Covid and crows from the blue tees in Townsville

by Paul Gueorgieff

Covid and crows from the blue tees in Townsville

A group of us went on a golf trip to Australia last month.

The trip started swimmingly but halfway through the 10-day trip covid struck.

There was nine of us on the trip and we had ventured to Townsville in north Queensland.

I hadn’t been that far north in Australia before and didn’t really understand how far north Townsville is.

For starters it is a two-hour plane ride from Brisbane and it was hard to comprehend the temperatures considering it was June. For the beginning of our trip the temperatures were 27-30C, although things did cool off to the lower 20s afterwards.

But as the temperatures eased, covid turned up the heat.

There was nine of us on the trip and six ended up getting covid. This was calamitous.

It meant the six all had to isolate for seven days, which meant most had to extend the trip by about seven days because of then covid travel rules.

We also could no longer mix with each other which is the main reason you go away together.

I, fortunately, was not one of the six but I felt sick for the six. 

The hotel we were staying at could not extend accommodation for the six as it was booked out. 

So they had to find alternative accommodation at short notice and the day they should have been heading to the airport to go home, they were instead moving across town.

To rub salt into the wound, the New Zealand government changed the rules about the need to test negative to covid about a day after most finally got home. 

I think most had insurance to cover much of the cost of the extra accommodation and a change of flights but underlined the risk of international travel in these covid days.

And to add to the covid numbers, a seventh person tested positive a day or two after arriving home.

The tournament was held at the Townsville Golf Club. This is a championship course that abounds with massive bunkers, large and undulating greens and there is water on many holes.

Unfortunately they played us off the blue tees which was far too difficult for the type of golfer playing the tournament. I have been assured next year’s tournament at Curlewis Golf Club, near Geelong in Victoria, will be from white tees.

There was a bizarre happening while we played Townsville. On the first two days we played practice rounds, one of our group lost seven balls.

Bad shots, you are thinking. No. In all cases the seven balls were stolen by crows. I repeat, stolen by crows.

The situation worsened during the week and almost every player in the tournament had a ball or two snapped up by a crow.

Initially the rule was that you had to see a crow take the ball to replay the shot without penalty. But that rule was relaxed as ball after ball kept disappearing. I played in a group of three one day and we all lost a ball to a crow on the same hole.

As you moved around the course you could hear golfers shouting out in an effort to shoo away the crows. We were told the crows had not been around for months but for some reason they turned up for the week we were there. 

Crows are apparently attracted to shiny objects and it is fallacy that they think the balls are eggs. They simply take the golf balls because they can. Crows are protected birds in Australia.

This was the first time for me to share the world handicapping system with Australians. We simply gave our handicap index to the tournament organisers and a course handicap was generated.

However scores could not be automatically recorded. I later found out that you could supply your home New Zealand club with an adjusted total score along with the slope and course ratings and par and your score would be recorded. I now have three Townsville scores against my name.