steve Steinhardt took out the A Grade medal with a 70 nett. B Grade went to Adam Phillips (13) with a 76 nett, winning on a countback. Brendan Free won the coveted Bradman award! NTP: 3rd - Steve Steinhardt 3.41m 7th - Jason Fernie 4.20m 12th - Jobe Block 0.70m 16th - Anthony Madden 6 Ball comp: Duncan McCrone (3) 35 Dave Armitage (12) 33 Erin Pike (5) 32 Adam Phillips (13) 31 Adam Ward (15) 31 Mal Krause (11) 30 Charlie Watson (2) 30 Mark Roberts (27) 30 Westpac Matchplay results: T. Brabin def C. McCrone on higher seed forfeit. J. Block def P. Lee 6 & 4. S. Block def A. Crawford on forfeit. M. Krause def M. Britton 2 & 1. D. Armitage def A. Phillips 1 UP. S. Sinclair def B. Winkley 3 & 2. A. Abra def A. Axtell 3 & 2. S. Steinhardt def F. Starling 3 & 2. Next round: Brabin vs J. Block S. Block vs M. Krause D. Armitage vs S. Sinclair A. Abra vs S. Steinhardt Next Sunday is a single stableford medley. On the 19th we have a 4BBB aggregate and multiplier. Front 9 holes is aggregate and back 9 is multiplier. Don't forget to register for the upcoming Temora Open in August. The ambrose on Saturday will fill up fast.
