DCC - Event 6 (Port Shepstone)

After much anticipation and a huge buildup, we visited the South Coast last weekend for the 6th event in the Dolphin Coast Classic. I’ve previously mentioned the DCC and what it’s all about over here. Well at long last, the four of us have managed to be in the same country at the same time and so we didn’t waste any time in getting the DCC off the ground.

We decided to stay at Mantis and Moon, which is a backpacker’s in Hibberdene, and really is one of the South Coast’s little gems. The place is clean, has great facilities, and is close to the beach. There was no shortage of activity with the amount of pool, darts, table tennis and foozball we played. There is also a swimming pool and a little Jacuzzi tucked in among the jungle-like fauna. They have a great bar area and music plays all day long. Check out their website here

Our golf course of choice was Port Shepstone and it delivered the goods. It was in superb condition and the weather was close to 30 degrees, no clouds invited. We tee’d off at 8am and the golf was less than inspiring, but there were moments of brilliance every now and then. The problem for both teams was that none of us could build on the small advantages that we constantly exchanged with one another. Mike and I were 2 up on the front 9 at some point but we managed to throw it away and walked in at the halfway house all square.
Not ideal

The second 9 saw both teams only ever being 1 up at the most. Shuz and Verve took the early lead and Tont and I pulled one back to go all square. I had a disastrous 3 putt on the 13th which would have put us in the lead. Verve and Shuz jumped on our lack of confidence in the next par 3 and went 1 up again. The very next hole Tont and I pulled one back to go all square once again. That’s how it stayed until the 18the tee box.

Tont and Shuz didn’t have anything to offer on the last hole and once Verve and I were safely on the green for equal shots, a halve (tie) for the game was certainly on the cards. Verve had an absolute shocker of a first putt and left himself a good distance from the hole. But true to form, he sank the putt and the game was halved.

A great challenge on the course and although no one walks away with their names on the trophy, the result almost seemed apt after having waited so long to play the DCC again. The golf and the entire weekend for that matter was such good quality that to have any losers walking away wouldn’t have seemed fair.

Mike bore the brunt of the fine's meeting

At times he was openly showing a lot of concern

But he seemed to get over himself

And take it like a man

Christmas & New Year's 2008

It's a little late and out-dated, what with us being in the 2nd month of 2009 already, but I thought I'd stick up a couple of photos from the festive season.

The bulk of my holiday was spent with Team Spohl (Sparks and Pohl) at the farm where we lived the life of sloths by relaxing to the max and generally only moved when entirely neccessary. Actually that really only applied to a couple of us, actually mostly just me, because just about everyone went on daily walks and rides ranging from a modest 2kms to a full blown 6kms at times. Personally I wasn't sure what we had all worked so hard during the year for, if we were going to spend our holiday trying to keep fit.

Christmas was mellow and was definitely more focused on the kids, something that is entirely understandable and yet hard to accept all at the same time. Luckily Bronny busted out her Christmas stockings again this year with Cal receiving her debut. The Spohls were completely blown away and all agreed that stockings were the way of the future.

On the 30th December the Spohls kindly vacated the premises in search of their own New Year's party, while the majority of our social circle arrived for a few days of chillaxing. New year itself was an awesome evening spent with great friends and the days were spent reading, fishing, playing board games and cricket, swimming, etc, etc......

Christmas Eve

Prawns and ribs for dinner - No stuffing around

Christmas morning

James waiting patiently for Uncle Baj to open his present, something that Uncle Baj was having an incredibly difficult time doing

James and David showing a keen interest in the good stuff

2 of the many fish we caught and ate

Christmas Day - Roast Lamb on the spit

Tight lines

Nix and Cal doing an impressive job de-boning and filleting