Juniors visit Western Australia

JUNIOR PENNANT TRIP | APRIL SCHOOL HOLIDAYS | REPORT BY BRAEDEN KELLY

An early start on Friday morning and it was clear all were eager to get over to the foreign land of WA and test our skills on their courses.

Some travelled light and others chose to be on the heavier side, not mentioning any names (Adrian Wickstein) and once we left the lovely Adelaide Airport in the fine Virgin Blue Aircraft we were left to our own devices.

There was three main plans of attack against the looming travel boredom the first path was to sleep, which was fair enough considering we had a very early start, however this action left us open to attack from practical jokes and on a plane with 8 juniors this was very likely. The second path that was chosen was to play on your ipad, only one junior took this path, mainly because there was only one junior who owned and ipad (Jake Hurst). The final path was to talk pointless jargon about everything and anything golf related, from how far players carried it to who would win the trip. Needless to say a majority of the boys chose this path and drove anyone within a 5 row radius absolutely crazy. About half an hour out of the Perth airport we spotted what appeared to be a beacon of light on what seemed to be a never ending flight, the lake. This lake was one in a million and Sam Rascella and myself proceeded to verbalise our extreme love of the lake.

When we eventually touched down it was a quick car trip and we were at the lovely WA golf club. The course which was perfectly manicured provided a tough test for players and their endurance. Special thanks to Brian Close who provided us with delicious sandwhiches and ice cold drinks which were very much appreciated by all. The days play saw Jak hynes take the chocolates, followed by yours truly and then Michael Zang rounded out the top 3.

We then made the journey to The Vines Resort to meet our host familes for a sausage sizzle and a general meet and greet. A word of warning for anyone travelling over there, the pool next to the Pro Shop is not heated and as such should be treated like going for a swim in the arctic. We learnt this the hard way. We then went and settled into our host families homes, these families became our surrogate familes for the trip and treated us very well.

Saturday Morning came around and we were given some early tee times on the lovely Lakes Golf Course. The course was in great nick and did not give up pars and birdies very easily. On this particular occasion Henry Duregon took the win, Michael Zang second and once again yours truly just scraping in. Luckily Adrian Wickstein did not stick to his word and make the boys run a kilometre for every point under 36 otherwise we may of had some casualties, with a few boys due to run upwards of 10km. Saturday night was spent with our host families for dinner and special thanks to Debra Doeser for a magnificent roast.

Sunday morning and an air of competition loomed as all of a sudden the guy sleeping on the other side of the wall to you became competition for the hugely anticipated Glenelg vs Vines matchplay. Thankfully the boys were able to pull it together and fight out a win, although the day was not all smooth sailing as Jak Hynes fell victim to the silent killer, the four putt, just saying those words leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

That night we were treated to a casual get together, Richard Hill style. The first course was dominos pizza, which is fair to say was mauled by the boys and did not last long at all. Luckily Richard knew what to do in this situation and called in the big guns, the far superior McDonald’s which came from his fine establishment. This time the boys were satisfied with more chicken nuggets, cheeseburgers and cheesecakes then you could poke a stick at.

Monday morning rolled around very quickly and it seemed waking up was becoming tougher and tougher, but the thought of playing another pure golf course got you up wide eyed and bushy tailed for the fourth day in a row.

Mount Lawley did not disappoint and provided a humble golf course which just went about its business of providing a great blend of toughness and beauty. Special mention to Paul Duregon who went around the back nine in a spectacular 3 over par, another special mention had to go to Dylan Thomas who made a spectacular eagle on the last par 5 of the day.

Monday night, the last night of the trip and we lived it up. Subway for dinner down at the harbour with friends some new and some old. I couldn’t think of a better way to top off such a great trip. Certain Boys however could not resist the bright lights and as a result had their money syphoned by so called “skill testers”.

The final morning and it was a big one. We were about to tackle one of the greatest challenges known to golf. JOONDALUP. This was the pinnacle the one we had been waiting for and it did not disappoint offering up the most stunning combination of extreme toughness and even more extreme beauty. We were lucky enough to be able to play the QUARRY and LAKE Nines and we were treated to a great experienced with many holes lined by limestone quarry. Some however didn’t find the course as difficult as they perhaps should have with a certain somebody having 1 under (Henry Duregon).

The flight home was really quite a non event, apart from the fact our plane nearly didn’t make the Adelaide curfew the most exciting thing on the way home was the overpriced food.

A huge thanks to all the host families who graciously opened their homes to us and looked after us very well. A special thanks goes to the Doeser family who were stuck with the unfortunate task of taking me in, to their credit they took it in their stride and managed to put up with me for the four nights. Another huge thanks goes out to the trip’s coach Adrian “the older brother” Wickstein who did a great job in keeping the peace and helping us with everything golf oriented, Paul “Dad” Duregon who guided us in how to behave when at a host club and made sure we had everything we needed and finally to David “The Chief” Brand who took to his role as bus driver very well although failed to live up to the hype he had created about his table tennis skills.

Finally a great big thanks goes out to all the members who supported this trip without your continued support, we would not be able to continue our improvement and growth.

WA Junior Trip Galleries

To view photos from the WA Junior Trip, visit either:

 Glenelg Golf Club’s Facebook Page

 Glenelg Golf Club’s Picasa Web Album Page