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A sweet cop for David Primrose on 21st December 2024.

Pretty flamingo!
The anticipation is killing me.

It’s all over, except for the singing and dancing. And, there’s a fair chance that there’s some of that going on around Eaglemont or Ivanhoe at this very minute. While it wasn’t a record field, there was a very healthy turnout of twenty members to fight it out for the David Primrose Champion of Champions, and the subsidiary, but no less hotly contested, Chump of Chumps. There would have been twenty-one, but Bob was struck down with some sort of chest infection, and has had to spend some time in hospital as a result. All the best for a speedy and complete recovery from all of your mates at Ivanhoe, Bob. The morning started off a bit on the overcast side, and some worried that there could be a shower in it. There was one report of a few drops, but it must have been very localised if it did happen. After a while the clouds cleared away, and a very mild sunny day developed, although the breeze did pick up a bit at times. The other commentary was that the fairways could do with a bit of a drink, so there was plenty of run on the ball. So much so, that Targe reckons he has never hit the ball so far as he did from the 11th tee to finish not all that far from the green.

Despite some confusion about who had to keep what score, and why, most people seem to have got it right. Two people who did get it right were Blighty and SOS, who pretty much demolished the course to produce a pair of 39 point Stableford cards. SOS did have a bit of a nervous Nellie on the 9th, and scored a triple to finish the front nine, seven over the card. That didn’t faze him though, and he breezed through the back nine, just four over the pace, to finish the round with a seventy-nine and a net score of 65. This won him the Champion of Champions trophy, and top points for the day. Blighty played a very steady hand, and managed to avoid the dreaded zero result for the whole round, and brought in nineteen points on the front nine, as well another twenty on the back. Fortunately, the error that his marker made in adding up the strokes taken was not repeated for the points total, so his 39 points was well good enough to take out the Chump of Chumps title for the year.

At one stage today, Whitey was about 150m from the green, and decided to pull out the ‘driving’ putter that he is famous for using to good effect in the three-club events that we had a few years ago. He must have lost none of his skills as the ball finished only a couple of metres from the pin. It is likely that this effort helped him to put together a pair of nineteens for his total of 38 points to fill second place for the day, and he might be ruing the gash on the 12th, which could easily have cost him the Chump of Chumps crown. CJ started out with an interesting sequence of scores. Following a one pointer on the first, he increased the number of points per hole by one on each of the next three holes. Unfortunately, it would have required a hole-in-one on the 5th to keep the sequence going, and the rate of scoring fell away a little, and he finished on seventeen for the nine and thirty-seven for the round. Matt also started out with a fairly healthy scoring rate, but then punctuated the card with, just a few too many, not so flash, scores to spoil his chances in the main event, and, he too, finished on 37 points. AndrewV played his first official competition with us today, and showed that his GA handicap is a fair indication of his ability. Unfortunately, there were a couple of point-taking errors on his card, and his score turned out to be thirty-seven points, rather than the thirty-nine points originally reported. So, Andrew will have to be satisfied with sharing third place with the other two reprobates.

The leaderboard is very crowded today, with another three-way tie for 4th place. Gordon had bagged a spot in the first group, probably to deal with break-up business, but spent his spare time collecting and collating the cards. For a long time, his card held pride of place on the top of the heap with his tally of 36 points, and a net of 68 in the main event. The twenty points on the front nine made an excellent start, but an unfortunate run of singletons on the back took the shine off the card just a little. Dan doesn’t seem to be adversely affected by the shuttling back and forth to Shep, and he continues to be there or thereabouts when it comes to the tallying of the scores. Pepsi, once again, demonstrated why he was the top dog in the Strokeplay Championship, although an uncharacteristic five on the 18th meant that he only managed to play to his handicap, rather than break it. So, a trio of thirty-six pointers shared the podium for fourth place. Rounding out the points for the day were Targe and Harry, just a single point further back on thirty-five.

The first BallPin was set for the 12th, and Gordo hit the ground running and put his name on the card. A few groups later, Harry came along, and easily got closer in to stake his claim for some graft. All was not yet done, when Dan cracked a beauty that headed straight for the hole and hit the pin. Unfortunately for Dan, it was just a bit too fast to drop into the hole, and it was just fast enough to end up a centimetre or two further away than Harry. The second BallPin on the 18th, looked as if it hadn’t gone off because Matt, in his excitement at measuring the winning distance for the inside ProPin, ‘stole’ their tape measure and put it in our box to confuse the adjudicators. And, yes, he did win our ball and the inside voucher as well. The ProPin was on the 15th, and people were nervous that it might not go off, leaving a substantial pool for next week. CJ came to the rescue, and measured his shot at 4.41m to collect the cash. He was even able to sink the putt for the birdie and helped our total to 12 for the day.

Come on baby light my fire!
Pick-up-sticks anybody?

Ken did us proud again with a great selection of mangos for our delectation. He also marked a bit of a milestone by making it to 100 rounds with the Club. Harry found himself in an interesting spot on the 10th with the ball delicately balanced amongst a pile of bark and sticks with not enough wiggle room to be able to copy Raj’s effort last week. A few holes later, Porks was similarly close to the base of a tree, and had to resort to the right-handed upside down club shot as well. On the 17th, Rob was not up against a tree, but his ball was nicely ‘wrapped’ up in a curly length of bark making a trio of unusual lies today. While on the topic of the 17th, Steve apparently made several ‘donations’ to the campaign to fill the penalty area with balls on his way to a double figure score for the hole. Rather uncharacteristically, Brendon chunked his tee shot on the 12th, and the ball popped up and finished barely past the red markers. The following group was rather amused to see him taking his second shot from the ‘ladies’. Josh was not quite so lucky on the 2nd, where he racked up a double draughtie, but Rob wasn’t too happy, because he forgot and bought one for Josh instead after the round. JQ was overheard giving himself a good talking to as he negotiated his way from the 16th fairway to the 14th green. Michael was a bit upset that his New year resolution to score points every time he played has already been broken.

After the round, we adjourned to the function room for a couple of convivial beverages, and a bit of a nosh up to celebrate the passing of another successful year for the Club, albeit that numbers on the tee have been generally on the low side. Once everybody had had their fill, there was the presentation of trophies, ably carried out by the dynamic duo of President Rob and Rod Grant with enthusiastic applause from the assembled masses.

Don’t forget, Club and, more importantly, GA subs are due asap. We have to finalise the GA position quickly so that the Club is not saddled with expense for non-active members when we submit our census data at the end of the year.

Results for Saturday, 21 Dec 2024
1st Andrew Blight (39) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan (39) 2nd Rodney White (38) 3rd Matt Hunt (37) 3rd Chris Priems (37) 3rd Andrew Vogan (37) 4th Gordon Hill (36) 4th Dan Marie (36) 4th Andrew Petricola (36) 5th Harry Boughen (35) 5th Targe Mifsud (35)

Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (39) 2nd Rodney White (38) 3rd Andrew Vogan (37) 3rd Chris Priems (37) 3rd Matt Hunt (37)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Chris Priems BallPin No 1 – 12th Harry Boughen BallPin No 2 – 18th Matt Hunt

A close run thing for Vin on 14 December 2024.

Major Steve
Who said winning Majors was hard?

Some people are never satisfied. During winter, can’t wait for summer for the fairways to dry out. Summer not yet started (astronomically speaking), when are they going to put some water on the fairways. But, despite these minor quibbles, the scores today were generally not too different to those registered last week, with only two improvers and one all square from those that played both weeks. After various ins and (maybe) outs, it was a little unclear how many would eventually front the starter, but last night’s parties must not have been a raucous as anticipated, and we ended up with fifteen registered members, and one guest, Andrew Vogan. Andrew was so impressed that he signed up as a member on the spot, and so we welcome him to the Club, as, with a GA handicap, he will be able to start competition immediately using his Daily Handicap as his Club handicap.

So, what was more important, steady as she goes, or make the big move? As it turned out, it was more the steady as she goes, and let the others fall beside the wayside. As seems to be fairly standard, Steve had his ‘if only’ complaints about the holes that he quadrupled and quintupled, which does seem to suggest that his handicap should be rather lower than it is. Despite those aberrations, with his smattering of pars and a birdie on the 6th, Steve was able to lay his card down on the judge’s table showing a net score of 66, just one more than last week, for a total for the event of 131, to add yet another feather to his Major cap. Needless to say, his handicap is not quite as generous as it was a week ago.

Whitey was reported to be going OK, which caused a few nervous glances between Committee members. Was he aware that he did not have the requisite qualification for the trophy? Only time would tell. And, if it hadn’t been for a bit of a shocker on the 13th, that time might have come sooner rather than later. That quadruple, plus a handful of doubles, meant that he was only able to return a net 69 to bring his total for the event to 134 to collect second place in the event to maintain his position in the field from the first week. Brendon was one of the few that were able to improve their score, and position, from last week. His tally of 137 brought him home in third place, two spots to the better on the table. He did manage a couple of birdies to set himself up to an early start on his quest to return one for every hole in a year.

Pepsi and CJ set a cracking pace across the ground as they led out in the first group with urgent business to attend to after the round. Not so urgent that they couldn’t stop for a drink to fill in some time so that the better halves did not get the wrong idea about early finish times. Well, that was CJ’s story. Pepsi’s quest for an improvement of last week’s round was not helped by a bit of strife on the second, and the pars did not roll quite so easily off the club as they did last week. The resulting four stroke deficit brought his total to 140 which was enough to share fourth place with CJ. As for CJ, the question was, did he need the Butter Menthols, or was the pace that Pepsi set just too much for his ageing body? Whatever the reason, he slipped twelve strokes from last week to match Pepsi for the event. Bob also slipped a few more strokes to finish just a stroke further back with his net score of 141.

Far and away, the biggest improver was none other than Prez, who improved his score by a very impressive twelve strokes to a net 71, which wasn’t enough to move his placing a great deal, but an impressive effort nonetheless. This represented fifth place in the daily placings. Mango Man was also back in town after a bit of a break from the clubs, which doesn’t seem to have done him any harm, as he romped into fourth place for the day with his score of 70. He also romped into the hearts of members when he staggered up to the table laden down with boxes of you-know-whats. Thanks heaps, Ken!

Of course, there was another event finalised today. And that was the three rounds of the Strokeplay Championship. In the Scratch Championship, Pepsi was the favourite, but Brendon was in with a sniff, with a gap of five strokes in it after the second round. Pepsi was not one hundred percent happy with his seventy-eight off the beater today, and Brendon was able to top that with his very nice seventy-five. Unfortunately, that was not enough to close the gap, and Pepsi took out the Scratch Championship 229 to Brendon’s 231. In the Handicap Championship, you could throw a tea towel over the first three contenders, with only two strokes between first and third after the second round. Brendon’s sub-handicap round today (from a lower handicap than he started the event with), meant that he was able to hold on to his lead and take out the event with a net score of 204. Steve’s round today bettered Brendon, but it was not quite enough, and he lagged two strokes behind on 206 net.

You could almost say, it was Brendon’s day today. Not only was he up there in the results table, but he also managed to snag both of the BallPins from the 15th and the 18th. The ProPin was a jackpot on the 7th after last week’s little ‘debacle’, and with the tee set well back, there was a fair chance that it could have doubled today. That was before our guest Andrew came along, and cracked a three wood to 2.8m from the hole. You should have seen the glee on his face as he flashed the wad of notes to his wife, who happens to play in the ladies group that follows us.

We all know about the ‘luck’ of the Priems boys. Usually, it is associated with interactions with trees. However, today, there were interactions of other sorts. On the 8th, CJ was having a bit of trouble, but had managed to finally get onto the green in six. As they approached the green, there was a magpie busily ‘beaking’ his ball across the green towards the edge. Pepsi fumbled for his camera, but the magpie lost interest when the ball reached the edge of the green, and there was no visual record of the event. CJ got down in seven, so it is to be hoped that no liberties were taken with replacing the ball. CJ was rather miffed that a Magpie, of all birds, had the temerity to interfere with his equipment (golf, that is). Brother Rob, on the other hand, had a run in with Stan’s ball on the 17th green, which left him close enough to the hole to tap it in for a birdie. This meant that he was able to contribute to the nine that were recorded for the day.

Raj in a spot
All in a day’s work!

Raj wasn’t quite on his usual form today, and perhaps here is a hint of why that might have been. he does seem to have got some club on the ball from a pretty awkward spot. Although Ken had a pretty handy round, he was not immune from some problems. On the 11th, he wandered off into the trees on the right, and, in his endeavour to get back onto the fairway, he managed to contact the same tree twice, as well as a third before he managed to do so. He kept his head though and finished the hole in just two more. Stan struck a tricky one. His drive on the first was deemed to be fairway material, but could not be found. There was some chance that it had been moved by an ‘outside influence’ (read – another player), but such an act was not actually seen. Thus, there was no option but to treat the ball as ‘lost’ and take the two stroke penalty to play from the estimated position. Bob was busy having a chat waiting for the first tee when his buggy decided that it really wanted to play from the tenth. Steve sprinted after it and managed to divert it into the fence and saved it from a fate unknown. Later in the round, it misbehaved again and trundled into the bunker on the 13th.

Next week is the David Primrose Champion of Champions and the Chump of Chumps trophy events. The result of the Champion of Champions is determined by the net stroke scores, so that part of the field has to play out every hole (no pick-ups). The Chump of Chumps is determined by stableford scores, so that part of the field can pick up when out of strokes in the interests of keeping the field moving. The Club competition is determined by stableford points for Championship points and handicapping, so the whole field has to record their stableford scores. After the round, we will be joined by those not playing who wish to come along to participate in a catered Christmas lunch with a couple of free drinks to wash the tucker down. Proceedings will wind up with the presentation of trophies for the year, and can be followed with fun and frivolity at a local drinking hole if you so desire. If we don’t see you on Saturday, have a very Merry Christmas, and all the best for the New Year.

By the way, subscriptions are due. $50 for Club, and $100 for GA into the Club bank account por favore! If GA is not paid by Boxing Day, your GA membership will be suspended so that other members will not be penalised for unfinancial GA members. If you genuinely wish to discontinue your GA membership with us, please take the time to let us know by email.

Results for Saturday, 14 Dec 2024
1st Steven Gervasoni (65, 66, 131) 2nd Rodney White (65, 69, 134) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (70, 67, 137) 4th Andrew Petricola (68, 72, 140) 4th Chris Priems (64, 76, 140) 5th Bob McDonald (67, 74, 141)

Seniors Results: 1st Steven Gervasoni (65,66,131) 2nd Rodney White (65,69,134) 3rd Chris Priems (64,76,140)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Andrew Vogan BallPin No 1 – 15th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Brendon Mitchell

No scuba required for the VOM on 07 December 2024.

Only one leader
I thought it was too good to be true!

Blighty’s prognostication was just a little off the mark. Although there was a bit of a downpour in the lead up to tee time, the fourteen members and one guest were able to set out sans wet weather gear (of any sort). There was a bit of residual water around on the first couple of holes, but it was mainly the temperature and humidity, combined with some ‘hairy’ rough (in some cases not so rough) that was a cause for concern. JQ reckons that he near to lost a ball just a metre off the 11th green. Other than that, the course was deemed to be in good condition, and it proved to be conducive to some fine golf being played. There also seemed to be some not so fine golf that one or two members would prefer to forget. Two rounds of the Strokeplay Championship are now under the belts, and the handicap crown is shaping up to be a close run thing, which makes for some exciting times next week. The scratch championship is not quite done and dusted, but some of the contenders will have to hope for a serious ‘moving’ day.

The talk around the table after the round was very much about Bobbie coming in with a net 64, and having an eight and a nine on his card. What might have been, hey! Unfortunately, it seems that his eight might have been mistaken for a five when the summation was made, and so, Bob was relegated to a, still very respectable, net 67. The other rumour that was circulating, as we waited patiently for the last group to report in, was that CJ had reached the turn just two strokes over the card. By the end of the round, he had gone a mere three more over the card, to finish with 73 strokes off the beater for an actual net 64. And, as is usually the case, there were a couple of ‘if onlies’ in the mix as well.

Whitey was spotted buying some beers after the round, which was taken as a sure sign that he had a draughtie somewhere. This was confirmed to be the case, but there is little evidence for the event on his card, with his worst being a double on the sixth, resulting in a total off the stick of 82 for his net score of 65, that slotted him nicely into second place, and ideally placed to ‘king hit’ CJ and to add some silverware to the pool room. There is no record of him using his putter from the fairway, or from the tee, for that matter! Steve was frustrated by the fact that, on at least two occasions, he sank putts from metres away from the hole. But, on at least six other occasions, he took three putts to accomplish the same or lesser tasks. Despite the list of if onlies, he was still able to arrive at the 19th with a net score of 65, to join Whitey with the hope to knee-cap CJ, and, maybe, even Whitey as well.

What more can be said about Bob. He did play well, and only mucked up a couple of holes. But, if he can keep up the standard and avoid the multies, then he is not so far off the pace that he could be counted out as a contender. Now, it is hard to get good help these days, and you would think that a Project Manager like Pepsi, would know that more than anybody. But, he was obviously very focussed on his game today, because he ‘forgot’ to put the ProPin box out on the 4th, before unceremoniously ‘dumping’ it at the 7th. Not happy with that little achievement, he completely forgot the BallPin at the 15th, and, with no more par threes in the offing, it was carried all the way back to the Clubhouse. Anyhow, the concentration on the game paid off, and he played right to his handicap. This leaves him with an excellent chance of overtaking the leaders as well. This just leaves Brendon in the top five, with a slimmer chance of topping the field, needing to leapfrog four others and needing a six stroke turnaround over CJ. Still, stranger things have happened. It’s probably in the stats somewhere!

Now, where to start on the Nearest the Pin competition! It has been decided to let the ‘placement’ of the ProPin on the 7th stand, and it will Jackpot to next week. Think of it as a potential gift for Christmas. This is despite Brendon complaining bitterly about the fact that he was within the required distance on the 4th, and had photographic evidence to prove it. On viewing it, Gordon reckoned he was closer. With his fourth shot! The non-placement of the first BallPin on the 15th will also stand, and it, too, will Jackpot to next week. The ProPin on the 18th did, at least, provide some excitement in the event. Raj had plonked his drive up onto the bottom deck, probably about 8m from the hole. JQ hit a cracker, and it swooped in from the side onto the top deck to finish about 4m away and well inside Raj’s distance. Moments later, Jake, playing as our guest, followed a similar path and his ball rolled to a stop, maybe 300mm closed to the hole. And that was it. JQ did not get his name on the card, and Jake collected the ball.

While on the subject of the 18th, Craig managed to get just onto the lower deck of the green. To himself, whatever you do, just be sure to get it onto the top deck. Not to be. Gritted teeth. Just get the top deck. Not to be! Eventually made it, well past the hole, and finished with a five putter. Oops! Prez didn’t have the greatest of front nines, but he made a ten stroke improvement on the back. His ‘highlights’ were hitting the same tree with consecutive shots, and going close to taking a draughtie on the 18th when there were six people on the tee. Fortunately, the ball was found, only just in front of the red markers. Blighty did have a draughtie on the 3rd, which might have been a bit stiff, because the ball had gone well past before it hit a tree and came straight back. Gordo also had his moments today. His highlight was a chip in for birdie on the 8th, which helped the team to a total of nine for the day. His drive on the 14th was deemed to be in ‘trouble’ and a provisional followed a similar track in the vicinity of the penalty area on the right. After a search, and neither found, it was deemed that both were probably in the penalty area. Later, playing up the 16th, both balls were found. Which does raise the question of the presumption that the balls were in the penalty area. Strictly, you have to be 95% sure that is where the ball(s) have finished. Searching outside the penalty area, could easily be construed as not being able to meet the 95% requirement, and, possibly, the lost ball penalty should have been applied. Just something to keep in mind! Brendon just might have acquired a new nickname today. From now on, he might answer to the name Banana Bread.

Please register if you plan to come to the Break-up on the 21st. We need the numbers before the 14th so that we can advise the caterer, and we would hate to under-cater. You don’t have to play on the day, this comes out of your Club sub, so you have actually paid for it. If you don’t register, you could still come, but the food might be in short supply as a result, and you hate to do that to your mates. On the menus at the top of the page, there is one called Registration. Click on that and then select Breakup Registration and Bob will be your mother’s brother. Then it is just the same as registering for Saturday competition.

Results for Saturday, 07 Dec 2024
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Chris Priems (64) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (65) 2nd Rodney White (65) 3rd Bob McDonald (67) 4th Andrew Petricola (68) 5th Brendon Mitchell (70)

Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Chris Priems (64) 2nd Rodney White (65) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (65) 3rd Bob McDonald (67)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Jake Priems