The rain cleared for the par comp at Carramar, with 17 starters in 5 groups. But the wind didn’t clear, some of the strongest gusts we have played in this year – Dom is the only player who thought this issue thru, and had his hair tightly bound up. Clappers had his trophy day, there was a pairs match up for grabs, and a Mystery 9 as well.

ON COURSE:

·     Erin did NOT have a blinder, not in any way, shape or form. He had his first windy on the 1st – from a fairway lie! He had 2 more windys. He had 5 shots in the bunker on the 8th, and capped off this display by only finding 2 fairways off the tee. I hope he felt better after a good lie down.

·     Group 2 had 2 buggies blow over on the second green, and a fair old mess of tees and balls to chase up.

·     Steve twice found himself in the bush, and had to manhandle loose impediments. The rest of the field would have had to take a drop, because we wouldn’t be able to lift these fallen tall timber loose impediments. Goes to show the value of going to the gym.

·     Dom was the highest handicapper in his group, that has never happened before.

·     Dom hit a monster over the tree on the 8th and it rolled on, finishing left side but on fairway. LD-A, H-U-G-E. He won 3 more golf balls.

·     Dom on the 9th had a ladies, and some difficulty from the bush, resulting in him hitting his 6th shot off the ladies teebed. Yes 6th shot – and he had a windy as well by this stage! He went on to record a 10 for the hole, and so was able to pick a jug from a L, W or Q, all on one hole. And he was nominated for the “Cappy” award. Dom is an enigma.

·     Rod was square after 14 and thinking that may very well be enough to be in the hunt. He finished minus - minus - minus - minus. Disappointing.

PAIRS:

The Underdogs (Steve & Aussie) took on Quiet Achievers (Brad & Pete) with both teams hopes for 2026 on the line. It was toe to toe through the front 9 with Brad and Steve doing ALL the heavy lifting for their respective teams, and many missed opportunities from both teams. On the 9th, the whole group found trouble in the bush left and right, finally resulting in a squared hole. Brad & Pete worked their way 2 clear after 15. Aussie struck back on the P3 16th for TU’s – a magnificent 9 iron, dragging The Underdogs back into the fray, 1 down, 2 to play. Whichever team lost from here was going to say “we didn’t take our chances”. Hole 17 was squared, and Brad & Pete (-8 for the day) won the 18th to take the match very unconvincingly 6-4.

WINNERS:

Bruce again did a fine job with the presentations, he had the crowd locked in and enthralled. Look at the photo, everyone bolt upright, paying attention (except for Rod having a punt) - you don’t get that very often.

There had been no “plus” scores all month in the Carramar Par comps, but that all changed yesterday, in what you could argue were the toughest conditions. How does that work?

Pete Patroni came in 3rd place with a fine +1, gross 94, in spite of 37 putts! Must have been very good from tee to green.

Runner Up was Brad with a +2, and low round of the day gross 80, bagging a nice bottle of Cointreau.

And smashing the field to win the day by a large margin was Tony who scored a magnificent +4, gross 92, winning a very fancy bottle of bourbon. Sensational round Tone, go forth and do good work with that bottle. We’ll come round and help if you’re struggling?

Thanks you Clappers for the excellent trophies.

M9:

Tony gave the M9 a big shake but was ineligible. Clappers scored +2 to win the M9 (-2 on course, what a turnaround) congrats Clappers, can’t wait to buy you a drink at Hillview.

Till next time,

Pete