We don’t normally go out of our way to celebrate the NAGA of the week but coming off the back of the big Priems Cup victory last week, Chrispy declared that he had his worst game at Ivanhoe in the past 5 years. Indeed a card with 23 stableford points had him in clear last place for the day.

Chris’s form helped Bobby to a comfortable 4 and 3 win in their match play. Over the years Chrispy and Bob have often been drawn to play in the first round of the match play and Chrispy reckons he is cursed, Bobby has won every time. Bobby noted on the day “make sure you put in the blog that the curse continues!”

In the other match play, Brendan got off to a fast start against Stan and also prevailed 4 and 3.

Brendan also won the day with 36 stableford points, followed by Raj with 35, Michael and Targe equal third with 34, Bob in fourth with 33 and Charles fifth with 32.

On a beautiful day for golf and with the dew taken off the greens with a rare Saturday morning mow, you might have expected the field to score better. But the big story of the course set-up for the day was the pins. On the first the pin was in the far back right corner, closer to the back and right than anybody had ever seen it before. This set a trend of crazy back corner pins on 2, 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15 and 18. And they threw in a few crazy close to the front ones on 4, 5 and 9 for good measure.

Brendan’s win came after a great front 9 of 20 points. He explained he was coming off the back of a dancing inspired family holiday in the US and was happy to be back and enjoying the peace and quiet of playing golf at Royal Ivanhoe. A stumble on the back with three untidy sixes at the 13th, 16th and 17th was arrested with a nice 3-point par on the last. His card marker, your assistant apprentice handicapper, noted that off a handicap of 9 with us Brendan got a stroke on the 18th but not with his GA handicap of 7. Thankfully with his winner’s penalty, Brendan will lose his stoke on the 18th next time he plays.

No winner’s penalty for Raj who now has 6 second placings for the year but no wins. Raj started the front 9 with only two points after the first 3 holes but then managed four 3-pointers in a row on holes 6 to 9 to turn with 17 points. He then had a more consistent looking scorecard to add 18 points on the back 9.

Targe finished strongly with two 3-pointers on the 17th and 18th for his 34 points. This included what Targe called his “epiphany” shot of the day, a 7 iron second into the 17th over the big tree onto the green. He has been playing safe around the tree with his second lately but decided during the week he would take it on this week and hit it over the tree “like I used to do all the time”. And he pulled it off perfectly. Michael didn’t manage any 3 point holes in his 34 and had nothing spectacular to report. Bobby’s 33 points was built on a strong back 9 of 19 points including a 4-point par on the last.

Charles had the most interesting card of the day. His 32 points included three of the day’s six birdies (all 4-pointers) on the 5th, 13th and 17th. He also mixed in no less than 4 gashes. One of those gashes was on the 12th when he managed to hit 2 shanks into the pond off the tee. He then stepped up and birdied the 13th. Funny game golf!

For followers of the Eclectic, Charles has rocketed up to second and Raj’s lead is now down to just 1.2 strokes, with Bobby flying past Brendan and Porks into third.

Just out of the points was Prez Priems and Chris Vinecombe with 31 points. It was great to see Chris finding the time to be back playing again. After a slow start he showed his class with a brilliant 6 iron into the 7th to stake a solid claim for the first nearest the pin. Unfortunately Michael then bunted a 3 wood down there just a bit closer. Chris wasn’t to be denied the second ball pin with another solid shot into the 18th.

With the tee at the back and the pin at the far back left, the money on offer at the 15th was always odds-on to go to Jack Pot. Some incentive there for people to register for next week.

Your blog writer is in trouble again for forgetting to name check birthdays. Happy birthday Peter Sein for this week, Porks for next week (because I will forget again next week) and a special mention to SoS who I forgot last week. One year closer to the Seniors for you SoS.

The famous “SoS Cocky” has been known to cause a bit of trouble about the place. But he was relatively quiet for this week’s golfers despite reappearing at one of his favourite haunts beside the 7th tee (where him and SoS once had a major stoush). He is obviously waiting for SoS to get back before he gets back to full voice in the middle of backswings.

Brent had a rare off day and it was confirmed he hit at least one tree on every single one of his first 10 holes. Porks too did not have his best day but Brent and Porks did fire up to tell the story of Harry’s club throwing tantrum on the 16th. The story got better and better with the retelling but not in dispute was that Harry’s club definitely travelled further than the ball. Harry maintains the club slipped out his hand, just with a bit of a delay after the shot was struck.

There was also some debate about who scored the most interesting 1-pointer of the day. The first contender was Rob’s 20 foot putt for a 6 for 1 on the 10th after a shank or two and a visit to the hazard. This was beaten by Harry’s effort on the 9th that might have also involved shank and a visit to the trees on the right before a chip in secured a very adventuress 6 for 1.

Results for Saturday, 20 Apr 2024
1st Brendon Mitchell (36) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (35) 3rd Michael Gourlay (34) 3rd Targe Mifsud (34) 4th Bob McDonald (33) 5th Charles Gibbs (32)

Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (34) 1st Targe Mifsud (34) 2nd Bob McDonald (33) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (28)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Chris Vinecombe

As the sun rose (an hour earlier by the clock than in previous weeks after the daylight saving change) a beautiful morning presented itself for the first round of the 2024 Priems Cup.

The Priems brothers were pumped for the contest, with Team Chris’s seven (Chris, Dan, Craig, Steve, Stan, Peps and Harry) taking on Team Rob with Charlie, Brent, Raj, Targe, Porks  and Michael. Johnny Q was in the field but as the last to get himself on the list (did he forget to register again?) was the odd 15th man and missed out on a spot in either team. Dom, a mate of Charlie and Dan’s also joined in the fun.

Charlie and Dan, both playing off the same handicap (18) lead the teams out in the first group. Prez Priems, joined Charlie on the first tee to wish him well and they looked a picture as the hot air balloons drifted over the course taking in the action. Rob had enjoyed a big Friday night and he was blowing some very pungent hot air of a different type all day long, which might explain the look on Charlie and Dom’s faces.

As it happened both Charlie and Dan struggled big time on the front 9 with Charlie (13 points) gaining the slimmest advantage over Dan’s 12 points. By the end, the situation was reversed thanks to a big finish by Dan with three 3 pointers and 30 points for the round to Charlie’s 29. It set the stage for a close contest right to the very last card counted. Advantage Team Chris by 1.

In a contest where every stableford point counted, would Dan’s point over Charlie be decisive? There would be a few twists and turns before this cliffhanger of a Priems Cup was decided and as it turns out, Dan and Charles were centre-stage throughout and the result was not fully decided until a meeting of the Club Stewards took place behind closed doors some 48 hours after the event.

Brent from Team Rob and Craig from Team Chris both had good rounds going, turning on 19 points. Brent then hit the accelerator on holes 10-14 with 3 pointers on the 10th, 13th and 14th, before a few 1 pointers slowed him down to a total of 37 points. This was two better than Craig’s 35, to put Team Rob in the in the lead by 1.

Raj, playing for Team Rob was very disappointed with his 27 points. His form seems to have nosedived since Michael started sledging him about his handicap and his succession of second placings as he raced up the championship leaderboard without losing any strokes. Michael has agreed to cease and desist with the sledging in future and hopefully Raj will find his mojo again soon. Steve from Team Chris was equally disappointed with his 29 points, but being 2 points to the better of Raj meant Team Chris was now back in the lead by 1.

Targe and Stan seemed in a race to see who could finish with the least points, with 12 each on the front 9 and more than a few of the dreaded gashes between them on the back. When the points were tallied, Stan was 4 points to the good of Targe and this extended Team Chris’s lead to 5.

Peps from Team Chris rallied late after a bad three hole patch early on the back 9. His 3-3 birdie, par finish saw him finish with 32 points, two to the better of Porks. So with Peps helping extend the lead, Team Chris was starting to look very comfortable as the last group of Chris, Rob, Michael and Harry came in.

However, the lead changed again when Michael from team Rob, despite another bout of nervous wobbles over the closing holes, managed 37 points to equal Brent for best score of the day and with Harry only managing 27, the 10 point turnaround from the latest edition of the Harry-Michael show put team Rob back in front!

It all came down to the brothers Priems! Chris had been Mr Steady on the back 9 with shades of the year Nick Faldo won the British Open with 18 pars in the last round – 9 straight 2 pointers. By contrast Rob had a couple of gashes but then rattled in a long putt for a spectacular 4 point birdie on the 17th for 17 points on the back 9. With Chris’s better front 9, his 33 points bettered Rob’s 29 by 4. Was it enough?

Well if you were there on the day, the answer was no. Team Rob’s lead was calculated at 5 and Chris beating Rob by 4 was one shy of what he needed for a tie and a chip-off. After a bit of sighing, a few stories were shared, including Chris’s graciousness in agreeing to correct Rob’s score for the 11th (when Rob had scored a 4 but he and Chris had recorded it as a 5) even through the error wasn’t picked up until a few holes later.

Chris while disappointed, conceded that Rob really did have a 4 and while he was gutted to lose the day by a stroke, what’s fair is fair etc. As it happened, two days later in the Stewards room, Team Chris would end up with the win and it all goes back to Dan and Charlie. On the day when the points were tallied, Dan’s score was recorded for Team Rob even though he was playing for Team Chris and Charlie’s score was recorded for Team Chris even though he was playing for Team Rob. And when the scores went to the right team, Dan beating Charlie by a point made all the difference. The official winner is Team Chris by a point!

Just as well your blog writer insisted on a whole group photo. If we went with a winner’s photo, we’d have had the wrong team!

For those of you who couldn’t make it to this Priems Cup, including those gallivanting around the courses of Vietnam, put the next Priems Cup 2024 date in your diary, 9 November. It is always a fun event.

In and amongst all this, the day’s 15th man, Johnny Q, got into the points action despite not being in a Priems Cup team, playing well again for 35 points to share second place points with Craig. JQ now sits atop the table for the prestigious Vardon Trophy (best points average per game played). Brent and Michael shared first place points, with Chris third, Peps fourth and Porks and Dan sharing fifth.

Meanwhile guest Dominic (Dom) playing in the first group made all the running for nearest the pin on the 18th and won the ball on offer there. Porks took out the ball on the 15th (and made the birdie) and Chris’s 4.91 metres on the 12th was good enough to cap off his day with some cash, even though he missed the birdie. In fact Chris was spectacularly stiff with his putting all day, with so many near misses that seemed like they were about to drop but somehow didn’t.

This blog is already too long to add in the days best other stories but an honourable mention must go to Peps for his par of the century on the 8th – a power shank off the tea, a tree slammed in the next couple of shots and then a pitch from 40 yards for his fourth shot straight into the hole. Charles is also living up to his reputation as the new Priemsy with 3 or 4 shots off trees back into the middle of the fairway including a spectacular effort with a shanked second on the 16th. It was heading straight into the hazard, hit a tree and finished back in what commentator Jack Newton used to call the Mayor’s Office.

Priems Cup Result for Saturday, 13 Apr 2024

Team Chris – Dan Marie (30), Craig Cameron (35), Steven Gervasoni (29), Stan Blackshaw (23), Andrew Petricola (32), Harry Boughen (27), Chris Priems (33) – Total 209

Defeated

Team Rob – Charles Gibbs (29), Brent Rowley (37), Rajesh Mahto (27), Ryan Porker (30), Targe Mifsud (19), Robert Priems (29), Michael Gourlay (37) – Total 208

Individual Points for Saturday, 13 Apr 2024
1st Michael Gourlay (37) 1st Brent Rowley (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (35) 2nd John Quinlan (35) 3rd Chris Priems (33) 4th Andrew Petricola (32) 5th Dan Marie (30) 5th Ryan Porker (30)

Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (37) 2nd Craig Cameron (35) 3rd Chris Priems (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Chris Priems BallPin No 1 – 15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Dominic Pollaers (Guest)

No more hitting off into the dark! At least, for a few weeks until the sun gets lazy again. There was a goodly fall of rain during the week, and, fortunately, the fairways were pretty dry, and it just soaked right in with barely a perceptible effect on the course other than a little less run than was enjoyed over the last couple of weeks. There was a possibility of some rain later in the day, but a few spots did materialise late in the round. With the prospect of a fairly mild day, we ended up with a field of fifteen members, plus a ‘ring-in’, Joseph, a visitor from Malaysia. So, once it was decided that there was sufficient light to have a chance of seeing where the ball went, the first group struck out with their hopes high for a score low.

The set up of the course proved interesting today. The white markers on the first were well forward, which elicited a certain amount of comment and raised the fear that the second would be back around the corner of the dam. As it turned out, the second was only moderately far back. The real surprise was on the 8th, where the markers were barely a stance width apart, until an executive decision was taken by the first group to give the field a ‘fighting chance’.

Michael wasn’t in the first group, but he started out with a birdie on the first. Then he made par on the next seven, and finished off the nine with a birdie bookend. Every thing was working like clockwork, and he knew exactly what he had to do in every situation. But, then, wild erratic fancies started to enter his head, and, although the wheels didn’t exactly fall off, the birdies were not quite so easy and the bogies made an unwelcome appearance so that the back nine finished four over the card giving a total for the round of 70 and a net of 68, which was just enough to take the day, and to collect the Monthly Medal for April. As an added bonus, playing right to handicap meant that only the half stroke Winner’s penalty applied, and he gets to play off 2 again next time.

JQ hasn’t been playing a great deal in recent times, and he has had other things on his mind over the last little while, but the reckons that an impending change in circumstances in the near future should let him grace the Elysian Fields of Ivanhoe on a more regular basis. However, the infrequent ventures onto the course does not seem to have impacted his ability to hit the ball (and sometimes ‘not’ hit the ball). One feature of his game was, apparently, his uncanny ability to sink long putts, some as long as 10 or 12m. Despite this, a sprinkling of double bogies got in the way of a chart-busting round, and he finished with a net score of 69 strokes.

Steve turned in a pretty mixed bag for the front nine, and he could have been forgiven for feeling a bit down in the dumps as a result. However, the back nine was a much more workmanlike effort, with a number of pars and only one ‘blow-out’ hole. As a result, he finished with a card of 70 which was just off the pace and scored him a share of third place. Matt took a few holes to get going, but then he rattled off seven pars in a row to plant some thoughts of better things to come. The good times did not quite roll away, and, he, too, returned to the stewards with a net score of 70.

Ken sprayed his tee shot from the 10th a bit and finished in front of the 13th green. After waiting for the 13th fairway to clear, he gave it a good crack, and threaded it through the tiniest gap between the trees separating the fairways. And, this was apparently not the only time that he managed to thread the eye of the needle. As a result, it is not surprising that he was able to return a net score of 71 to take out 4th place. There were some reports that Ryan had come in with a net 66, but these proved to be unfounded and based on false impressions of how well he was playing. For a while there, Rob was Clubhouse leader, and he was sweating on what other scores might be coming in, and calculating the odds of him getting into the points or not. After giving himself a fright by miscounting the number of tied results, he was greatly relieved to find that he was actually in a tie himself for fifth place with Ryan.

There was one Matchplay result determined today. Gordon and Andrew were going head-to-head to determine who would progress to the next round of the event. Gordon wasn’t all that gassed with the idea of giving Andrew 10 strokes, but he managed to get his nose in front fairly early on, although it seemed to be a bit of a struggle to clear the air one way or another. However, by the end of the front nine, Gordon had managed to be two holes up. The straw that could have broken the camel’s back came at the 10th when Andrew made for a back-hand tap in that hit the pin and bounced back out to lose the hole. There was something of a fight back from there, and, by the end of the 13th, Gordon’s margin had reduced to just a single hole. Unfortunately for Andrew, his run had petered out, and the match went dormie three after the 15th, and a square result on the 16th gave the match to Gordon, 3 and 2.

The ProPin was a Jackpot on the 4th, and, even though the tee was not hard back, the green almost proved to be elusive once more. That is, until JQ took out his trusty 8 iron with every intention of taking on the trees in his attempt to snatch the purse. The leading edge of the club contacted the centre-line of the ball, and it took off in a low curving flight, skipped through the apron of the green, and rolled to a stop some 3.5m from the pin (nobody thought to write down the actual measurement). John promised not to put the lot onto one horse! The first BallPin was on the 15th, and Raj was the only one able to put his name on the card. The situation was similar on the 18th, where Porks was the sole contender for the ball on offer.

Bob’s drive on the 3rd was down the right side and deflected off one of the mounds and finished deep in the kikuyu rough. Undeterred, Bob took out his fairway wood, and managed, against all odds to, at least, get the ball out onto the short stuff, if only about half a metre away from where it lay. There were many tales of missed putts. Raj missed from around 300mm on the 4th, and Targe also missed one from a similar distance. Harry started out putting well on the front nine, but persisted in running the ball across the edge of the hole on the back. His putt from off the green on the 18th was all but in the hole when it touched the pin, and finished just out. Rob sounded a bit desperate on the 17th as he enquired whether a ball had been heard entering the reeds in the pond. Despite the negative response, no ball could be found, and another penalty was incurred in addition to the one for out of bounds on his first tee shot. Ken and Dan, in the last group, had the job of picking up the NTP paraphernalia. When they arrived at the stewards table, it was discovered that they had neglected to collect the ProPin from the 4th. Dan asked should he get a cart to go back and get it, but Ken said, ‘No, just run back and get it’. So he did. Between gasps for breath after negotiating the hill beside the 9th, he reckoned he needed the exercise.

Results for Saturday, 06 Apr 2024
1st Michael Gourlay (68) 2nd John Quinlan (69) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (70) 3rd Matt Hunt (70) 4th Ken Watson (71) 5th Ryan Porker (72) 5th Robert Priems (72)

Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (68) 2nd Matt Hunt (70) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (70) 3rd Ken Watson (71)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th John Quinlan BallPin No 1 – 15th Rajesh Mahto BallPin No 2 – 18th Ryan Porker

Easter does funny things to people. It seems to make them want to go to places that are not Ivanhoe. But, despite the attractions of the coast, the country, the mountains and foreign climes (or even just staying in bed), we managed to get enough for a competition (much to Michael’s relief), and eight members set out with hopes for some ‘easy’ points. The sky was overcast and the air was a bit misty, or was it hazy, which could make the flight of the ball hard to follow if it had a bit of elevation. The greens were sprayed with something during the week, and they had been given a dressing of gravel and a good watering which made for some interesting putts. It didn’t stop us from scoring eight birdies, so maybe the extra run from the bone dry, and increasingly bare fairways helped in that regard. The big question of the day was, would everybody get points? As it turned out, not quite! Just one more tied placing would have fixed that, but Stan can take some consolation that he did get a point in the Seniors.

As the end of daylight saving nears, it has to be admitted that the light levels are pretty low when you head out to get to the course on time. Which means that, when you are groping around in the garage getting your golf gear loaded into the car, it is quite easy to grab a pair of shoes, only to find when you go to put them on that you suddenly wish that you really did have two left feet. Thus, there was the sight of Ryan in the ProShop letting the moths out of his wallet to buy himself a brand-new pair of golf shoes. A couple of tee shots that strayed a bit caused him to wonder whether it was the different heel height that was ‘putting him off’. However, it didn’t seem to matter too much, and despite a number of putts left just short of the hole, Ryan managed to complete the back nine one under the card, and the whole round just two over the card, to top the field with plus five points. This included one double pointer for his birdie on the 8th.

Michael finished the round in a very cranky mood, and he took it out on the nearest the pin card from the 18th. It seems his tee shot left a pitch mark well closer than Porks’, but it didn’t bite and finished further from the hole, robbing him of the chance to collect both of the BallPins for the day. To add insult to injury, he then proceeded to take three putts to put the ball into the hole. This robbed him of the chance to produce at least a par round (he had to settle for one over) and, more importantly, the chance to have Seniors first place on his own. On the other hand, Porks had expressed a desire to beat Michael off the stick, so there is probably some consolation to be had from that aspect of the result. Targe didn’t put a foot wrong all day, other than taking some sort of a relief break just as his group was lining up to tee off on the first. He cited ‘first shot of the day’ when he barely cleared Charlie’s Bush, but then went on to pull off great recoveries, such as by threading the needle through multiple trees on the 11th, by going close to scoring par after chipping down to the 12th green from behind the tree near the old 13th tee and generally getting it close from around the green. The pair of +2 points made a tie for second place, as well as first place in the Seniors.

Raj had a bit of trouble getting the plus signs onto his card. At the end of the front nine, there were seven square and two minus to show for his efforts. Then the wheels just about fell off and by the 14th, things were looking pretty dire with four points on the wrong side of the ledger. The man said, I have to par the rest of the course to get some respectability back into this card. He then proceeded to birdie the next two holes (one for a double pointer), albeit he had to sink a couple of very long putts to make them. The 17th could have undone some of that good work after some to-ing and fro-ing around the green, until another long putt produced the bogie and a square for the hole. In the end, the square card was good enough to capture a solo third place.

Harry started off steadily enough, although he did leave himself with some very long putts that were not handled at all well, and he likes to think it was due to the flukey conditions on the green. A couple of ‘safe’ shots out of trouble on the 8th just happened to find the trees that they were meant to avoid, which helped to bring the score to square at the end of the nine. Harry was only two under the card after the 14th, but, he too, expressed the view that some pars were in order to bring some respectability to the end result. No such luck with the double birdies, but there was one for two points on the 17th making the final score -1. SOS was deeply committed to keeping Targe’s score card in order, as well as wrestling with the fourteen strokes that he had to concede to Targe in the match that they were playing. He managed a good run of plus results early in the round but could only finish the first half one point to the good. A win on the 10th gave him some heart, but the scoring chances seem to have dried up. A shot for the green on the 17th did not pay off, and that contributed to a run of losses that produced a score of -1 for a share of 4th place with Harry. Charlie was a bit apprehensive heading out with his brand new handicap. It is assumed that he also avoided Charlie’s bush, but the first three holes were not kind to him. The next four holes fared somewhat better, but at the end of the nine, there was a number four on the wrong side of the zero line. The back nine was much more workman-like, and the +2 there brought him home just two down, which he thought was a pretty pleasing result considering. It was certainly good enough to get him a point for fifth place.

The ProPin was on the 4th, and it proved to be a pretty tough gig, either that, or the pot wasn’t big enough to be bothered about. Anyway, there will be a jackpot pool on the 4th next week. As hinted at earlier, Michael rolled Porks for the BallPin on the 12th, but didn’t succeed in doing so on the 18th. As an aside, there were five double pointers scored for the day.

The match between SOS and Targe was very much a close-run thing, despite SOS’s concerns about the vagaries of the Matchplay hole ratings (as well as the fact that he had to give Targe 14 strokes). He got away to a good start, and had a couple of holes up his sleeve in short order. At this stage, Targe got his house in order and won three of the next five while squaring the other two to take a one hole advantage. SOS then won a couple to get back a slight advantage, which he managed to hang onto until the 15th. A wild shot from the tee on the 16th finished lost/OOB and the match was back to square. The shot for the green on the 17th cost another hole and the match was dormie one in Targe’s favour. The two shot differential required on the 18th proved a hope too far for SOS to force a chip-off, and the match went to Targe, 2 up.

Results for Saturday, 30 Mar 2024
1st Ryan Porker (+5) 2nd Michael Gourlay (+2) 2nd Targe Mifsud (+2) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (□) 4th Harry Boughen (-1) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (-1) 5th Charles Gibbs (-2)

Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (+2) 1st Targe Mifsud (+2) 2nd Harry Boughen (-1) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (-6)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Ryan Porker

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