Monthly Archives: June 2018

It was on the 7th green that Simon looked at his Dick Tracy watch and announced calmly that it had just ticked over to 4C.  The Yarra flats at Templestowe had indicated 0.5C on the way to the course but there was no actual frost on the ground though a slight indication of a ‘crunch’ underfoot was detected at one stage.  In other words it was c-c-c-c-c-c-cold and the Proshop did a roaring trade in hand warmers and there were lengthy discussions about the merits of different grades of such devices and the use or otherwise of the winter golf gloves on offer.  And, it seemed to have showed up in the score-cards with the majority of the 19 members who braved the freeze doing significantly less well on the front nine compared to the back.

Overall nobody really set the world on fire and that seems to have applied even outside our field as the DSR for the inside comp was 66 which is probably as high as it has been since the system was introduced.  So, on that basis, it is probably no embarassment that the winning score today was a handicap matching 68 nett.  There were three people who attained that heady goal in the persons of Harry, MattH and Trev and so there needed to be a count-back to determine who was to collect the June Monthly Medal.  With his ‘almost’ personal best score on the back nine of 39 off the stick, Harry took the prize (nett 30) from MattH (nett 32) and Trev (nett 34.5).  After posting two triples and two doubles on the front,  Harry could be excused for thinking his chances were gone but it just goes to show that you should never give up hope.  Trev, on the other hand was about the only one to do worse on the back than on the front and that could easily have cost him the trophy.

Two strokes back were a gaggle of players.  Noodles was pretty unhappy that he had too many three putt greens but then isn’t just one three putt green too many?  Jason just played a boring game and seemingly played with a group of similarly boring partners if his response to a request for tall tales and true was any guide.  MattN made good use of his last ‘regular’ day with us before he heads up to Sinney to hang out with the rabbits up there though there would seem to be little truth in the rumour that he has been recruited as a front row forward.  And, as for Simon, his main worry, besides trying to be not too far behind Harry in the Seniors point scoring was to get away to sell off the family jewels in the form of his mother’s home of many years.

JohnQ pleaded the effects of a cold as he lined up this morning and prepared to do battle with Damo in their Matchplay match.  Obviously setting himself up with an excuse in the event that he went down.  But more of that later.  He obviously played well enough to get himself a third placing with his 71 and he didn’t have to share the podium with anyone.  Michael seems to have acquired an addiction to coffee as he got rather excited when Dennis sprayed his drive on the second into the trees on the right and the ball fell straight to earth somewhere in the vicinity of the red markers.  Dennis had almost resigned himself to his fate but, as it turned out, Michael’s anticipation was premature and the balls was found to be far enough forward and no ’round’ was in order.

The same can’t be said for the group of players who accompanied Pepsi today.  Although he was able to score well enough to match Michael on the podium, Pepsi did manage a power shank from the 7th tee to catch a tree and a ricochet back onto the path beside the tee box.  His nearest relief can be seen in the accompanying shot.  When his mates necked their mid-strengths later there was a suggestion that they tasted  a bit salty.  Something to with what Peps said he was going to put in them it seems.  Wonder if it is like putting lemon in Coronas?

Mal and Damo rounded out the points scoring brigade but, by the time that all the point scorers had been read out, SOS was well and truly to the bottom of his page and the number of pointless players was pretty small indeed.

The BallPin was on the 15th and Harry flew his straight for the pin but the ball made a 25mm deep pitch mark on the green and pulled up in very short order so it is not surprising that he was outdone by Stef who collected the ball on offer.  The first ProPin was on the 12th and, while Michael did a pretty good job of getting it close, Pepsi pinched it away by making it to 1.58m.  Not to be outdone, Michael also put it close on the 18th to 1.95m and remained unchallenged to collect the money on this hole for the second week in a row.  He missed out on the inside cash this week though so he will have to pay his own way next week.  He also did not make the birdie although there were a couple on his card and that helped us get to a total of nine for the day.

The last of the quarter-finals in the matchplay was completed today so everybody left in at least gets some points for their trouble.  The much anticipated clash was between Damo and JQ and, as mentioned earlier, JQ seemed to be preparing his excuses by declaring that he was only playing because it was this stage of the competition.  And, you could have been forgiven for thinking that he was going to need all of his excuses as Damo appeared to be doing it easy with the scoreline at four up in his favour after seven holes.  However, it seems that John got the chip off his shoulder and put it to work on the course to bring the match back to square after another five holes.  From there on, they swapped blows until the match went dormie one and with no stroke for John on the last a repair to the chip off green looked to be a good chance.  Unfortunately for Damien he was unable to make the par on the 18th and John took the match one up.

During the week, Dennis had been skiting that he was planning to win himself another medal and that this was going to be the day.  But, it was not to be and some might suggest Karma took her revenge by inflicting the dreaded double digit score on the 5th.  He wasn’t alone in the double digits though as SOS managed one as well on the 13th.   Rob didn’t reach the heady heights of double digits but he did manage a draughtie on the 15th but there is no suggestion that his beers were tainted in any way.  Brother Chris mused on the topic of runs of good form and bemoaned the fact that his seemed to have been a run of one.

President John took the opportunity to farewell MattN as he heads off to green (and red) pastures up north.  He was thanked for his efforts with the job of Tee Marshall and a replacement will definitely be required although Chrispy did indicate that he would be able to help out as well though he won’t be around for the next couple of weeks.  As farewells were made Damo commented that he hadn’t actually played a round with Matt at which the other Matt chimed in that this was probably why MattN had taken on the job as Tee Marshall.  Who needs enemies?

Results for Saturday, 02 June 2018
1st Harry Boughen(68 MM c/b) 1st Matt Hunt(68) 1st Trevor Jackson(68) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(70) 2nd Jason Hopkins(70) 2nd Matt Nicholls(70) 2nd Simon Powell(70) 3rd John Quinlan(71) 4th Michael Gourlay(72) 4th Andrew Petricola(72) 5th Malcolm Fleming(73) 5th Damien Lee(73)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (68) 1st Trevor Jackson (68) 2nd Simon Powell (70) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (73)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin No 1 12th Andrew Petricola ProPin No 2 18th Michael Gourlay BallPin 15th Stefan Belevski