Royal Lakeside toughens up

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PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s

Tuesday, November 29, Royal Lakeside – Stableford

It had been a long time since we had taken the journey to this course, probably because it had been closed a long time while changes were made.  We wondered how the changes would affect the layout, so only one way to find out, go there and play it!

It was not surprising that as the day got closer the number of players reduced, drastically, it is after all a long drive, however on the day it took less than one hour, both there and back, so even with full roads the drive is not too bad.  The roads are now so much better than they were some years ago.

Dick Warberg (right) presents The MBMG Golfer of the Month award to Brian Parrish.Dick Warberg (right) presents The MBMG Golfer of the Month award to Brian Parrish.

On first view, the course did not seem that much different, it has a few new waste areas, and all in all the front nine seems little changed.  However once on the back nine you begin to see the differences and some of the holes are quite changed and on one there is a water hazard in front of the green where none existed before.  The fairways seem harder also.  It was also noted that some of the greens were like rock and with it being a little windy, putting was most difficult and holding the greens at times on approach was a problem.

This was always a course where I remember it needed a lot of points to win, in other words it meant to me relatively easy to play.  It is now much more difficult and I expected the scores to be much lower, and in that generally I was proved correct.

Round over it was back to the changing room where it was seen that they had been given an overhaul and are now quite smart.  The restaurant area is also much changed and is now much more modern.

Tuesday’s top three with ‘The Boss’ Pu.Tuesday’s top three with ‘The Boss’ Pu.

Back at Bert’s as time for the presentation approached it was noted that it was also time for the MBMG Golfer of The Month and by the time this day had arrived the result was already decided as one golfer had had a great month.  So, on the day, the winner of the day with 42 points was your correspondent, with Walter Baechli close behind in second with 40 points.  Then we went back several points to Mike Gaussa in third with 33 points and in fourth we had a count back on 32 points that saw Mashi Kaneta in fourth and Graham Buckingham in fifth with Bernie Cairns just losing out.

Near Pins went to Jack Robertson, Mashi Kaneta, Tony Berry and Alan Sullivan.

The MBMG Golfer of The Month, as already said, was decided before the day started and by a long way, the winner was Brian Parrish.  Well done Brian.  T.T.F.N.