Boards GS Outing - Gowran Park GC - 29th August, NB 11.10 first tee time

charlieIRL

Thread re-opened for members to discuss today’s event ONLY. Any other comments will be deleted

woodyg

Really enjoyed today with break80 and new member harcrid. Both a pleasure to play with an certainly can play.
Was impressed with the course and have to say would be back tomorrow no bother.

Tip of the hat to el capitan Space on the serious effort organising and then shooting a cracker score for the win as with the wind and how thight the course is at times.

jarrieta

Pity I could not attend at the end, thanks captain for managing to get us playing in these difficult times

benny79

Great day had I really enjoyed the course some super holes. Felt its a bit rough around the edges needs a bit of tlc.. played with golfnut203 who is off 4.. played steady all the way around really is a pleasure watching him make the game look easy. Also played with newindublin good to see him back! And made some unbelievable pars a bit like big phil! And just back after been out with a serious back injury too well impressed.

On my own game. I started well with a birdie putt on the first which i just missed.. but gave me confidence had 18pts on th front.. but a stupid scratch on 8 threw me and didnt really recover! Really felt i let a 40+ round slip here.. but new clubs in the bag (blades) are settling in nicely.

Thanks Space for all the hard work I know its not easy!

Captain fantastic

FixdePitchmark

Thanks for the reshaping of the groups Captain – as we got to play a badly needed winter match play game – yes, a winter match play game – sums up 2020. When you do not know what you are doing next week, never mind in a season.

As I seen Captain Space on the balcony (there already over an hour) , with paper and equipment and computer, it was a reminder how much of a commitment it is to keep the whole thing going, particularly this year.

Was delighted to hook up with two great guys I now know a long time, but have not played with in a good while – The Big Easy and CharlieIRL . We got into the conversation quickly, covered, where you are living now and deaths in the family. Real upbeat stuff .

Soft ground and lush parkland rough was never going to be easy for me – but got off to an absolute storming start , and hit the first in 2 – with a fairly makeable Eagle putt , just missing.

Matchplay and simultaneous stableford can be a funny format – not terribly compatible, but needs must.

Gowran park is a very interesting “track” – what on earth do you do with the middle of a race track. I personally think the holes inside the track are poor, too open and featureless. But after that a real treat.

Charlie got off to a poor start – The Big Easy , was hitting them well and his wedges were outstanding at the target each time. We all got things going a bit when we got into the trees. Can be incredibly tight at times in there, and some fantastic golf holes , with great dogleg or water hazards.

Good call to give relief when needed, as mud balls were the order of the day. This is a surprise for August. A shock really. The greens had indents, but were lovely surfaces.

Overall a very enjoyable day , an enjoyable course for the most part – and nice to somewhat, have a chat outdoors after with some old and new.

I finished with 32 pts myself – won match play game by just hanging in there all day (CharlieIRL was ahead most of the round). Well done to the winners, great scores on a tricky little course playing longish and soft.

The Big Easy and I had a good chat after about, goals, and ambition, and the next big thing, and mistakes and hopes and dreams.

At a time when it is hard to know what is next week, you still need to fool yourself there is something big to look forward to. At the moment , we at least have , a bit of golf at times. An odd pint, an odd laugh, on odd moment shared. At least there was hope of something, as a colder air and darker evening fell in on a great and thankful day.

princess poppy

Another great day with boards golf society. Thanks again to space for all his hard work this year, I imagine it certainly is Far from what you thought you were signing up for, but you have risen to every challenge, thank you.
Paulos led us around on the front nine, showing us how to do things with the panache which only a cork man can exude, unfortunately for him, kilth and I brought him back closer to our level for the back nine.
Kilth and paulos were great company and while yet another outing goes by without a podium place, I couldn’t think of anyone else more deserving of a win today with all he has done, well done space - on lots of levels.
Can’t wait for dromoland........

spacecoyote

There must be something about Gowran Park. Thats 2 Boards outings I've attended here, and 2 wins.

Its a very deceptive course. The starting 3 holes are pretty open & can fool you in to thinking you can spray the ball around. Well placed hazards can easily catch you out though. When you cross the race track and arrive at the 4th tee, you quickly get an idea of whats to come as a tight drive awaits with mature tree lined fairways. Its a tough off the tee, and the greens have a lot of tricky run offs.

The times have not been overly kind to course, heavy society footfall and heavy rain softened the course & left some patchy spots on the greens. The soft fairways & wind did add some length to the course.

Had the pleasure of OffalyMedic & Gypsy79 for company today and they were great company.

OffalyMedic hit some booming drives, but was a little bit pushy with a few of them. She was very unlucky with a few of the drives finding some nasty positions that had to be knocked sideways. I think the frustration may have gotten the best of her a couple of times which was unfortunate. It was real all or nothing golfer, with as many 3 pointers as scratches I reckon. Hit a beauty in on the 16th to make a great 2 to put a bit of a shine on the round.

Gypsy79 has been struggling with his golf for the last couple of years, but you can see that there is a decent game in there trying to break out. Was rock solid on the front 9, and was keeping me honest for about the first 11 holes. A bad drive on the 12th got in his head a bit and he went a little off the rails. Took a lend of a putter from me as I'd read in the thread about his woes. He seemed to adjust to it pretty well given he hadn't used it before and was a big change from his usual bladed putter. Hopefully a fit will work nicely & get him the right putter to push him on.

For me, I started solid and never really looked back. Made a couple of good birdies, and some good up & downs for pars. 1 scratch on the card, on the par 3 10th was disappointing, bad tee shot, poor chip & a 3-putt. I drove the ball well all day, never got too far out of position, even on the tighter holes, which gave me a perfect platform to build on. I struggled for pace with the putter all day, left far too many 2nd putts in the 4-5ft rather than 2-3ft range, but I made almost all of them, so got away with it.

To the results:

1st - Spacecoyote - 39pts
2nd - Paulos - 35pts
3rd - Break80 - 34pts (15 Back 9)

Front 9 - Gypsy79 - 20pts
Back 9 - Athlone99 - 19pts

NTP - Golfnut203
LD - Kiith

2s - OffalyMedic, Rainbow Warrior, Recycled (can either Revolut the winnings (€15) to you, or stick it on credit & knock it off your green fees for later events

FixdePitchmark

Fair play getting result up etc - 12 hour day captain ?

And an outstanding round - not to hit too much trouble in the trees there is a great round.

By the way - was looking up a few you tube clips to try find your new fashion style.

I have to say , there should be a new prize for best dressed and you are knocking it out of the park. I've never even seen your clothes before , anywhere.

Snackbox20

Congrats to Space for a great score and also organising a great day of golf at short notice. Had the pleasure of playing with Macker again and it was great to meet Pakman. Great chats and golf with the lads all the way around. Like a few here when we got our 3 drives away on the first and they went well, was thinking going to shoot well today :-D :-D, out on to the 4th and it was like, different golf course. Finished with the same ball today but some iron play, sand escapes, and 3 scratches blotted my copybook, but really happy with 31. Oh, is there a prize for honest golfer :-D:-D:-D, ask Macker and Pakman.
Thanks again to the guys for your company on the round and space for organising.
Really looking forward to playing Dromoland again, fingers crossed for good weather.
Take care folks.

Break80

I know everyone is thanking you Captain but I have to say you must have had the toughest year any Captain ever had in the history of this society.
You have really kept this going when lesser men would have thrown their hands in the air and walked away at this stage. To be fair nobody could blame them because it really was and still is tough going this year. The whole society could have imploded only for you and your backround staff this year. Fair play.
I had a great day out myself. 2 nice lads in Woodyg and Harcrid a nice easygoing round which is what this game is all about. Only regret was a blank on the last when a level 2 round was on the cards. 18 out 16 back must do better next week.

Seve OB

Well done Space, sounds like it was another great Boards event.
Congrats on the win. Sorry I couldn’t make the day, but couldn’t miss the captains in my home club. Turns out I made the right decision also as I played solid golf and scored enough points to ensure that my name will be going up on the wall

kieran.

Seve OB wrote: »

Well done Space, sounds like it was another great Boards event.
Congrats on the win. Sorry I couldn’t make the day, but couldn’t miss the captains in my home club. Turns out I made the right decision also as I played solid golf and scored enough points to ensure that my name will be going up on the wall

Fair play Seve OB, one of 2 men under par must have been tough conditions. You'll have to get yourself one of those flag, ball picture frames you got for Spacecoyote in Palmerstown to commemorate the achievement!!

Seve OB

kieran. wrote: »

Fair play Seve OB, one of 2 men under par must have been tough conditions. You'll have to get yourself one of those flag, ball picture frames you got for Spacecoyote in Palmerstown to commemorate the achievement!!

Jaysus you went digging? Where did you see scores?

And you got it wrong........ lol. I won in palmerstown, and I gave the framed prize to DWD @ Fota

As it happens, I hit one of yer mans golf balls today for a few holes..... it worked pretty well still

slave1

Enjoyed the round yesterday, bit too wet for me, I need more of a run on the ball to reach the longer holes., was grand off the tee but approaches just not hitting the green too many times and I didn't get up and down with usual regularity so that hit my points,
28 with no scratches tells the tale, no big boo boos but nothing special either.
Great company as always and good pace of play, like the ready golf approach.
Looking forward to glorious sunshine in Dromoland.

pakman

Mod delete, PM your comments to Space directly please

newindublin

Great day out Space, thanks for the hard work organizing it. Quite a circus this year, I don't envy you!

I played with golfnut and benny, both of which were stellar to play with. I aspire to have golfnut's short game, and benny's courage to play with blades!

The course was certainly an interesting one, but maybe not to my taste I guess. I think my favorite part of the course was the food after, it was really very good! I took a bomber approach on the wide open holes, swinging for the fences and more conservative approach on many of the tight holes, hitting irons off the tee. Ended up with 31 points with a few scratches. I think I might have been able to post a better score but my back was really in bits by the end, I will be visiting the neurosurgeon again this week to see what more can be done.

Looking at the calendar this will probably be my only appearance this year, so best of luck to everyone!

Seve OB

newindublin wrote: »

Great day out Space, thanks for the hard work organizing it. Quite a circus this year, I don't envy you!

I played with golfnut and benny, both of which were stellar to play with. I aspire to have golfnut's short game, and benny's courage to play with blades!

The course was certainly an interesting one, but maybe not to my taste I guess. I think my favorite part of the course was the food after, it was really very good! I took a bomber approach on the wide open holes, swinging for the fences and more conservative approach on many of the tight holes, hitting irons off the tee. Ended up with 31 points with a few scratches. I think I might have been able to post a better score but my back was really in bits by the end, I will be visiting the neurosurgeon again this week to see what more can be done.

Looking at the calendar this will probably be my only appearance this year, so best of luck to everyone!

Kudos, not a lot more one can say to that. It was obvious a lot more of a tougher year for you than the rest of us mere mortals. Fair play for making the effort to get out.
Well done

spacecoyote

Seve OB wrote: »

Kudos, not a lot more one can say to that. It was obvious a lot more of a tougher year for you than the rest of us mere mortals. Fair play for making the effort to get out.
Well done

Absolutely, great to see NewInDublin back out with the society. Must have been a very tough year with the back problems. Hopefully you're set right and can get back to it next year

OffalyMedic

Been a mental couple of days so only getting around to doing a bit of a write up now.
Once again a brilliantly organised event by space and the committee. Been meaning to play gowran for a couple years it's only 40mins away from me but never got around to it. Really liked the course but it didn't like me too much. My normally reliant driver had a bit of a fade going on and was unfortunate to find myself behind a lot of trees coming out sideways and short game is well off so couldn't scramble a score.
Played with captain space and gypsy. Space played solid all the way round, lovely ball striking and a few great chips and clutch putts to keep the round going. Gypsy started great and I thought it was going to be a shoot out between the lads but unfortunately I think fatigue got the better of gypsy and he fell away.
Highlight for me was definitely my tee shot on 16 which came straight out of the middle of club face and tracked the flag all the way, landed about 12ft short and rolled all the way up to inside 3ft, for a split second I thought it might fall. Thankfully got the putt for my first 2 in the society.
Food in club house was gorgeous too, will definitely make the trip over again.
Thanks again space and committee, see ye in dromoland

athlone99

Well done Space on organizing on short notice and congrats on the win. Really enjoyed the round as i'm starting to find a bit of consistency. Was nice to play with Tiger again, its been a few years and Slave who i played with in Portmarnock. (was also nice to get a break from EV talk).

Played fairly well after a slow start, took a while to slow down the aul swing but once i did started to drive the ball well. The soft ground around the green cost me a few shorts with duffed chips but something to work on i guess. 1 scratch on the 9th, basically put 2 balls in the pond but still managed to not lose a ball for the round so take the small positives i guess! Too many 1 pointers on the front 9 killed my score but happy out with 19 on the back 9! On wards and up wards i guess (Que 5 months off over winter....) Should hopefully make Captains as long as nothing random pops up!

Neewollah

Evening Boards society members. Glad to see that you took a visit to my Own club Gowran Park. I definitely think its a really enjoyable course to play for all levels of golfers plus affordable and accessible.

I'd like to get your thoughts and feedback on what you thought the condition of the course was like. Members have been a bit concerned with some aspects of the maintenance in recent times so thoughts of visitors would be appreciated.

Gowran has the potential to be one of the best courses and best value around but we feel it's lagging behind the competition when it comes to condition.

I'm aware weather hasn't been a help but still think there are some obvious issues.

Please feel free to reply or PM me if thats more suitable.

PS always follow the Boards Society Threads. really seems like a great society. Might look into playing some events sometime

benny79

Neewollah wrote: »

Evening Boards society members. Glad to see that you took a visit to my Own club Gowran Park. I definitely think its a really enjoyable course to play for all levels of golfers plus affordable and accessible.

I'd like to get your thoughts and feedback on what you thought the condition of the course was like. Members have been a bit concerned with some aspects of the maintenance in recent times so thoughts of visitors would be appreciated.

Gowran has the potential to be one of the best courses and best value around but we feel it's lagging behind the competition when it comes to condition.

I'm aware weather hasn't been a help but still think there are some obvious issues.

Please feel free to reply or PM me if thats more suitable.

PS always follow the Boards Society Threads. really seems like a great society. Might look into playing some events sometime

Hi Neewollah,

I agree it does have the potential to be a cracking course. As the lay out is fantastic! even the holes in the middle of the race track slowly ease you into it. I do find it very rough around the edges doe in condition. I taught the very same when I played it a few years ago and was talking to the lads about it and we all just put it down to it been a race track and they probably dont have proper green keepers etc more probably race course maintenance workers. Which is a bit sad as it is a unbelievable lay out and a great mixture of holes! I think a bit of investment and it be a top course cause I did have fond memories of when I played it years ago and taught the very same.

It was soft as well but there was a lot of rain leading up to the event so thats to be expected.

Neewollah

Thanks for your feedback benny

Since I posted that message the Club management (who would be GM of the racecourse too) sent an email promising to improve the maintenance on the course after a lot of complaints. Think there was a lot of visitors not happy after the intermediate scratch.

There are specific golf course only staff but they seem to get involved in other jobs around the place unfortunately.

Apparently a new greenkeeper is on the way from Mount Juliet which will hopefully improve the standard and bring the sames levels of finesse you'd see down there.