Hooray For The Long Weekend

It's the Labour Day long weekend in Western Australia. And it's a warm one. Yesterday it reached 37.9 degrees C - just over the old hundred mark.

Saturday was the usual warm day where we did the grocery shopping and I took Yu-Jin to taekwondo. There is going to be a grading held soon and his teacher thinks that he should go as he has improved greatly. I'll probably take him along to watch at this stage.

Sunday golf was set for nice and early as Joe and Shayne had their club competition to play. I joined with Alan, Mike and John, three retirees who play twice a week, for a 6:48 tee time at Whaleback Golf Course. Took 2.5 litres of water with me, much of it frozen, as I knew that it would be warm. Didn't need a toilet stop however.

They all teed off first and then it was my turn. I hit a cracking drive and the look on John's face said it all - "Oh no. We are going to be upstaged by this young punk." He needn't have worried. I only hit about four shots like that the whole round.

And what a strange round of golf it was. I lost a ball off the tee on the third and ended up with a triple bogey and followed that up with a triple bogey on the next without losing the ball. Yikes. On the par-3 6th someone from the next tee yelled "fore" as I was taking my backswing and my brain told me to duck but carried on with the shot. And it was terrible, leaving me about 30-40m to the flag. My chip shot actually hit the flag and I dropped a 3-4m putt for par. I one-putted the last four holes of the front nine for only 14 putts but a quite ordinary 47.

I love the par-4 285m 12th. With a tail breeze you can almost drive the green. Not that we had a tail breeze though. My second shot landed a little short and somehow managed to kick into the bunker. My bunker shot went over the green and way down the large slope at the back. Bugger. My chip shot back went into the bunker again on the same spot, which had been neatly raked, meaning another bunker shot. Did alright this time but still shot a triple bogey.

Onto the magical new hole - the par-3 13th. They have set a new green over some very murky water. A bunker is guarding the green and it is a real golfer's hole. John and Mike putt their shots on the green whereas Alan went a little wide. Not like the group in front of us who put a couple of balls in the water. My tee shot landed only 3-4m from the flag and I dobbed the birdie putt. Yahoo!

What a lovely golfer's hole - the 13th at Whaleback.

On the next hole I was attempting a shot into the green when some guy on the adjacent tee yelled "fore", again during my swing, and I completely stuffed the shot. Not happy Jan. Then chipped on and sank a 5m putt with one of the guys from the pro shop watching. Noisy bastard. Sank another sizable putt on the 15th. On the 17th my chip shot hit the pin from about 20m out and saved me a bit of trouble.

My putting was extraordinary with only 28 putts - eight one-putts and ten two-putts. I only left one putt short, which sat on the lip, and didn't miss any putts by more than two feet past and they all went within four inches of the hole. Must say, it is much easier to putt earlier in the day before it gets hot and the greens dry out. Much better than my 45 putts last week. Home before 11:30 but it was already 36 degrees.



After lunch we went to the city to watch The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Yu-Jin's already seen it but Miky and I were itching to watch it too. What better way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon? Well, it would have been better without all of the kids in the cinema and sitting next to one kid who is dying to tell you what happens in the movie and won't shutup about it! Read the book when I was a kid. Good movie. But not as good as I had hoped. The actors, all kids, didn't quite have it.

Following the movie was the Lotterywest Festival Finale in Forrest Place, Perth City. We only arrived for the final performance - TaikOz (taiko drums) and Richard Walley on didgeridoo. What a fabulous performance from the Japanese musicians and the didgeridoo was ok too. Miky did say that the Koreans play drums much more impressively but what else do you expect?









I have a couple of short videos if anyone is interested. Perhaps I'll post them on Google Video.