Yearly Archives: 2019

Footy finals are here and there must have something else on for the September monthly medal as only 11 members were ready to play on a cold and rainy day. Or there may have been some handicapping protecting before the annual challenge weekend away perhaps?

Well there was nothing to worry about as the scores came in and they were not very impressive to say the least. The course was wet, the greens slow and only two birdies were scored for the entire day, which included SOS who chipped in on the 18th for a 2. This also helped SOS being the only one to break his handicap on his way to a 67 to take out the monthly medal.

Craig was back again this week and handed in a card of nett 73, which was good enough for outright second place. Targe seems to be able to place in the top 5 each and every week and this weekend was no exception, 74 nett was also good enough for 3rd place. Targe leads the seniors championship by 8 points over Dennis and 10 points over Harry.

There was a threesome who all tied for 4th place, Jason, Bob and Dennis all on 76 nett.  Gordon and Ryan were a bit down based on the results of the footy the night before, however as any constellation their score of 77 was enough for 5th place and a solitary championship point. Things are still close in the club championship points standings with only a few months to go, Porks in in the lead over Brendon, with Targe, Noods and Dave all within a chance.

Now you might ask, how many did not get points for the day, with the low numbers only 3 players went home empty handed. Not going to name anyone, but the 3 players initials were Chris Priems, Stephen Butterfield and Peter Damou! Unlucky guys.

The triple jackpot was up for grabs for the pro pin and the 15th hole was where the prize was there for the taking. The tee was back and there were quite a few tee shots that played russian roulette with the OOB markers. Craig’s group did not go halves (or thirds) and Craig ended up putting one to 3.6m which was more than enough for the cash!

The first ball hole was on the 12th and Dennis initially had his name on the card, however Porks easily beat the marker to win a nice pro V1. This was again repeated on the 18th, as porks was the closest with a tricky pin position on the back tier.

There were a couple of reports of tee shots which did not make the ladies tees, Targe wacked a tree on the 3rd, Dennis hit a straight one that somehow did not make it past on the 7th. Noods went very close on the 8th as his tee shot made it past by the slimmest of margins.

The annual challenge weekend away is on next weekend at Rich River Golf Club, there will be a regular event at Ivanhoe for those not going so please turn up for easy points.

Results for Saturday, 07 September 2019
1st Stephen O’Sullivan(67) (c/b t9) 2nd Craig Cameron(73) 3rd Targe Mifsud(74) 4th Jason Hopkins(76) 4th Bob McDonald(76) 4th Dennis Ward(76) 5th Gordon Hill(77) 5th Ryan Porker(77)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (73) 2nd Targe Mifsud (74) 3rd Bob McDonald (76) 3rd Dennis Ward (76)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 18th Ryan Porker

Expectations were high, no footy, no ashes, what else could be on the cards other then a round of golf. Well something must have been on as only 15 members started the days play, which included a couple who had been away for a little bit. Targe was back after his hand surgery, Michael was back after some time off due to injury and Craig was back after taking some time off to go golfing in the UK!

It was also very cold in the morning and it took quite a while for the frost to thaw out, but the sun soon came out and it turned out to be a very nice day. Porks was also having a very nice day and played consistent enough to blitz the field by 4 points to win with 39 stableford points. Without a couple of dashes and a few duffed approach shots it could have been better still. There were a few reports of fat shot and tough chips due to the soft fairways but hopefully things clear over the next few weeks.

Way back on 35 points a trio shared 2nd place, none other than Brendon, Targe and Peter. Targe was having a few troubles with his hand but this did not seem to hinder his ability to score. On his lonesome in 3rd place was Ken on 32 points and in 4th place was Craig on 31.

One point further back, Dennis and Gordon both handed in cards with a shiny 30 points on top which was enough for 5th place. Gordon admitted to missing a putt from 3mm away from the hole. How is this even possible some might say? There were 6 birdies scored throughout the day, the greens were particularly difficult due to the frost which could have contributed to the low number.

The ball hole on the 12th was hotly contested, Enzo placed the early marker but Simon kindly asked Targe to keep reading the sheet when announcing the results as he had beaten Enzo to take the prize. The pro pin was on the 15th and was again a jackpot. Triple jackpot next week in fact!

Now Michael was not having the best of days on his return, he was seen sporting some strapping on his troublesome knee and unfortunately when walking down from one of the tee boxes he hurt his knee again. He continued to play out the round and even managed to win the ball hole on the 18th. Hopefully it is back on the mend and he can be back wining the nearest the pins soon.

Some of the guys were guessing how many shots Noodles had on the par 5, it was estimated to be quite a lot by the amount of expletives that he was yelling as he trudged down the fairway.  Turns out it was not too bad and he managed to score a single point for the hole. Noods also was in a bit of a temper and launched his sand wedge from the 12th tee into the pond. Lucky that it deflected off some branches and didnt quite make it to the centre of the pond. He managed to retrieve it without too much concern.

There were no reported draughtys however there were a few close calls. Bob was not having the best day off the tee and came close on a few occasions. SOS also shanked one into the OOB trees on the 15th but played the ‘if you can’t find it you can’t prove where it ended up’ rule and as a result no beers were shouted.

After the results Gordon presented Whitey was presented with the September monthly medal, from 2018! Next week is the 2019 medal and Dennis is going for 3 in a row! A happy birthday to Matt and Dennis T who are celebrating birthdays this week. A couple of community service announcements. There has been some break ins during the week into cars in the golf course carpark, please do not keep any valuables in the cars if you can help it. The annual challange weekend away is only 2 weeks away, there will be a regular event at Ivanhoe for those not going so please turn up for easy points.

Results for Saturday, 31 August 2019
1st Ryan Porker(39) 2nd Peter Damou(35) 2nd Targe Mifsud(35) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(35) 3rd Ken Watson(32) 4th Craig Cameron(31) 5th Gordon Hill(30) 5th Dennis Ward(30)

Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (35) 2nd Craig Cameron (31) 3rd Dennis Ward (30) 3rd Gordon Hill (30)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Simon Powell BallPin No 2 18th Michael Gourlay

The sun is awakening earlier, the threat of rain is dwindling and the 3rd green is finally open for play. You would have expected to see some brilliant scoring but unfortunately it was not the case. Scores of -6 -7 -8 and -11 were handed in early, but the ever reliable Dennis again battled hard for a score of +1 to take out first place.  That handicap will again take another adjustment.

There were 4x Double Pluses carded for the days play, Rob, Brendon, Peter and Ken, all who made them using the unique format to great effect. Of these guys Brendon and Peter also placed in 2nd with a square card. They were also joined by Jason who also slotted one close on the 12th to win the ball hole.

A couple of Ivanhoe veterans tied up for 3rd place with -2, none other than Bob and Gordon. The real Priems and porks trailed back in 4th place with -3. Last but not least, in 5th Dale and Matt rounded out the placings with -4.

There was a total of 9 birdies carded for the day from 18 members. The greens still have a few wounds that are on the mend which could be attributing to scoring on the lower end of the spectrum. Another factor could be the wind, which picked up and was swirling around and gusting towards the end of the round.

This did not hinder Peps on the 18th, who managed the left to right wind to find it close to the pin for the second ball prize. This however was an exception, as Peps did not have the best of days. After the round, Gordon said that SOS was shanking them everywhere, Gordon himself was missing 1ft putts but they looked like pro’s in comparison to Dave and Peps who were not in good form at all. After the round, Whitey was complaining that he thought he played ok on the back 9, but had a -6.

The pro pin was on the 15th and the tee was up the front which left about 90m to the pin with the assist of the wind. This did not seem to help at all and the no one was close enough to take the prize so a jackpot for next week it will be.  Noods received a phone call on the 11th green from one of his lady friends, and the gentleman that he is, he maintained the phone conversation going while he putted for birdie. Even though he was 2 foot away, he missed the putt and did not blame the phone that was wedged between his shoulder and chin. Maybe he was thinking about a decent pick up line rather than the golf?

Targe was there for the presentations and was wielding a brace on his wrist after some minor rectification works the other week. Hopefully it is well on the mend so he can be back on the winners list soon. Happy birthday to Peter who is celebrating a milestone this week.

Results for Saturday, 24 August 2019
1st Dennis Ward(+1) 2nd Peter Damou(□) 2nd Jason Hopkins(□) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(□) 3rd Gordon Hill(-2) 3rd Bob McDonald(-2) 4th Ryan Porker(-3) 4th Robert Priems(-3) 5th Matt Hunt(-4) 5thDale Webb(-4)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (+1) 2nd Bob McDonald (-2) 2nd Gordon Hill (-2) 3rd Bill Eastoe (-5)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 2 18th Andrew Petricola

Last week was wet and only the most hardy (or foolhardy) ventured out and sloshed their way around the course. This week, the forecast promised better things and the hardy and the not so hardy turned out to the tune of seventeen players to try their chances. The rain gods had sprinkled the ground with another six millimetres or so yesterday so there were a few pretty wet spots around and the preferred lie was welcome in most places. Gordon did opine at one stage that he chipped better when he played as it lay but others expressed the view that ‘enhancing’ the elevation of the ‘preferred’ spot was not beyond the realms of possibility. But, the early cloud cleared away and the morning finished in brilliant winter sunshine but the expert view still was that a score of thirty-six would be enough to take the day.

That prediction looked very much like holding true until the last group finally handed in their cards. The waiting masses were torn between the options of the scores being so high that they had run out of fingers and toes or that it was just Blighty. And, just Blighty it was, after he dried out the back nine, so hot was he running. But, the real feature of the round was the birdie on the 7th that netted him no less that 5 points in one fell swoop. Everybody in the group agreed that it was a lovely putt. Not quite a club record for points on one hole, but right up there. Six singletons and a miss prevented the card from being a real show stopper.

Brendon started out like the veritable house on fire and put together a very impressive twenty-three points on the front nine. The first signs of a wobble came with a singleton on the ninth. Four more and a miss soon after put paid to a win and another spectacular score. JQ, on the other hand, played an even hand and filled in the third spot with a creditable 37 points. This was John’s last round for a while as he sets off to foreign fields for a well earned rest and some work just to keep his hand in.

Three unlikely types protected their handicap by coming in with 35 points. Jake joined us for the first time in a while and it seems that a venture into the real estate market has been occupying his mind more than somewhat in recent times. Porks was his usual non-committal self but obviously did enough to get his couple of points and keep his advance up the Championship Table on the go. Ken joined in and put his success down to the fact that he took eleven strokes fewer on the front nine than he did when he played with Chrispy and Rob last time.

And, in fifth place was another trio of Dennis (How good is golf), the Beast and Chrispy, who is looking forward to the Annual Challenge with his recently enhanced handicap. A summation error on Simon’s card meant that he was relegated and did not collect his much anticipated point.

The first BallPin was on the 12th and the only name on the card was Jason although Harry was only a tad further out from Jason’s marker. The ProPin was on the 15th and it was left to the Beast to collect that one with his shot to 3.99m. Bill reckons the best shot he has seen in a long time was down to Harry on the 18th who left it just 1.63m short of the hole to collect the second BallPin. The putt rattled home for the birdie (one of twelve for the day) and one less stroke on the Eclectic.

Gordon really lashed out and bought himself a box of HotDot balls and, on Thursday, played like a bit of a HotShot with one. After a not quite so stellar performance today, he changed horse in mid-stream but did not play significantly better with a ‘better’ ball. Harry played with a Wilson Staff but doesn’t blame the ball at all.

Jake might have scored better if it had not been for a draughtie and Harry’s ‘scone’ shot on the 11th left him well short of the red markers for his second. Gordon is trying to create a new rule that if you putt off the green, that constitutes an offence worth a shout. Jason managed it today on the 18th when a four metre putt finished off the green and a scratch score was the final result. Surely, punishment enough!

After the round, Bill was seen inspecting the backs of everybody’s legs and wondering why he was the only one that had mud splattered from ankle to knee. Maybe it was from his (unsuccessful) foray into the depths of one of the ponds to play a shot. Although Peter absolutely smashed the ball a few times today he wasn’t altogether happy and was heard to wonder whether he might do better if he learned to play ‘normally’. Whatever do you mean Pete?

SOS turned up to do the Treasurer thing and brought Olivia along to fit in a bit of coaching in the subtle art of the putter. When he spotted Jake at the table, he reckoned that Olivia had been to golf more times than Jake.

Tension is building as the Annual Challenge weekend at Rich River approaches and there is talk of handicaps needing to be protected. Play will be from Club handicap adjusted for the slope difference between Ivanhoe and RR. There will be points for both the home event and the Annual Challenge (aggregate) placings. Handicapping for the AC will be based on the highest Stableford score of the two rounds.

Results for Saturday, 17 August 2019
1st Andrew Blight(39) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(38) 3rd John Quinlan(37) 4th Ryan Porker(35) 4th Jake Priems(35) 4th Ken Watson(35) 5th Bill Eastoe(34) 5th Chris Priems(34) 5th Dennis Ward(34)

Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (39) 2nd Bill Eastoe (34) 2nd Dennis Ward (34) 3rd Simon Powell (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Bill Eastoe BallPin No 1 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 2 18th Harry Boughen