Has the time off been worth it ? - Tournament edition 2026

After just coming off a less than stellar performance at Maitland including the much talked about 11 on hole 9, its on to the best and hardest course in NSW, Toronto.

For those that are new, Toronto is a big deal, hard fast greens, rolling terrain, outstanding conditioning, a proper test of golf.

The Shooter may have gone ok there in the past as well.

Got a couple of amateurs who smoked like trains and insisted we rode in carts with them, that was an experience, plus when a birdie was made, instead of a shot of Fireball or similar the boys smoked a cone. One guy had a prescription for medical marijuana and the old guy who was wearing a hat from the 1920's said he has only been illegally smoking for 40 years.

So glad I was in the cart with the 75 year old, illegal smoking machine. Fucks sake.

We spent a few hours talking about alternative spirituality, meditation, and the recreational use of psychedelic drugs that helped to expand his mind. Where are all of these geniuses, we could solve the problems of the world here.

Couple of bogies through 5, the swing is a little rusty, not moving as good as I used to it seems. Looks like rain also. Hope that doesn't decide to show up.

7 holes in, just missed another one from a foot for par, I'm now walking as much as I can, couldn't see out of the cart for the smoke haze. The plantar faciitis is working up a treat as well. It seems to hurt more after I make another fucking bogey.

At the end of the day, 79 was 12 worst than the glory days. Fuck.

Throw the weapons in the back of the tour bus and its off to Magenta Shores, I got a photo of the front gate last time I played to remind me to never show up again, If I recall, that may have been the day Lukey Fairways threw sand in his own eyes and almost needed surgery. It was still less painful that playing there.

The Shooter arrives at Magenta at least half an hour after Feathers. As usual Feathers has the BMW parked up in prime pole position, The Shooter had to park 500 meters away, next to the public toilets and rubbish bins.

Once the tour bus was unloaded, I was about to move the car and Feathers pipes up. "Pick a room and a park". Well, fuck me, by the glory of Odin's beard, What the fuck has happened ?

Feathers is renowned for many things, giving up parks and king dick bedrooms is not one of them. There's a rumour that Feathers is feeling guilty for all of the king dick room decisions he had made over the years, maybe this is payback.

Fuck, the king dick room here is good too, spacious an filled with light, the ensuite is also large and has many upmarket toiletries for The Shooter to steal. Bedroom 2 and 3, are cold, damp and dark, you also have to walk to the bathroom out of your room. Wonder what the poor people are doing this week.

The morning comes and so does the wind. 8:30 shotgun, blowing 40, what a shithole. Shooter is playing with a proper tour pro, so it should be a good battle.

Starting on 5, a shortish par 4, straight down wind. One of the Am's tells me he is 2nd in the NSW Senior Order Of Merit and then he says he can tell me all about this course as he plays here a lot and if I follow him it will be good for me. First shot he neck tops it 20 yards left into the saltbush, am I supposed to follow him there ?. Dickhead.

Who am I kidding, good battle, fuck me, Shooter misses the green, putts it up, hits a slope, rolls back off the green, then a further 3 putts secures a double bogey out of the blocks, shit. Smash it down 20 meters short of the 6th, right into my wheelhouse hit a half decent chip for me but of course it rolls off the left of what I thought was the green, they are more like cricket pitches. Roll the putt up to 3 feet and miss it for a well constructed bogey. Almost hole a wedge down the next, only to see the tarmac not respond to a perfectly struck iron shot, great chip from the short cut at the back of the green to 3 foot, miss that nicely without catching a lip, fuck off, nice bogey fuckwit.

First par of the day comes at 8, flat hook into a fairway trap, 8 iron out, 60 degree wedge to 30 feet and finally a two putt for par, only +4, might be on the right track here.

Nope !! Double 9 from 165 and make the 2nd par of the day on 10 after missing a 4 foot birdie attempt, consistency is showing through. Flush a 3 wood, soft 54 that hits the edge of the green and very quickly starts repelling 30 yards down the hill to the edge of the trap into what I thought was the worst lie imaginable, nope, that was the next shot. Finally get it onto the green and make another fine example of a double.

Couple of doubles I cant remember follow and we finally make the turn, back to the 1st, 4 to play, get me out of here. Hit a good drive, now I have 157 into a hurricane, dump a 5 iron into the front trap and make another soft as fuck bogey, getting good at these.

No-one sees the tee shot off the 2nd, provisional comes out of the bag, that goes left, not lost but not good either.

The original ball is found, fried egg, half buried, all the way up a slope, almost under the lip of a sand filled waste area, fuck this is fun now. Chop that out and hit the cart of the Senior Amateur of the year, hasn't he seen how the pros do it today !

Still got him by a few, that's not a good thing for him.

Rip it up 3, slight dog leg left, wind blowing from the right. Now, fuck me, that is the best shot I've hit all day, of course, it hangs up in the right shit and its the only one out of the 4 to not funnel back to the fairway, the seldom seen, chunk punch, down wind to a front pin situated on a surface as hard as the motorway out of the fucking joint, lands so well, runs to 100 feet, by now its not unexpected. Have you ever tried to hole one from 100 foot downhill on a an airport runway ? its difficult, obviously I had 3 putts for another bogey to add to the tally.

The last was playing 179 into the best wind Magenta has to offer, The Shooter flushes a 4 iron and it comes up just short of pin high on the left, halfway up a sand hill with some grass on it. The best shot of the day follows, soft, deliberate pitch shot off a shit lie that rolls out to 2 feet, the gallery applauds, NSW Amateur of the year, tips his hat. Miss that for a bogey.

To their credit, Magenta supply lunch and a bar tab, after 90 hits, many Stone and Wood's were injured. After the bar tab ran out it was onto the bar with Feathers and Rodney who is responsible for me actually getting a start, as well as Benedict and The Mushy.

Rodney has a lot to answer for.

I took another photo of the front gate the next morning, next time I'll remember.

The long awaited comeback may have stalled.

Little out of shape Shooter out.