Well, what a great weekend of golf and socialising resulting in SAOGA again the winner with a convincing 13 -5 score.

Some of our team hosted the Victorian guests on Friday afternoon at Grange West followed by dinner at the Grange Grill. The golf was good but erratic and did not reflect what was about to happen.
We played our first game (fourball) at Lady Bay on Saturday morning after a bacon roll and coffee breakfast. The weather was great and the team selections locked in. Great pairings strategy from Darren based on current form research. The course was in great shape and the weather hot with a mild breeze. We stunned the Victorians with good team play for a 5-1 result. Wonderful stories from all around the course. Paul’s 43 points was amazing.

Lunch was an informal affair at the clubhouse bar but followed by a fantastic wine tasting and dinner at Bent Creek Winery – with our member host, Dave Garrick. What a show he put on and certainly impressed our guests. Great array of wine, meat platters and dinner – a good time had by all.

Sunday was an individual match play event at Mt Compass. Our guests came to win and the course, which was in the best condition seen in a long time, was ready to present a challenge. The weather varied from cool to warm with a shower of rain and a challenging breeze. Our guests put up a fight but we won the day 8-4. Again, lots of stories of valour from around the course. The trophy has stayed in SA for 2018 – bring on 2019.

Most of our team stayed in a house at Port Willunga. Reminded me of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity in Animal House. Kudos to Darren for organising most of the weekend. Everything went perfectly and the win was a bonus. Here are some achievements from the whole “team” (courtesy of Darren):

Was a great team effort to retain the cup, but here are some additional honourable mentions:
• Stu for picking up and returning the house keys and for the biggest victory margin of the weekend with 9&7! (I quote: “Poor guy never stood a f***ing chance”)
• Jim for maintaining his Sunday winning form (2 years in a row’s a solid trend – expected forevermore) and for the entertaining evening stories as always!
• Mark for tanking his handicap for the team over the last 6 months to maximise our chance of winning – what a team player!
• Rob for getting through the weekend with the same set of irons! And for letting Tony have a win – poor guy’s been hammered in the previous events!
• Paul for scoring 43pts at Lady Bay on Saturday (how the hell did you do that!) and for coming from 5 down at the turn on Sunday to beat his nemesis Michael!
• Benn for organising the minibus, being the official event photographer and carrying the low handicap badge so none of us had to try and beat Gary on Sunday!
• Ethan for out-driving the big hitters in our Sunday group on our unofficial LD hole (clearly the muscle man of our team!) and for not getting us lost in the minibus this year!
• Mike for the Sunday morning noodles (yummy!) and for the second biggest blowout of the weekend, smashing Jayston 7&6!
• Al for carrying me in the Saturday(he let me contribute a hole or two to keep my spirits up!) and for bringing Julie along to Lady Bay and Bent Creek – wonderful company!
• Chris for taking no mercy on the injured Blake, pummelling him 6&5! And also for his 1.2m nearest the pin on Sunday (yes he made the birdie!)
• Bruce for letting Wayne win on Sunday – he’d have been a cranky SOB otherwise! And also for bringing Nat, Richard and Lou to the dinner – the more the merrier!
• Me for finding my swing again on Sunday (I had NFI what I was doing on Fri or Sat!) and for pulling together a good weekend
• And of course a special mention to Dave Garrick for Saturday at Bent Creek – how good was that!