Monthly Archives: January 2015

Who was it that said ‘never trust a golfer coming back from a break’?  Especially when he has to put in new cards to re-qualify.  Still, we can’t be too hard on Allan as, when he ‘retired’ a couple of years back, he was on 22 so 24 wasn’t too much of a let out but it will be a little while before he gets to play off 24 again.  Well done with a score that wasn’t too far from his best as far as stableford points goes – third best on a total basis but equal fifth if you take ties into account.  That is, he has put in four cards with higher points than today though admittedly they were quite a while ago.  And just in case you were wondering and haven’t gotten down to the bottom of the page, Allan managed a mere 43 points.  Gordon reckons he has a happy knack of regularly marking the winners card but maybe this just a ploy to make people want to play with him.

However the shot of the day would have to go to Paul, who placed his drive nicely into the dogleg on the 3rd and then proceeded to slot it in with his approach shot from about 70m out.  That got him an eagle and stableford points which is just about as many as you could expect to get on one hole – ever.  That was also nearly as many as some people got on the whole front nine.  But he wasn’t alone on the eagle front, as a little while later, John repeated the performance on the 5th.  That is the second double eagle day that we have had this year and nowhere near the 17th which is the usual suspect when it comes to upsetting the big bird.  Paul was also not alone on the podium as he shared the honours with Oliver who is trying to amass enough points on the Championship Table to still be in with a chance at the end of the year.  Might be a bit of a struggle though as Oliver only has a couple or three more rounds with us before he returns to the States.  He is considering the possibility of putting his points on eBay to help defray his relocation expenses.  However it is worth keeping in mind that in a couple of years he is planning to be living on one of the premier golf courses in Colorado and he would be pleased to see any peripatetic Ivanhoe members.

Stefan was here today but without Zimmer in tow and also without the trophy that has been gracing his trophy shelf for far too long.  One of these days, he will remember to bring it in so that we can get it updated and passed on to the rightful holder.  Anyway, he hasn’t forgotten how to play the game and put together 38 points to collect the points for third all on his ownsome.

Keith came in next and reckons nobody was more surprised than him when he added up his points at the end of the round.  Come on Keith, you must have had some idea you were going OK.  Or maybe that is the way to play this game – forget how you are going and be pleasantly surprised at the end.  Maybe he even forgot it was his birthday today.  Hope you had a happy one Keith.

Mehmet turned up early after getting a bit of a ribbing over the last couple of weeks and, wouldn’t you know it, he drew the very last group.  Still it gave him plenty of time to collect his thoughts and put together 36 points.  Mal needed no extra time to prepare having led off in the first group and put together the same score.  So just the singleton for both of them but every little bit counts when it comes to Championship points.

The nearest the Pin for a ball was on the 12th and John was the man to get his name on the card.  He also put in his third card today and now has a bright new handicap – pity about the eclectic not having started for him yet.  The ProPin was on the 18th and Noodles very happily accepted the pot particularly after he claims to be the founding member of the World’s Worst Putter Club.  During the round he inducted Laurie into that exclusive group and by the end of the round he announced that Laurie was the Vice-President as well.  Talk about advance through the ranks.

After the round, Bill was giving advice on how to play out of pot bunkers, a skill he apparently picked up in St Andrews – the same St Andrews where he claims to have left his swing a while back.  Bill hasn’t yet managed to birdie the 8th (it was the one missing from his Eclectic last year) so with his second on the green today, Bill wasn’t going to leave it short.  Unfortunately, the pace was just a bit too much and the ball popped out to leave the easiest of tap-ins for the par.  Laurie claimed he was disadvantaged by the hole having been moved further away.  Oliver has a nemesis on the birdie front with the 18th and it is one of his ambitions to complete the set before he leaves.  While on the subject of birdies, we managed to put our hands up for 16 and quite a few of those were down to Pepsi who has leaped to the front in the Eclectic as a result.  And of course there were the two eagles so all in all a good day at the office.

Don’t forget that Club fees ($20) and GolfLink subs ($90 if you have an IMSGC registration – member number starts with 34137) are due and really need to be paid before next week so that we have funds to meet our obligations to the VGL.

Don’t forget, there is no harm in registering your interest in the Matchplay even if you are absolutely sure that you will be playing in the qualifying round in March.  Circumstances can change unexpectedly and we would hate you to miss out.  By the way, the registration also has the option to say that you are not interested.

The AGM is fast approaching and we need nominations for Committee positions.  The nomination form is downloadable from the site so there are no excuses.

Results for Saturday, 24 January 2015
1st Allan Davies(43) 2nd Oliver Gross(40) 2nd Paul Rowland(40) 3rd Stefan Belevski(38) 4th Keith Delzoppo(37) 5th Mehmet Akdag(36) 5th Malcolm Fleming(36)

The attraction of points for the Yellow Ball team must have been enough to get them out of their beds this morning as there was as fine a roll up as we have seen since before Christmas.  We didn’t have to wait for Mehm as he was apparently off somewhere watching that other round ball game – no – not cricket – football!

Needless to say the family name was not let down as Zimmer managed to find some form and quite literally took the course apart and put it back together again producing his favourite number off the stick – 69 – for a total of +8.  The handicap took a bit of a beating as a result but it is probably just getting back to where it should be based on form over the past few years.

It was probably down to pure chance, or the playing conditions improved as the day went on, but the cards were handed almost in reverse placement order and for a while there it looked as if a square card was going to be enough the take the cake.  Then along came Ed.  He strode in and confidently threw down the gauntlet along with his card and said “Beat that!”.  And with a six point margin at that stage it appeared as if the confidence was well placed.  Not to be, but it was enough to garner a second place and a goodly lot of points without the extra weight of being the winner.

Snags was also feeling pretty pleased with himself after his round of +5 but he seemed more than a little upset by the fact that the Team was on +3 going into the 17th when Pepsi stepped up and went for the green and promptly lost the ball thus cruelling their chances of the bonus points.  Pepsi gets the feeling that he is going to hear about this for the rest of the year, if not longer.  The 17th was something of a ‘black hole’ for yellow balls as at least one other went astray there and another two elsewhere on the course.  So out of six starters, only two finished and the spoils went to Gordo, Targe, ChrisV and Noodles with a result of +2, which goes some way to explaining why Snags was so upset with Pepsi.

Championship points, actually, were pretty thin on the ground today as fourth place was also filled by a singleton in the person of Ryan who came in with +1 and so he seems to be managing his new handicap and maybe the change in grip really was a change for the better.  Targe has asked that there be a correction and the secret to a good swing is to practice with small green grapefruit, not nectarines as reported last week, and he was hitting them from his back yard to the front and not over the neighbours fence.  Whatever, it continues to work well for him and he came in with Noodles for 5th place.  And this was with Noodles being distracted by, and distracting Targe with, his collection of texting friends.  Some real beauties it seems.

Allan Davies joined us again and submitted his third card to reclaim a handicap after several years on the bench and the worst that the handicapper was able to do was to give him a 24 to start with but it will be interesting to see if he now suddenly finds form.  We also has the pleasure of meeting up with Chrispy’s bro Robert who also used to be a member and who is planning to become a regular again.  Welcome back Rob.  Trevor called in at tee time to pass the time of year and is looking pretty good but he tells us that it will be a few weeks yet before the medicos will let him get back to his normal rigourous regime.

The ProPin was on the 12th today and the goodly sum in the bag as a result of the good attendance meant that Targe was looking pretty pleased with himself when his name stayed on the board with a shot that finished 2.5m from the hole.  The Ball hole was the 15th and the competition was pretty fierce.  Harry thought he had a chance but had just rolled off the green leaving it to RodG to get his name on the top of the card.  The next change needed careful measuring but in the end it was to no avail when Ryan stepped up and took it away.  That sort of accuracy seems to have paid off in birdies and there were a total of 19 carded for the day.

On the other birdie front (the Birthday Birdie that is), there are a couple of celebrations coming up.  Targe’s brother Tony will be lighting up the candles during the week but, being the Luddite that he is, he won’t know about this mention unless Targe passes the message on.  Keith also has one coming up and that will be next Saturday so if Keith is here try to remember to be specially nice to him for his Birthday.

Gordon and Targe had a bit of a tussle over the scorecards after the game and it took them quite a while to resolve the misunderstanding which arose from the differences between the scores on the inside and outside cards and the fact that there was not the same difference between the par points and the handicaps.  Caused by the presence of a birdie is the simple explanation.  Michael wasn’t too happy about his performance and was well outside his normal scoring range.  Putting was the thing that let him down with one missed from less than 150mm, though to be half fair, he didn’t clean the ball and it had a lump of mud on the side.  Just goes to show that you should never take things for granted.  And here’s a bloke that was offering putting coaching only a few weeks ago.

The Matchplay will be coming up in a couple of months and the rules have been updated on the Rules/Club menu.  In essence, you are encouraged to register on Event Registration/Matchplay Registration which will ensure you a place somewhere in the seedings.  The matchplay qualification day will determine the position in the seedings below the reigning Champion (Snags).  Those that register but do not play the qualification will fill places below those that do play and the balance of the seedings will be filled by byes.  The draw will be filled from the seedings according to the pro-forma that is on the site at Competitions/2015 Matchplay.  If you don’t register or play in the qualifying, you will not be in the competition.  Please also note, the rules for arranging, playing and reporting of results, particularly for the person on the top of the draw in each match.  Dates for each round are on Competitions/Calendar and there will be no extensions of time.

Results for Saturday, 17 January 2015
1st Kazim Akdag(+8) 2nd Ed Kloprogge(+6) 3rd Craig Sharp(+5) 4th Ryan Porker(+1) 5th Stephen Butterfield(□) 5th Targe Mifsud(□)

Who on earth trusts weather forecasts?  Certain members of Ivanhoe Men’s do, it seems, as, at one stage there, it looked as if we would struggle to get a quorum but then they turned up in their ones and twos until at last we had enough for three groups.  Signed, sealed and delivered – and then the Akdags turned up.  Must have stayed up to watch the opening match of the Asian Cup in replay on the ABC and slept in, again!  But, ever resourceful, we robbed Peter to pay Paul and put together another group with a total of thirteen players.  Chrispy must now be ruing ringing in for a rain check for next week.  Unlucky for some.

As it turned out, there was nothing more than a mist of rain on occasions and though there had obviously been some rain overnight the course was only slightly softened and a couple of the greens had not entirely drained free of water needing a couple of reliefs from casual water.  This could have been a bit difficult on the second as the pin was very carefully positioned to be right in the middle of one of the pools of casual water.  Still, a couple of players did benefit from the enhanced braking that comes with free-standing water.

One person who was not in the least affected by the change in the playing characteristics of the course and who, in fact, seemed to revel in the conditions was none other that el Presidente himself, the redoubtable Gordo who managed to set himself back a couple of places in the Eclectic Table by getting his handicap cut by a couple of strokes as a result.  Still, the eight points gave him a nice little leg-up in the Championship table and just maybe he has that glint in his eye to get his hot little mitts on the silverware one more time.  Early days yet Gordo.

Damo was with us again during his mini break from cricket coaching and he managed to put together another pretty respectable round.  Respectable enough for him to be wishing for someone to come in better than him so that he didn’t suffer the winner’s penalty.  Lots of second places could very well be the way to go to get and maintain a respectable place on the table.  Damo was joined by Harry who claimed his second second place for the year (putting that theory into practice?) but who rued a couple of narrowly missed putts on the 17th and 18th that would have turned a good round into a pretty good one.

Targe shrugged off the cut to his handicap last week to play to his new one this week and his new practice regime has paid off in spades.  Apparently, the secret to getting your swing regrooved is to practice hitting fallen nectarines over your neighbour’s fence.  Not sure what that does for neighbourly good-will but it seems to have helped Targe immeasurably.  Michael and Brendon joined Targe in playing to their handicap though they didn’t have a significant new one to match.

Despite Zimmer having slept in, he managed to rub the sleep from his eyes sufficiently to be able to see the ball reasonably well and came home in 4th place.  Bill did enough the gather 5th place and Mehmet had a bit of a whinge about missing a putt on the last to be out of the points which he claims is the first time this has happened in over twelve months.  The veracity of this claim does not stand up to close scrutiny but a strike rate of 29 out of 44 last year ain’t half bad.  Marvellous how selective memory can be!

The Nearest the Pin for a ball was on the 4th and, after three groups had been through, not one person had their name on the board.  It was up to Gordo, as captain of the last group, to do the deed and get a ball on the green and his name on the marker.  The ProPin was contested on the 12th and Eddie, who chose the hole for the contest, put his name on the marker just under 4 metres out.  Harry tried hard to displace him but the tape measure did not lie and his effort at just a smidge over 4 metres came up a bit short.  The birdie putt didn’t though.  That was one of only five for the day so maybe the casual water did have some effect.  The pace was certainly variable even on the same green as the moisture content varied from place to place.

Gordon was a bit lucky when he had a slip negotiating the Hill on the first and gave the impression of limping a bit for a few holes there-after.  Maybe that helped him keep his head down and the score improved as a result.  Bob hit a less than impressive shot from the tee on the 15th and left the ball about half way to the green and about 100mm in bounds.  The second shot with the ball well below his feet took what can best be described as a favourable bounce and finished a couple of metres from the hole.  The putt rattled in to seal an unlikely par.

Targe also had a smidgen of luck when a chip that was way off line and way too fast hit Bill’s ball and deflected to finish within gimme distance of the hole.  You don’t have to draw pictures, only count how many!  Brendon was able to count how many and even work out how many points he scored on each hole but the adding up of the points failed him, or maybe they teach a different style of arithmetic across the ‘dutch’.

A message has come in from Trevor and he is out of hospital after his tests and while they have not been able to find out what the problem was he is now feeling well and hopes to be back with us soon.  We look forward to seeing you back on the track Trevor.

As usual this year we will be running a Matchplay Championship.  Modified competition rules will be posted on the web-site shortly but the guts of it is that there will be an on-line registration under Event Registration.  If you register on-line, you are guaranteed a spot in the draw.  There will be a qualification round in conjunction with the March Monthly Medal the scores of which will be used to place members in order to go into the draw.  The defending Champion automatically gets the number one spot.  The balance of the table will be filled first with those players who do not compete on the qualifying day but who have registered and then by Byes.  If you do not register or compete on the qualification day you will not be in the competition.  A standard 32 competitor table will be used to determine the make-up of the draw.  Depending on the number that register/qualify, there will be a number of members who have byes in the first round.  Rounds will generally run from Monthly Medal to Monthly Medal and can be played in conjunction with any event (Stroke, Stableford or Par).  In the first two rounds, they can also be played at Ivanhoe outside of Club events.  There are additional rules relating to arranging and reporting matches and for the determination of forfeits.  There will be no extensions of time and no correspondence will be entered into.

Results for Saturday, 10 January 2015
1st Gordon Hill(40) 2nd Harry Boughen(37) 2nd Damien Lee(37) 3rd Michael Gourlay(36) 3rd Targe Mifsud(36) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(36) 4th Kazim Akdag(34) 5th Bill Eastoe(32)

Was it a scorcher or was it a scorcher today?  And I am talking about the weather but we’ll get to the golf in a bit.

You get a feeling that it is going to be a bit warm out there when the temperature at half past five in the morning is still 30C and from there it just started climbing like there was no tomorrow.  Then there was the nasty little gusty breeze that seemed to blow like hell when you didn’t want it and dropped like a stone when you did.  The course was mostly dry and getting dryer by the minute except for the 9th where a sprinkler stuck in the on position meant that some players had to take relief from casual water – go figure.

Probably, due to the combination of the early date and the heat-wave forecast, the numbers fronting for the fray were down a bit on the later weeks of last year, or was that just the attraction of big trophies and feasting lunches that brought in the numbers.  But twelve people out there thinking they had a chance of snagging an early gong made for a concerted effort to keep the old noggin down and the swing smooth and easy and for one at least, that philosophy paid off in spades.

In case you have been reading this with your eyes closed and haven’t guessed, the man of the day was our smiling gun dealer, Targe.  And did he make a good job of it.  Empty street was in next with a full six strokes back to second place.  The handicapper might have rued not being able to rattle peoples cages over the last few weeks but he has certainly enjoyed taking the axe to Targe.  Great round, Targe, for a nett 61.

Paul hasn’t been with us long but has opened his account in fine style with a second place alongside Harry with nett 67.  Not too much damage to the handicap but it did include a draughtie on the 2nd.  Maybe it was the wind but it seems to have been a very draughtie day with Harry and Chrispy lining up for a double header on the 15th.  It seems that Chrispy’s was down to ‘club selection’ though when you spray it that badly it’s a bit hard to blame the poor club.

Damo has managed to garner a couple of weekends off from his coaching duties and showed that despite only a handful of games in recent times he hasn’t lost touch and if the wind had been a little kinder maybe he might have presented higher in the order.  He will surely appreciate a smidgen more on his handicap after today’s nett of 69.  As an aside, the cricket team is going gang-busters with a 9-1 scoreline and they only lost the last by a hair’s breadth and that with a swag of strike players off on hols.

Chrispy, SOS and Ed came in next, just a stroke behind with pretty creditable 70’s.  Chrispy has made a New Year resolution to only play with coloured balls this year.  He started off with a very patriotic Club blue ball and found that it went very nicely and often somewhat straighter than the white ones usually do.  That is until the 15th when a bright orange one was, of necessity, brought into play.  The verdict was that the blue was easily visible in the air but tended to vanish against a green background such as trees or grass and sunnies off was better than sunnies on.

Mehmet almost didn’t get to the course in time to make it into a group and would have really fouled thing up if the first group had been sent off as a three as was being mooted at one stage.  But he did make it and managed to get a point for his trouble along with Oliver and Noodles.  Noodles, it seems is wont to express his dismay at a less that brilliant shot with an outburst that is just a little more colourful than ‘Oh bother!’.  After one such outburst on the 9th one of the players coming up the 18th wandered over and tapped him on the shoulder and said something like ‘Be careful, I might just take you up on that’.  Just to be clear, it was a male person doing the tapping.  Better luck next time Noods.

That put ten players in the points, so who was left out in the cold (figuratively speaking)?  No names, no pack-drill but, if you want to, you can work it out for yourself.

The Nearest the Pin for a ball ended up being on the 12th after nobody in the first group got onto the 4th and the ultimate winner of a pill was Damo who, for the want of a bit more oomph in the putt would have made another birdie to start off his collection for the Eclectic.  There were only 5 or 6 for the day which probably does reflect the smaller numbers as much as anything.  There are already some impressive cards in for the Eclectic but with most of the year to go there is no need to despair just yet.  One of Damien’s birdies was on the 11th where he ‘sprayed’ his second a bit wide and left of the green where it finished on an area as bare as a badger’s bum with a swale between him and the green.  Out came the old reliable Vokey wedge and one and a half bounces and twice around the pin and it was securely in the hole.  And he reckons he has been having trouble with that club!

The ProPin was on the 15th and there weren’t too many who succeeded in getting on with the tee set right back and hitting into the teeth of a gale.  But one did manage the task and the man to collect the lucre was Oliver who seems to be getting himself cashed up for his return to the States next month.

So, the first medal for the year went to Targe, despite Chrispy claiming that the January Medal is usually his (except when he doesn’t win it – like today).  Ed, it seems thought that Father Christmas had been particularly kind when a swag of parcels turned up unexpectedly at his house.  Apparently, Ed has been out and about and winning all sorts of trophies in other competitions during the week and AusPost was given the task of delivering the ill-gotten gains into his hot little hands.

The Annual Club Membership fee ($20) and GolfLink membership ($90)  – total $110 for most of you – is now due and payable and we would like to get this in before the end of the month so that we have the funds to pay the invoice when it arrives.  Cash is fine but you can also probably do bank transfers if you get the bank account details from Brendon or Gordon.

Also, don’t forget about Committee Nominations.  The form is on the website, so download a copy and get it filled in and submitted because, before you know it, the AGM will be upon us and we would like to have the nominations in in advance.

Results for Saturday, 03 January 2015
1st Targe Mifsud(61) 2nd Harry Boughen(67) 2nd Paul Rowland(67) 3rd Damien Lee(69) 4th Ed Kloprogge(70) 4th Chris Priems(70) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(70) 5th Mehmet Akdag(72) 5th Stephen Butterfield(72) 5th Oliver Gross(72)