What was it that put everybody off? The field was down, the carpark and fairways were empty, the roads were quiet. Either it was the threat of more wind and rain or it was the Richmond/Carlton match at the G. The windy weather has certainly taken its toll on some of the trees on the course, particularly down beside the 11th where a branch from one tree has effectively debranched another. Needless to say, the roped off danger zone seemed to be rather attractive for golf balls.
Only eighteen members graced the fairways of ‘Royal’ Ivanhoe and the golf played seems to have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. At the sublime end was Mr Reliable, Oliver, who is defying the handicapper and is starting to get out to a very comfortable margin the both Championship tables. He’s either got to snap an Achilles or somebody has to do some serious winning if it isn’t going to be daylight second.
Bob was struggling to keep up with the cracking pace set by the first group in the field (after the second hole that is) but it must have focussed his mind to post a very creditable score. Priemsy was hitting some very Chrispe shots into the green to give himself birdie chances though a lot of them did manage to flutter away.
Stefan came in next to post a +2 that was helped no end by an Eagle on the 17th. That’s two in a row so the Big Bird is absolutely devastated and could only very reluctantly give away a single egg. Zimmer and Tony rounded out the point getters for this week so not a huge number of points given away.
The Nearest the Pin on the 12th was gathered by Mo while Snags collected the ProPin on the 15th with a result that wasn’t all that close to the hole but within the 5m limit. The inaccurate shooting also kept the number of birdies down to 9.
It wasn’t Damo’s day today. Not only did he reckon his golf was crap, he got back to his car and found that it was crap(ped on) as well. Not sure whether he glared any bird down out of the trees but he was obviously in a hurry to get home to get the missus to wash the car if the departure from the carpark was any guide.
Another one who figured he must have walked on a Chinaman’s grave was Harry, who managed to pull off a windy on the 9th. At least it was on the fairway and it wasn’t a draughtie as well. Chrispy was a bit concerned on the draughtie front when his drive on the second found the trees and headed back in the direction of the ladies markers. Fortunately (or not depending on your point of view) it stopped short of the danger zone.
The Club Meeting after the round was well attended and resulted in some extensive discussion particularly in relation to the proposed changes to the handicapping system. The consensus was to take some more time to consider options before ratifying a decision one way or the other.
Other items of immediate interest were motions to run a trial of drive length/accuracy on the 8th. Some of the fine detail still needs to be worked out. It was also decided to reintroduce the Eclectic Competition from the start of next year. There will also be a Club Handicap Championship event run over the three stroke rounds concurrent with the December Monthly Medal and the Vin O’Meara. It was also agreed that we should trial an Orange Ball Event as a way of introducing some more social activities/ novelty events. A move to give a ball each week as an Encouragement Award was narrowly defeated.
It was also decided that, with immediate effect the Competition Fee will increase to $5. This is the first increase for some years and recognises the fact that the cost and number of the balls distributed each week has increased.
Before the new Program for 2014 is set, the running of the Matchplay will be reviewed and streamlined to shorten the time that it takes and consideration will be given to a second Matchplay Event in the schedule.
Results for Saturday, 17 August 2013
1st Oliver Gross(+5) 2nd Bob McDonald(+3) 2nd Chris Priems(+3) 3rd Stefan Belevski(+2) 4th Kazim Akdag(□) 5th Tony Mifsud(-1)