10-Aug-2014: 3rd Rnd Club Championships-Bankstown GC

 

Its the last month of winter, and with a chilly 6:45 am hit-off at Bankstown Golf Course today, you know the third round of the Championships is going to be a critical moving day, forward for some and out the back door for many 🙁

The cold winter has made the fairways and greens hard and very fast, and whilst pins were cut in friendly position D, you know your short game and putting will be under extreme pressure.

To have any chance of scoring well on this challenging course:
– avoid trees from the tees
– avoid too many clunkers in the bunkers
– avoid red steaks, sorry stakes, as it’s bad for your heart
– avoid ball above hole on green as your putting will go downhill like a motorbike (putt-putt-putt)

As play commenced from the 10th tee, you could not help but notice how dry and dusty the course looked, particularly the fairways. The green grass had turned to a wintery beige and the course was littered with fallen debris from the many trees that inhabit this golf arena. It was no surprise when the Captain announced “preferred-thru-the-green” as playing conditions for the day.

As expected, stroke play was somewhat slow with players taking more time to take their shots, or in the case of many, taking more time to take more shots :-(.

After the game, feedback from players indicated course conditions were much tougher than expected.
The greens were extremely hard and fast and proved difficult for many to stop the ball on the green when chipping. Maybe time to start using a 3-piece ball like the Pro V1 for this course?

The bunkers were inconsistent, with some having thin layer of sand that resulted in the sand wedge bouncing edge first into the ball. Maybe time to stop using a sand wedge and go back to a flop/gap wedge for some of these bunkers?

Hmmm, with the world just celebrating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, the scores shot today would make it appear Revesby Mens Golf Club were re-enacting Gallipoli.

With the abacus almost melting down from the friction of additions, the Captain, Steve Vaughn, finally announced the survivors, I mean winners:

The outright winner trophy went to Greg Jones off 17 handicap with a fine score, under the tough conditions, of 69 nett. Greg’s game must suit this course as he won previously at Bankstown. Whilst he has a tough endo-skeletal frame with a bit of titanium thrown in, I’m sure that putting wand he carries helped him greatly in getting past the post. Top round Greg.

The A Grade winner went to the Rip Van Winkle of A grade, Phil White, who scored 73 nett off a 12 handicap. Lets just say it was slow and steady and nothing fancy with few mistakes that got him the cup today. Not a bad strategy, since he won the A Grade the week before. Another great come-back result Phil.

The B Grade winner went to Joy Mesuria with a score of 75 nett off a 19 handicap. Joy hasn’t played much this year, so winning the Guzzlers two weeks ago at Rosnay must have given him the confidence to come back and play this tough course and produce a good score. Well done Joy.

The C grade winner went to Brendan Vaughn with a score of 70 nett off a 27 handicap. Since his engagement, his lust and passion for winning appeared to have waned (maybe re-channelled) and replaced with a new hobby of collecting cricket memorabilia 🙂 So it is with great relief and pleasure to see Brendan on the winners podium collecting the C Grade cup with a fine score.

Lastly, the Guzzlers went to Rodney Keen with a grafting 74 nett (on a count-back) off a 17 handicap. I’m sure Rodney worked up a great sweat and deservedly sought solace and satiation from other members.

The Bradman scores were stratifyingly high, I swear I saw cumulus-nimbus clouds building up above the three score cards as they lay on the table 🙁
Revesby results on the day:

Outright Winner: Greg Jones [17] 69 nett

A Grade Winner: Phil White [12] 73 nett
B Grade Winner: Joy Mesuria [19] 75 nett
C Grade Winner: Brendan Vaughn [27] 70 nett

GUZZLERS CUP: Rodney Keen [17] 74 nett c/b

BRADMANS:

A – Matt Campbell [15] 95 nett
B – Steve Vaughn [18] 101 nett
C – Paul Hogan [29] 88 nett

Nearest To Pins: R.Hamer(3), A.Conte(7), P.White(11), G.Lattouf(13), P.White(15)

Drive & Pitch: B.Vaughn(5)