The Golf Marathon rolls on

Gee whiz there's been a lot of golf played and a lot of steps taken over the last three days.  The golf has been fun, the walking has been tiring, gimmies have been somewhat generous and some preferred lies have been taken where unfavourable lies exist.  I think that balances out the fact that I really can't take my time around the course so can't effectively practice swing or take time to read putts and chips.

RECAP

Monday 13th May

Monday at 13th Beach Golf Links (with all golf being played on the Beach course) started the journey.  The wind was steady but certainly not as bad as 13th can throw at you.  As always the Beach course was a joy to play and presented in fantastic condition, and the weather after a very dodgy day and night before that was reasonably pleasant.  Due to most of the day being sunny and a concerted effort to keep up a cracking pace meant we covered the 72 holes well.  

Rick the caddie was up to his usual tricks of just being a clown :) but also doing a fantastic job of getting my clubs ready, getting yardage via my phones' golf GPS app and helping me drum up some donations out on the course. David Schwarz "The Ox" ex-Melbourne Football Club champion and now media commentator was among the golfers on course and in the club that made donations.

Holes 8 and 9, both long par 4's, played into the teeth of the wind and hence were the most difficult holes on the course.  I had particular problems with Hole 8 with one bogey, two double bogies and a triple bogey.

Scores for the day on the par 72 course were 81, 83, 81 and 86.  The last round of 86 I think was due to the cracking pace I was going at earlier and I was really struggling to have the strength to swing.

After golf we caught the ferry over to Sorrento from Queenscliff at 6pm.  By this stage my thighs and hamstrings were really sore, and Rick was sore from getting in and out of the buggy all day and he covers plenty of territory getting clubs to me at the tee and the green.  So like two very sad old men we sat on the $2 for 5 minutes massage chairs on the ferry and groaned loudly with delight as it soothed away some of our aches and pains. Also by this stage the chest cold that had started for me the Thursday/Friday before was starting to set in even worse.  If the task wasn't hard enough.....

Tuesday 14th May

After what could be described by both of us as a pretty poor nights sleep, we set off for Moonah Links for the second leg in the Golfing Marathon for Ride to Conquer Cancer, with all golf being played on the Legends course.  I've only ever played the once on the Legends prior to Tuesday and to be honest I'd forgotten how darn good this course is.  It's not only immaculate in conditioning but is such an interesting and varied layout, with some of the prettier holes carved through a Moonah forest.  The course is also moderately undulating, which made it a hard slog walking wise.

The weather on the peninsula was cold and windy with the occasional shower, and was enough to keep most people off the course which was to the detriment of donations.  The chilly weather also had the effect of making my cold worse, and by the end of the day and that night I was wondering if I could carry on if it didn't improve.  I was also missing Liv and my boys, because cuddles from my boys always make me feel better when I'm feeling miserable.

Due to the cloudier conditions on the day we didn't have as much light to complete our four rounds in, in addition to the fact that being more undulating my knees and feet were suffering and I couldn't keep as swift a pace as I did on the first day.  Hence, for the last nine holes I had to jump in the cart to get 72 holes completed (which we did).

My golf game rather than getting worse was getting better due to the amount of "practice" I was getting.  So even though the day was a lot more difficult scoring wise than the Monday, I was striking the ball better and getting a good feel for my short game.

Scores for the day on the par 72 course were 80, 85, 81 and 82.