This crew knows how to dress up for the golf simulator during the week before Christmas:

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

JORDAN'S SOCK DRIVE

With this past two days of wintry weather, now is a good time to think about: 

JORDAN'S SOCK DRIVE 

"Back in 2015 my granddaughter, Jordan, had a goal of collecting 100 pairs of socks to give to the homeless and people living in shelters.  She collected around 1,000 pairs the first year.  Since then every year she has collected socks and last year alone the total was around 25,000 pairs that were distributed.

2020 has been a very difficult year on so many levels but Jordan has decided she would still like to collect socks as they are always needed.  Of course all socks collected in Cobourg/Port Hope will stay in the area and go to the Salvation Army, Cornerstone and the women's shelter." - Marlene Randall

Last year we collected socks at our Christmas luncheon, which Sandi passed on to Jordan's grandmother, a fellow curler.

If anyone would like to contribute to the sock collection again this year, you can drop them off to Sandi (2684 Theatre Rd) by Sunday, Dec 13. I would be happy to collect Port Hope contributions and they can be dropped off at my place (81 Strachan St) by Dec 12.

Troopers!

Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail could keep this group from golfing today, but we came in after 9 because it was so cold we could see our breath.

Thanks for sending, Susan.

As our season draws to a close, it is incumbent upon Barb and me to celebrate, formally, those women who achieved some key milestones in their golfing careers, during a most interesting season. Please give them a standing ovation - well, alright - raise your club or glass to them when you next see them.

Hole in One

Ann Hall #17

Barb Pemberton #8

Eagle

Janet Hull #18

Break 90

Ariane Macdonald

Break 100

Barb Pemberton

Jane Gibbens

Gail Richards

Susan Ross-Foster

Ladies, your pins are at the ProShop so when you next wander by, please pick yours up.

Anne

Congratulations to Susan Ross-Foster for lowering her index by 23% and thereby earning the Brent Trophy as the most improved golfer in 2020. An additional highlight for Susan happened last week when she broke 100 for the first time! Good golfing, Susan! 

Honourable mention goes to the following for their index improvements: Sandy Young by 16%, Laurie Pudwell by 11% and Helen Lee by 10%. And a "very well done" to new member Joanne O'Sullivan, who didn't have a handicap at the beginning of the season and lowered her index to 28.5.

 Congratulations to Dale Hodge for winning the Nan Sharpe "Play Happy" Award. Dale has a smile on her face most of the time, even when her swing is not cooperating with her (which isn't often). She has done a great job as the handicap convenor during the transition to "Net Double Bogey" and entering scores at home. She even smiles when she encourages people to keep their handicaps up-to-date! Now if she would just teach me her little draw . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fall colours are terrific this year!!

Congratulations to Barb Pemberton on her HOLE IN ONE today on #8 !!!

 

How appropriate that Barb's blue B was sitting in perfect view!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some fall colours on a sunny day!

IT'S A GIRL!!

A week ago Sunday night Nancy Robison, who works in the kitchen and was on the BBQ most of the summer, gave birth to a baby girl. If you would like to wish her well by contributing some money, there will be a box in the pro shop and a card to sign, until Sunday, October 11.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHYLIEE

Our Saturday Skins finale on Oct. 3rd was not only fun it was very exciting especially for Anne P., Donna T., Yvonne S., and Susan R-F.  We had merrily finished 8 holes and were about to crush the 9th, when this rather beautiful coyote walked behind Yvonne just as she was about to tee-off. Much consternation and discussion followed as did many pictures, the best of which are below. Whyliee (feminine spelling) as we called her, had a mouse in her mouth and munched thoughtfully on it as she regarded what was obviously some excited 2-legged animals.  Evidently the tail tickled her throat as she gave a wee cough, prior to ambling over to the tee-box and repositioning one of the markers. It seemed to help Yvonne and particularly Susan, who was so pumped up she got to the green in 4 shots.

A game to remember...

Thanks to Anne for the story and Susan and Anne for the pictures.

Our Saturday Skins group would like give a big THANK YOU to Sandy Young who organized the collection of money, the tee times each week, and will now dole out the winnings!

An unfortunate accident on Saturday left one of us with perhaps a shorter season than anticipated. Diane's hand was on the receiving end of a shot. The good news is the x-ray didn't show a break, but a visit to the fracture clinic this week will tell her more. We wish her a speedy recovery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHERE'S MY CART????

To end this newsy post, a story from Sunday's "Tough" Tournament: Sandi, Sandy, and Jeanne, who were playing with Tracey, Donna, and Anne A., had just finished playing #18 and about to go over to #1, when Sandi asked "Where's my cart?". 

She had parked it on the right side of the green and put her remote in her pocket. She thinks that she accidentally hit the 'go' button and off it went. The nearest we can surmise is that it headed to the red tee, went up the slight embankment which turned it toward the fairway. 

You guessed it - nothing was in its way until the creek. After much searching, Sandy drove her cart down to the creek and saw Sandi's water bottle and other things floating down the creek on the right side of the bridge. The cart had entered well to the left of the bridge. Ryan and Ben, from the back shop, deserve many thanks for taking off their shoes and socks, rolling up their pants and in they went to rescue the cart. What troopers! As long as Sandi's cart survives, this will be a funny story to remember. Sandi will tell you that rain gloves work really well when they are as wet as your grips.

By the way, the "Tough" Scramble Net Tournament was a lot of fun, putting to ridiculously hard places on our greens. Craig mentioned that if we got a couple of more women's teams to play, we could have a women's winner!!

Our condolences to Laura Ebbrell for the passing of her mother, Ruth Gordon. 

View Ruth Gordon's obituary here.

October 1st. How did that happen so fast?? Brings a tear to a golfer’s eye, knowing we will soon be stuck at home with no excuse to ignore the house chores, and reduced options of socializing and travel.

It is also time to wrap up our 2020DC (During Covid) golf tales.

Anne P surprised herself by parring the first hole and parlaying that momentum into her best ever score of 92! Well done!

The Fab 4 of Patty, Lynn, Yvonne and Barb played #11 like real golfers, each scoring a net 1! Three not easy birdies and a par! Everyone heard the hoots and hollers! Can you say birdie juice x 3??

So nice to be able to be able to play in the Eleni Ponting tournament this year. This event brought out the best in both Laura E and Bridget who were able to par three Par 3s, for scores of 1. For some reason these 2 can really turn it on when playing for money or honour! Then a little birdie let us know that Lynn Marie birdied #8 for a score of 0! Wow! We all aspire to that!

Laurie P’s family must sense when she is going to have a good game as they seem to disappear to avoid the hole by hole replay. The dog even said once is enough and got away. Poor Laurie returned to an empty house at least knowing all her friends had congratulated her on the patio. 43 is a nice back nine score!

Janet topped off her best ever round of 74, with an eagle on 18 last week!!

Finally, the illustrious (or not) foursome of Carol, Linda M, Ene and Barb blew any chance of winning a skin on #4 after lining up their tee shots like little soldiers in the trap. Must have been the wind! Right?

We hope you had a big handful of 2020 golf stories that brought a smile to your face or an eruption of laughter. Life needs lots of these moments to make it special.

Have a safe and healthy winter season and look forward to reconvening in 2021 to whatever that golf season may allow. There is a good possibility many of us will be running into each other over the course of the off season.

Thanks for allowing us to share your stories. 

Anne and Barb

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some early fall colour.

One additional note about the Nassau Game on Tuesday:

If your handicap is an odd number, instead of using .5 you are going to use the larger number on the front nine and the smaller number on the back nine. For example, if your handicap is 27 subtract 14 from your gross score on the front to get your net score, and similarly subtract 13 from your gross score on the back to get your net. The front nine rating is higher so you can use the higher "half" and we don't have to worry about subtracting .5's.

Now we need a sun dance for Tuesday!  

😎😎

A great day!!

A message from Susan Ross-Foster:

Our team would like to share what an incredible day we had.  Great weather, great people, and an overall awesome golf day!!  Janet said it was her best game ever!!  I have yet to break 100 again, but I did get a 105!!  We had lots of laughs and lots of pars along with:

Joanne had a birdie at #8

Moneen had 3 pars

Janet had a birdie at #4 and an eagle at #18

I almost had a hole in one, but got a birdie on #13

We finished all the birdie juice in the bag!!

Congrats all!

And thanks for sharing, Susan.

Highly Modified Closing Field Day

A message from Anne:

Given this very odd year and the fact that we cannot do a formal Closing Field Day, your Games Captain has suggested we do a Nassau Game for Tuesday, September 29.  It is an easy game and one that can be decided on the day but still brings a little fun and gamewomanship (now that has stumped spellcheck!) into the day.  Signup will be digital.

A Nassau is basically broken up into three bets -- low NET front nine score, low NET back nine score and low NET total score. There are no ties; there must be a winner for money to be exchanged.

1. I suggest a $2 Nassau bet. So bring 3 toonies or 6 loonies!
2. If you lose all your bets, the most you can lose is $6. 
3. Assuming a $2 bet, 
• Win low net for the front 9, win $6.00 ($8.00 including your own $2.00). 
• Win low net for the back 9, win $6.00.
• Win low net for 18 holes you win $6.00 OR $18.00 if you won all 3 bets. 

If your foursome does not want to play the Nassau game, just play as you normally would. There is no grand prize, no jumping into the pond on #13 and no dousing the Games Captain with champagne - unless she can have a glass first....well ...frankly... the bottle. 

Don't worry about strokes/hole - just use your handicap for 18 holes. Divide by it 2 for the front nine and the back nine. Not 100% accurate but not an issue for this kind of game.

You can all crow about your vertiginous paths to victory at the 19th hole.

So - go out there and have fun.

Anne ⛳🍇

A message from our Tuesday convenors

As you know, Dalewood is aerating the greens next week.  The Pro Shop have told us that all golf on Tuesday will only be 9 holes including Womens' League. This will give everyone a chance to play since only 9 holes will be playable.  We still have our times blocked for morning and afternoon, but just for 9 holes.  If your group finishes 9 holes and only if no one is booked on the Tee sheet (you will have to check in at the Pro Shop) the group may continue to play another 9 holes.

Where's my ball?

Yesterday, Ann Abbott, Laurie Pudwell and Diane Arsenault were walking up to the 5th. As Diane was approaching the area she noticed something shiny high up in a spruce tree. Sure enough, some poor golfer has hooked his ball into the trees and from the height of it, it was still flying when it lodged itself in the branches 10 feet off the ground. He probably looked for a long time never realizing that the ball was over his head.

Diane is now the proud owner of a yellow Taylormade 1 ball in mint condition having only played 5 holes before it got lost.

Can you find the ball?

Thanks for sending, Diane.

Today is the Eleni Ponting Better Ball. So that everyone is playing under the same rules, you are allowed to lift, clean, and place the ball within one club length not nearer the hole on your own fairway and in a bunker. Play well and have fun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now this takes talent, to hit the ball that close to your playing partner!! Diane Saunders in the picture and Laura Roberge was the photographer and the other golfer.

From Games Captain Anne Parks

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2020 - Aug 22, 23

Overall - Jeanne Beaith

Senior - Janet Hull

Diamond - Joan Hayward

Double Diamond - Dale Hodge

A Flight - Su Morrow

B Flight - Tracey Bodashefsky

C Flight - Annabel Thorpe

Low Net - Tracey Bodashefsky

Some of our participants in the Club Championship, enjoying the post round camaraderie.

Thanks to Brad and Craig who made the Championship possible and to all the women who enthusiastically participated. 

Great weekend at the club!

~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to sign up for the Eleni Ponting Better Ball on Sept 1.

So.....since it's almost mid-August, we thought we would give you a celebration update on our 2020DC (during COVID) golf season......

Ariane has joined the break 90 Club!

Jane, Gail, Barb, and Susan got their games together and broke 100 for the first, and hopefully not last, time!

Ann H aced the 17th hole and hopefully has since joined the Hole in One Club.

Some other notable “bests”.....

Laurie had her best game, finishing in the rain. With nowhere to congregate, she headed home and proceeded to give the dog the hole by hole story. She thinks he even rolled his eyes, but was smart enough to know who feeds him!

Bridget scored a 51 on the front on her way to her best game!

Sandy Y had her best game on a Saturday, capturing 3 skins!

Dale’s best score beat her previous one by 4 shots! Wow!

Laura E had her best game with no max scores, no penalty strokes, no water, and only 1 bunker. Her comment...”Maybe it is not such a stupid game after all.”

So ladies, please keep these happy stories coming......we all like to hear what our fellow golfers are doing, especially as we are missing our times as a group.

Email your tales to bpemberton3@cogeco.ca or catch Barb around the club.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and may your bogeys be more plentiful than the higher scores!

Anne and Barb

```````````````````````````````````

The middle part of this sign was given to Dalewood. We look forward to seeing it displayed.

Don't forget to sign up for the Club Championship on August 22 & 23. You will play with similar handicaps. There will be an overall champion, 50+, 60+ and 70+ trophy winners. Depending on how many sign up, there will also be flight champions.

The cost is $25 and since there will be no dinner all money will be returned as pro shop certificates for the champs.

Let the pro shop know before Thursday, Aug 20.

````````````````````````

Spotted by one of the GO rules officials last week, near the 8th pond.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon our "two fisted drinker" - a Vodka Smash with a beer chaser!

If you haven't been to the club this week, here's what our driveway looks like. It's a really nice acknowledgement of Past Champions.

Some past Amateur Champions whose names you may recognize:

Member of the Ontario and Canadian Halls of Fame and Founder of Ladies Golf Club of Toronto Ada Mackenzie.

Member of the Ontario, Canadian, and World Golf Halls of Fame Marlene Stewart Streit.

LPGA player and Canadian Golf Olympian Alena Sharp.

The Amateur and Mid-Amateur hardware they are playing for: