Monday, December 11th
Mountain Shadow
1st Robby Watts (11) 38 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (19) 38 points
3rd Paul Smith (5) 37 points
4th Niall Glover (15) 35 points
5th Geoff Parker (23) 32 points
6th Craig Dows (7) 32 points
Near pins Tony Berry, Paul West, Niall Glover, & the anonymous one.
An unhappy return to Mountain Shadow today where chaos reigned. When we arrived there were no caddies or carts available and we could not check in until our tee time of 11.00 am. After that, we found there were lockers available but no keys so all valuables had to be carried onto the course.
The course itself had become very brown and hard since our last visit with grass disappearing and plenty of run on the fairways. The day was hot and humid and the pace of play was pedestrian. A number of very decent scores were achieved with top-of-the-tree Robby Watts edging out Jimmy Carr on countback, both with thirty-eight points. Paul Smith was a stroke back in third place. Niall Glover took fourth place with thirty-five points. Geoff Parker edged out Craig Dows for fifth, last game for Craig who returns to a soggy Melbourne for Christmas. Near pins went to Tony Berry, Paul West, Niall Glover, and the anonymous one.
We are now faced with a conundrum, do we persevere with lesser courses which have now become very popular and crowded due to pricing constraints or do we raise our sights a little higher in the hope of getting a more suitable arrangement at mid-range courses? scheduling has become very difficult right now as evidenced by the fact we have Pattavia on the January list four times, not ideal.
Wednesday, December 13th
Crystal Bay C & A.
1st Les Cobban (10) 45 points
2nd Daryl Vernon (20) 43 points
3rd Colin Greig (14) 39 points
4th Neil Hurst (8) 39 points
5th Mike Milland (18) 39 points
Near pins Paul Smith, Daryl Vernon, Geoff Atwell, & the anonymous one.
After an absence of over a year, the Bunker Boys made a return to Crystal Bay today, and what a day it turned out to be. I can’t ever remember a day with such consistently high scores.
Mike Milland could be forgiven for thinking he would take the day with a remarkable twenty-four points on the front nine and a total of thirty-nine, still only good enough for fifth place where he was joined by Neil Hurst and Colin Greig, also with thirty-nine and placed as listed on countback. Surely Daryl Vernon would have been confident with forty-three points but had to settle for second. The winner on the day with a remarkable forty-five points was Les Cobban, a round of one over the stick liberally sprinkled with birdies, made his forty points from last Friday look pale by comparison and put Les comfortably in the box seat to take out the golfer of the month trophy. His explanation for his score was that he couldn’t miss with the putter. This was the best-ever round for Les so to mark the occasion he rang the bell. For the second game in a row, the anonymous one took a near-pin with the other three going to Geoff Atwell, Paul Smith, and a very close one to Daryl Vernon.
Most were very pleased with the return to Crystal Bay and expressed the view that we should play there more often instead of playing some courses three or four times per month. Some of the old issues remain, the clubhouse is in very poor condition, the watering system is defective in places, and as always the bunkers remain in very poor shape. A couple of areas were very soggy where the sprinkler system was on for too long, one green was virtually waterlogged, but the layout remains a favourite of most.
Friday, December 5th
Emerald
1st Robby Watts (11) 39 points
2nd John Hughes (23) 38 points
3rd Hubert Stiefenhofer (15) 37 points
4th Geoff Atwell (23) 36 points
5th Jimmy Carr (18) 35 points
6th Keith Norman (17) 35 points
Near pins Phil Mashiter, Gary Smith, Kob Glover, & Les Cobban.
A very hot day for the last game of the week at Emerald. The course was in better condition than we have seen it for a while, the greens have recovered nicely and the fairways were well-grassed. With hoards of our Northern neighbours on hand a relatively slow round was had. While the marshal made several circuits of the course he did nothing to hasten play. Groups sitting for long periods halfway through the round for refreshments should have been swiftly moved on.
Another day of good scores with everybody in the winners circle thirty-five and over. Some people seem to be able to keep themselves in good form for a prolonged period, one such is Robby Watts who in the last few weeks has returned some consistently good scores, today his thirty-nine points were enough to take first place. In a remarkable run, John Hughes had seventeen points in four holes on the front nine, but still only enough to take second place with thirty-eight points. Hubert Stiefenhofer made a return to form with a well-compiled thirty-seven points to take third. Geoff Atwell, never far from the podium took fourth with thirty-six points, somebody needs to check his handicap. Jimmy Carr and Keith Norman were fifth and sixth respectively on thirty-five points. A real scramble for the near pins with some very close calls, on debut Phil Mashiter took one, Gary Smith, Les Cobban, and Kob Glover took the remaining pins.
We end the week on a very sad note with the passing of Ken Elmore today. Ken was a long-standing and very popular member of the Bunker Boys and his passing fills the Bunker with sadness. Ken was one of the wittiest people you could wish to meet, always ready with a joke or something funny to say. He had been in bad health for the past two years not helped by the diabolical state of the NHS. He recently underwent a massive sixteen hours of radical surgery and has been on a downhill slide ever since. He is the second Bunker Boy to pass in recent weeks and will be sadly missed. Our condolences go to his long-time partner, friend, and wife Sue.
May He Rest in Peace
Robby Watts, winner at Mountain Shadow.
Forty-five-point winner at Crystal Bay Les Cobban.
Vale Ken Elmore.
