Oct 13, 2013: Hurstville GC

Single Stableford

A cool spring morning welcomed twenty two Revesby trail-blazers to a course temporarily ripped apart by sundry engineering equipment as part of Hurstville’s second stage upgrade program to install new fairway irrigation system on all holes, adding fill to the bottom section of the golf course and top dressing of greens and fairways.

With only nine holes in play (Holes 1-par4, 7-par5, 6-par4, 5-par4, 8-par5, 2-par3, 16-par3, 17-par4 and 18-par3), the promise of a sausage sizzle at the end of the round was enough inducement for the trail-blazers to play the nine holes twice.

Unfortunately, the sausages were not the only things that got sizzled by the end of the day. With a hot North-Westerly wind kicking in after nine holes, the players quickly succumbed to the heat whilst traversing the many slopes of the temporary nine-hole layout.

The greens were of variable pace but in good condition, however, the fairways were poor, particularly in the middle where the pipes were recently laid.

With the hot weather affecting players, expect scores to be lower than normal.

After a reasonably quick round, the players convened in the covered BBQ area for the sausage sizzle. The silence was deafening, with all players lounging in their seats exhausted from the days event. Bravo Zulus must go to Rossco and Noel for having the stamina and willpower to slave over the cook-top and prepare the tasty snags after the conclusion of the round.

The overall winner was the lean and mean Brad Keen, whose fitness allowed him to score a fine 39 points in the trying conditions. Not far behind him was another relative youngster in the club, Ryan Cassin, who managed to collect a good 37 points to win B Grade.

Ironically, it was Phil White with a crook back that won A Grade with 36 points. Suspect the hot winds loosened up the muscles in his back or he was just too fatigued to notice the pain, in any event, it was a gutsy effort on his part to show up and support the club whilst injured.

Big Mark Connolly, having lost three shots from his handicap after the last round, has done it again by winning C Grade with a low score of 32 points (on a count-back). Whist his score was disappointing, he was all smiles at the end of the day.

It was also good to see Revesby’s Captain, Troy Young, have a hit and whist initially swinging like a rusty gate, the WD40 kicked in for Troy to amass a thirst quenching score of 35 points to win the keenly sought after Guzzler’s Cup.

Another strange visitor to play on the day looked suspiciously like Fidel Castro with beard and cap. On closer inspection and interrogation, we quickly determined the lean-looking mystery man was Brendan Vaughn who had just returned from his overseas trip. Unidentified sources (I promised not to mention Steve’s name) reveal that Brendan proposed to his girl-friend whilst overseas and is now engaged. Hope your fiance realises that golf is not just a game but a short duration rehabilitation clinic for the sufferers of trauma and stress – Congratulations Brendan 🙂

Individual results on the day:

Outright Winner: Brad Keen [18] (39 pts)
A Grade Winner: Phil White [11] (36 pts)
B Grade Winner: Ryan Cassin [20] (37 pts)
C Grade Winner: Mark Connolly [27] (32 pts c/b)

GUZZLER’s CUP: Troy Young [12] (35 pts)

Nearest To Pins: B. Vaughn (2), S. Vaughn (16), N. Connolly (18)
Drive & Pitch: R. Keen (5), R. Johnston (10)

BRADMANS: K. Little (A Grade); C. Backhouse (B Grade); P. Hogan (C Grade)