PSC Golf from The Billabong Golf Bar
Wedensday, July 27, Green Valley – Monthly Medal
The Billabong Monthly Medal has been sponsored by Brian Chapman – who owns Haven Consultants Financial Advisers – for the four years that the Billabong Golf Bar has been running golf. A medal round provokes many differing emotions, frustration and despair, so it is as well to remember that when the sand in the bunkers is not the right texture for your particular technique, or you hit more trees than you thought possible, that it is just a game – or is it? As Greg Norman said, “don’t blame the club it is the idiot holding it that is the problem.”
Thirteen ladies and 24 men gave the thumbs up to Green Valley for it is now in excellent condition, if you can forget the building site that is the first tee, which may be the reason for the excellent scores today.
The minor places today had Miss Sa only managing third place in the ladies competition with a net 68, with Miss Noy claiming second place with a 67. In the men’s competition both Alistair Gall and John Fitzgerald have featured regularly of late but today John got the better of Alistair with a 69 against John’s 70, but that very steady Frenchman, Gerard Lambert had an excellent round with a 67 to hold on to second spot.
But the day belonged to two golfers who had a day to remember, each winning their respective competitions. Most of us have had one of those days – perhaps not too often – when the drives hit the fairway, the approach shot is straight and true and the ball seems to have a homing device to hit the bottom of the cup, which appears to be the size of a dustbin, on a regular basis. Well that happened to Miss Yaow, wife of golf chairman Ron Gale, coming home with a fantastic net 64 and William Macey with an equally great round of 63 to win the trophies and shirts presented by Brian Chapman. Just one of those days to remember by both!
There were five 2s on the day, coming from Miss Yaow, Miss Nu, Kevin Hamilton, Sel Wegner and Brian Chapman.
Friday, July 29, Plutaluang – Scramble
Plutauang was the venue today for our monthly scramble and with 18 teams of 4 we were away earlier with a two-tee start. With no hold-ups it turned out to be a pleasant round of golf. The course is in great shape at the moment due to the amount of rain they have had, the dams were as full as you could get. Whilst the greens were a bit slow and difficult to putt on we all got there in the end.
There were some good scores and as usual the banter was rife. You always have to be in the 50s to get a prize in this competition and that was the case today, with the team of Damien Trant, his son Michael, James Savage and Tom Byrne taking the third place with a net score of 59.3. In second was the team of our visitors from Perth, namely Brad O’Keefe, Luke, Brian and Peter Henderson with a net 59.2. And the top spot went to Brian Orr, Ted Gardner, Chris Hart and Mike Anderson with a score of 57.8. Well done all who played and had an enjoyable day out.
Back at the bar just before presentation George Barrie gave a eulogy for our good mate Steve Balfour who sadly died on his last trip here about six weeks ago to see his little girl Georgina. He was cremated in his home town in Scotland on this very day at the age of 36 years, way too young, you be sadly missed by us all here at the Billabong and our hearts are with your family. The hat was taken round and about 650 (British) pounds was raised, which will be sent back home to his family to help with the costs of his funeral. RIP Steve.
