PSC Golf from The Outback GolfBar
Monday, August 29, Burapha – Stableford
Playing the difficult C & D courses, scores were low. Some thick rough off the fairways had most of our golfers struggle to navigate the course and the A division, with handicaps up to 18, coped with the conditions better. It certainly gives credence to the USGA handicap system which gives higher handicappers a higher playing handicap as the course difficulty increases. Having said that, it’s clear that Burapha’s rating on the A & B courses are too generous, considering that it plays a lot easier.
In the B division, Colin Patterson came in with a third place with 32 points, beaten on count back by Ivan Plunkett who had a better back nine. Peter Moon won B division with 33 points, a testament again of how difficult the course played.
In the A division, Steve Plant scored 35 points for third, as did John O’Keefe in second who beat Steve on a count back. The winner, Tony McDonough, was the only fella to better his handicap on the day with 37 points.
Neil Skilton managed to get the only ‘2’ of the day.
Friday, Sept. 2, Silky Oak – Stableford
Surprisingly few complaints from the players today – last week we heard a lot from other societies about the greens being super slow, but most people I spoke to thought the course was in fair condition (definitely not the place to go to every time, but ok for an occasional knock).
Silky Oak is playing relatively easy from the white tees (although some high handicappers still have tremendous difficulty even clearing the first hole) and all in all scores were reasonably good today.
In the B division, Neil Fidele came in third place with a level par 36 points. At the top of the leaderboard Andy Makara and Eddie Beilby fought a titanic tussle for the bragging rights, both posting superb scores of 41 points, but Eddie getting the nod for top spot thanks to his 21 points on the back nine.
Jack Butler once again made it into the prize list in the A division with his 36 points. In second place was Sel Wegner with 38 points and the division honours went to Steve Planthas with a superb lowest gross of the day 81, giving him 40 points.
Saturday, Sept. 3, Burapha – Skins
Welcome back to John Low and his crew from New Zealand that joined our regular Saturday golfers for a fun day out. As mentioned previously, Saturday golf is a bit more laid back, with lots of beer and even music on course and the only time that we do allow ‘gimmies’. The reason being that it is a skins competition where each hole carries a reward for the lowest net score, so it has a bit of a matchplay feel to it.
Carl Sellick played yet another amazing round with a gross 72 and with 40 points he was the clear winner on the day. However, being a skins comp does mean you have to get your birdies on the right holes (as a low handicapper), and his great round wasn’t good enough for any skins! Instead, Shaun Pullen got crucial net birdies on holes 7 and 8 and a fabulous net eagle on the par-5 fifteenth hole to bag him a total of 9 skins.
The other 9 skins were gobbled up by the Kiwi boys, with Geoff Christie getting a nice windfall as holes 16, 17 & 18 wrapped around to make his birdie on hole-1 count for 4 skins. John Low’s birdie 2 on hole-12 ensured that he got 4 skins and Gary Bancroft got in with a skin via his birdie on hole-2.
