Monthly Archives: February 2016

What happened to all the money-grubbers.  There was a jackpot up for grabs on the ProPin but a measly 16 players managed to drag themselves out of bed to get to the course for the (slightly) later starting time.  Even Brendon got there early but only because he had scabbed a lift from SOS who is a notorious early riser.

It really was a nice day for golf with a mild temperature and absolutely no wind.  DennisT had predicted that it would start blowing at eleven but that time had come and gone by the time that he got to the 18th and he showed that he needed no wind assistance to put his tee-shot to 3.6m from the pin. This was more than enough to put a smile on his face and put paid to his claim that he had never won a ProPin since he joined the Club.  ChrisV a couple of weeks back and now Dennis.  Can’t be too many left in that exclusive club now.

If anyone had suggested to Harry, after totalling his score for the first nine, that he was in with a chance of winning the day, the response probably would have been ‘Tell him he’s dreaming’.  But it’s amazing what five pars in six holes can do to a score card and, but for three eminently gettable missed putts on the 17th and 18th (between them, not each), the 22 points on the back nine could have been even more.  In the event, the 37 point total was just enough to take the top spot.

Damo and Bob had such a great time playing together that they even managed to put together the same score with 36 points.  They were joined by Chrispy who is also protecting his handicap by just managing to play to it as required.  Bob reckons that his score should have been at least 46 points but it is hard to tell whether that is just ‘Bob’ or whether there was some truth in the matter.  Still, he has been there or there-abouts quite a few times this year and if he can keep it up without harming his handicap who knows what might be at the end of the year.

Dennis had a bit to say about the bareness of some of the fairways as a result of the lack of water (both rainfall and irrigation) and he did chunk a few from less than well grassed lies.  But, he still did manage to make 34 points and joined the Beast, Les and Ryan for a share of 3rd spot.  Bill’s elevation in the rankings (summation error) left CraigC to collect the two points for 4th spot on his own.  Gordon and Brendon came in on 32 to fill the last podium spot.

So, plenty of points handed out today in both the Open Championship and the Seniors.  Despite only getting a point today, Brendon still has a  reasonable lead in the Open event.  Mal’s position at the head of the Seniors is still secure.  But, the season is still young and with the vagaries of the game, anything can happen, and probably will.  Brendon, also has the lead in the Eclectic and, although there were a few moves today, not too many of them were down to the numbers of birdies scored.  There were only a fairly miserable 6 carded today.  The Eagle went close to soiling her tail feathers today when Chrispy pitched in to the 14th green for his second and the ball ran round the rim of the cup but didn’t fall in and left the easiest of birdies.  The shout that went up was heard in the farthest corners of the course.  But it still would have been only one ball if it had fallen in.  Good for the Eclectic, though.  Targe also scored a birdie on the 17th from a duffed drive that left him a shot over the pond to the green.  With a ‘hit and hope’ attitude, Targe put it onto the green and sank the putt.  Perhaps that’s the way to play every shot Targe!

The BallPin was on the 7th today and the lucky ball winner was Brendon though he didn’t look too happy about the choice of balls offered by the Treasurer.

Gordon, had to get away early again today which seems to be developing into a bit of a habit but he is no longer batching so maybe that had something to do with it.  Though he did get a point, Gordon looked to have had (from a distance) a pretty ordinary day on the greens.  Craig had his fair share of problems around the green with the longer, greener grass in particular causing quite a bit of angst after what had been good tee and fairway play.

Chrispy has been watching the ladies golf on TV, purely to try to improve his game, and he commented that he was just like Karrie Webb in that he was missing what should have been gettable putts.  Politeness precludes repeating another comparison between the two that SOS put forward as an option.  Simon was voted the happiest golfer alive because he was always cheerful, even if he had just duffed a shot.  Maybe it was just the thought of the new set of irons that he is in the process of lining up for himself.  If they work as well as he hopes he could be downright unbearable (opps, that should be unbeatable).

For some reason, Damo and the Beast were venturing together into the shrubbery at the bottom of the track down from the 17th tee.  Damo spotted something in the grass and shouted ‘Snake’ and jumped high and back.  He was only exceeded by the Beast who ‘took a speccy’ by climbing onto Damo’s shoulders.  Meanwhile, the juvenile bluetongue, that looked ‘just like a tiger snake’ toddled on about its business quite oblivious to the mayhem that it had caused.

Keith turned up for a coffee after the game and gave an update on his recovery.  His plantar fasciitis was improving but he has suffered a bit of a relapse in recent days but he hopes to be back on the track soon.  He declined to consider the treatment that Robert Harvey is reported to have administered to himself for the condition some years back when he was playing for St Kilda.

Birthdays are a bit thin on the ground this week, but if any of you see Jan in the coming week, the Birthday Birdie would like you to pass on a good wish on his behalf.

Next week will see the start of the Matchplay Championship first round.  The draw will be issued very shortly, just as soon as a couple of administrative details are finalised.  It will appear on the web-site and a copy will be sent to all members as soon as it is available.  Do have a read of the Club Rules relating to the event so that everybody is clear and there can be no arguments about timing and procedures.

The Annual General meeting of the Club will be held after the round next week.  All committee positions are open and both President and Vice-President will not be standing for re-election.  Even if they were, all positions are spilled every year so feel free to nominate for any position that you fancy – a vote would do us good and it wouldn’t be as complicated as the Senate ticket.  Even if you haven’t got any friends to be your proposers, you can just ask your enemies who will surely oblige.  The nomination form is available on the web-site as is a list of the positions available.  While we would like nominations in advance, there will be forms available on the day.

Results for Saturday, 27 February 2016
1st Harry Boughen(37) 2nd Damien Lee(36) 2nd Bob McDonald(36) 2nd Chris Priems(36) 3rd Bill Eastoe(34) 3rd Les Kitchin(34) 3rd Ryan Porker(34) 3rd Dennis Tiernan(34) 4th Craig Cameron(33) 5th Gordon Hill(32) 5th Brendon Mitchell(32)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (37) 2nd Bob McDonald (36) 3rd Dennis Tiernan (34) 3rd Les Kitchin (34) 3rd Bill Eastoe (34)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Dennis Tiernan BallPin 7th Brendon Mitchell

The southerly airflow and the morning showers have departed as a high moves in through the Bight and though the day started off a bit cool, the sun came out and warmed the cockles of the 20 members (and Joe Demir) who wended their way around the course that is still pretty dry despite the recent sprinkles.  Maybe that’s the problem.  That’s all they were, sprinkles.  There was plenty of run on the fairways provided that you stayed on them but some of the greens seem to have suffered a bit of damage and the 4th, in particular, looked more like a bunker in places where sand had been spread to fill the craters.  Birds or die-back?

Noodles didn’t show today and maybe it was because of the early warning of his birthday and he didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the good wishes.  Have a good one Noodles.  Or maybe he had an inkling that he didn’t stand a chance in the face of a blistering round from JohnQ.  John smacked together a card of a nice round 80 off the stick that scored him a total of 5 Par points above the line and a nice cut to his handicap in the lead up to the Matchplay Championship.  He’ll move up in the seeding as well so maybe the handicap difference won’t be so important.  If it hadn’t been for a number of double bogies the bottom line could have been even better.

It must have been dark when Brendon dressed himself this morning as he seemed to be wearing the Australian One day colours rather than the Black Caps.  Still, it didn’t seem to put him off his game too much, particularly after the caning his handicap got last week.  One slight aberration saw him chunk his second on the 10th into the bunker but he still managed to square it.  Just shows, quality will show through.  So, a pretty impressive second place with +3 puts him well out in front on the Championship Table.  He also scored four of the 16 birdies today and that also gave him a bit of a lead in the Eclectic.  Just might be the Year of the Brendon rather than the Year of the Monkey (or both).

A further two points back were Pepsi and CraigC who played nice steady golf without really setting the world on fire.  They were followed closely by Laurie, Robert and ChrisV who all managed a square card.  Laurie really came home with a wet sail and made plus four on the last five holes.  It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen Laurie on the course, so either the break has done him some good or he has been off practicing somewhere.  Last, but far from least, was Blighty who managed to keep his composure to get a par on the 18th.  Why should that be significant you might ask.  Well, just as Andrew was lining up his putt,  SOS piped up to ask whose buggy was trundling down the hill.  Just as Andrew looked around, the buggy collided with a tree and capsized.  But for that, it could have carried on and finished in the 17th pond or even worse.  Andrew returned to aligning his putt and put it in before heading off to retrieve his new buggy that Santa had brought him for Christmas.  None the worse for wear according to all reports.

Joe Demir made one of his casual appearances for the event today and proceeded to collect himself a ball from the BallPin on the 4th.  The ProPin was on the 18th and nobody was able to get a shot within the requisite 5m although Brendon did manage to get it to 5.02m.  Close, but no cigar.  So, with a good roll-up next week, there will be a nice little bank-roll up for grabs.

Apparently Ed likes to cut the corner on the 10th and, last week, he managed to put two balls OOB across the 13th.  Seems he tried to repeat the effort this week but didn’t quite succeed, his first stayed inside the fence.  He did manage to keep DennisT amused though but Dennis didn’t have enough time to pass on the details.  Simon has been practicing in the back yard at home and there is one window that he has hit several times but he has not broken it.  Either it is made from toughened glass or Simon isn’t making very good contact with the ball.  Perhaps it is the slippery grips that he reckons are giving him so much trouble.

The other Dennis(W) was the only one to own up to a draughtie today and his playing companions seemed very gratified to be partaking of his generosity.  The happy event took place on the 8th and apparently the only members that didn’t witness the event were those that were in front of the group in the field.  Targe had to dash off early as he had to get home to see a Ghost.  No, he’s not hallucinating again, he’s been given tickets to Ghost, the Musical.  Hope you enjoy it Targe, the critics didn’t, but what would they know.

The poor old Eagle has been having a hard time of it of late and she almost lost her sole egg again today after Ryan put his 3-wood drive onto the green on the 11th and then missed the gettable putt by mere centimetres.  Still, one ball is hardly worth winning, but it would have helped the Eclectic.  Mehmet has got himself a new job but he strongly denies that it is a part in Here Come the Habibs.  He might be trying to emulate the Habibs as he was bragging about some bet he has made that is going to pay 1000 to 1 odds when it gets up.  Keep your eyes peeled on Facebook when Mehm says ‘I told you so’.

The membership subs have been rolling in but there are still some outstanding.  If your subs aren’t paid by next week, then you will not be eligible for the Matchplay Championship and if not by the week after, you will be ineligible for competition in Club events as well.  Payments by Bank Transfer are preferred but if you wish to withdraw some cash from under your mattress then that will be accepted as well.  If you do a bank transfer, make sure you put your name on the receiving account so that we know who it is from.

The AGM is on the following week and all Committee positions are available for contest.  The nomination form is available on the website under Forms on the right side panel of the page.  To have the Club managed the way you would like it to be, you should be on the Committee.  Don’t delay, do it today.

Results for Saturday, 20 February 2016
1st John Quinlan(+5) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(+3) 3rd Craig Cameron(+1) 3rd Andrew Petricola(+1) 4th Laurie Mannix(□) 4th Robert Priems(□) 4th Chris Vinecombe(□) 5th Andrew Blight(-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (+1) 2nd Laurie Mannix (□) 3rd Andrew Blight (-1)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Jackpot BallPin 4th Joe Demir

While some people went for the Tattoo (the non-ink variety), 15 members and Brent turned out to pit their wits against the wiles of the ground staff at Ivanhoe.  There were no reports of skull-duggery with the placement of tees or pins and it sounds as if the course was playing easily.  This observation was supported by the number of birdies carded with a total of 15 making an average of one per member.  Not every member got one of course, mainly because Brendon snagged four of them on his way to a personal best score of 70 off the stick and a very handy 43 points of the Stableford variety.  This win has vaulted him to the lead in the Championship table and also in the Eclectic Table thanks to the string of freshly birdied holes.

Pepsi had better get back on his pins soon as the plethora of score improvements this week has really rearranged the field and it is now hard to see how it might all shake out as the year progresses.  While on the topic of injuries, Michael has advised that a medical condition has put him out of circulation for six to eight weeks and we all wish him a speedy and complete recovery with a bigger and better return to form later in the year.  It does mean that Michael will be a scratching from the Matchplay field which is a handy reminder for any other members who might wish to qualify by playing between now and the end of the month or who wish to scratch themselves for any reason (by using the on-line registration form).

Mehmet obviously paid heed to last week’s advise and kept his feet on the ground (maybe) to gather enough points to come in in second place with 41 on a card that had some potential to have been better and right up there with the top place-getter.  He was joined by CraigC on the number 2 podium step.  Craig also fairly blistered the course on the front nine but leaked just a smidgen of oil on the run home.  Still, it did get Craig the top spot in the Seniors group and he now has some runs on the board in this event.

Steve was a bit off the pace in third place but a couple of empty blocks on the card could have made all the difference if they had been filled in a similar manner to the rest.  Further back again were a trio of members with 34 points and doing no harm to their handicap in Blighty, Bob and Chrispy.   This might surprise some who were at the after game announcements but some arithmetic and transcription errors on at least two cards contributed to a slight rearrangement to the order of things.  Try to be careful and accurate chaps.

Last, but not least, to mount the podium for 5th spot was none other than Mal who is keeping up his good form despite a hammering from the handicapper and gathered a point to keep his lead in the Seniors.  As for the rest, let’s just say that they all weren’t too far away.

The BallPin was on the 12th and the lucky golfer to collect was Craig.  There can’t have been too many contenders because Craig was obviously a long way from the hole, otherwise why would he have taken another three strokes to put it in?  The ProPin was on the 18th and John was able to get his within the requisite 5m distance from the hole which would probably have gone some way to making it a better day for John.

The Birthday Birdie is a bit ahead of time this week but it won’t do any harm to give everybody a chance to wish Noodles  a happy one next week.

Brent put in his second card this week and might have made a better fist of his short game by putting in a better card than he did last time with the reports on his long game prowess.  One more card and he will be able to chance his arm against the rest of the Club in real competition.

Results for Saturday, 13 February 2016
1st Brendon Mitchell(43) 2nd Mehmet Akdag(41) 2nd Craig Cameron(41) 3rd Stephen Kelly(37) 4th Andrew Blight(34) 4th Bob McDonald(34) 4th Chris Priems(34) 5th Malcolm Fleming(33)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (41) 2nd Andrew Blight (34) 2nd Bob McDonald (34) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th John Quinlan BallPin 12th Craig Cameron

Twenty four people came out today and most of them seemed intent on reminding Mal about how many strokes he had lost after last weeks effort.  But was Mal fazed by all of the attention.  Well that remains to be seen.  Another really nice Melbourne summer day with the temperature creeping up into the low thirties and with just the slightest of breezes to take the bite out of it.  There were actually only twenty three members as Zimmer had brought along his mate George who is, reportedly, only a new-comer to the game but who also, reportedly, drove the 14th.  So the score on his first card might not stand for too long.  Anyway, welcome along George and we look forward to seeing you on the tee from now on.

With the fairly benign weather conditions and the course still having a fair bit of run on the fairways that are struggling to green up from the drink that they have had over the last couple of weeks, it might have been anticipated that there would some good scores to be had.  In the event, there was only one person who broke his handicap and this was our almost new-comer, Les,  who seemed to have relished the conditions and took out the Monthly Medal by a margin of two strokes with his 80 nett 67.  Now you know why we dock your GA Daily Handicap when you join the Club.  Well done Les.

Simon was all concerned about losing a stroke for winning and he and Bob sweated out the agonies of being Club House Leader while waiting for the last groups to come in.  So much so that he had Targe working out the count-back to see whether he or Bob had won the Medal.  Hate to tell you this Simon, but it wouldn’t have mattered, ties for first place all lose the stroke regardless of the count-back result.  Simon was also bemoaning fact that the 13th was doubly unlucky for him after he carefully put his tee shot into the hazard, took the penalty and carefully put the next shot right back into the same hazard.  So, three seniors filling the first two places means that Simon is creeping up on Gordon in that race with the aim of beating him at the end of the year.

SOS is wearing a red mark that looks suspiciously like a love-bite on his left shoulder-blade but he assures us, and hopes that Colleen believes him, that it was caused by a hit from a ball struck by Steve who sliced it around some trees into the group standing on the next tee.  Despite his run-in with the law, SOS apparently read the riot act,  Steve came home with a nett 70 to gather third place by himself.

Just a single stroke behind came a group of three players, Mehmet, Mal and Brendon with 71 nett.  So, Mal proved that last week was not just a flash in the pan and if it wasn’t for a couple of errant shots he could easily have played to the new mark.  More points today keeps Mal at the top of both tables.  Mehmet seems to be sticking to his resolution not to win an event again this year.  Although he is currently in fifth place, he does have a bit of catching up do do and some seconds would help bridge the gap.  Brendon started off looking as if he was going to be the one to beat by starting out par, birdie but then he leaked some oil for a while until the gasket took up a bit and he came home with a bit of a flurry.

Craig, Targe and Rob filled the last podium position and early taws it looked as if they might have to make room for Chrispy as well.  But, Chris had put his inside card in with us and vice versa so there was a bit of a scramble to rectify the situation.  Wouldn’t want to the DQ’d again, hey Chris?

The BallPin hole was the 15th and several groups went through without worrying to use the marker.  The eventual winner was Steve who almost had to duck when the ball was handed out by SOS.  Wonder why that would be?  It obviously wasn’t close enough for Steve to get the birdie but there were 15 other occasions when birdies were recorded today.  There was also an eagle on the 6th.  Now, today was the Monthly Medal and the competition tees were off the black (white) and the 6th tee markers were about as far back as they could go.  Half of the area was a bunker and the other half had shrubbery so close that it interfered with your back-swing.  Probably not a strictly legal placement but be that as it may.  Despite all this, Michael managed to cream his drive and followed up by creaming his fairway wood to finish through the green on the fringe and then chipped putted it in to collect the two balls on offer from the nest.  Definitely no ball shortage for Michael now.

So, with the spate of birdies and general improvements in tallies, there has been a change of leadership in the Eclectic table and the field has really bunched up with quite a few players within a stroke or two of the lead.  Ryan is the man with his nose in front at the moment.

The ProPin was contested on the 12th and that green seemed to be difficult to get upon as well.  Sure the tee was right back but it’s still only about 120m.  But at the end of the day ChrisV managed to finish 1.79m from the hole and also contributed to the tally of birdies in the process.  According to Chris, today was the first time that he has collected a ProPin since joining the Club.  There you go, Chris, everything comes to he who waits.

Ryan was dressed for the warm weather today and sported a pair of shorts that wouldn’t have been out of place on the Surf Coast and could easily have been purchased at Savers.  The Beast is back from his holiday and had every intention of improving his Eclectic score even if he wasn’t eligible to take home the Medal.  As it turned out, the holiday didn’t really set his game on fire and he didn’t improve his Eclectic but he did make one fairly spectacular save on the 8th.  His second shot looked to be leaving the playing area at some speed and heading for the other side of the billabong on the right when it hit a tree dead centre and bounced back into play.  Bill was seen to be reaching for his provisional before the surprise at the result almost knocked him off his feet.

Fairly early in the piece, John was on record as ‘not really wanting to be here’.  Typical of his woes was a shot from the bunker on the 10th.  John opted not to shift the rake from where it lay in the bunker and wouldn’t you know it but the ball hit the rake and finished up who knows where.  John’s shoulders were almost dragging on the ground as he trudged out of the sand.  Might not have even raked the bunker!  Rob also had his moments and, as a result of his tee shot on the 8th, he had to dip into his hip pocket to honour the draughtie that resulted.  Plus he almost took out John in the process.

Chrispy had a visit from that friendly lady, Mrs Shanks, today but he wasn’t able to blame it on Snag’s clubs because he was using his own.  Maybe they were getting back at him for abandoning them last week.

The Birthday Birdie was a bit remiss last week in not sending a wish to Les, who obviously came out to give himself a present today.  And the Birdie is going to be worn out this week getting around to drop wishes off the Ken, Bob and Brent who all share the same day.  What are the chances?  Quite high actually.

Subscriptions are due and the Treasurer is making a list of those who haven’t paid up yet.  Before next week would be good and non-financial members will not be eligible for the Matchplay Championship which starts at next month’s Medal round.

The AGM will also be held on March Medal day.  All Committee positions will be spilled and up for grabs.  So, if you want your Club to be better run, get in and nominate for the positions that take your fancy.  The Nomination form can be downloaded from the web-site in the side panel under Forms.  If you aren’t sure of the positions available, have a look at the Committee list, also on the web-site or ask one of the Committee.

Results for Saturday, 06 February 2016
1st Les Kitchin(67) 2nd Bob McDonald(69) 2nd Simon Powell(69) 3rd Stephen Kelly(70) 4th Mehmet Akdag(71) 4th Malcolm Fleming(71) 4th Brendon Mitchell(71) 5th Craig Cameron(72) 5th Targe Mifsud(72) 5th Robert Priems(72)

Seniors Results: 1st Les Kitchin (67) 2nd Bob McDonald (69) 2nd Simon Powell (69) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (71)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Chris Vinecombe BallPin 15th Stephen Kelly

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 6th Michael Gourlay