CBA Sydney Golf Club

Billy’s_Blog_#10

(17/06/21)

Billy’s Blog #9 “Special Edition”

(17/9/19)

Fellow Golfers
Welcome to this special edition of Billys Blog. To the regular golfers in our club, you may have noticed my absence from the fairways of late. Yes, on Tuesday 2nd July 2019, what started out out as a fairly regular day, certainly did not finish as one. Leonie and I have owned a caravan for a few years, getting away between golfing and baby sitting
grandchildren duties. On our last trip to Wyangala Dam a severe southerly blew up one day when we were in Cowra playing golf. Upon return we discovered our awning partially destroyed. Arrangements were made to have it repaired on 2nd July. Upon returning home after the repair, Leonie suggested we put the weather cover on the van.
To complete this, I needed a ladder to start. Because I changed my mind in the process I fell off the ladder which I was using. I hit the road landing on my right foot and hand, plus I sustained a few minor scratches. Laying there for a few minutes I thought everything was ok, I could move my hand together with moving my toes.
It did not take too much more time before I realised things were much worse.
My hand was a bit sore but I reckoned that it was just a slight sprain. When I got up to walk, well that was another story, I couldn’t put my foot on the ground and it already started to swell. After a bit of ice on it with no improvement Leonie drove me to Sutherland Hospital.

We checked into emergency and commenced the usual routine…. form filling, questions and answers and of course x rays and scans. Now, things don’t happen real fast in public hospitals, but they do happen, so after arriving about 2pm, it was just after 5pm as I waited for the last of my scan results to come back. Sitting minding my own business my right arm started to really pain and I was feeling very faint and unwell. A few minutes later I went into shock and was shaking uncontrollably, I gained the attention of a nurse, and the next thing I was surrounded by doctors and more nurses. As I was shaking so much they had to administer pain killers up my nose and orally, rather than by a cannula in my hand. Results of the scans revealed I had broken the radius bone in my wrist and the calcaneous (heel bone) in three places. My foot and wrist had casts added, and I was admitted. I remember very little from the time casts were applied until about 12 midnight. The first night in the ward was hell, whilst the pain had eased, there was constant noise from bells sounding, nurses coming and going checking on other patients, blood pressure checks etc etc. For the first 3 days I could not get out bed, nor could I turn over, hence I did not have a good few days. On the following Saturday morning I was taken to St George Hospital at Kogarah for an operation to insert
a nail and 4 screws into my heel to assist the mending process. I returned to Sutherland Hospital later that evening. On Sunday, it felt like someone had a blowtorch on my
foot, and despite having Endone throughout the day, the pain was unbearable.

On Monday the pain eased and in the next few days I managed to get out of bed, sitting up for awhile and even took a few steps on crutches. By Thursday 11th July I was ready to go home, however prior to that I was taught to go up and down stairs on the crutches as we have a two story house. However, when I stood at the top of stairs to come down, I thought……. no way am I doing that, so for the next 8 weeks it was up and down the stairs on my arse. My time at home consisted of watching sport (golf, cricket and footy) on TV and reading. Luckily the Open golf was on, I reckon I saw just about every hole played. I did manage to get out occasionally to lunch and to the Bank Holiday Tournament, which was a highlight. The healing process for these injuries is very slow and gradual, the surgeon said that it would take six to twelve months for complete recovery. At one time I thought that playing golf would never happen again, but thanks to advancements in medical science I will be out there again. Having said all of the above, besides healing
physically, I also had to overcome what my mind was thinking, which at times was not good. From such a simple act as climbing a ladder, which incidentally was not from a great height, I could not now do all the things I enjoyed doing on a daily basis, such as part time Uber driving, swimming laps 4 to 5 times a week, and of course playing golf twice a week, and generally being out and about. So, having spent the most time in hospital in my life, I encountered many sick and injured people. Feeling a bit down one day, my old mate Anton Sadler phoned to wish me the best, and amongst other
things he said, “remember you are injured not sick, you will recover” that comment brightened my mood considerably.

On my last visit to the surgeon two weeks ago, the cast on my arm came off, together with the foot cast, moonboot was purchased and I was able to start walking very short distances. Last week, I could drive the car again and most feeling returned to my wrist and hand, but still painful on occasions. Of course the main question I needed answered was when could I again stand on the first tee and hit a golf ball. With the annual Coffs Harbour trip looming in November I suggested to the doctor was this possible…….yes was the answer, wow what a relief I thought. Even if I chop it up every fairway and three putt every green I will be happy.

As I write this, (eight weeks since my accident), I can walk unaided a very short way, further with moonboot, but for longer distances I use the mobility scooter. Soon I will start putting on the carpet, followed by chipping a few in the yard, and by Camden Lakeside I MAY be right (but in a cart for some months). Despite what is written in the papers and what we see on TV, I have nothing but praise for our public hospital system.
Everyone of the doctors and nurses I encountered (and I encountered many), I can say they were all dedicated and very hard working looking after many patients who were more sick than I was. I have a saying that there are no clocks in hospital, things do happen, not straight away, but they do happen. Thank you everyone who sent messages of support and well wishes during my recovery period. I have always thought it could have been worse……I did not hit my head or hurt my back. So, the moral of this story is :
“Think twice , act once.” In closing, special thank you to my wife Leonie, who has showed enormous patience and understanding looking after me while injured.

See you all on the fairways soon.

Billy

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Billy’s Blog #8

(30/1/19)

Welcome to the first edition of Billy’s Blog for 2019.

For those at our first game at Liverpool I mentioned that I would be more diligent this year in submitting more blogs this year than last year.

Congratulations to the first three placegetters at Liverpool, Terry Hillman, John Bennion and Pat Kastl.

Liverpool was in top notch condition, probably the best I have seen it.

I must say that I did feel for Mike Parkhill, who nocked it very close (about 30cm) on the 18^th par 3, only to have Simon Cooper hit his shot to about 4cm – not sure how it didn’t go in.

Good to see our Captain Tiger Chan on the ball looking out his window from the clubhouse.

Upon returning my card, he asked me what went on the 9^th green (our last hole) regarding me lending Simon Cooper my putter, little did Tiger know of course was that Scoop had already wiped the hole and he just wanted to hole his putt for a six, which he duly did. Wish I could hole some putts like him !!.

New Rules – Hope everyone is conversant with the new rules that came in on the 1^st January 2019.

How strange is it to move loose impediments in bunkers, and of course to hole putts with the flag in when your ball is on the green.  Just two examples of the new rules.

See you all at Eastlake on the 3^rd Febraury.

Billy

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Billy’s Blog #7

(20/12/17)

Fellow Golfers

Welcome to the final “Billy’s Blog for 2017.

Well, another golfing year has come and gone and we look forward to another successful year in 2018.

2017 was once again great for our club with many fine performances on the fairways, notably NSW winning the R S Elliott Trophy and Brisbane Salver, Richard Mair the Melbourne Cup Trophy and our own Chris Dowell the Gateway Credit Union Cup playing for QLD.

Steve (Nicho ) Nicholson broke through for his first major trophy in winning the Winter Cup and in Coffs Harbour Sydney won the annual challenge from Brisbane.

Good luck to the Elliott team in SA next year with this years Presidents Cup Trophy winner Stephen McCammond leading the way.

Congratulations to all other players in your golfing efforts throughout the year.

At the recent Annual General Meeting I was once again elected to the position of club Patron, a role I cherish very much, thank you to all members for your support.

On a personal note, I will be missing a few games this year to our travel commitments, both locally and overseas, however, when in town I hope to make it to most events.

Finally, I wish all members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2018.

See you all at Liverpool in Jan 2018.

Regards

Peter Bendeich

Patron

Billy’s Blog #6

(29/03/17)

Fellow Golfers

I write this blog on the way home aboard our flight from Launceston after a great week in Hobart for the latest R S Elliott Tournament and in the north at Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm courses.

We flew in on Sunday around lunch time and relaxed at our digs at the Wrest Point Casino before joining fellow golfers from the other states for the official welcome function in the evening.

Monday was the first day of competition competing for the Managing Directors trophy at Kingston Beach Golf Club about 20 mins south of Wrest Point

South Australia were too strong on the day and just beat Western Australia followed by our New South Wales team.

Richard “Specs” Mair enjoyed the fine conditions with a fine round of 41 points together with Phil Custance from SA also with 41.

Kingston Beach was in great condition and is the home course of our Tasmanian host and organiser Greg Mays, however Greg did not have the best of days….maybe too much worry and not enough golf.

On Tuesday we headed north to the wonderful Tasmania Golf Club to contest the R S Elliott trophy day.

Greeted with a fine sunny day the field teed off in a shotgun start in perfect conditions.

Tasmania Golf Club is surrounded on 3 sides by water and where there is water there will be a sea breeze, and up it came soon into our round, which of course made scoring very difficult on an already testing layout.

Our Life Member Chris “Dowellie” Dowell, playing for Queensland enjoyed the conditions so much he fired a very impressive round of 37 points to win the Gateway Credit Union Cup, followed closely by our team mentor for the week in George “George of the Jungle” Emerson with 35 points.

Meanwhile,  Richard “Specs “Mair continued his fine form and returned a credible 81 strokes to win the Melbourne Cup for individual scratch.

New South Wales were also too strong in the team events wining both RS Elliott scratch and Brisbane Salver handicap.

The “After Tournament” tour commenced on Wednesday at Kingston Beach playing a 2 ball Ambrose in the local member’s competition.

Joining us were Neil “Hawkeye” Hawkins, Mark “Nugget” Nugent and Mark “Barney” Barnett from Queensland and our Andrew “Sergio” McRae who played for Tasmania in the Tournament.

The gun pairing of Lloyd Rodger and Steve Wise took the honours with a net 63…very nice golf gents.

Following the round we ventured north to the country town of Scottsdale where we based ourselves for the next 3 nights to play the fabled Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm courses.

The weather forecast for Thursday was not good with rain and high winds predicted. The forecasters got it right and the first 6/7 holes were played in rain with light winds but the rain then cleared and the wind blew hard off Bass Strait to make an already tough links course even tougher.

Mark “Nugget” Nugent found the conditions to his liking, keeping the ball in play for a fine score of 32 points. 

Our last day of the tournament was on the next door course at Lost Farm….the weather could not have any better…the rain and wind from Thursday had cleared to a beautiful blue sky, with little or no breeze.

Mark “Barney” Barnett was completely at home returning an amazing score of 46 points for 20 holes.

After refreshments in the lounge bar overlooking the Strait, we headed back to the digs for a night of footy viewing and beers.

What a week we all enjoyed, fantastic organisation, unbelievable golf courses and a great bunch of blokes on tour.

Special thanks to George Emerson for his impeccable arrangements and leadership in organising the tour.

Thank you Michael Parker, Lloyd Rodger, Richard Mair, Steve Wise, David McCann, Warren Francis, Steve Nicholson, Darren Wissam.

Billy

Billy’s Blog #5

 Dear Members

 Welcome to Billys Blog #5 and the final for 2016.

 I have enjoyed the role of Club Patron during 2016, and would hope to continue into 2017.

 I had the pleasure of attending The Australian Open Golf Tournament at Royal Sydney last Thursday – my first visit to this course. I wandered around for awhile and then found myself standing behind the green of the 202m par 3 17^th.

 The group of Aaron Pike (QLD), Daniel Nisbet (QLD)  and Jack Wilson (Vic) played their tee shots with Aaron Pike hitting a great shot, his ball finishing just off the green about 3 metres from the hole.

Naturally I remained to see if he could make birdie. The flag was out and his putt looked in all the way however the ball finished overhanging the hole on the right hand side of the cup. The gallery groaned, hardly believing the ball could defy gravity as it was doing……..Aaron then started to move towards his ball, stopped half way – hesitated for a few seconds, then moved again hesitating about 1 metre from the hole. Finally he was over the ball and waited again for about 15 seconds – the ball then fell in the hole.

The rules official then walked onto the green and a fairly animated conversation took place.

 A schooner of VB to the first person to email me at pierre72459@gmail.com with his score at the hole and why (ruling also please).

 NB – After the group teed off on the 18^th I spoke to the referee who explained his ruling to me (he was very happy to explain the ruling).

I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy golfing in 2017.

Cheers

Billy

Billy’s Blog – # 4

As most members are aware, our Life Member and friend of the club Brian Joyce passed away in August this year. On 14th September, a few of us gathered at the Bowlers Club in the city to celebrate his life. Life Member Dave Bridges brought in a few photos of past tournament’s in Coffs  Harbour. This photo shows from left to right…..Don Stafford  (QLD); John Sayers Life Member 1990 (NSW) Brian Joyce Life Member 1996(NSW) and Dave Bridges Life Member 2000 (NSW).
The photo was taken on the 10th tee at Bonville International Golf Course circa 1998. For many years this group played at Bonville during the annual Sydney v Brisbane Tournament.

“Billy”

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Billy’s Blog – # 3

On Tuesday 9th August I was invited to a luncheon in the city of Retired/Retrenched/Resigned NSW CBA Bank employees.

Together with a couple of mates we sat a table and by chance I was next to a gentleman by the name of Burne Prideaux, (Elliott Blue 5) and a member of the very first R S Elliott Tournament held in Sydney at Bonnie Doon in 1965. He remembers the day clearly and has very fond memories of his time playing golf in the CBA Social Club. Also in attendance were Ted Geekie (Life Member 2006 and Elliott Blue 25) and Beau Barry (Life Member 1982 and Elliott Blue 21) . Also Bob Hooper was there as well together with Eddie Skye.

A photo of myself with Burne Prideaux at the lunch is below.

If any retired/retrenched/resigned member would like to attend future luncheons please contact me and I will forward your name to the committee.

Good Golfing

“Billy”

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Billy’s Blog – # 2

I was only thinking last week that it might be time to issue another edition of Billy’s Blog, so after the weekend’s result I decide it definitely would be time.

Our regular club game was held at “The Springs Golf Club” at Peats Ridge on the Central Coast on Sunday and I was good (and also fortuitous) enough to claim top spot on the podium.

After a start in fog that bad, all players “hit their shots out of sight”. I started off with 2 pars and went on to return 39 points for the round.

Fortunately for me, my old friend Jim Wallace had a marvellous round of 43 points but was ineligible for major results as he played as a visitor.

Since Jan 2009, when I had my last win at Muirfield, I have only achieved 7 top ten places so I reckon I was long overdue for the next win.

Happy days indeed!

In each “Billy’s Blog” I intend to include a section on a few obscure rules of golf – I will probably never run out as there are plenty!

So here is the first:

• Player Unable to Distinguish His Ball from Another Ball (Decision 27/10)

Q: “Mouse” and “Tiger” hit their tee shots into the same area. Both balls were found but, because “Mouse” and “Tiger” were playing identical balls and neither had put an identification mark on his ball, they could not determine which ball was the “Mouse’s” and which was “Tiger’s”.  What is the ruling?

A: Since neither “Mouse” or “Tiger” could identify a ball as his ball, both balls were lost – see Definition of “Lost Ball”.

This incident underlines the advisability of each player of putting an identification mark on his ball – see Rules 6-5 and 12-2.

Good Golfing

“Billy”

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Billy’s Blog – #1

Fellow Members –

Welcome to the first edition of Billy’s Blog, an occasional writing of my thoughts and ideas in the Golf World and CBA Sydney Golf Club.

Firstly, let me thank Tiger Chan for an excellent job he has done in setting up the CBA Sydney Golf Club web site, if he ever wants a career change in the future, I reckon he would be a shoo in to become a web site designer.

The first Golf Major of the year the US Masters has just been decided and after watching Jordan Spieth attempt to hit his third shot into the 12th green and chomping it into the water, I can say that I will not be so hard on myself when I do exactly the same.

Loved watching the 3 hole in ones at the 16^th on the last day and especially Louie O’s ball hit J B Holmes’s and cannon into the hole. Never seen that before!!

After missing the game at Mona Vale (youngest and last daughter to be married) I am looking forward to the challenge of Glenmore Heritage Valley on May 1^st.

I was wandering about the south coast recently and just happened to call into Links Shell Cove Golf Club for lunch and refreshments.

Some major earth works are happening in front of the 3^rd tee and other machinery is in the distance.

Also on the 18^th hole they were teeing off on top off the hill and playing it as a par 3 – it will be interesting to see what changes await us on Aug 14^th when we play the course.

Until next time – happy golfing

“Billy”