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November Monthly Medal – November 3rd 2018
Hopes were high and the clouds were out, but the sun was soon shining through. Golf was also played. There was speculation about some low scores and with the Championship coming to a close in the near future, all eyes were on the leaders. Will noodles choke? Will Simon win the seniors so he can finally stop talking about it?
It turns out that the scoring was not that crash hot, and playing to ones handicap ended up being enough for the top spot. There were equal winners on 68 points, SOS, Chrispy and JQ. With a count-back being required to decide the medalist, it was JQ who had his nose in front to win the medal. It was smooth sailing for SOS, as he reported that on the 16th he was showing Brendon how to play an approach shot, and Shankyouverymuch his one and only shank for the day was the result. He was also fortunate on the 18th as he was chipping from beside the green, he bladed it and sent it flying towards Brendon who was admiring the result of his tee shot. The ball struck Brendon and ended up stopping on the green.
With Johns win it places him only 2 points behind Noods in the championship, who ended the day in second place, tied with Brendon. Noods was playing solid and consistent early on, but the scoring started to dry up on the back 9 and Noods was relaying his frustrations to his playing partners from then on. Nonetheless 5 points maintains his lead in the champs. Brendon had an up and down day, but was blitzing the par 3’s. On the 12th he hit it reasonably close to take out the ball prize and on the 18th as mentioned earlier, hit his tee shot to 3.56m with the flag at the back tier.
Scubba Steve, Joe and Bob were not that far off the mark and tied in 3rd place on nett 70. Bob’s place also won him 1st place in the seniors for the day. There were a few differences in the placings from those broadcast after the round, as a few players were working off incorrect handicaps, or could not work out the intricacies of gross minus handicap = nett score. Ryan played pretty average all day, but persevered and placed in 4th place on his own with a nett 73. He was in all sorts on the 10th after finding the trees and chipping over the green, with his ball hard up against a large gum with no possibility of a backswing. As peps walked past he suggested that he hit it into the tree… taking note of his advice, Ryan played the trick shot and hit it in the opposite direction of the hole, with the ball popping off the tree and running past the hole. He proceeded to sink his put from about 10m after it took a right angle jump off some gumnuts for a solid 6!
After a reshuffle of the final placings, in 5th place we had a few fossils in Trevor, Simon and Dennis who tied for 5th with a nett 74. All three tied for 2nd in the seniors, with Gordon placing 3rd for the day. This leaves Simon with an 8 point lead over Gordon in the seniors championship. Theoretically Gordon is still a chance to win with 3x wins in the remaining 3 rounds, as long as Simon does not place at all. The trophy is almost in Simon’s grasp, who claims this would potentially be his first ever championship trophy.
Speaking of placings, the main championship is very close and realistically Noods (78), JQ (76), Simon (71), or Gordon (65) can win it. Simon also claimed the 15th pro pin with a spectacular shot with the heavenswood (7 wood??) who put it to 40cm. Refer to photo for evidence. East Birdie was the result
There were no reports of drafties, however Ryan came very close on the second, thinning his drive with a worm burner that went through the water and ladies tee, but still somehow managed to go about 120m down the fairway. Blighty did manage to hit one at right angles with his approach on the 8th, almost cleaning up Dennis in the process. Gordon was travelling ok until the 14th, where he pulled his drive and hit it out of bounds to the left. Noods and Ryan also followed suit, but Ryans managed to do a Priemsy and deflect off the tree onto the fairway. Gordons second shot off the tee leaked right, and once he got to the fairway the ball was gone. He had to jog back to the tee, with his 5th off the tee almost striking his bag in the tree line. All things considered, walking away with an 8 was not too bad.
The eagles nest was again raided by Damo, who sunk a bunker shot on the par 5 6th. Only 4 balls were in the nest so not too much damage, although it took some convincing for SOS to give up 4 shiny new ones. Damian also celebrates his Birthday this week, who is also joined by Mal Fleming and Craig Cameron. Happy birthday guys.
Reminder that subs are not payable for next year and it would be good if they can be paid before the end of year. See SOS for any enquiries. Also Gordon is requesting deposits for the trip away next year of $50 for those who are intending of going.
Results for Saturday, 03 November 2018
1st Chris Priems(68) 1st John Quinlan(68) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(68) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(70) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(70) 3rd Stephen Kelly(72) 3rd Bob McDonald(72) 3rd Joe Wagenecht(72) 4th Ryan Porker(73) 5th Trevor Jackson(74) 5th Simon Powell(74) 5th Dennis Ward(74)
Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (72) 2nd Dennis Ward (74) 2nd Simon Powell (74) 2nd Trevor Jackson (74) 3rd Gordon Hill (75)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Simon Powell ProPin No 2 18th Brendon Mitchell BallPin 12th Brendon Mitchell
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 6th Damien Lee
Fed Kitson Spring Cup – Saturday 27th October 2018
In stark contrast to the previous week, the rains were no where to be seen and there was a buzz around the practice greens as there were still a few in contention to take out the Fred Kitson Spring Cup. Early money was on the Beast to take out the chocolates after a +4 the week before, but it was Simon who had a cracking start to proceedings and was observed to be smoking the course early (figuratively, or was it). He was well on the way with a lead in the club champs and turned at +3, but faltered under the pressure massively to come home in a whimper. Noods was also in contention most of the day and “what could have been” was again heard mumbling from him at the completion of the round.
In the end, talent beats luck and the Beast maintained a square card to win on a total of +4 for the competition. Noods ended up sneaking in for second place on +2 overall to take second, and a narrow lead in the championship table with only 4 weeks to go. A few supportive members muttered after the round that this would be his last points for the year as he is sure to crumble. Only time will tell. After a demoralizing back 9, Simon limped home in a respectable 3rd overall on +1 for the tournament, and with it a healthy lead in the Seniors champs and close in 2nd behind Noods in the club champs.
A trio of companions shared the points for 4th all on -1, Daniel, Brent and JQ, who missed a putt from 4 inches on the 18th, leaving it short! Blighty snoozed home in 5th place for 2 points on -2, who was also joined by Jason who had an up and mostly down day after being right in contention after week 1.
Course conditions were suited to scoring as there were a total of 13 birdies carded from 16 players. Numbers where a bit disappointing, especially as there were some notable absentees from the week before **cough cough… Rob**. Maybe it was the second week of PAR in a row that was the bug bear for some, we will have to thank Fred for that one, as Damo mentioned after the round with some kind words of Fred’s time at the club.
The ball hole was on the 12th hole and was hotly contested, none other than Blighty took out the prize with a very nice shot from the rear tee position. He also sank the birdie for good measure, which improves his eclectic position to 2nd overall. The first jackpot pro pin was on the 15th and Brent played a beautiful butter cut to hit one to around the 2.5m mark. He almost repeated the feat on the 18th but was narrowly beaten by Noods, who again won a jackpot in a tricky pin position on the ridge.
There was some confusion on the 14th where the would be putters at the green were waiting for an eternity for Peter to find his ball. After the guys at the 14th tee decided to play through and tee off, it was revealed that Blighty had in fact taken Peters ball by mistake after he slotted it way down the 16th fairway and he was waiting for it to be returned.
As mentioned above, there are only 4 weeks left of points rounds for the season, and the club champs are very close indeed. Anyone’s game from here in.
Results for Saturday, 27 October 2018
1st Bill Eastoe(+4, □, +4) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(□, +2, +2) 3rd Simon Powell(+2, -1, +1) 4th Daniel O’Rourke(+1, -2, -1) 4th Brent Rowley(+1, -2, -1) 4th John Quinlan(□, -1, -1) 5th Andrew Blight(-2, □, -2) 5th Jason Hopkins(+2, -4, -2)
Seniors Results: 1st Bill Eastoe (□) 2nd Simon Powell (-1,2,1) 3rd Andrew Blight (-2,0,-2)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 15th Brent Rowley ProPin No 2 18th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 12th Andrew Blight
Fred Kitson Trophy – Round 1 – raindrops keep falling on my head 🎼
🏌🏻♂️ 🍷 🎼 💦
The final major of this year’s Championship started (and stopped early) this week. The Fred Kitson Spring Cup started with a bang – good players looking to win this prestigious trophy and gain big points in the keenly contested Championship. There may be some early celebrating if someone in the running to win the Championship takes out Fred’s cup. Dear ol’ Fred enjoyed a glass of red after Saturday games and the tradition may continue after round 2 next week.
In the country, the wethers know whether the weather will be predicted by the weather bureau accurately or not – this time it was a not. “early showers easing around 9am to clear for a fine afternoon.” – they said. Well it just kept raining. The greens were unplayable by the time we reached the 10th and the committee decided to call a halt to the sploshing and splashing after 9 holes played – much to the chagrin of some of those who were playing darn good golf and scoring well. Probably more importantly to the punters in the group, the Caulfield Cup track was downgraded to a ‘soft 5’ and predetermined bets had to be reviewed! (Best Solution was in fact NOT the best solution to our trifecta as it turned out!)
Here’s the reporting of the day from our guest reporter President JQ –
– 15 nutters braved the conditions to try and win the (technically) last of our major tournaments – the Freddie Kitson Spring Cup. I say technically, because we still have the Summer Cup in December, but those points fall into the next years’ Championship… which is exactly why l think we had such a reasonable turnout. There was a fair bit of pre-match chatter about the only reason they turned up was to try and collect some points, which makes sense given how close our leadership board is at the moment. At present, there is 14 of our members realistically in with a shot of winning the title – and the 16 points on offer was enough to get most out of bed.
Considering there we only played 9 holes, the Beast managed some electrifying scoring in shisen conditions to come in with a +4 (with 7 pars on the front) – excellent stuff Billy. Hot on his heels, was Jason Hopkins, Simon ‘seniors’ Powell and Daniel O’Rourke all with a +2 – a good opportunity for Daniel to follow his mate, Peter, with his first win at the club.
In third, we have the Pres and Brent Rowley with +1’s. The only thing pleasingly about a 9-hole round is that the post-match post mortem with Noods and his ‘could’ve had anything’ standard conversation was only half as long. He finished square on his own, which could have been better had he not thinned his approach to the 9th nearly into the clubhouse. And in 5th, we have both Bobby McDonald and Peter Damou both on -1. Golf is a funny game and just when you think you’ve got it pegged, it has a horrible way of bringing you back to earth… as Peter found out all too well. Fresh from his monthly medal collect, Pete on the first tee managed to hit the ball about 3 metres to the left and into the foliage – much to the delight of those yet to tee off. Don’t worry Pete, we’ve all been there. Carlton Draughts all round.
So, the groups for next week (subject to others turning up – and wanting to help Rob Priems (-5) with the sausage duties), the groups will be as follows:
Group 1 – Rob Priems (-5), Dale Webb (-3) and Damien Lee (-3)
Group 2 – Andrew Blight (-3), Gordon Hill (-3) and Brendon Mitchell (-3)
Group 3 – Chris Priems (-2), Peter Damou (-1) and Bob McDonald (-1)
Group 4 – Stephen Butterfield (□), Brent Rowley (+1) and John Quinlan (+1)
Group 5 – Jason Hopkins (+2), Daniel O’Rourke (+2), Simon Powell (+2) and Bill Eastoe (+4)
The only nearest the pin we had this weekend was on the 7th was won by Damien Lee – congratulations on the your new Hot Dot Damo. Just a reminder, there will be handicap adjustments for the 27-holes
Good luck and good weather to us all next weekend.
Two figures to two, go figure! in the October MM on 13 Oct 2018
Maybe the adjustment to daylight saving time is not yet complete. The tee marshals were contemplating four groups of three to allow spaces for stragglers but they waited until the close of registrations to start the ‘random’ draw by which time the last minute rush had swelled the numbers to 21. SOS was running the random number app on his phone but about half way through numbers started repeating and, rather than restart the draw with the chance of the same thing happening again, the good old fill in the missing names in some sort of order completed the draw. And it was probably as mixed up as it would have been if the app had behaved itself or SOS knew how to run it (whichever was applicable). In the end, the first group was only a couple of minutes behind the scheduled tee time.
The temperature was a bit fresh to start with but there was a promise of a beautiful day to come and the only thing that should have stood in the way of some really good golf was some slightly long second cut and the dewy greens (at least until the sun got up a bit higher and evaporated it away). A number of people had adjusted so well to the fast greens at Rich River that the slower pace at Ivanhoe found them coming up short on a regular basis. Despite the putting woes, we managed to put together eleven birdies for the day. And that included one from Blighty that bears some telling in more detail.
It was the 14th tee and Blighty went through the careful alignment of the ball to within a second of arc, the pointing of the club to the green, the wiggling of the toes and the club and so on. The ball headed high and left and Blighty declared that it had probably not cleared the trees and so he played a provisional which suffered a very similar fate. Brendon took pity and loaned him another provisional ball which Andrew promptly shanked severely and there was a serious chance that the ball had ended in the tennis club car-park. Fortunately, the ball finished half a metre inside the boundary potentially lying five and still a long way from the green. Given Blighty’s performance approaching and on the green on some other holes, the potential for a score in double figures was something of a possibility. Then, a ball was spotted on the green, and, on inspection, it proved to be Andrew’s first ball, no more than half a metre from the hole. A quick rap with the flat stick knocked it in for the (at first sight) unlikeliest of birdies. The question was asked, what if the ball had actually finished in the hole. It would surely have to stand alongside Chrispy’s famous hole-in-one.
Well, enough of that. Peter was in the first group and came in with a handicap equalling 68 net with which he was pretty pleased but he had resigned himself to somebody turning in a better score. As the groups and cards trickled in there were lots of scores just one or two strokes behind but still Peter remained convinced that he would be pipped at the post. The pessimism was entirely unfounded and he remained the Clubhouse leader for the whole day and collected a Monthly Medal in what must be just about record time from joining the Club. Well done Peter.
There were lots of people just one stroke behind and, with lots of stories of chances left out there, the result could have been entirely different if the golf gods had smiled a different way. Blighty obviously owes a lot to the 15th. The Beast blames the trees on the front nine. Brendon forgot how to chip on the 10th. Daniel blames the multiple quadruples. Dennis took about six holes to warm up. But, they all managed to score the club’s favourite number, 69 net, to take out second place.
Harry’s body has pretty much caught up with the time zone changes and his driver was working well. Except for the 13th where a near air swing clipped the ball off the tee into the long cut not too far past the red markers. A couple of shots more to get to the fairway on the hardest hole on the course made the biggest blot on an otherwise excellent back nine. JohnQ managed to mark nine 5’s on his card and, considering that there is only one par five on the course, that adds up to a fair number of bogies (or worse). A couple of sixes were even less welcome but he still managed to come in alongside Harry in third place with a score of 70.
Simon was fairly sweating on how Captain Pugwash had fared and he was buzzing around like a bee at a honey-pot as he collected the cards and sorted them out in his role as Acting Club Captain. In the end, his 71 was enough to get him 4th place though he was claiming that at times he was distracted and missed up to four putts as a result.
Noodles was not having the best sort of day with the putter and at one stage he was threatening it with a similar fate to his 9 iron last week. It probably saved itself on the last when a longish putt rattled in for a par after any number of three putt holes. Keith didn’t have any disasters but he didn’t do anything spectacular either. Matt was still coming down after his famous victory at Rich River although he did beat Rob which puts their personal challenge tally 13 to 6 in Matt’s favour. Rob is not yet admitting defeat although the number of days that Matt can play for the rest of the year is shrinking fast. Chrispy was keen to rush off to a family wedding which might explain why he could only manage 72 to tie for 5th place.
For a change, the first ProPin was on the 4th and only one person managed to get their name on the card and that was Peter who managed to sneak just inside the limit at 4.7m. The BallPin was on the 12th and Simon was having a whinge that he was close but about 25mm off the green. As a result, Brendon, who did leave his ball on the green closer than anybody else, collected the ball on offer. The ProPin on the 18th, which saw the pin on the upper level, also went off with the Beast getting the nod with his strike to 2.74m.
There was one confirmed and one suspected draughtie today. The first was down to Rob who managed to move the ball a mere 150mm from his tee on the 8th. The disputed one was down to Dennis on the 15th. The shot finished in the trees. Two balls were found. Both were the same brand, same number and with very similar dot markings on them. One was behind the red markers, the other in front. Dennis insists that the ball found in front of the red markers was his. His playing companions remain unconvinced.
The Beast was walking down the 14th when a ball fairly whistled over his head it was travelling so fast. Peter had smashed one from the 16th tee over the trees and along the 14th to finish at the end of the path down from the 14th tee. There was a bit of a following wind but an impressive blow in anybody’s terms. And, while on the topic of the Beast, he is credited with the par of the day on the 13th. His drive finished on the 10th and the second shot finished almost in the hazard with no view of the green due to the trees. The next shot finished on the green and the putt rattled in for the par.
Porks hit a screamer down the centre of the 11th. Nobody is quite sure and they are blaming the wind (what wind?) but it suddenly took a left turn and finished on the 6th. On the same hole Noodles hit a beautiful drawing shot that finished about 20m from the green. On the basis of previous performance with the putter Brendon remarked ‘chip and three putts’ to finish it. Which Noodles promptly did.
After discussions at Rich River last weekend, next year’s Annual Challenge will be contested at Rich River but the event will be moved away from the school holidays and start of daylight saving time. A booking has been made for the second week in September and a deposit has to be made by the end of October to secure the booking. Gordon will be circulating members to get expressions of interest and holding deposits to minimise the draw-down of Club funds.
Results for Saturday, 13 October 2018
1st Peter Damou(68) 2nd Andrew Blight(69) 2nd Bill Eastoe(69) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(69) 2nd Daniel O’Rourke(69) 2nd Dennis Ward(69) 3rd Harry Boughen(70) 3rd John Quinlan(70) 4th Simon Powell(71) 5th Stephen Butterfield(72) 5th Keith Delzoppo(72) 5th Matt Hunt(72) 5th Chris Priems(72)
Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (69) 1st Bill Eastoe (69) 1st Dennis Ward (69) 2nd Harry Boughen (70) 3rd Simon Powell (71)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 4th Peter Damou ProPin No 2 18th Bill Eastoe BallPin 12th Brendon Mitchell