F-Troop help - Thursday 31st July 2008

F-Troop on Monday was a washout so some of us had decided to front again on Thursday to make up for lost time. Unfortunately for Martin quite a few of his team had short term memory loss and did not turn up as scheduled - so Martin had to put his day plan on hold through lack of manpower.

It turned out to be a stroke of luck for me as I was able to secure Martin & Peter to my team for the day to tidy up and mulch the Wedding Garden. Warren Gray made the mistake of wandering over to see what we were doing and was soon handed a shovel. Bert Brink made a brief appearance before scurrying away (photo attached). Thanks for kicking in with some help Warren even though it was not scheduled into your day. I was very appreciative of the help from the F-Troop as it was quite a job to rake off all the sticks and leaves in and around the wedding garden. We took two full trailer loads to the 6th tee to act as mulch there.

We put on about half of the woodchip mulch today before calling it a day with the intention of returning tomorrow to finish the job.

I think Martin was out of his comfort zone not having a tree to deal with but did a superb job on the shovel & rake as did Pete and Warren. The area was looking so much better that I have captured the moment on film for tomorrow and the weekend is forcast for more rain & high winds - so it could be a case of 'play it again Sam' on Monday.

Images attched: Looking from the clubhouse balcony towards the Wedding Garden; Warren & Martin in raking mode; Warren & Martin with the rakes, Peter on the mower; various photos of the garden; Warren, Martin & myself on the shovels; Bert Brink making his escape; around the wedding garden.

Golf - Tuesday 22nd July 2008

I did not play today as I was in recovery mode from a week of golf including Wauchope, Bonville & Royal Pines on the Gold Coast. Well, what can I say - apart from one day of torrential rain it was beautiful one day and perfect the next in magnificent Queensland at this time of the year. I will have a brief report on this blog as soon as I find time and a full report on my travel blog when time permits.

In the meantime golf goes on at beautiful Gosford and getting better every moment as the course dries out and improvements are made. Today was a stroke Monthly Medal Event - a catch up from previous monthly medal washouts. We had some great scores in with players needing to score 75 on a countback or better to get a ball. We had 80 starters and no visitors.

RESULTS:

DIVISION 1:

WINNER: Michelle Martin - 68 nett

RUNNER UP: Margaret McLachlan - 69 nett

GROSS WINNER: Margaret MacLachlan - 85

PUTTING: Margaret McLachlan -30 putts on a countback

DIVISION 2:

WINNER: Leonie Casey - 66 nett

RUNNER UP: Lyn Cruickshanks - 70 nett

3rd: Clare Hastings - 72 nett

GROSS WINNER: Leonie Casey - 90

PUTTING: Leonie Casey - 29 putts

DIVISION 3:

WINNER: Elizabeth MacNamara - 71 nett

RUNNER UP: Val Scott - 72 nett

GROSS WINNER: Elizabeth MacNamara - 102

PUTTING: Iris Talbot - 29 putts

NEAREST THE PINS:

DIVISION 1 : 5th Hole: Lorraine Linnert; 12th Hole: Sheena Asken

DIVISION 2: 8th Hole : Not won; 14th Hole : Lyn Cruickshanks

DIVISION 3: 8th Hole: Margaret Mackie; 14th Hole: Margaret Nash

CCR: 73

Balls went to 75 nett on a countback.

Highlights of the day as reported to me: Fay Bailey had a birdie on the 4th; Elizabeth MacNamara had a birdie on the 15th; Yvonne Cumming had 11 putts on the back nine; Leanne Moore had 6 shots of the 18th; Helen McIntyre (a new member to our club - welcome Helen!) 6 shots on the 18th; Debbie Grinham started the day with a gobbler, a birdie and no putts and also won the fruit raffle(how good can it get) ; Michelle Martin was a star all day; Lorraine Linnert got nearest the pin on the 5th; Sue Hutton lost a ball on the new work on the 13th and was delighted when the workmen dug her ball out of the dirt & placed it for her to play(cannot loose a ball in GUR); Norma Cubis hit a super powerful drive off the 13th narrowly missed the head of a tractor driver & the ball rebounded off the tractor almost back to the water ( a close encounter one could say - for both Norma & the tractor driver); Yvonne Wilson ate half of her banana today at the 12th green & put the rest away for later, while she was putting Debbie Grinham helped herself to a bite when Yvonne was not looking - however owned up & paid her back after winning the fruit raffle later in the day.

Images attached: Michelle Martin - winner of Division 1; Leonie Casey Winner of Division 2; Elizabeth MacNamara - winner of Division 3; Debbie Grinham, Michelle Martin & Lorraine Martin - all winners today ( with Debbie's raffle win - note Debbie repaid the banana to Yvonne after she won the raffle prize).

F-Troop work on the 14th tee

The F-Troopers have been hard at work while I have been away checking out sunny Queensland. The path at the 14th is really taking shape now. I believe another layer of crushed brick will finish it off & it should be "A" okay for the future. "Do it once and do it well" should be our new motto. It is a lot of work and some expense - but work it out in the long run when we do not have to be concerned about washouts. I believe that Des Wilson contributed his civil engineering skills to this job and is now referred to as "General" Wilson. Congratulations to all the hard working F-Troopers and to Des for his contribution.

Images attached: F-troopers at work on the path at the 14th tee.

Golf - Tuesday 8th July 2008

A little touch of winter today - although it started out alright with some nice sunshine for the first nine holes. Then it clouded over & it was vests back on & eventually led to light showers. Luckily the most of us got in without getting too wet. We had some funny moments today & some good highlights with my playing partners Julie Hazzard & Christine Drakeford.

The event of the day was the Stroke Monthly Medal, played in three divisions. We had 88 starters today including two players from Terrigal.

RESULTS:

DIVISION 1:

WINNER: Annette Dunk - 73 nett

RUNNER UP: Linda Rogers - 74 nett

GROSS WINNER: Linda Rogers - 89

PUTTING: Annette Dunk - 29 putts

DIVISION 2:

WINNER: Sandra Laybutt - 72 nett

RUNNER UP: Bev Adams - 73 nett

3RD: Di Bechey - 75 nett

4TH: Helen Broadbent - 76 nett on a count back

5TH: Elizabeth McNamara - 76 nett on a count back

GROSS WINNER: Bev Adams - 94

PUTTING: Alison Guthrie - 28 putts

DIVISION 3:

WINNER: Lynn Puiatti - 72 nett

RUNNER UP: Helen Stuart - 73 nett

GROSS WINNER: Lynn Puiatti - 107 on a count back

PUTTING: Margaret Nicholls - 29 putts

NEAREST THE PINS:

DIVISION 1: 5th Hole - Kay Adams; 12th Hole - Sheena Asken

DIVISION 2: 8th Hole - Fay Levenspiel; 14th Hole - Sandra Laybutt

DIVISION 3: 8th Hole - Lynn Puiatti; 14th Hole - Helen Stuart

CCR: 73

BALLS went to 78 nett.

Highlights of the day as reported to me: Julie Hazzard parred the 11th - 5 with one putt; Chris Drakeford had a birdie on the 15th by scoring 3 with one putt; Lynn Puiatti had three pars - 5th, 8th and the 18th; Annette Dunk played a nice steady game for a nett 73 and won the putting with 29 putts; Sheena Asken had a gobbler on the 4th; Alison Guthrie had her best score for 18 months; My highlight was parring the 3rd with a gobbler; Norma Cubis hit a sizzling shot right at the garbage tin that I was standing next to on the 7th tee. I was marking my card & did not see it coming until I heard a huge bang - the garbage tin is a little the worse for wear; not to be outdone Lyn Cruickshanks fired up her shot in the same direction but missed the garabage tin; Julie Hazzard proudly announced the birth of her 12th granchild - a boy (Samuel); Bev Adams is also bragging about her new grandchild, a baby girl - born last week. Congratulations Julie & Bev!

Images attached: With my playing partners Julie Hazzard & Christine Drakeford; Annette Dunk - winner of Division one with Bev Adams & Di Beechey; Sandy Laybutt - winner of Division two ( showing off her monthly medal) with Bev Adams & Di Beechey; Lynn Puiatti - winner of Division Three with Bev adams & Di Beechey.