Even though the weather remained mild for the day the heavy underfoot conditions meant that scoring was hard to come by in Saturday’s Stableford competition at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
Brett Lewis enjoyed the tough conditions, swapping his sea legs for golf sprigs, to take the outright win with 39 points.
Having seen his handicap tumble recently Lewis now gets just the one shot on each hole (18 handicap) and he made the most of that with 23 points on the front nine from 3 pars and a birdie on the 8th.
The swell got a bit tougher over the back nine, commencing his run in with a pick up before stringing a couple of pars together to right the ship.
It was slim pickings from then on in, scoring just another 10 points over the last 6 holes but he had enough runs on the board to secure the win.
Valued club volunteer John Millhouse took out the A grade win thanks to banking a winning score over the front nine, starting with 4 pars and a tap in birdie on the par 3 5th hole.
Turning with 21 points Millhouse would have been looking to a strong finish but he binned the 11th and 12th, scoring just the one point.
As good golfers do he put that behind him and dug deep for 15 points over the last 6 holes to post a one point win.
There was a trio of golfers chasing hard for the win with Bob White (9), Aaron O’Donnell (10) and Chad Chewter (6) all finishing tied on 37 points.
White ended up getting the cheese thanks to a strong finish of birdie, par birdie for 11 points.
O’Donnell, who also opened the front nine with 19 points, and while he will be happy to similarly add another 18 points like White, his shopping cart came up two points shy over the last 3 holes.
Chewter had the better front nine out of the three of them but he copped a double bogey on the last which hurt his count back chances.
Another player to finish on 37 points was former West Gambier champion cricketer Fred Knight who always brightens a dull day with his golfing apparel.
Knight (17) turned at the halfway point just behind his handicap with 17 points but then settled in for the long game with pars on the 12th, 13th and 15th to finish with another 20 points and take out the B grade win.
Fresh from a week basking in the Queensland sun obviously agreed with second place winner John Robertson, who put aside a difficult ball losing round at Dunk Island Golf course to have 35 points.
Overcoming a sluggish start where he wished he was still on holiday Robertson excelled with a tap in birdie on the 12th on his way to a 19 point inward nine, despite two non scoring holes.
After a promising front nine David Gould couldn’t quite maintain the momentum and slipped back to third with 34 points.
While no C grade player managed to break their handicap Robert Johncock was the best in the grade with a winning score of 35.
Johncock (34) battled on manfully after turning with 17 points he still managed to bring it home with another 18 points despite a no score hole on the 15th.
Cory Davis ((33) and Shaun Martin (28) filled the minor placings.
A and B grade players filled the list of ball winners, headed by the unlucky Chewter and Rob Ellis 36, Derek Sargeant, Stephen Easterbrook 35, Trevor Little, Tim Bates 34, Colin Ferguson 33, Bryan Scott, Brett Perryman and Bruce Grubb on 32.
Nearest The Pins went to Scott (A grade) and Chris Hoggan (B) and Pro Shots were won by Jamie Walters (5th) and John Kamp (16th).
Ladies: There was a stand out winner in the Ladies Stableford competition at the BLGC on Saturday with Rosemary Partland dealing with the difficult conditions with aplomb.
Martland (12) has thoroughly enjoyed her golf of recent times, bettering her handicap and featuring prominently in the winners column.
With 4 pars on the first 5 holes she had set herself up early to have a sub handicap round and despite a shock double bogey on the 12th she still managed 18 points on the inward nine to be a runaway winner.
Geraldine Scott (25) and Dianne Perryman (18) were the best of the chasing pack finishing in second and third place respectively with scores of 27 and 26.
Martland naturally also took out the novelty event of Best Back 9.
The Club would like to send their best wishes for a speedy recovery to Lee Anderson who had a nasty ankle injury after a slip on the 14th hole and pass on their thanks to the ladies that helped Lee.
It is the the second time this winter we’ve had an injury on that hole so please take care when navigating any of the embankments or slopes.
Tuesday With the threat of impending wet weather on the radar for the rest of the week a good field presented for BLGC’s midweek Par competition and golfing karma was on the side of the top three prize winners who all volunteer some of their time to help keep the course in the top condition it is.
A count back was required to decide the outright winner after both Wayne Dunford and Graeme “Yogi” Anderson finished on a highly respectable +3.
Thanks to a superb back nine Dunford was crowned the winner.
After a fairly pedestrian front nine of minus 2 Dunford then showed the ability that had him firmly entrenched in A grade not so long ago, a birdie on the 12th being the highlight of his 37 off the stick for a plus 5 nine.
Anderson also showed glimpses of what he can do with a string of 4 successive plusses through the early stages of his back nine.
Unfortunately, like his fishing, he let the big one get away with wipes on the 16th and 17th hurting his chances.
It was eight holes of all or nothing for the 22 handicapper with just the one halved hole.
Fellow 22 handicapper and club volunteer Trevor Gartside survived a three way count back after he finished tied with Ian Bown and Colin Rex on +1.
Gartside and Bown had identical splits of square on the front nine and +1 on the back with the former getting the decision after a better last 6 holes.
Milton Bignell had a purple patch through the 12th and 13th holes, eagling the 12th after a superb chip in and then followed that with a birdie on the 13th.
Molly Patzel is all smiles after his game.
