Monthly Archives: November 2015

What a beat up!  Twenty-one members turned up to see the front runners in the Championship slug it out for the trophy of the year and they all lay down and came in with the same score and outside the points and so the position from last week was entirely unchanged.  Congratulations to Ryan on becoming the Club Champion for 2015 in his first full year in the event.  Mehmet managed to run the whole year without taking a winner and probably set some sort of Club record in the process to come in as runner-up.  Just proves you don’t necessarily have to be a winner to be a grinner.  Gordon did have a chance to pip Mehm for second if he had won today’s event but, in the event, he would be pretty happy with his third placing.  Noodles was just a little too far behind to catch up with Gordon with today’s win of the December Monthly Medal which really was the main event today.

And he did it in very fine style with equal par on the back nine and only five over on the front to come in with a nett 62.  Not bad for a bloke who was on the verge of giving it away a week or so ago.  Of course the big question now is, will he be able to repeat the performance over the next two weeks in the Vin O’Meara and the remaining two weeks of the Stroke Play Championship.  Some of the bidders in the Auction seemed to think that he could.

CraigC had a bit of a shaky start to the front nine with a couple of hiccups further along the track before really getting his mojo together and running in just one over par on the back.  So, for a long time it looked as if his 68 nett was going to be enough to collect the prize but it was not to be.  Still he can be consoled by the fact that he put his tee shot on the 15th to 1.9m of the hole that was more than enough to collect the dividend from the ProPin if not the Monthly Medal.

Pepsi showed his credentials for the VOM after a couple of average rounds in recent times and carded a 69 nett but there is no truth to the rumour that he wanted to get a let out on his handicap to improve his grip on the Eclectic.  Noodles and the Beast were in contention to overtake him and both did their best by carding fresh birdies but the handicap cut for Noodles did not help his cause and the Beast fell short of pulling off an unlikely win in the event by a mere 0.3 of a stroke.  While on the topic of birdies we managed a fairly substantial tally of 18 today and that did not include any from the follow up on Craig’s ProPin or from Harry’s Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 12th.  Embarrassingly, Harry’s second putt was longer than his first though it was a down-hiller.

Next to zim up to the podium to collect his points was Zimmer who also seems to have positioned himself well for the next couple of weeks and certainly seemed keen to bid himself up in the Auction.  Following close behind were an unlikely pair of Bob and Blighty who collected a couple of Seniors points for their matching 71 nett scores.  Those points for Blighty were enough to break the tie and give him outright second in the Seniors while the points for Bob and Craig weren’t quite enough to catch Harry who had to settle for third spot in the Seniors Championship.  Gordon didn’t really need any more but he took one just the same.

Bob might have been a bit lucky to finish where he did after his tee shot on the 17th was on the verge of being declared lost or out of bounds in the scrub when it was discovered by one of the group.  A punch shot out of the thicket finished off the edge of the green and Bob proceeded to chip/putt it in for a birdie.  Go figure.  However the ‘unusual’ shot of the day would have to go to Noodles on the 6th tee which was low and off-line so much that it hit the ‘tombstone’ half way up the tee in front.  The ricochet headed the ball in the direction of back down the 5th but imparted so much spin that the ball curved back onto the 6th and finished on the fairway up by the bunker.  Maybe not the 250m that the fellows were claiming but still a pretty good result.  Other than that, he was apparently lovely to watch – but then all the girls say that.

Chrispy spent some time on the driving range during the week and got a few pointers on how he should be hitting the ball without his power fade.  He’s not game to try it on the course because he can’t bring himself not to aim way to the left.  SteveK and ChrisV are still scratching their heads after balls were lost on the first after not appearing to be headed for any trouble.  No crows or black holes were noticed in the vicinity and the walk back to the tee was a long one.

Brendon and the Beast decided to play a match on the back nine for a coffee and Bill was licking his lips at the prospect with Brendon dormie with three to go.  The prospect of having to buy the coffee was so much anathema to Brendon that he set to and won the last three holes to square the match and so avoided having to buy the coffee.  The things some people will do to save a quid.  Blighty reckoned he was going alright until he had two fat ladies on the 16th.  It’s been a while since the last game of Bingo but the recollection is that two fat ladies is actually 88.  But then again maybe he really did have two fat ladies on the 16th and didn’t score too badly.

Gordon was trying to deter bidders in the auction by continually referring to the fact that he couldn’t putt, an obvious reference to the fact that he had taken 5 putts from about a metre an the 6th.  It wasn’t that he was proud of the fact, it was just that he wanted to keep his price down to reduce his potential half share cost.  Trevor was a keen bidder in the auction usually after announcing how badly the horse had performed in today’s event.  Very likely another ploy to keep the price within his budget, which he seemed to have spent almost to the cent by the end of the day.

In the Club Stroke Play Championship, the nett score leader board will be the same as printed below.  For the off-the-stick event, the current standings are AndrewP (72), Noodles (73), Zimmer (78), CraigC (79), Michael (81).  A full Leaderboard will be published in due course.

The tallies for the Calcutta will also be circulated and monies owing have to be paid before tee time next Saturday.  Any horse sold that does not front next week, the buyer will have the money refunded.  Money for horses that start but do not finish will remain in the pool.  Purchasers are responsible for offering half shares to the jockey and collecting the money for same.  That is, the Treasurer will only accept the full amount owing for a horse in one transaction.  The monies will also be collected for the Calcutta raffle ($25 to buy yourself).  This is not compulsory and the best placed horse from those entered will be declared the winner.  Ties will split the pool equally.  Please read the Calcutta Rules under the Rules Menu above.

The Vin O’Meara marks the start of a new Competition Year and the winner of this event often goes on to become Club Champion so, if you have nominated, come along and increase your chances for the end of the 2016 year.

Results for Saturday, 28 November 2015
1st Stephen Butterfield(62) 2nd Craig Cameron(68) 3rd Andrew Petricola(69) 4th Kazim Akdag(70) 5th Andrew Blight(71) 5th Bob McDonald(71)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (68) 2nd Andrew Blight (71) 2nd Bob McDonald (71) 3rd Gordon Hill (72)

It was raining today but not exactly those little water droplets from the sky though there were a few of those around as well.  No, compared to recent times it was raining birdies and 15 players (including the redoubtable Ken who graced us with his presence after quite a break away) managed to card a total of 14 of the little beasties.  Ken’s even counted for his Yellow Ball team but to no avail as the annotations on the card were littered with comments like ‘Bloody Targe’ as it seems the little fella contributed four minuses to the teams eventual score of -3.  It must be said that he did redeem himself by scoring a plus on the 17th.  But, three of the four teams did manage to finish with their balls intact and the two other teams tied it up with a final score of -2.  So, lots of Bonus Points handed out today and as the Championship leaders group were in it together today, the result won’t affect the outcome of the big play-off next week.

And, Simon was on fire today, particularly on the back nine where he racked up five on the black side of the ledger that more than compensated for the two in the red on the front.  A couple of birdies indicate that he is getting the measure of the course and the new artillery seems to be working a treat at getting him on or around the green from where the short game did not let him down as evidenced by a knock down putt from off the green on the 4th for his birdie.  He is now champing at the bit for the new season to start with a clean slate for everybody so that he can have a full year’s run at the Championship.

For a while Mehmet was in second place and he was pleading for Ryan to be kept out of the points.  But, then along came Bob with a card that reported +2 and Mehm sadly waved goodbye to two of his valuable points and said hello to the prospect of having to win next week.  However, it seems that the prospect of 2 strokes on the 13th went to Bob’s head (as well as his marker) where a square on the card actually turned out to be a miss.  So, Bob dropped back to joint second and Mehmet was promoted and got his valuable two extra points.  Michael was also there on +1 and this augurs well for him on only his second outing after injury.

The Beast started out well on the first with a birdie and then with great confidence took the yellow ball for the team on the second.  It took the full search time to find the resultant sprayed shot.  And so it went, good result, not so good result but he still ended up with a square card and he managed to put the ball onto the 4th close enough to pick up the Nearest the Pin for a ball.  Noodles was more consistent by squaring the majority of the 18 holes to also manage a square card alongside Bill.  Noodles also managed to put his tee shot on the 18th to within 2.5m to take out the ProPin but he wasn’t able to sink the putt.  Michael was also on the card about a metre further out but he did manage to sink the putt.

As much as Mehm wanted to keep Ryan out of the points, and he soundly berated the membership for not being able to produce a score between square and -3, it was not to be and Ryan came in at fourth spot alongside Harry.  So the margin is five points and it is possible for Mehm to wrangle a tie with only a second place (provided of course that Ryan is pointless) and set a standard to top the Championship table without a win to his name.  So, there is bound to be some argy-bargy out on the course next week as the boys battle it out.  Could be worth coming even if for no other reason.

So, after the place shuffling, Targe managed to sneak in and salvage a point.  He was well out of the Seniors listing but there is still a chance for some tie breaking in the minor placings for this prestigious event.  Bob has moved up into equal third with today’s result.

Pepsi, still holds the lead in the Eclectic but if Noodles and Bill can manage a couple of birdies on critical holes, they still have a chance to snatch the trophy from his grasp.  But, with only one week to go, it is going to be a tough call.

Although three of the four Yellow Balls did return, there were quite a number of near misses.  Targe went close to putting theirs in the tank on the first.  After Bill’s effort on the 2nd, Blighty flirted mightily with the OOB fence on the 3rd and Harry, ditto on the 17th.  Chrispy was apparently the guilty one that launched his teams ball into the wild blue yonder.

Gordon came out with high hopes of doing well today and keeping himself in the race to overtake Ryan but it seems that he might have had a case of stage-fright and he finished well down the table.  Or maybe he is just protecting his handicap for the start of the new season of competition.  Taner also came to earth with a thud (his words) and didn’t score too well after last weeks performance.  You can only blame the handicap for a couple of those points, Taner.

Ken’s passage down the 3rd was something less than auspicious with at least two trees and other roughage conspiring to put him off the edge of the green for four.  Oh, and it was the Yellow Ball to boot.  Not to worry, says our Ken, and proceeds to sink a 15m putt for a square.  Maybe that’s how they do things at Rosanna.

Next week is the December Monthly Medal and first round of the Stroke Play Championship that runs for three weeks including the two weeks of the Vin O’Meara.  We will be running the usual Calcutta Auction on the VOM after the barbeque after the round.  So, we really would like to know who will be playing the VOM but there are still a lot of people that we haven’t heard from re their intentions.  So please, email/phone Harry as soon as you can so that the form guide can be organised and the Auction List can be prepared.

The Christmas break-up party will be on 19th December and we also need numbers for catering for that so if you can let Gordon know your intentions one way or another asap, that would be good.

Results for Saturday, 21 November 2015
1st Simon Powell(+3) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(+1) 2nd Michael Gourlay(+1) 2nd Bob McDonald(+1) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(□) 3rd Bill Eastoe(□) 4th Harry Boughen(-3) 4th Ryan Porker(-3) 5th Targe Mifsud(-4)

Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (+3) 2nd Bob McDonald (+1) 3rd Bill Eastoe (□)

It was a good day to be thinking about necking a stubby.  There were a few clouds and about half a dozen spots managed to reach the vicinity of the ground but it was still a great day to be out and about on the course.  The chill came and went with the breeze and the coming and going of the breeze brought on some mind-changing in relation to club selection on certain holes where the breeze was perceived to have a greater influence.  The results of the shots didn’t necessarily reflect the benefit of the deliberations that were made.  But, it must be said that the malaise that struck the field last week was not so much in evidence among the twenty members who did battle today but even so, there was only one member who played better than his handicap.

And he wasn’t backward in grabbing a stubby and the picture doesn’t show him trying to bite the cap off to celebrate his first top placing since he joined the Club a while back.  Taner has been quietly gathering a few points with placings and has managed to protect his handicap as a result.  Not today however, as he kept finding the centre of the club off the tee and the short game wasn’t too shabby as well.  The putter worked well enough and the points tally could have been even higher if some of the longer ones had gone in.

Another couple of Seniors managed to keep their heads down and play to their handicap to gather the points for second place in both levels of the Championship events.  Harry inspired the Beast by being two over after six holes and they virtually matched scores over the front nine but as the run faded in one it faded in the other just slightly more so for Bill than for Harry.  Targe, on the other hand was just a bit more consistent between the halves if not so much on fire in the front half.

ChrisV came in next with a card that could very easily have been a front runner except for a handful of ordinary scoring holes.  Perhaps he was distracted because he was scoring the card for the birdie blitz that was being executed by StephenK (aka Ned).  Steve managed at least four out of the total of 11 that were carded for the day but they were separated by runs of scoreless holes so, although the eclectic improved markedly, the bottom line was not so flash.  Next came the Beast who also scored a birdie after putting his drive pin-high on the 14th and only missed the eagle by a whisker with a tricky down-hill putt.  Bill also decided that as nobody in the group had sunk a long putt all round decided to ‘have a go’ from near the edge of the green on the 17th and went close to making what would have been an unlikely par after flirting with trees and hazards along the way.

Noodles and CraigC rounded out the list of points getters in today’s field.  Our Championship leader, Ryan, missed out on points today, which should have suited those that had a chance of catching him before the end of the year.  But, with only two rounds to go, the field of contenders to overtake has dropped to two so there is still some room for excitement leading into the final rounds.  Unfortunately for the Seniors Championship aspirants, this event is now done and dusted as Gordon cannot be caught.  The minor placings are still open for contention however.  Simon was another birdie getter today and his very first in competition since he started with us for a coloured square on his Eclectic card.  The Eclectic is still there to be won, it only requires a birdie or two (or three) from the four or five people within that range of Pepsi.

It was unkindly suggested that Snags might be tempted to leave his garage door open again after some dissatisfaction with his clubs/own performance today during which he was heard cussing like a mule-skinner.  That didn’t stop him from putting his tee shot pin high on the 12th to take out the much prized Nearest the Pin for a ball.  Despite being out of the points today, Ryan probably did better than most by getting onto the 18th and being close enough to collect the jackpot ProPin.

Michael was back on deck today after his bout of frozen shoulder(s) and though he is still a bit restricted he didn’t do too badly at all.  One drive didn’t come off on the 6th and Blighty stepped up and creamed his shot to up by the bunker.  He turned, puffed out his chest and said ‘ If I was an arrogant type, I’d say that is how you are supposed to hit the ball’.  Ryan stepped up and out-drove Blighty by 40m, turned and nonchalantly said ‘ That’s how you are supposed to hit the ball’.  Take that!  Maybe it was karma taking its time for pay-back but it seems that Blighty then managed a draughtie (second week in a row) on the 12th and Michael was very pleased to accept his first free shout back in the Clubhouse.

Gordo was persuaded to carry a new demo driver on the round today and maybe that is what kept him out of the points.  Apparently it has more loft than his old driver but he was hitting it lower.  Maybe it is the nut on the end of the shaft that is the problem.  Targe could be considering a change of career as he was noted giving physiotherapy advise after the round today.  Strangely the exercise that he was advocating was very similar to one that was ascribed to a sex therapist some years ago.  Chrispy had to dash off early today and not sure whether it is a carry over from the Mansfield weekend but ‘oil on troubled waters’ did get a mention.  Trevor spent some time teaching the trees a thing or two and he reckons he started off playing a white ball but finished playing with a yellow one even though it was the same ball.

The Annual Calcutta for the Vin O’Meara is coming up in a couple of weeks.  If you are not planning to play in any or all of that event or, if you do not want to be included in the auction, please let Harry or Gordon know as soon as possible to simplify the book-keeping for the event.

Results for Saturday, 14 November 2015
1st Taner Kemal(39) 2nd Harry Boughen(36) 2nd Targe Mifsud(36) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(35) 4th Bill Eastoe(34) 5th Stephen Butterfield(33) 5th Craig Cameron(33)

Seniors Results: 1st Taner Kemal (39) 2nd Targe Mifsud (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (36) 3rd Bill Eastoe (34)

There has to be an explanation.  Was it playing off the ‘back’ black markers?  Was it the unlucky field size of thirteen?  Was it the on again, off again drizzle and wind and the up again and down again umbrellas?  Was it the fact that Ryan was back in the field? Or was it just a field of pretty average golfers?  Whatever the reason, it would have to be a while since nobody went within cooee of matching their handicap and our November Monthly Medallist had to put up with being accused of winning two medals with pretty ordinary scores.  Politeness forbids repeating the words actually used.  As a guide, there were only four birdies recorded and the ProPin went begging and will jackpot to next week though the divvy was a dollar short due to some sort of accounting error, presumably by somebody extracting shrapnel from their over-deep pockets.

Regardless of the score, the best score on the day won the event and even though equal scores came in, a count-back wasn’t required as Targe had been off gallivanting and missed out on qualifying to win the Medal.  Even so, SOS would have won on a count-back anyway.  It was even suggested that SOS had emulated Steven Bradbury by skating through a field littered with fallen golfers.  As a consolation, Targe gathered the top seniors points as well as the top Championship points.

Bob and Simon came in next just a couple of strokes behind and if it hadn’t been for a few hard luck chips and putts by Bob, then the overall result could have been rather different (or not).  Simon had to dash off and there were no reports of hard luck suffered on his behalf.

CraigC had a mind to celebrate his birthday today with a top performance but had to settle for third place along side Gordon.  He did pick up a ball on the 12th for the Nearest the Pin and his birdie there was one of the collection recorded.  This also improved his eclectic score but he still has a way to go the catch Pepsi who is starting to look secure with only three more rounds to go before stumps.

The real hard luck story of the day comes from Mehm who claimed to have single putted 12 greens and two putted the rest but still could only net 76.  Still it did get him one more point that Ryan who scooped up the last point on offer today.  That leaves Mehm eight points (or just one win) behind Ryan and, as for the Eclectic, there are only three rounds to go.  Of course, Mehm is on record as wanting to beat Ryan without scoring a win so he is going to need a couple of seconds quick smart and for Ryan to be kept out of the points.  Should be interesting for the December medal on 28th November.

Chrispy might have been away doing battle with the publicans in Mansfield but he was certainly here in spirit as Snags channeled him by using the trees to great advantage to keep his ball in play.  The putting was off a bit as well and at one stage he was imagining the pin was a tree in the hope that it would improve his ‘aim’.  We also had more than a fair share of draughties today with Blighty, Bob and Harry owning up.  There were more than a few sevens, three ‘fat ladies’ on one card, at least one nine and, to cap it all off, legs eleven on another.

Noodle’s putting was going so bad that he resorted to using the back of his wedge and his driver to putt as his desperation grew.  The actual putter was in real danger of being (if not actually) thrown away.  Snags reckoned that he could have won $37,000 if only he had boxed his family’s birthdates in the Cup.  Targe let his misogynistic streak show when he reckoned that the large majority of people who backed the winner in the Cup were female though perhaps he did not put it quite so politely.

Just so that Mal doesn’t feel left out, he too was celebrating his birthday today, though he wasn’t able to celebrate by playing golf, being otherwise occupied.

Just a reminder, the Club stroke play championship will be played over the three weeks of 28 Nov, 05 Dec and 12 Dec.  This will coincide with the Course management Championship as well so a chance for some double dipping.  Our Christmas Breakup will be on 19th December and Gordon would like to get an idea of numbers attending to help with the catering.  Please make your intentions known.

Results for Saturday, 07 November 2015
1st Targe Mifsud(71) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan (MM)(71) 2nd Bob McDonald(73) 2nd Simon Powell(73) 3rd Craig Cameron(75) 3rd Gordon Hill(75) 4th Mehmet Akdag(76) 5th Ryan Porker(78)

Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (71) 2nd Simon Powell (73) 2nd Bob McDonald (73) 3rd Gordon Hill (75) 3rd Craig Cameron (75)