VGL Teams Event at Werribee Golf Course - Sunday July 15th
D. Lucas, S.Hutchison, J. Holmes and C. Maragos represented the Club in this event.

From an email received from Starsky Hutchison:

After arriving in the dark at about 5 past 7 to find Dave Lucas already there, we were all split up and played from different tees with unknown parties.  John Holmes and son (acting as caddie) were running late but just made it and I still don't know where Chris M was but he was there somewhere.  I trudged off with more than 100 others into the darkness to find my tee and group for the day.  I was surprised to find that a couple of guys in my group had not heard of Royal Park. The weather was very cold but still after the heavy rain on Saturday night and the course was playing long especially with a heavy dew on the greens. The sun broke through later and it was ideal before a breeze came up to add interest to the last few holes.

For those who haven't seen Werribee it is a touch over 6200mts long with reasonable undulations but not too far between greens and tees.  A steep climb out of the valley/flood plain the course lies in to the clubhouse, car park and small Pro shop and the first few holes.   The club house has sweeping views of the course to the west and south with floor to ceiling windows and a veranda on all sides and a large central bar.  A light lunch was provided. YUM! (young Mr Holmes had curried sausages for the first time but it could be a while before he has them again)  The course has three long par 3's and one of 130 mts. It has two par 5's one just over 500 the other just short of that mark. All the rest are par 4's that varied between 320 mts and 420+.  Every hole had bunkers at the green and several had fairway bunkers.  Anything sprayed wide is heavily punished as the course abuts the Werribee river on several sides and there is a small dam and a creek bed on the course. The drought had taken its toll on the course and several greens had areas of GUR and 1 was roped off completely and players were told to add 2 after reaching the green.  Every hole had signage with the hole layout (a great help when you haven't seen the course), ball wash and sand pit and bins. Quite well presented overall and not without character with subtle rather than dramatic curves on most holes .

Stableford Points was the game on the day. Dave Lucas starred with 33 and J.Holmes 29, I had 25, and Chris M had 22 giving us a combined total of 87pts (best 3 scores).  Congratulations to the winning team, Brighton with 96pts and the best individual was also from Brighton with 38pts (I think he had played this course before).  Royal Park was far from last and we gave a good account of ourselves I think. Better luck next Year!