Modern-day fossils Mudskippers are rather interesting creatures. They're amphibious fish who are at home on mud flats, swamps and sodden golf courses. Like other Members of the local golf course fraternity, they have the ability to run, climb and skip. They scream at each other and can also hear, with difficulty (the fish, that is, not the golfers. But then again ...?). Mudskippers are the descendants of ancient lungfish which, according to scientists, were the first vertebrates to walk on land. There's a lot of history in that statement. There's also a lot of history behind the bold men and women who ventured out into uncertain weather two Fridays ago. These were our toughest warriors. Men and women of courage with steely concentration and really good rain gear. The Friday Club's official whiteboard forecast read: "Cloudy, rainy, definitely a bit dodgy. Slight chance of sunshine." And that was what happened ... it was like visiting Melbourne, but without the weird right-hand turns from tricky lanes. Once again, our seasoned veterans came to the fore. John Hanson brought out his inner lumberjack and cut down the division two field with little difficulty. He returned an impressive 36 points, three more than Sally Hill. Division three players all found it a bit of a struggle. James Taylor had the best score, 32 and the runner up was Nicki Wiebe with 18! (What happened to the rest of them?) Meanwhile, in division one, where the big-game hunters live, Graham Dickson returned the top score of the day. Graham's 41 points was an amazing achievement in the conditions. Take a bow Graham. The ever-consistent Dave Collett took out the minor placing with 35 points. Heroism worthy of the Bard We've spoken a lot about mud this year. This is possibly because we've become bored with covid, bored with isolation rules, and even more bored with the federal election lockdowns. Mud, while a bit of a nuisance, is more of a gritty topic. | There's history in mud too. The Anzacs, whom we saluted last week, having escaped the folly of Gallipoli in WW1, carved their legend in the waterlogged battlefields of the Somme.
And what student of history could go past the epic battle of Agincourt for a lesson in how to manage difficult terrain. For the people who skipped this class at school, this is what happened. During the 100 Years War between England and France in the medieval period, many battles were fought. We were only taught about the ones the English won (not very many). At Agincourt, a seriously outnumbered English army, consisting of a few spear carriers and a lot of archers with longbows, took on a much bigger French army consisting principally of mounted heavy cavalry. It had rained heavily for ages and the ground was boggy. When the French charged, the horses got bogged, if their knights dismounted, they got bogged and the English longbowmen won the day ... because they played to the conditions. The event was so famous that William Shakespeare wrote a play about it (Henry V for those who didn't study the Bard!) Which brings us to last Friday when our brave blue-clad Friday Club army did battle with Long Reef's soggy (but slowly drying) terrain. For once, we saw a bit of sunshine. That was a nice change. Learning from history, LRGC has sensibly banned electric carts (our version of heavy cavalry), and a lot of players have been finding golf a bit of a struggle. However some players, like the English at Agincourt, have managed the ground conditions better than others. Playing with the accuracy of ye olde yeomen archers, they've notched up some fairly decent scores. Stephen Scott is fast becoming a familiar face in the Friday Club unsaddling enclosure. He won a month ago and had a big cheesy grin after a spanking 42 points to again win division one, where the elite golfers live. Angus McPhee was runner-up with 38. John Lennard, another recent winner and wet weather specialist, also notched up 42 points, the best score in division two. Ted Talbot (who stepped into the breach on the registration desk) took the minor placing with a neat 37. Jie Cheng, a regular winner on the FC tour last year, announced her return to form with a very steady 38 points to win division three. Bruce Fairhall was next best with 35 points. We had 63 starters which says a lot about the spirit of our cohort. Next Friday we return to a regular one-tee start and the following week, May 13, we'll have a 1pm start followed by a soiree in the Clubhouse (nibbles and drinks). This is one for the diary. Members are reminded to update their contact details (if they haven't done so already) for our new mailout list. Perry Yeldham | Friday Club President
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