Don Carmody sparkles at Emerald

0
798

PSC Golf from Tropical Bert’s

Tuesday, Sept. 23, Pleasant Valley – Stableford

We had not been to this course for a long time, and with the rain of late we were more than a little worried as we know the course does not seem to drain well.  Indeed in the early days one of our players always referred to it as ‘Pleasant Swamp’.  But it has improved since.

The worry for the day was should we use ‘lift, clean and place’, however after the course starter said we could drive carts on the fairway, normal rules of golf were employed.  So on a course that seemed nearly empty, off we went a little early.

Tuesday’s winners pose with Pu.Tuesday’s winners pose with Pu.

The layout was wet and the ball did pick up mud at times but such is golf. The rough was soaking wet and if you got in it, getting out could be a problem and I came back with a wrist that was not good.  Still, all in all it was not a bad walk around and the only other area of concern was the greens, they tended to be very slow and most of the golfers struggled on them.

Round over it was into the showers and at this course they are very good, then into the restaurant for a bite before we were on the road back.

Back at Bert’s a bit early we could relax before the results were declared.  The winner on the day was John Anderson with a fine 40 point in the heavy going.  We then had a count back on 37 points that saw Dick Warberg in second, Steve Hamstad in third and Alan Sullivan fourth.

Near pins went to Walter Baechli, Landis Brooks and Derek Brook.

002     All the winners with Pu, definitely Bert’s finest.

Friday, Sept. 26, The Emerald – Stableford

It was Friday, and that means the Tropical Bert’s golf groupies were gathering for breakfast and planning the day’s golf.  Today was a little special as the group headed out to Emerald and the group hadn’t played there in quite a while and everyone was looking forward to visiting this difficult but very interesting layout.

We are happy to report that Emerald is in excellent condition.  There are some soggy spots due to the recent rains but not so bad.  This rolling Faldo design requires luck or skill in finding flat areas of the fairway, and the par threes always give the jitters.

The weather on this day was very humid but cloud cover kept it tolerable, and a late afternoon breeze cooled things down.  Fortunately we were spared any rain delays.

Emerald usually plays tough, but on this day a few got tougher.  The winner by an impressive four shots was Don Carmody (Hcp 28) with a score of 42 points.  Excellent golf Don!  Second place went to Maurice Roberts (12) with an impressive 38 points.  Bob Watson (4) is often on the winner’s list and was again this day taking third with 37 points.  Colorful Walter Baechli (18) took fourth with 35.

Near pins were claimed by DickWarberg, Landis Brooks, Mark West and John Harrison.