Results for The Vines - 17 April 2023
Vines Report 2023
Perfect weather for golf and a course that had been manicured for a Golf Australia Seniors Order of Merit round in the afternoon made the Vines a great venue for Ascot Park’s field of 16 players and a perfect opportunity for great scores. We wish! AndyB thought he had been generous in the allocation of away handicaps but only 4 players scored 30 or better and half the field scored 23 0r less. To be fair, the average score on the front nine was 15 points which is OK but that dropped to 13 points on the back nine, possible because players tired on the longer hillier Vines course, or maybe because of the pressure to finish by 12.00pm before the Seniors Order of Merit rounds had to start.
Roy Trotman was the standout golfer of the day, winning the 18 hole competition with 38 points, comfortably ahead of Gary Hancock’s meritorious 33 which was, in turn, clearly ahead of Neville Shugg who took out third place with 30 points on countback from Keith Chilman. The three worthy winners received bottles of excellent wine sourced locally from the Adelaide Hills. Well played chaps.
AndyB acknowledged the difficulty APGC players have had in the past with the Vines Par 3 holes by declaring that each would be Nearest the Pin after 2 shots. Elliot Bishop missed the memo unfortunately, so, on the 14th Hole when he had a good shot to the green and then putted to within a few inches with his second shot, he simply putted out but without marking what would’ve been a winning shot. Lucky beneficiary or Elliot’s error was Roy Trotman who later won that NTP with a 2nd shot that was actually several feet further away. Ironically Roy won another NTP as well while Graham Dixon took out both the other Par 3 NTP’s. On the Par3 third hole his second putt was actually in the hole! Even these two masters of the NTP were unable to beat AndyB’s novelty challenge of Nearest the Pin on the short Hole 2 Par 4. No-one at all hit that green in two. The rest of us can take some comfort in knowing that Graham Dixon, clearly our best golfer, pushed his drive on that hole to the right, straight into the first big tree, to rebound into the bunker beside the 17th Green to finish a mere 35 metres from Graham on the 2nd Tee block. His hole didn’t get any better from there.
The best team average Stableford score of 29.5 went to Elliot Bishop, Keith Chilman, Gary Hancock and Felice Zaina, from 2nd placegetters (26.5) Rob Gardner, Peter Cocks, Graham Wharton and Roy Trotman. They all received the coveted APGC pens.
Felice Zaina really only had one highlight; he birdied the par 4 8th Hole from about 100 metres out, earning a ball and 5 points to lift his score. Graham Dixon was the only other birdie winner to receive a ball, but Neville Shugg, Keith Chilman and Gary Hancock all had 4 point holes so they were awarded a golf ball each for their efforts too.
There was no contest when it came to awarding the NAGA. When the Captain has to ring you and wake you up 15 minutes before you are due to hit off in the first group, and then you forget your glasses in your rush, before scoring just 7 points on the front 9, and not quite as many on the back 9, you become the only candidate. Ed Martin was duly awarded the NAGA prize of a pair of golf socks. AndyB suggested that Ed might at least try to look like a golfer.
AndyB
Perfect weather for golf and a course that had been manicured for a Golf Australia Seniors Order of Merit round in the afternoon made the Vines a great venue for Ascot Park’s field of 16 players and a perfect opportunity for great scores. We wish! AndyB thought he had been generous in the allocation of away handicaps but only 4 players scored 30 or better and half the field scored 23 0r less. To be fair, the average score on the front nine was 15 points which is OK but that dropped to 13 points on the back nine, possible because players tired on the longer hillier Vines course, or maybe because of the pressure to finish by 12.00pm before the Seniors Order of Merit rounds had to start.
Roy Trotman was the standout golfer of the day, winning the 18 hole competition with 38 points, comfortably ahead of Gary Hancock’s meritorious 33 which was, in turn, clearly ahead of Neville Shugg who took out third place with 30 points on countback from Keith Chilman. The three worthy winners received bottles of excellent wine sourced locally from the Adelaide Hills. Well played chaps.
AndyB acknowledged the difficulty APGC players have had in the past with the Vines Par 3 holes by declaring that each would be Nearest the Pin after 2 shots. Elliot Bishop missed the memo unfortunately, so, on the 14th Hole when he had a good shot to the green and then putted to within a few inches with his second shot, he simply putted out but without marking what would’ve been a winning shot. Lucky beneficiary or Elliot’s error was Roy Trotman who later won that NTP with a 2nd shot that was actually several feet further away. Ironically Roy won another NTP as well while Graham Dixon took out both the other Par 3 NTP’s. On the Par3 third hole his second putt was actually in the hole! Even these two masters of the NTP were unable to beat AndyB’s novelty challenge of Nearest the Pin on the short Hole 2 Par 4. No-one at all hit that green in two. The rest of us can take some comfort in knowing that Graham Dixon, clearly our best golfer, pushed his drive on that hole to the right, straight into the first big tree, to rebound into the bunker beside the 17th Green to finish a mere 35 metres from Graham on the 2nd Tee block. His hole didn’t get any better from there.
The best team average Stableford score of 29.5 went to Elliot Bishop, Keith Chilman, Gary Hancock and Felice Zaina, from 2nd placegetters (26.5) Rob Gardner, Peter Cocks, Graham Wharton and Roy Trotman. They all received the coveted APGC pens.
Felice Zaina really only had one highlight; he birdied the par 4 8th Hole from about 100 metres out, earning a ball and 5 points to lift his score. Graham Dixon was the only other birdie winner to receive a ball, but Neville Shugg, Keith Chilman and Gary Hancock all had 4 point holes so they were awarded a golf ball each for their efforts too.
There was no contest when it came to awarding the NAGA. When the Captain has to ring you and wake you up 15 minutes before you are due to hit off in the first group, and then you forget your glasses in your rush, before scoring just 7 points on the front 9, and not quite as many on the back 9, you become the only candidate. Ed Martin was duly awarded the NAGA prize of a pair of golf socks. AndyB suggested that Ed might at least try to look like a golfer.
AndyB
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