Once again the weather gods smiled down and although there were a few spots of rain on the way to the course, there was absolutely nothing when it really mattered.  The fact that it was generally over-cast was to some extent compensated for by the brightness of the shirts that graced the forms of most of our members.  A really good turn up of 25 members, many of whom were just along for the walk showed the respect that the Club has for Stuart.

JohnQ doesn’t own a beach shirt and was dressed to kill at just about any disco in town and the only thing lacking was the shirt open to the waist and the gold chain around the neck.  Not sure how John persuaded his wife that he was actually going to play golf.

After jumping the gun a bit with the beach shirt last week Eddie turned up resplendent again and obviously meant to play.  Though he did waver in a couple of places, a sprinkling of four and three pointers was enough for him to present with another 39 points to take out the main prize by a margin of four points at 78 for the two rounds.  In his response, Ed mentioned what an honour it was to win this memorial trophy for Stuart.  Well done Ed and by the bye, it will be a little while till you play off 10 again.

Another person who obviously came to play with a desire to get his name on the trophy was Rodger who put in a very impressive score of 41 points.  However, it does seem that he had to scramble a bit the whole round but the short game saved the day for him.  Rodger has vowed that he will be back next year to make sure that he gets his name on Stuart’s trophy at least once.

Pepsi started off the day like a house on fire with two birdies after three holes which just about broke Damo’s spirit in the Matchplay round that they were playing.  Damo managed to hang in there though and was probably a bit unlucky to go down in the match 4 and 2.  Particularly as, once the match was over, Pepsi tonked his drive on the 17th while Damo hit it true to the green and then proceeded to sink the putt for an eagle.  Pity there was only one egg in the nest  and the handicapper doesn’t seem to have received Damo’s card.  So does it really count?

Right alongside Pepsi in the wash up was none other than Mehmet who was heard complaining about the large fields and not getting many points.  Well there you go Mehm, six of the best.  Noodles came in next after dropping off the pace a bit from last week.  Maybe it was the pressure of playing in the leaderboard group alongside Ed.  Bob was heard to be claiming some of the credit for Ed’s performance so maybe it didn’t rub off on Noodles.

Last, but not least, in the podium stakes was JohnQ who had a bit of a mixed day of it particularly on the front nine.  Perhaps he was a bit distracted by the matchplay match that he was playing against Harry and didn’t know which part of his game to concentrate on.  He got his mojo back on the back nine though and wore Harry down to eventually take the match 2 up.

Further back (actually that should be forward) in the field  Keith and Mal battled it out in another Matchplay round and it was a pretty close run thing all day before Keith eventually got his nose in front and ended up taking the match 1 up.  The first round of the competition is coming along not too badly but there are still a few matches to be scheduled and only a couple of more weeks to get them out of the way.  Next week’s Social round would be a very good opportunity if you can arrange it.  Those of you who know your opponents for the second round could also start arranging the date.  No shame in getting in as early as possible.

There was supposed to be a Nearest the Pin for a ball and a ProPin but it seems that young Zimmer was so intent on getting away on time to get to his soccer match that he not only forgot to put out the markers but also took them with him in his golf bag so it looks as if we will just have to declare the ProPin null and void and put the money up for grabs again at the next Club Event.  Social event next week will just be for those there on the day.

As well as the ‘non’-eagle, there were only 12 birdies carded today which seems a bit on the low side for the number of players in the field but it does align with the numbers from last week.  The greens certainly are a bit on the bouncy side with the effects of the fungus and bird damage combining to roughen them up more than somewhat.

Damo was having problems working out why his tee shots were being so erratic, draw one, fade the next and the like.  At the 9th, he discovered that he had his shirt on inside out.  Not sure what he had been up to the night before but it can’t have been that dark when he got up this morning.  Also, it didn’t really improve his game that much once he got it right.  At least not until after he had lost the match at the 16th.

Allan was demonstrating one of the idiosyncrasies of his mobility-mobile relating to the operation of the accelerator and how it was the opposite to that on a real bike/scooter.  In the process he forgot the very thing he was on about and accelerated instead of braked and in the process went close to running the scooter up Bobbies leg and behaving something like an overly amourous dog.  Way back, Allan had a motorised buggy that got carried away and tried a similar trick on another players buggy when the remote control turned on in Allan’s pocket.  You’ve got to be careful with all the hi-tech stuff Allan.

Noodles must have thought he was in Tombstone Territory when his drive from the 6th, the tee was right up the back, hit the hole marker (tombstone) on the forward tee and promptly ricocheted back across the 5th green and finished in the middle of said fairway.  Must have made a fair recovery though as he still finished with a 6 for the hole.

Gordon did a fair amount of whoopin’ and hollerin’ on the 12th when his tee shot hit the green and appeared to run up well to the hole and disappeared from sight.  Surely he couldn’t have fluked another HIO.  But no, it was a full 3m short and probably wouldn’t have qualified for the NTP (even if it had been there).

Dennis Ward completed his third card today and now has his handicap and will be able to join the competition next Club Event.  Better watch out, he has a 27 and there is a bit of a history of first time winners.

The catering today was spot on with a good selection of snags and burgers.  Gordon seems to have slipped right into his role as Social Secretary but needs to brush up on his religious instruction as he was careful to check with Mehm if he was OK to eat chicken.  Regardless, the chicken snags did go down a treat.

Results for Saturday, 28 March 2015
1st Ed Kloprogge(39, 39, 78) 2nd Rodger Clarke(33, 41, 74) 3rd Mehmet Akdag(35, 38, 73) 3rd Andrew Petricola(34, 39, 73) 4th Stephen Butterfield(38, 33, 71) 5th John Quinlan(37, 33, 70)

Maybe somebody up there is looking upon us favourably for Stuart’s Memorial Event as the weather could not have been better if we had put in an order for it.  Admittedly there was a bit of a chill in the air first off and only a few of the tougher members headed off in their shirt-sleeves  though after a few holes pretty much everybody had discarded their outer layer.  Eddie jumped the gun a bit and turned up resplendent in his best beach shirt and maybe it was just a ploy to put off the opposition by dazzling them with the brilliance of it all.  As it turned out, he didn’t have to do much dazzling as he turned in one of his major winning performances to take the spot as Clubhouse leader at the half way mark.

Noodles obviously came to play today as he had lined up to meet Mark in their Matchplay round and the two combined nicely to leave him in second place with a nicely positioned 38 points and to win him the match over Mark 4 & 2.  Whilst on the topic of Matchplay, there are not too many weeks left before the deadline for the first round is upon us and we really do want to keep to the schedule this year.  Next week and the social round on Easter Saturday would be excellent times to get them done rather waiting till the last day the week after Easter.  Members who know their round 2 opponent already should start planning to play at the first opportunity.

JohnQ, Paul and ChrisV are also well placed to pounce for the big prize just another point behind Noods.  Paul did particularly well after having shown his support for the West Indian cricket team on the first tee.  John made out that he was less than happy with the way it was going during the round but maybe that was just one of those relative things.  Chris is undecided as to whether he will be gracing us with his presence next week and maybe that has something to do with the fact that he is getting married in a couple of weeks.

Must be something to do with the name as Chrispy also won’t be gracing us with his presence all because of a small matter of having to go to a wedding – his own.  Should have organised things a bit better than that Chris.  Particularly as he is well within striking distance alongside Pepsi  just a few points back on 37.  Pepsi brought tears to the eyes of our venerable Eagle by knocking it in for a three on the 6th to take home four extra balls.

But, there are others who are better placed.  Mehmet is managing to put together some of his old form on a regular basis and is right up there alongside Bob and well placed to cause an upset with a five point turn-around.  Mind you, Bob could easily have been front runner if it hadn’t been for four non-scoring holes on the front nine.  This was interesting because most of the other leaders did significantly better on the front and faded a bit on the back.

The full leader board is posted under the Competitions menu if you want to see how the rest of the field went.  The field will go out more or less in reverse score order next week with the front group detailed to get the bar-b-que going and making sure that the filet steak for group 3 is done to a turn by the time that they come in.  Or at least that is what Gordon would like to think would happen – tell ‘im he’s dreamin’.

Although we did have the Eagles Nest raided this week, the birdies were remarkably thin on the ground given the number of players and compared to recent weeks in that there were only 10 altogether.  One who probably did get one on the 12th was JohnQ who put it about a metre from the hole to collect himself a ball for the Nearest the Pin.  The ProPin was somewhat more controversial as it had been announced to be on 15 and Bob tried his darndest to take it out by putting the ball within a couple of metres.  Alas, the front squad either forgot or decided to give themselves another chance and carried the marker on to the 18th where it languished on the side-lines and did not attract a single scratching on the card.  So, there will be big bucks up for grabs next week and Ed at least is very excited about the prospect.

The Beast was observed playing his second shot with a driver from the fairway on the 7th.  Not sure exactly what happened to the first but this one finished on the edge of the green and Bill finally birdied the 8th when he sank the putt.  He immediately whipped out his phone and texted Oliver the good news at overcoming his nemesis but unfortunately Oliver probably will never get the chance to get his on the 18th.

As usual, Rodger was along for Stuart’s Memorial and while he is a bit back in the field, it would not be an impossible task to collect the trophy.  And this was despite the fact that at the 13th Rodger declared that, if the flag was white, he would be waving it.

If you’ve heard the adage, rooster one week, feather duster the next, then Whitey would have just about epitomised that today.  Almost certainly not due to the cut in handicap that he took after last week’s effort.  Apparently one of his best tee shots for the day was made with his putter, but then again that is not that unheard of from events like the 3 Club Challenge.

Allan was out and about on his new toy, one of those ‘I’m going to be a scooter when I grow up’ personal golf carts.  If it was supposed to help his game, it doesn’t seem to have done a great job – or, then again, maybe it did!

Pepsi was asking all and sundry in the vicinity if anybody had picked up a ball near the 7th tee from his shot from the 8th.  Despite the dark looks and mutterings, the ball was eventually found exactly where it was supposed to be.  Another almost bad one on the 14th prompted a provisional blow from Pepsi but the first turned out to be quite safe and saved the day.

Dennis Ward came along again today and put in his second card so we can look forward to welcoming Dennis to the Competition field in a couple of weeks.

Don’t forget to wear a suitable loud Hawaiian beach shirt or failing that just about anything in bad taste would suffice.  Stuart was known for his taste in shirts and we like to tip our lid to his memory by emulating his style.

First Round Scores – 21 march 2015

1st Ed Kloprogge(39) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(38) 3rd John Quinlan(37) 3rd Paul Rowland(37) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(37) 4th Mehmet Akdag(35) 4th Bob McDonald(35) 5th Andrew Petricola(34) 5th Chris Priems(34)

There was a late burst of summery weather in the offing but the air was just a bit fresh at tee time and it took a few holes before the sun got up enough to start warming the bones and getting seriously in the eyes on the 4th.  The substance spread on the greens last week seems to have either dissolved or worked its way into the nap and the greens were free-running again if rather bumpy in places where the green pox has killed off the turf.  Still a lot of pitch marks not repaired but this is probably due to others as we will all have watched the video on Course Care from the link on our page and are now doing the right thing.

Whitey has been back for only a few weeks but he is obviously intent on proving that he can play more than a cover drive though it does seem that he leaves the cover on his driver.  Regardless of which clubs he uses, a tally of +5 par points is pretty darned respectable in anybody’s books.  But not the best lead-in to the Stuart Clarke with the attendant cut in the handicap.

Paul hasn’t been with us for a couple of weeks and claims that he has been on holiday in Honolulu or some other exotic place but there is a suspicion that he has been secretly practicing and if that is the case, it has paid off as he managed to put together a very nice +3 to add some more points to his growing collection in the Championship Table.

Gordon also had some time off (well last weekend anyway) and maybe it was relief that this was his last day as President, but he kept his head down and his excitement under control to card a +2.  Brendon played an almost identical round to share the third place honours.  Maybe it was his last day as Treasurer that did it for him.

Noodles, Zimmer and Stefan managed to square the card though it seems that Zimmer might have done considerably better if he hadn’t choked on the last hole in the Matchplay with a four (yes 4) putt green on the 18th to end the match against Blighty all square.  The chip off was a close run thing with the excited band of spectators on the edges of their seats (figuratively speaking) when Zimmer’s putt for the match, rimmed the hole and reluctantly fell in.

SOS filled the last spot on the podium with just one less point on -1.  He too was involved in a matchplay match against CraigC and this one too, ended all square with another close run chip-off to decide the result.  In the end, nerves of steel paid off for Craig who put the pressure on by sinking his putt while SOS’s just slipped past to miss the cut.  Taner, who is new to the game, seems to have been misled by his marker as to how to score his card and as a result did not join the ranks of first time points scorers.  Still it was his birthday so, if nothing else, have a happy birthday Taner from the Birthday Birdie and all at the Club.

In other Matchplay matches, Whitey’s good form  allowed him to see off Ryan 4 & 3 and Brendon was able to dispose of Laurie with the same score-line, 4 & 3.  Initially, Trevor more than had the measure of Mehmet and strode to an impressive 4 up after 4 (and very close to 5 up after 5).  Mehmet made something of a come-back and the score was bouncing along with the honours evenly shared and Trevor still in front when his back injury struck him down on the 13th and he was forced to retire from the fray.  So the honours were evenly divided on the field but Mehm will proceed into the next round.

There were 17 birdies reported today and ChrisV went perilously close to an Eagle on the 6th when his chip hit the edge of the cup and finished just a couple of feet past.  As luck would have it, he didn’t get the birdie either and the Eagles nest egg is starting to mount up.  The Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 12th was able to add to Whitey’s growing collection and the cash pack for the ProPin on the 15th was quite fiercely contested but CraigC was the man to pocket the dosh with his ball just over 2m from the pin.

Chrispy’s bro, Robert put in his third card today and now has a handicap to play Chris in the Matchplay and we also welcome for the first time Dennis Ward who is making a comeback to the game after a long break.  A few bits of rust to chip off but there looks to be some potential there waiting for a chance to show itself.

Noodles reckoned he was going the beat Whitey today and by a large margin.  It would have had to be an exceptional round if he did and Whitey was prepared to call him out as a cheat if he did.  Mehmet must have taken a recent interest in the World Cup as the word Windies (or something similar) was heard to crop up in conversation, or maybe it was something else entirely.  There were also rumours about at least one person (and maybe more) having taken three chips to get onto the green from three metres out which goes close to surpassing the case of missing the ball entirely or four putting.  The Beast has asked that the Committee approach the course management with a view to getting the size of the holes increased.  Presumably, he means the diameter of the bit where the ball is supposed to finish and not the distance between tee and green.

After the game, the Annual General Meeting was held and all Committee positions were declared vacant.  There were two nominations for the position of President, Pepsi and Mehmet.  If there had been an election, the votes would have been 23 for Mehmet and 2 for Pepsi, but as Mehm withdrew his nomination in favour of nominating for the Vice-president role, there was no election required and Pepsi was actually elected unopposed.  And as for Mehm and his voting result – “Tell him he’s dreamin'”.

Committee positions filled were as follows

• President – Andrew Petricola
• Vice-president – Mehmet Akdag
• Secretary – Andrew Blight
• Treasurer – Stephen O’Sullivan
• Assistant Treasurer – Chris Priems
• Social Secretary – Gordon Hill
• Handicapper – Harry Boughen
• Assistant Handicapper – Ryan Porker
• Club Captain – Targe Mifsud
• Tee Marshalls – Eddie Kloprogge, Stephen Butterfield

Next week is the first week of the Stuart Clarke Memorial, one of the premier events that the club holds during the year.  For the newer members, both weeks are played off the same handicap and scores are aggregated to determine the winner of the event.  However, after the event, both week’s cards will be handicapped individually and double points (and winners penalty) will be applied.  Those playing only one round obviously cannot win the event but their cards will be eligible for handicapping purposes (both directions).

Results for Saturday, 14 March 2015
1st Rodney White(+5) 2nd Paul Rowland(+3) 3rd Gordon Hill(+2) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(+2) 4th Kazim Akdag(□) 4th Stefan Belevski(□) 4th Stephen Butterfield(□) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(-1)