The Inaugural Sandgroper Champs Re-cap. Scores and photos inside.

[adlo]

Well, what a fantastic weekend of golf.

6 of the most easy going blokes you could find, plus TourFit.

The courses were all superb. For $65 in green fees for the entire weekend, quite unbelievable really.

For the most important details, here is the break down:

Total stableford points:

1st:
Johnny Canuck, the "real JC" and poker champ (can this man lose anything?), and your winner in a playoff, 77 points
2nd:
i-tree-golfguy, proved he can throw a few pygmy punches, 77 points

Tied after 45 holes, we were lucky to have enough space behind us to return the 2 top golfers back to the 18th tee for a playoff. JC hit his approach to a foot (nearly holing it for eagle) on the 336m par 4. Idgolfguy, after hitting a perfect drive, hit his approach to about 18 feet, and missed the birdie chance.

However, the real winner this weekend was the Callaway Tour-i. Great ball. All 3 leaders in the final group were playing them today and thoroughly enjoyed it. On a side note, JC won a dozen pills (Tour i's) for an eagle on the 488m 7th at Bunbury! Driver, 3 wood to 15 feet and one putt. Well deserved.

3rd:
ad-joaquin-lo, did more of a river phoenix on day 2, 76 points
4th:
Yossari-tartan, shorts so bad he can make 3 men spew, 75 points
T5th:
Zuesgolfer, a much better snorer than he is a putter, 71 points

Old man Simmsy, proving that day old toast can taste good with the best 18 hole score for the weekend at Bunbury, 71 points

LAST PLACE:
Mr 3 Stripe, TourVan-man, TourFit, lost his cool with the unplanned 3 stripe renovation on the SS ute, 70 points. TourFit, as well as the Maxibon NAGA shirt, I think you should pick up one of these:

A 3 stripe tank. That is what you did today.

For the MegaWatty Trophy for total putts:

1st: JC, 75.5 putts
2nd: i-tree, 78.5 putts
3rd: 3 stripe tank, 79 putts
4th: simmsy, 80.5 putts (well done today breaking 30 putts mate)
5th: Yossarian, 84.5 putts
6th: adlo, 86 putts
7th: Broom-golfer, 92 putts

Overall, most putting stats were pretty impressive. Well done JC, you putted very solid, as always. If I was a gambling man, I would have won some coin backing you.

I'll post some pics, and I am sure some banter will follow.

In regards to my tanking on day 2 with the home course advantage. Lets just say that someone spiked my drink, or built a wall in front of me at the poker table. The word "rotten" quite aptly describes how I felt from about 2am Saturday night until now. Still hurting. Was struggling to even get up to get to the golf course. Thankfully, a last minute chuck did wonders, and I made it to the course. Played with a cart so I had a chance of making it. Started bogey-par-bogey for 6 points through 3, was leading by 4 points. Hit the wall again on 8, wiped 3 straight holes, but fought back with par on 11, birdie on 12 and a great sand save par on 13. Put me back in the lead. Struggled from there. 3 jacked 16 with a stupid downhill 4 footer left short, and then wiped 17 getting stuck in between 3 tree trunks and battling to get out. Had a 12-15 foot breaking par putt on 18 to force a 3 way playoff, but I hit it low. Way too low. Just too low. Oh well. Was pretty happy to stay in contention given the circumstances.

The photo gallery:

It begins........


Mandurah Country Club was a delightful track. Fascinating even.......
This is the 1st tee, our tenth, great tee box/shot.


The brute, 201m par 3 6th. Golfers on in regulation: zero.


The Canuck chuck, not happy with the fringe putt. Didn't matter, I made my birdie putt to take the skins.


Where did the rain come from? Bloody Mandurah. Yossarian and Zuesgolfer get to know each other a little better.


18 holes down, 9 more to go for Saturdays hit.

Time for a quick visit to the "Tour Van". Great call Zues.


Teeing off #1 at Binningup. Tired and sore, almost all the drives get crushed down the middle.


Looking back down #2 at the first golfer to don the Naga shirt, Mrs Simmsy. A random bloke joined us to make a 4 ball. All I can say about him is Woh! Woh! Wee-ah! Great success!


Yossarian lining up for a power fade off #3, the best way to tackle a 520m par 5 with an uphill fairway into a headwind. Found the gravel track. High 5!


One of the best views in golf, looking down #3, ocean vistas, and Mrs Simms 3rd shot dead in the scrub left Weather looking ominous.


My favourite walk between tees in all of golf, from #3 to #4 at Binningup. The tee box is so well placed, you can hardly see it.


Tee shot on #5, 445m par 5, dog leg 90 degrees right. Mr Canuck was sure he was going to eagle the hole. Not even close, missed by 2 inches! We were, however, about to get wet again.


Pretty as a picture over #6. Rumour has it that TourFit's Scottish blood forced him to wipe the hole and disappear to search for the pot o'gold at the end of the rainbow.


Continued post #2.....

[adlo]

I liked this one, Binningup was not afraid to show Yossarian a bit of lip. He did very well to almost make an up and down.


#8, The Beast, 420m from the tips, placement off the tee paramount. You will understand, next photo to show the view from the position of the 1st group who are standing on the fairway.


The approach to the beast, 203m to the flag. The water cuts in right up to the green.


And the 27th hole for the day, $25 NTP on the far right flag 195m away and a gallery of Binningup members to boot. OzGolfers on in regulation: zero. Jackpot!!


Day 1 wrap up on the scoreboard brought to you by JJ Pizzas box.


Night time shenanigans brough to light "the real JC". Your winner. Should have been DQ'd for the use of a snuggie.


Day 2, Bunbury GC.

How do you stump a pygmy? Let's find out....


The 10th, 124m par 3 and one of my favourite holes in golf. A strong headwind on this elevated tee box made this now $55 jackpot NTP a hard green to hit. Yossarian was on, and hoping to fund his uni education, until the pygmy punch was thrown. 6 iron punch in slow mo.


Looking at the effort from ground level, i-tree-golfguy pitched the ball a foot from the cup, it stuck to 5 feet and he made the bird. A well earned $55. See the tee box at the top of the image.


As posted in the other thread, BGC #14. Great hole, another fave, but more room than one thinks.


As you can see this is from the fairway, a much wider hole than it looks.


The 45th hole. JC on 76 points, adlo and idgg on 74. For some reason my old man was giving my enemy course tips.....


This putt would have given JC the victory.....


JC takes a 5/1, adlo 5/2 and idgg 4/3. Forces a playoff, back to the 18th.....

idgolfguy flushes driver down right side over the tree. JC flushes 4 iron through the tree. JC to approach first from 140m..... and almost sinks it.... crowd goes wild.

idgolfguy from 100m out plays a good shot, but just outside birdie range. His ball is directly in line with the flag, short of the hole.


JC takes the cwown, fwend.

And the group of choppers.....
Funny thing is here, I really do look like Joaquin, can't even keep my eyes open. Or are they open and I felt better than I looked?


Note: Yossarian still stalking JC will the matching Titleist visor.

End of post. Man that took hours. Let me know if I forgot anything.

Rumour has it the 2010 Sandgroper Champs will be in April. Clear the calendar, guy.

[MegaWatty]

Nice work Adlo.

Sorry I missed it guys! Well, not sorry I missed the sore heads!!!

[adlo]

Hoping to get a big field next year.

You, Mayhem, Golfnut, Pieface, Bergsey, Bruce Dickinson, Veefore, Qbnchopper, Topdog........ any new WA members..... any Eastern staters who want to play some real golf courses......NUFFIETHEGOLFMAN?

[Golfnut]

Excellent boys.......great wrap up Joaquin.....looks like you guys had a very memorable weekend out there...bit of folk law created down there too.

Solid scoring by all.....my money was on you Adlo....pitty I didn't know you were hitting the turps hard last night, might have backed Vic for the win.

Sounds like it got pretty messy last night....who were the partakers in the binge?

Congrats to JC for taking out just about everything except the obvious dunce prizes.

Well, if its April for the next one, i'll start prepping the missus now.

[Johnny Canuck]

Great write up Aldo.

You should have mentioned the "Pygmy Punch" on the $55 hole pitched less than a foot from the cup.

Everyone looks happy in the group shot, with the exception of Tourfit in his new NAGA Maxibon shirt.

Great weekend boys. 3 great courses. Back 9 ay Bunbury is awesome.

Aldo, edit first post to 45 holes instead of 54.

[adlo]

Golfnut, funny thing is, JC drank the most. By his own admission, felt very rough, but did not hurt as bad as me and Yoss.

I didn't drink that much. Neither did Yossarian. Either we are lightweights, or the whiskey did not agree with the chili dogs. Have drunk twice as much as I did last night and woke up feeling dandy. Just one of those strange combos of no sleep/27 holes/chilli dogs and whiskey/beer/wine I suppose.

Zues hit the hay early after pulling an all nighter Friday. idgolfguy had a few drinks and called it a night too. Mrs simms had 2 or 3 coopers, visited the powder room, and then "retired".....

Edit, JC: will do so now. Agreed on back 9 Bunbury. Tough as nails, but it is parklands golf at its finest IMO. There is pics of 10 and the pygmy punch, will edit notes.

[Jarro]

Nice writeup, good pics.

Fweaks !!!

[BrisVegas]

is the guy in the red shirt really short or is the hairy man behind him really tall???

[Dotty]

Looked like a fun weekend.

Which one of JC's twins did the scoreboard ?

[PeteyD]

Nice write up!

[just]

A facial hair extraveganza from JC and Adho! I especially like the pic of Guru JC praying for a win at the poker.
Simmsy, you let us down, a win from you would have put the rest in their place!

[Eag's]

Looks like you blokes had a great time, top stuff

[Yossarian]

Looks like you blokes had a great time, top stuff

Wait till you see the photo of my bedroll....


Great write up adlo!

My favourite line of the weekend was when Tourfit retired to bed. Only to return not once, not twice but thrice. On his third arrival JC said

"what is it, does your bedroom have a revolving door that only lets you get off on one ****ing exit???"



I think even TF chuckled.

[TourFit]

Wait till you see the photo of my bedroll....


Great write up adlo!

My favourite line of the weekend was when Tourfit retired to bed. Only to return not once, not twice but thrice. On his third arrival JC said

"what is it, does your bedroom have a revolving door that only lets you get off on one ****ing exit???"



I think even TF chuckled.

You didn't even SEE TourFit retire to bed fwend...by then you, a disgrace to Gen Y, were feeling very sorry and apologetic and removing the vomit sodden, bacon & chilli garnished bedroll (which was not even yours) from the wardrobe you had wedged yourself into. We shoulda guessed that something was wrong then. Maybe it was claustraphobia that caused the chuck, rather than your youth and softness!!!

I was actually on my way to the shower...the LAST of the night BTW, and cold too.

aldo, it was likely JC that spiked your drink AND built the wall that hit you...just to win poker. Nice low card pick to blow some dough at the end of the night too .

JC (SnuggieThePokerMan) is one competitive S.O.B....wouldn't even want to stand next to him at a urinal, I reckon he'd try to piss higher.

Me and old Mrs simmsy kept respec' for old people by matching up with you guys. The way simmsy was rolling that Cooper's in his hands and along the table top (like a Cuban cigar maker rolling the tobacco on the thigh of a virgin) was awesome. Our only virgin, the flange-less Yoss, had by that time made his thigh unavailable to simmsy for cold stubby rolling by his previous mentioned antics.

[idgolfguy]

JC's second short (on the play-off) next to the pin from 135m uphill had to be winning shot. Considering how fat he hit - we were going to roll up the divot and sell in Perth as roll-on. He is very strong!

Adlo neglected to mention a 165m par three skins that the leaders took three shots to get to NTP - which I won by being about 15ft from the hole. There were some shockers!

[idgolfguy]

is the guy in the red shirt really short or is the hairy man behind him really tall???

The back row was also standing on a downslope.

[Johnny Canuck]

JC (SnuggieThePokerMan) is one competitive S.O.B....wouldn't even want to stand next to him at a urinal, I reckon he'd try to piss higher.

SnuggieThePokerMan. That's funny!

JC's second short (on the play-off) next to the pin from 135m uphill had to be winning shot. Considering how fat he hit - we were going to roll up the divot and sell in Perth as roll-on. He is very strong!

Adlo neglected to mention a 165m par three skins that the leaders took three shots to get to NTP - which I won by being about 15ft from the whole. There were some shockers!

Aldo never even qualified for the nearest in 3, he took 4.

I must have caught it a lot cleaner than I thought and had the fatness occur afterwards. I thought it was landing on the front hill for sure!

The back row was also standing on a downslope.

That is true.

[TourFit]

LAST PLACE:
Mr 3 Stripe, TourVan-man, TourFit, lost his cool with the unplanned 3 stripe renovation on the SS ute, 70 points. TourFit, as well as the Maxibon NAGA shirt, I think you should pick up one of these:

A 3 stripe tank. That is what you did today.

Looks good...I haven't got one of those !!! How much and where can I get one? I was thinking of having the 3 stripe logo tatooed on my chest, then I can go shirtless!!

I was disappointed with the Maxibon shirt...far too normal for what it represented !!! For my dismal golf on Sunday I deserved something far worse (other than having to keep the JW Red).

Obviously there will have to be some name changes:
aldo = Joaquin
JC = SnuggieThePokerMan
idgolfguy = itreegolfguy OR PygmyUp
Yossarian = Chucka
Zuesgolf = 3Jack (is that the offspring of 3OneDay and Jack ?)
simmsy = now officially Mrs simmsy, swinger of 'The Toaster'
TourFit = TourVanMan, Maxibon (or LOSER will also suffice), or Mr 3Stripe

[Lucasto23]

awesome stuff guys, look like it was a blast

[TourFit]

SnuggieThePokerMan. That's funny!

I shoulda written it as :

SnuggieThePokerMan

[adlo]

You forgot the Caps Lock......

[Zeusgolf]

Binningup best golf course ever............

Mandurah was also bloody good, I still cant think of a weak hole......

Thanks for a great weekend even though I couldn't putt....

Cheers Joaquin for giving us a great place to stay, I apologise for Chuckies behaviour....the whole way home he blamed the chillie dog and not the piss....

[adlo]

I agree re: Binningup. It is my favourite course I have played. Fun but tough, and great spot for a social comp.

No worries about organising accommodation, you should have seen the lunch you guys missed........

Next year I think there will be too many numbers to stay there. Maybe rent a big house down south for the weekend, that would be nice.

[just]

I agree re: Binningup. It is my favourite course I have played. Fun but tough, and great spot for a social comp.

No worries about organising accommodation, you should have seen the lunch you guys missed........

Next year I think there will be too many numbers to stay there. Maybe rent a big house down south for the weekend, that would be nice.

Yallingup!