Johnson was joined by teammates Paul Barnard, Joe Misiti, Joel Reynolds, Dustin Fletcher, Mark Bolton, Scott Howard, Shane Harvey, James Davies, Damian Cupido, Jason Laycock, Jordan Bannister and Marc Bullen, on the golf course and the competition was rife between the Essendon players. ""Everyone takes their golf pretty seriously at the club. We don't get to play as much as we would like because of football, but when we do get out there and have a hit together it gets fairly competitive,"" Johnson said. Johnson is no stranger to the golf course, spending a lot of his early years playing. He used to hit off a four-handicap as a teenager in Kilmore.
The golfing team of Mark Bolton, Ben Haynes, Shane Harvey and Scott Howard proved the theory that golf is an all-seasons sport when they were soaked on the 12th hole. The four of them were drenched when the sprinklers came on when they were teeing off. The four of them didn't let the water distraction affect their game and played on in true Essendon spirit.
Early reports of Jordan Bannister spending a lot of time getting his ball out of the bunkers was confirmed later in the day when he returned to the club rooms with two shoes full of sand. He must have thought he was doing a beach session rather than playing golf at one of Australia's premier golf courses.
After 18 holes, the golfers headed back to the Huntingdale Dining Room for pre-dinner drinks. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy joined the golfers for the official function and presented the winning team of Brian Crowe, Kevin Dale, Paul Donohue and Joe Misiti with individual and a group trophy. In his role as guest speaker, Sheedy spoke about the excitement at the club with the entire amount of young players on the list. He singled out future players Shane Harvey, James Davies, Scott Howard, Joel Reynolds, Ben Haynes and Marc Bullen and said it is time for these players to take the next step. The four-time premiership coach said he was looking forward to the team's first match in Sydney this weekend and was pleased with the team's pre-season.
Johnson was entertaining as master of ceremonies and presented former Essendon reserves player Luke Hawkins with the nearest pin award and Michael Kus from the Avionics team with the longest drive award. Essendon wine sponsor, Tyrrells, easily won the best-dressed team award. The team consisting of Steve Sutera, David Furhoff and John Fernandes were decked out in Tyrrells polo shirts and caps and even managed to dress Bomber player James Davies in matching apparel.
