This last week has gone so quickly I have not been able to find time to update this blog. It has been a full on week - mainly taken up with golf and golf club work.
On Sunday 10th August the day started off really nicely, blue sky and sunshine, a little cool but not too bad. It developed into a full blown storm including hail. Our playing partners that day were Ray & Norma Presdee and they were great company. It was fun trying to putt across hail stones (only small ones) & try to get the ball in the hole. We got soaking wet & decided to call it quits at the 12th hole. I am not at all impressed about playing in the rain, let alone gale force winds blowing our umbrellas inside out and hail for good measure.
Monday 11th was full on work at the golf club clearing the fairways and paths. That took us most of the day as the recent high winds had made quite a mess of the place. I had my eyes checked for new glasses in the late afternoon and made a decision to move up to bifocals as I am sick of taking my glasses on and off and forever misplacing them.
Tuesday 12th August was the first day of the Championships. My playing partners were Lyn Bates and Margaret Pratt. We had some good highlights during the day but none of us finished with a spectacular score. The greens were very fast & our putting bought us undone. The weather held for us which was good & the course was starting to dry out well.
Wednesday 13th I had a "me" day and caught the train to Sydney for a day. (Photo attached of the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) one of my favourite haunts when I visit Sydney. It was not quite as spectacular as it was at Christmas Season when all the decorations are out but the place has always got a special atmosphere. I did of course do a bit of the mandatory retail therapy to relax me for the next days championship match.
Thursday 14th was the second day of the Championships and again we had good weather & the course was even dryer. My playing partners were again Lyn Bates and Margaret Nash. The greens were even deadlier today and that was where we struggled. The fairways had some good run - so I enjoyed that after playing for so many months in the wet and mud. We had a fun day but unfortunately not up with the winners. I will need a spectacular effort next week to make any impression on the leaderboard.
Friday 15th August was a very big day being the final clean up before the Pro-Am began.
We worked from 7.30 am until 1 o'clock when we stopped to have a BBQ lunch that the club put on for all the "F-Troop" workers. We had a good response from the members & a lot of good work was achieved. At 2 o'clock the Skins Match began with four of the professional golfers playing nine holes for quite a large amount of money. Andre Stoltz won $2,000 just on the 18th hole playoff. We had a lot of members and visitors turn up to watch the match & we all walked around the nine holes with them. It was good to watch their technics at close hand.
Friday night we stayed for dinner at the Golf Club. We had billeted one of the young professional golfers for the weekend and had arranged to meet him at the club on Friday night.
Our billet was Jason Shine from Bunbury in Western Australia & he was a delightful young man.
Saturday 16th of August was my 65th birthday. Peter played golf with his mates and the professional Andre Stoltz so Rod & Anne took me to lunch at Iguana's Restaurant on the Gosford waterfront (Yes! the famous "Don't you know who I am" restaurant). I was a bit dissapointed that they did not ask me who I was!!! It was a lovely day and we sat out on the balcony overlooking the water (photo of Rod & Anne attached). Previous to that Shane & Sam arrived with a lovely birthday cake for me & stayed for morning tea. In the afternoon I was back at the golf club setting up for the Pro-Am Dinner that was being held there that night. As my birthday just happened to be on the same day it became my birthday party. We had about 100 people there so I had a wonderful day and night. (photo attached with the cake and very becoming birthday hat).
Sunday 17th August was the second day of the Pro-Am. We played with Alan Graham and Andre Stoltz which was very exciting for me. For those of you who do not remember Andre Stoltz won a major event in America (huge prize money). His caddy was his young son Zac - his handicap is 14 and he is only as high as my golf buggy. I can see a huge future for him.
We had a good team score for the first nine with Andre scoring birdies on the first two holes.
We played quite well down the fairways for the most part but it was the little green patch down the other end that caused us some problems. Even Andre 2 and 3 putted some holes which made me feel a little better. My highlight for the day was winning nearest the pin on both the 5th and the 14th 3 pars and I fluked a huge long putt into the hole on the 13th to score 4/4.
I did enjoy the day even though our scores were not too wonderful. There were not a lot of good scores in on the day as the greens were very difficult so I didn't feel too bad.
Jason joined us for dinner at the club that night & I shared out the birthday cake from the previous evening with the members that were at the club. The meal we had the previous night was so huge that we could not even consider eating any cake so it was good to have another opportunity to have more celebrations.
Today, Monday 18th was tagged for a recovery day. We had to go to the club to return some pot plants borrowed from a local nursery for the weekend & then helped out with a mail out to members from the club regarding the upcoming AGM. Peter has put his hand up for the Vice Presidents position and has been accepted unapposed.
We farewelled Jason as he headed off to his next Pro-Am in Newcastle.
In the afternoon we visited Palmdale to view Mum's plaque. Mum & Dad are resting together in a very peaceful setting (photos attached). The native garden has been cleared and replaced with new plants which should look lovely when they get some growth on them.
I picked up my new glasses today and find them a bit off putting. I will perservere as I have been told that it takes up to a week to adjust to them.
Tomorrow is the third day of the Club Championships so I am hoping that I have been inspired by all the good golfers that I have watched over the weekend.
Images attached: Hail on the green on Sunday 11th; Peter & Ray under the umbrellas in the storm - we gave up shortly after; With Ray & Norma at the beginning of the day; with Margaret Nash & Lyn Bates on each of the Championship days last week; The QVB on Wednesday; photos from the skins match on Friday; F-Troop BBQ; Peter helping me with the garden work on Friday; one of the finished gardens on Friday; my birthday cake from Shane & Sam; Rod & Anne at my birthday lunch at Iguana's; my birthday cake on Saturday night; my good look birthday hat; with Carolyn, Vicki & Margaret on Saturday night; with my nearest the pin trophy on Sunday; with Alan Graham, Andre Stoltz and Zac Stoltz prior to our match on Sunday; Jason Shine - our visiting golf professional; Mum & Dad's resting place at Palmdale.
No comments:
Post a Comment