Golf Is A Game Of Two Nines

On Friday I got to work early so that I could book a game of golf at Wembley Downs. I tried for 20 mins straight before ringing one of the playing partners to say that I wasn’t able to get a booking. Immediately after calling Matt I got through and the earliest time available for the three of us was 9:20. Bloody hell. Real golfers tee off at 7-7:30. Matt rang several other courses but couldn’t find anything earlier so we were stuck with it.

I play volleyball with Matt and Fong and so we thought it would be a good idea to get together for golf. It was a lovely day. Starting temperature was about 10 degrees with a maximum of 23. We played the Tuart Course.

Matt started hitting straight down the middle. I shot off to the right and landed on the 18th fairway. Matt made a straightforward par whereas I managed to scramble a par. Not a bad start on a par-5. Fong started with a double bogey but scored the next par on the par-3 3rd. On the par-4 4th I shot an 11. It included a lost ball off the tee, a chip out from the bush, a shot past a grass tree which only encouraged the ball to lodge itself in the grass tree, a slash out of the grass tree and once I finally got onto the green my putt almost went off the green. Fong’s downhill putt actually went of the green. So, on the front nine I didn’t shoot a seven, which normally would be quite satisfying, but I did record an 11 which was most disappointing. Matt scored a 47, Fong 53 and I shot 55.

Talk about a game of two nines. On the back nine I started with a beautiful drive and then a great chip. Just missed the birdie putt but scored a par. Parred the next hole, and the next and just missed my par putt on the 13th. Scrambled a bogey on the 14th with a 10-12m putt dropping in. It all happened on the par-3 15th. My tee shot finished only six feet from the hole. I got my camera out to video Matt’s tee shot. Fong got quite excited by it and when I finished videoing I realised why – Matt’s shot finished only two feet away from being a hole in one. I knocked my birdie putt in. Just as Matt was addressing the ball a magpie started laughing. No, not a kookaburra, but a magpie. I said, “Stop laughing as he hasn’t missed it yet.” Matt said, “Yeah, you’ve got to give me chance to miss it first.” Guess what. He missed it.

Matt was understandably wild and smacked a huge drive on the par-4 16th. I duffed my tee shot and my second shot was to the right of the green. Matt’s chip went onto the green and he dropped about an eight metre putt for birdie. I once again scrambled a par. Let myself down on the last two holes with double bogey, double bogey. Ended up shooting five over for the back nine with a 41! Fifty five to 41 – an incredible difference. I played like a completely different player.

A most enjoyable day and we’ll be sure to do it again.



Just A Little Bit Too Purple To Be A Purple Cobra

Fong told me an interesting story during our game of golf. He played volleyball one night with the Purple Cobras and there was a new bloke. He was coughing a bit during the game. Next day Tai, the captain, rang Fong to tell him that the guy had died. Apparently he contracted meningococcal which kills very quickly if not caught. And it causes a purple rash. Going a bit overboard to be a Purple Cobra, methinks.

Speaking of volleyball there was an incident last Thursday night where I was facing the net as Michiyo was serving. The ball belted into the back of my head and went over the net. Pity that it was a second hit on the serve. Pretty funny really.

What Is A Fox Doing Here?

Friday morning drive into work and I spotted a dead fox which was only about one kilometre from the CBD on the freeway. What on earth was it doing so close to the city as there are surely very few places available to house foxes? It reminded me of the time I was driving through Los Angeles and saw a wolf. It must have been about 20 miles from the CBD but it was interesting to see it out in the ‘burbs.

Quite A Busy Weekend.

Miky went to the library and to buy some books for a birthday present. Yu-Jin had a classmate’s birthday party at McDonalds to go to. Thankfully we could just drop him off and enjoy ourselves for an hour and a half. Headed to Hungry Jacks for a drink and a bite to eat. Grabbed a hearty beef baguette which just looked like a pile of slop when it was served. Took the opportunity to do our shopping as well.

Miky bought a Dr Seuss book – A fish out of water, for Yu-Jin. Apart from needing help with a few words Yu-Jin can read the whole thing! And he has read it about three times over the weekend. Wow, we need to get hold of more of these books. I remember reading it when I was a kid and enjoying it but he is so enthusiastic about reading and that is fabulous.

Straight afterwards Yu-Jin had taekwondo and once we arrived home we played soccer tag whereby you have to kick the other person with a ball. Not as easy as it sounds. Good for fitness though. Watched a bit of telly together after tea.

I arose very early on Sunday to watch Brazil vs France which wasn’t a bad match. Glad to see the Brazilians lose as they play a little bit too much like pretty boys. You aren’t allowed to touch them and they don’t get yellow cards when they should. Their forward play was very disappointing and Thierry Henry’s finish was superb. France deserved their win.

Off to golf following the World Cup, lunch, and then a walk around Casteldare Miniature Railway and more of the Wilson suburb. After tea we played a few games of fish.