SATURDAY’S Monthly Medal Stroke round at the Blue Lake Golf Club produced a plethora of birdies.
A normal stroke round will give up around 25 for the day but with the extra length on medal days that number is reduced.
But not on Saturday, with no less than 38 birdies for the day.
Leading the way and also claiming the overall win was Marc Dalton with his round of 68-2-66.
It is always good to see a classy golfer put together a fine round and that was the case with Dalton.
Having slipped from his scratch handicap, Dalton is doing everything he can to get back to that elite status.
After starting with a bogey Dalton righted that with his only birdie on the front nine on the ninth hole to turn one over with 36.
He then did not blight his scorecard from then on in, adding birdies on the 12th, 13th and 17th holes for a superb 32 off the stick.
It was a well-deserved win, although he did have to hold off Robbie Drenthen in a count-back.
In A Grade David Dowie also went on a birdie spree with three of his own including successive birdies to open the back nine.
He was well on track to take the outright win and register a sub-par nine but a disastrous double bogey on the last sent him into a count-back with Jarrod Ryan for the A Grade win.
His 36 was good enough to see off Ryan, who did all his scoring early.
Even with a double bogey on the fifth hole he still managed a respectable 37 on the front nine.
Rounding out the grade placings was Josh Gale with a round of 76-7-69, with pars on the last five holes to set himself up for a successful run at the GEM Easter Tournament.
B Grade winner Andrew Schubert butchered his start, opening his round with three double bogeys in the first four holes but then showed his class with a nice birdie on the eighth.
His back nine also went from mutton to lamb, three more doubles mixed in with four pars to close out with splits of 43 each.
Last week’s hard luck story John Robertson continued his improvement with his nett 70 good enough for second place.
After getting some expert coaching tips on tee set up, Robertson’s game has gone from strength to strength and he will soon break through for a win.
Third placed Robert Martland is another who is featuring regularly in the prize lists and except for two mini disasters on the third and 11th holes would have had a shot at the top prize.
Drenthen was compensated for his loss in the count-back for overall winner by taking out the main prize for C Grade, followed by Lockie Byrne (99-30-69) and Jordan Williams (97-26-71) for the minor prizes.
Scores for the ball winner prizes better reflected the difficulty of the course, ranging from Bryce Smith with 69 through to Jamal Jakubenko on 74.
Novelty prizes for the day went to putting maestro John Millhouse, grade winners Jason Clauson, Schubert and Byrne, while monthly medal winners in their respective grades were Dalton, Schubert and Drenthen.
