Saturday 10 January at Marangaroo

3 January

And so we sallied forth into 2026 with newly minted Capt Bruce leading 20 other willing soldiers at Marangaroo. The club trophy stableford comp was up for grabs in fine conditions, with a late sou’wester to cool us down.

ON COURSE:

·         No one hit off from the red tees this week, that’s a relief. I found it threatening to my manliness! No one hit a second shot from behind the red tees either, as far as I know.

·         Joe on the 1st hit his drive into the bush. He middled his second, a 4 iron which rocketed backwards off a tree and hit him in the shoulder. “It got big on me” Joe said, and was slapped with a 2 stroke penalty for interference. Joe took 14 on the first hole, and the day didn’t get a lot better.

·         Newly minted Capt Bruce came up with his first decree on the 14th, “Be Nice To Each Other”. So BNTEO it is for 2026, give it a go!

·         Aussie had zero points after 4 holes, but took it like a man, remaining cheerful and upbeat. No clubs were broken. He rallied late on the front 9 to end up with 8 pts at the turn.

·         Clappers caused confusion, lots of confusion, on the 17th by stating (on the tee) that Tony had won long drive “B”. When they approached their balls, Clappers retracted his statement claiming LDB for himself. Then on close inspection there was a random ball on the fairway, not his, and so Clappers kindly donated LDB back to Tony. Clappers is a guy who meticulously (2026’s biggest word so far) works thru all the available evidence, and comes up with right decisions. Joe B should give him a job.

·         And Clappers (again), backwards Clappers (again), followed his reverse engineering feat of a few weeks ago on Carramar 14th, with the exact same shot on Marangaroo 18th this week. He cracks one into the sign ahead of the tees (again), and the ball Rick-O-Shayed backwards (again). This time it headed towards the 15th tee through the bush, leaving Clappers approx 40m worse off than when he was on the tee (again). Turning P4’s into P5’s, like wine into water.

·         JK on the 18th tee, after a DISMAL front 9 (and mid 40’s back) mutters aloud “Why do I play golf”? He had no answer, but Clive chipped in and offered that he played for “companionship and longevity”. And Tampo “for my mental health”. Man, there was some deep thinking going on in that 4th group trio.

PAIRS:

Quiet achievers (Brad Pete) played ANZAC’s (Ged Aussie). Ged could only do so much, after Aussie went M-I-A on the front 9, and Quiet Achievers got home on the 16th, 3 up 2 to play, match score 8-4.

STOP PRESS: Only one match left on the roster, DJ’s V ANZAC’s. I have been saying DJ’s will finish 4th but if ANZAC’s roll DJ’s heavily (like 10-0) then Simple Minds will sneak into the top 4. So the game DJ’s V ANZAC’s is live. Sorry about that. Pairs update to come Tues.

WINNERS:

Announcements, announcements took a long time, but everyone understood, and were generally very supportive of newly minted Capt Bruce. He was smooth, articulate and measured, controlling the room like a pro. And he laid down a 2nd decree that the Capt picks the novelty holes on club trophy days – he’s taken the bull by the horns, go Capt Bruce.

Runner up on the day bagging $20 was Rod with 39 points, an excellent day for Rod.

And winner, on a day where the heavy hitters dominated, was OJ, with 41pts, off a 10handicap. Great round Joe.

Till next time.

Pete