Thursday golfers encountered annoying drizzly rain and greens undergoing renovation which will raise them to an even better standard than Mount Gambier Golf Club players have enjoyed.
This did not affect scoring with Sam Mainwaring (18) having 42 points and Nick Black (6) runner up on 40 while the ball run down went to a high of 36 and only four players on 36 points featured.
Thursday afternoon golf has a camaraderie flavour with a shuffle of cards to mix up the groups.
One of the chief organisers is Sam and it is good to see a member who has committed a lot of time to the club in a variety of roles, break through.
Starting on the 10th with pars on the 10th and 11th holes set Sam up for 21 points on his first nine.
A solid second nine kicked up a gear with a chip in birdie on the 7th and a long birdie putt on the 8th, both 4 pointers finished of another 21 points and bragging rights for the stallions group.
Runner up Nick showed that practice pays off as he is on the range most days working on his game.
Nick had a very symmetrical day of 20/20 splits with birdies on the 1st and 18th to balance things out.
Others to score well were Daryl Taylor 40 points, including two wipes, on 38 Nic Clayton, Rob Harkness and Phil Bliss.
A mention to Graham Greenwood on 37 points still delirious from Collingwood’s win who started with a birdie on the 1st.
Nearest the pin went to Keith Couzner on the 8th and Jeff Hodge on the 16th.
Saturday saw a good field of 110 play in the monthly medal stroke with the best score on the day joining the list of Barney Larkin Medal of Medals contenders, with the honour going to Jon Clayton with nett 67.
In A Grade Jayden Eldridge (3) can consider himself unlucky to have missed out on the Barney Larkin contenders also scoring nett 67, shooting a two under par 70.
The multi-talented sportsperson, recently appointed the Penola FC playing coach, birdied 2, 5, 8, 15 and 18 for a 34/36 split.
Runner up with nett 69 was Joe Clements (7).
The competitive Clements playing in the afternoon knew 67 was the score to beat and had the bit between the teeth before an untimely double bogey on the 10th stalled his run, but birdies on 15 and 16 completed a solid day.
Craig Wirth and Phil McBain also had nett 69 while on 71 were Shane Brook, Roger Davis and Trent Eitzen.
As mentioned above Jon Clayton (12) took out “B” Grade with nett 67 comprising 40/39.
A past handicap match play champion, Jon started with a birdie on the 1st plus 10 pars with 6 coming on the back nine.
Runner up with nett 69 was Nicholas Driver (14) with splits of 41/42.
On a 14 handicap birdies are rare but Nick had birdies on the 1st and 6th and finished strong with pars on the difficult 17th and 18th.
Other scores under handicap were Gary Button nett 69, while on nett 70 were Rob Perryman, Neal Doody, Leigh McCracken and Barry Brook.
John Shirley and Peter Miller on nett 71 rounded out B Grade.
Jack Jennings took time out from shooting the breeze on his Harley to shoot nett 68 for a popular win in C Grade.
Five pars and two birdies including the 18th finished off a good score.
Runner up with nett 69 was David Turnbull (33).
Turnbull who did play first ruck for South Gambier some time ago, showed the benefit of using your handicap where seven bogeys got the job done.
On nett 71 were Kym Sykes, continuing his recent good form, and Peter Buckingham with Grant Stephenson, an appreciated course volunteer, on nett 72.
The ball run down went to nett 74 with Peter Lock the last recipient.
Nearest the pins were taken out by Andrew Stark on the 8th who did not make birdie or par, with Phil McBain saluting on the 16th.
An interesting statistic from the stroke round is the importance of consistency, reflected by the low handicappers, with those that played to handicap being 11 of 32 in A Grade, 9 of 46 in B Grade and 5 of 32 in C Grade.
Last week was the last event of the Spring Tournament with a two person ambrose taken out by Leanne Hunt and Trudy Johnson in the women’s, Trent Eitzen and Gary Button in the men’s and Heather and Mark Teakle in the mixed.
