Yearly Archives: 2014

Maybe it was the shortest day of the year (or even the first day of winter if you follow the idea of a solar calendar) but the scoring wasn’t that fantastic.  Half the field was in and -7 was still in the points.  Maybe the conditions improved as the day progressed but the best scoring was reserved for the later groups.  Certainly, some parts of the course were pretty soggy and there has been some significant damage by carts in places.  Looks like someone even got bogged.  The management have issued guidelines but just maybe there should be a ban.

Eventually, somebody did come in in positive territory and the points cut-off ended up being a slightly more respectable -3.  The glory was shared in the end with Whitey and Ryan being the ones to beat with +1 apiece.  Well done to Ryan who has now racked up his first win with the Club so it will be onwards and upwards from here on in.

Mehmet was pretty happy with his square card as it garnered him 5 points and did absolutely no harm to his handicap.  Always have to be happy about that.  Following closely behind was a veritable bevy of talent including Noodles, Mozzy, Gordo and ChrisV who all had their fair share of misses on the card.  Gordo was pretty happy with a couple of birdies that helped to improve his Eclectic just that little bit.

Mozzy didn’t do anything to improve his total in the June Bonus Trophy event and although there were some moves in the ranks there is still a bit of work to do to catch him.  If SOS can come in from night shift again and put together a 40 pointer he can snatch it away.  Plenty of sleep doesn’t seem to have done him any good today.  Some of the other mathematical possibilities are rather more complicated.

Next bus off the rank another point behind was our Craig who was heard having a bit to say about the course of the game.  Who’s not surprised then?

The last little group was made up of Bill, Ed and Chrispy.  For the umpteenth time, Ed’s points calculation was not up to scratch so he didn’t rate a mention at the call of the card.  Bill was noticed jumping up and down on the 17th after he missed the eagle by the narrowest of margins.  There was some concern that the activity could put his knee into jeopardy.  The birdie wasn’t really necessary for his Eclectic but the other two on the 4th and the 15th were enough the get him the full hand.  The only way he can improve now is to start getting eagles or for his handicap to move out.  There are a couple of people who only need a couple more birdies to mount a challenge while a lot still have a fair bit to do between now and the end of the year.

The ProPin was on the 12th.  As seems to happen with great frequency when there is a Jackpot up for grabs, the person to get his name on the marker was Ed.  Though there was some confusion about the marking of the marker.  Was it the Beast or was it Mr Ed?  Fill it out properly folks.  And try to leave the marker somewhere obvious as it seems that quite a few groups didn’t notice it where it was.

AndrewH played his first full comp today and despite (or maybe because of) a fair bit of chiacking at the first tee about how well the handicapper had treated him, he proceeded to lose balls at a furious pace and by the end of the round was hoping for an eagle to make up his losses.

There were a few shots that were classified as the sort of thing that beats class.  Gordon chipped in from way out on the 7th for a birdie.  On the 3rd (maybe it was something to do with the alignment of the planets), Chrispy had hit one of his wild ones that was heading for the Yarra but it hit a tree and finished a metre or so from the hole.

The preferred lie rule was in place and everybody was doing the right thing and marking the ball position while cleaning and drying the projectile.  All well and good, but what happens when you forget where your marker is.  Just ask Bob.  Five minutes of concentrated searching by the whole group turned up nothing.

Notionally, the matchplay competition is supposed to be finalised next week.  Obviously, there is no chance that that is going to happen so the committee is inclined just to let it run until people can get together to play.  However, in any future competition, the deadlines will be strictly enforced and no correspondence will be entered into.  Despite the current competition not being finished, it is being planned to run another sudden death matchplay event and some rules for selection and execution will be formulated over the next week or so.

We also have access to a session at a golf simulator at Coburg and it is planned to raffle this, probably at the July Monthly Medal.  Up to four people can play the simulator and there is a wide selection of world famous courses available.

The Orange Ball Teams Event didn’t eventuate today, mainly due to a lack of balls (on somebody’s part) and this will now happen on the next Par event which will be the 12th July.

Results for Saturday, 21 June 2014
1st Ryan Porker(+1) 1st Rodney White(+1) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(□) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(-1) 3rd Mostyn Gregg(-1) 3rd Gordon Hill(-1) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-1) 4th Craig Sharp(-2) 5th Bill Eastoe(-3) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-3) 5th Chris Priems(-3)

The rain band that used to plague the oval at Moorabin seems to have moved north and now seems to plague Ivanhoe.  Whatever the reason, the course was pretty soft in places and there were quite a few balls that went astray on the fairway and many more that did not move far from the plug mark.  Once again there were preferred lies and there were probably quite a few preferred lies told.  But the weather was good and the showers held off until after we had finished.  The complaints from last week about the greens not being maintained on Saturdays must have been heard as they were all dew and leaf free.  As a result, conditions proved to be ideal, for some people at least.

It is not clear whether Mostyn has been practicing while he has been having his little sabbatical but if his last three score-cards are any indication whatever he is on is doing him the world of good.  Doesn’t seem to have corrected his squint as he either read the handicap sheet incorrectly or he put his outside card in and his inside card out.  The upshot was that he garnered even more points (on his card – not championship points) than he thought and a bigger slice from his handicap as well.  On appearances, it would appear that it will be hard for him to improve his current total in the June Bonus Trophy and so it is up to the rest of the field to get some better ones in and catch him up.

SOS hit the tees straight off night shift and as a result thought he was hallucinating.  First, there was the buzzing sound in his ears which turned out to be a model aeroplane over on one of the ovals.  Then there was the nice person giving him the short wave which turned out to be somebody wiggling their fingers into their glove.  Regardless, he reckons he is going to skip the sleep from now on if it means that he can put together 40 points in a round.

Brendon was obviously turfed out of bed early today as he was one of the first on deck rather than one of the last.  The main reason being that he had to get out and about and rattle the tin for the Cancer Council Longest Morning Tea fundraiser that he and Maryanne were doing.  Well done fellows, no word on the total but the box on our table seemed to heft pretty well.  Not too many buckets of five cents but a goodly collection of shrapnel and some folding stuff as well.  He did get a bit distracted by an altercation going on the the sports ground drive-way as he putted on the 11th but venting his spleen seems to have done something for his game and he racked up almost as many points in the rest of the round as he had to date.  His partner in crime in third place, Ryan, on the other hand got off to a flying start and had eighteen points after six holes when some kind soul (no names Blighty) in his group made comment on the fact, at which point there was a slight wavering in the consistency.

Oliver and ChrisV came in next with parallel rounds scoring the same on both nines and overall.  The latter is probably not too surprising given the former.  And, finally, we have Mehmet and Blighty who managed to get themselves a point and do no harm to their handicap at the same time.  If Blighty hadn’t taken nine holes to warm up it might have been a different story for him.

The ProPin was on the 18th and nobody got close enough to qualify so there will be a Jackpot to next week.  It was a bit of a close call apparently and if the tape had been a little more stretchy Mostyn might have been able to claim the dosh.  The nearest the Pin for a ball was on the 4th and eventually went to Oliver after Brendon had gone to so much trouble to re-locate his mark which, it must be admitted, was quite a little way out from the pin.

Anybody would have thought the ProPin was on the 14th as player after player finished pin high on the green.  Damo was deemed to be in a sure-fire spot a couple of metres away on the down side on the hole.  But as you might have noticed, the Eagles nest is still intact.  And it seems that there was another eagle chance that he missed elsewhere.  The lure of the nest-egg is obviously getting to people as the Beast was determined to have a go on the 17th but put it a bit wide to the 18th tee and then put in a great recovery to end up with his par.  Andrew Hall, who was playing today for his third card, made the 17th green but whether by accident or design didn’t make the eagle.  Rumour has it that he ran dead after being told that he didn’t qualify for the Eagles Nest yet.  The handicapper will be keeping a close eye in future.  Despite all the eagle attempts it was quite a good day for birdies with a total of 14 including one on the 12th by the beast who now has only two holes in the eclectic that aren’t below par.

Ed was nearly in the news today for his shot on the 17th that was about two paces from wearing SOS as he walked to the 18th.  The front group were taken by surprise despite the serious bellowing that had been made from the tee.  Ed also reckons that he got Best in Show in Brisbane but he didn’t say how the pigeons had done.

Noodles reckons Targe has been taking lessons from Clancy of the Overflow because his card looked as if it had been written with a thumb-nail dipped in tar.

Two more weeks in June for the Bonus Trophy so now is the time to stop running dead and get out there and play as if you mean it (except for Mostyn of course).  An Orange Ball team event with next weeks Par round, so it will be draw for partners again.  Couldn’t happen two weeks in a row, could it?

Results for Saturday, 14 June 2014
1st Mostyn Gregg(42) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan(40) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(37) 3rd Ryan Porker(37) 4th Oliver Gross(36) 4th Chris Vinecombe(36) 5th Mehmet   Akdag(35) 5th Andrew Blight(35)

Must have been the long weekend.  It started off looking as if there was a chance for everybody to get points again then all of a sudden there were at least four extra players and another group as the stragglers strolled in after the first (and almost the second) group had teed off.  Fortunately, the Tee Marshalls had handed the reins over to somebody else and so they were not the ones teed off.  So it was that we ended up with eighteen members and two guests out trying their chances with the vagaries of a pretty damp Ivanhoe Public Golf Course.  Damp enough for the management to declare preferred lies but not damp enough to take a little pity and put the tee markers forward a bit although they are required to keep the length of the course within limits.

Damo started the day bragging that the weeks of being nice and smiling at Harry had paid off and he had got one of his precious strokes back.  So, what does he do but go out and take advantage of the conditions to take the back nine apart with one under and do more than enough to beat the Beast in a count-back.  So, it is back to 5 for Damo but despite that he is making his way up through the Points table and is neck-and-necking it with Bill in the chase after Ed.  They are hoping that the pigeon season lasts for quite a while yet.

In the process of demolishing the back nine Damo also broke Mehm’s heart in their matchplay round and romped home 5 and 3.  Mehm was so broken by Damo’s birdie on the 15th that he ended up reporting that he had nine (yes nine) putts to finish the hole.  If that isn’t some sort of a record, it’s hard to say what would be.

Now, a man who has been AWOL a bit over the last little while but now seems to have his leave passes in order also might be making something of a show of form.  He certainly came to play on the back nine and if he had got his MoJo back a little earlier he could easily have taken the main prize.  This is of course Mo(styn) not Mo(sabih) who came in with a nett 67 but with nine strokes difference between the front and back nines.

One stroke further back was a trio of SOS, Noodles and Snags.  Almost makes you hungry doesn’t it.  Speaking of hungry, Snags and Chrispy were playing for a pie and sauce and you’d have sworn it was for a sheep-station.  All sorts of one-upmanship and sledging from both sides but in the end Snags was victorious.  He had to rush off after the game so has taken a rain-check on collecting his winnings.  Something to look forward to in a couple of weeks time (for everybody).  SOS wore a club shirt but it was one of the old black ones – probably reminds him of his new work uniform.

The other protagonist in the Great Pie Challenge came in next just the one stroke further back with a sixty-nine – Chrispy’s favourite number by all accounts.  And last on the podium, but by no means least were Oliver and Harry who netted 70 apiece.

Birdies were a little thin on the ground for the numbers playing with a total of eight in all.  Damo got the Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 12th but didn’t get the bird and Gordon made up for a pretty average (for him) round by picking up the ProPin on the 18th.  The improvements in the Eclectic table were also fairly thin on the ground with only three people registering fewer strokes so most movements were down to handicap changes.  Still, we are only about half way through the year so plenty of time yet for the handicap to go out or the birdies to accumulate.

The June Bonus Trophy acquired a couple of new contenders today which makes the leader board appear a little odd but things will sort themselves out as the weeks go by.  Check out the status on the web-site under the Competition menu.  And if you fancy your chances of putting together three good ones in a row (or feel like making a donation to the Club) you can still register on Saturday by paying the sub before you tee off.  After that, the field stands.

The wet conditions seem to have interfered with the mowing program on the course and some balls were hard to find or maybe they had plugged.  With the preferred lie rule in place there should have been no excuse for not checking the identity of the ball that was played but it seems that in at least one case with Ryan and SOS that there was even a double cross-over and it took some considerable time to ponder the rules that applied and the penalties incurred.  The gap between groups that opened up made some wonder whether there had been some sort of medical emergency.

Oliver was out before tee time practicing with his whiffle balls and was apparently shanking them consistently.  Took him about six holes to throw off the trauma that the experience engendered.  Targe left a few putts just a bit short and it was suggested that he needed more legs.  Bob was noticed wearing an elbow brace.  Not sure whether it was for tennis elbow or golfers elbow but hopefully it is nothing too serious.  After the round, Brendon was away taking care of business when the staff delivered his very tasty looking bacon roll.  If he hadn’t arrived back promptly, it could very easily have been auctioned off.  Chrispy in particular seemed very keen – maybe it was the thought of Chrispy bacon.

Andrew Hall joined us again and submitted his second card with a promise that he was going to try to get Dick motivated – that’s his brother Dick.  Along for the first time today was Darren Ambridge who showed some serious potential with the card that he put in.  Hopefully Darren hasn’t been too put off by the chiacking and will join us again in the future as well.  A warm welcome both of you.

Results for Saturday, 07 June 2014
1st Bill Eastoe(66) 1st Damien Lee(66) 2nd Mostyn Gregg(67) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(68) 3rd Craig Sharp(68) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(68) 4th Chris Priems(69) 5th Harry Boughen(70) 5th Oliver Gross(70)

To start off, our valiant Tee Marshall looked as if he was going to have to declare the second group the first group as the numbers were fairly light on the ground and it seemed that nobody wanted to be first cab off the rank.  Maybe it was the arduous prospect of having to carry the marker pins all the way to the 12th and the 15th which were the nominated holes.  In the end, Blighty (was) volunteered for the task and just to be sure, his playing partners were detailed to be sure to remind him at the appropriate time.  As an extra precaution, the following group on the 11th green put in an additional reminder.  Lo and behold when they reached the 12th green, the ProPin marker was nowhere to be seen.  Safely ensconced in Blighty’s bag, it was.  And what happened at the 15th?  The following group had teed off and headed up the fairway to the green to spy none other that the big B walking across from the 16th tee with the NTP marker.  Nuff said!

Not sure whether there was an isolated shower over the course overnight or whether the sprinklers had been in use but there was a bit of water lying around in places and there were quite a few wishes that preferred lies were the rule with muddied balls affecting (or in some cases not affecting) the run of the ball.  Whether this was a contributing factor or not is hard to say, but the scoring didn’t really set the world on fire though the range of scores was remarkably small.  So much so that everybody who played scored points.  Then again, isn’t that what a handicapping system is supposed to do – level the playing field.

So, the big point scorers (and handicap losers) today were those two foreigners, Brendon and Oliver who came in with +1 apiece.  Oliver was creaming his drives despite some back twinges but on the first couple of holes his short game let him down.  Then he changed his putting style – he called it a paintbrush grip but not too many painters would own up to it perhaps.  Whatever, it allowed him to pull off some pretty spectacular putts.  One set some sort of a record by travelling further around the rim of the cup than it did straight along the ground – exceeded 360 by a fair margin!  Brendon started off well on the front nine and managed to improve his eclectic tally but the strain was too much and he faded a little on the back.

There was a five way tie for 2nd place that required a score of -1.  The happy quintet included Goroo, Bill, Mostyn, Damo and Harry.  Actually, that’s Gordo but Chrispy’s tiny hand was frozen this morning and his ‘D’ looked more like an ‘O’ on the tee sheet.  Gordo reckons Harry could have had a much better round as he counted four of the first seven holes missing a plus by the merest of a couple of inches.  Damo was also chuffed to be scoring points without further murdering his handicap and, just in case you don’t already know, he is on 5.

Then there was a quartet of players just a point further back including Chrispy, MalA, SOS and ChrisV.  Interestingly, three out of the four had a square nine on their card.  Just missing out on the barber-shop quartet was Blighty who will not be missing out on the barber-shop as his trouble and strife had him booked in for the afternoon.  Not sure whether Andrew is suffering some sort of mid-life crisis but he was heard discussing ways to get rid of grey hair.  And last but not least, the only two players left, Targe and Ryan brought up the rear and collected the last point on offer.

After all of the kerfuffle with the pin markers both trophies did go off.  Chrispy got close enough on the 12th to get his name on the board and reckoned he couldn’t believe that nobody else had managed it.  There were others who got onto the green, just not close enough, and he collected almost enough dollars to offset his outlays with the Club today.  Damo scored himself a ProV1 on the 15th.  The birdie count wasn’t fantastic this week with only 7 being plodded.  One of these had the Eagle shaking in its boots when Gordo chipped one that ran around the cup on the 17th and finished less than 100mm outside the hole after having had a very good look inside.

Today was week one of the June Bonus Trophy Event and there isn’t anybody with a run-away lead.  For those of you that weren’t here today, you still have two weeks in which to register and pay your sub though the longer you leave it the fewer chances you have to get a good one in the mix.  Despite some concerns the trophy was not left sitting on the wall outside the club-house but was securely tucked away inside out of harms way.  And, just to clarify things, today’s scores will be converted to effective Stableford points by adding 36 to your points score.  Next week, please keep your Stableford points score as well as your Stroke score.

During some discussions about gauging whereabouts on the green the pin was from the tee, it was opined that it was more difficult when Targe was in the group because he always looked further away than he really was.

Results for Saturday, 31 May 2014
1st Oliver Gross(+1) 1st Brendon Mitchell(+1) 2nd Harry Boughen(-1) 2nd Bill Eastoe(-1) 2nd Mostyn Gregg(-1) 2nd Gordon Hill(-1) 2nd Damien Lee(-1) 3rd Malcolm Adey(-2) 3rd Chris Priems(-2) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(-2) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-2) 4th Andrew Blight(-3) 5th Targe Mifsud(-4) 5th Ryan Porker(-4)