Matt just about had to introduce himself to the majority of the seventeen members who turned out on a long-weekend Saturday. Stan brought along a young protégé by the name of Diesel, who, by all reports, only started playing a few months ago, but can already smack his driver a ‘measured’ 230m or more. Could be one to watch, if he decides to join us. There had probably been a good 10mm of rain to give the course a bit of a drink, and the ground staff were out giving the greens a bit of a brushing, which has to be a good thing. However, they were still remarkably fast, and there was a fair bit of teeth gnashing going on over longer than desired putts back from past the hole. This might explain why we could only manage five birdies for the day. The potential showers in the forecast did not eventuate, and the mild temperature and overcast sky made for a very pleasant day.
Matt is getting a bit of a reputation as a casual player at Ivanhoe, and he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time in Thailand playing golf and other things. This hasn’t done his game any harm, and he completed each nine just two strokes over the card for a seventy-two off the stick and a very nice thirty-eight points to take out the top spot for the day. Nalin had high hopes of collecting his first brace of eight points when he presented with thirty-six points on the card. And, he would have easily won it if he hadn’t taken about seven holes to warm up. Twenty-nine points over the last 12 holes is top scoring in anybody’s book. However, he would much rather forget his start from the first tee where the tee shot barely made it off the back teeing area, let alone reach the red markers.
We ended up with a four way tie for third place between Craig, Raj, Targe and Marc after Targe (and his marker) allowed two strokes on a hole where he was due only one. One consolation, the mistake let a few more people into the points. Not sure what is going to happen about the BallRun though! Porks delivered a blank stare when asked for any highlights, so he was probably pleased to get fourth place with his thirty-two points. And he seemed rather excited about being able to get a bright red ball for his shot for the BallPin on the 18th. Perhaps it was in anticipation of the Birthday that he has coming up. He won’t be alone celebrating, as Whitey has one coming up as well. Pepsi went out during the week to buy a tennis racket, and left the shop with a brand-new driver. It seemed to work OK as he fairly smashed one off the first tee. Maybe he should now buy some new irons, as there were reports of ‘numerous’ shanks. At least he didn’t shank it off the 12th, and he put it close enough to win the BallPin on offer there. Ken started his round in style with a par on the first, closely followed by a gash on the second. In a round punctuated by highs and lows, he also managed a good enough score to finish with a share of fifth place.
Prez was basking in the glory of the Magpie’s win yesterday and reckoned that he should have made a banner to run through to mark the occasion of his 400th game with the Club. Just imagine what the total could have been without that break! As an aside, Rob plays his driver with the face so closed that the loft is probably more like minus ten degrees (or more), but somehow he still manages to hit the ball with reasonable consistency in the intended direction. Go figure! Bob was not at all happy with his game today (he wasn’t alone on that score), and he also failed to reach the red markers from the 3rd tee (which was set well back, it must be said). Steve almost talked himself into the same result. SOS was also less than happy with his first half, but he set himself a target of doubling his points score on the back nine. After four holes, he had exceeded the halfway point, and, despite a couple of missed putts, he achieved his goal plus one more. The ProPin was on the 4th hole, and, despite the benefits of trimmed trees and so forth, there will be a Jackpot pool on offer next week. That’s if SOS can work out the new ‘accounting’ system that Craig has put in place. There was a suggestion that he might set himself up in the Cafe to work it all out, after his attempts to get people to go and order coffee, after the round, failed. Marc reckons he is in the process of filling out the papers for his adoption into the Priems family, in honour of his use of trees to keep his ball on the fairway.
Just a reminder to everybody to pay attention to the guidelines for keeping up the pace of play. There is a Daily Tip on the Home Page, and a more comprehensive list is accessed by the link to our Policy and Guidelines. Yes, it is hard for a four to keep up with a three, but it is amazing how a few seconds per player on each shot can add up to a significant time reduction over a round.
Results for Saturday, 26 Apr 2025
1st Matt Hunt (38) 2nd Nalin Samaranayake (36) 3rd Craig Cameron (33) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (33) 3rd Targe Mifsud (33) 3rd Marc Phillips (33) 4th Ryan Porker (32) 5th Andrew Petricola (31) 5th Ken Watson (31)
Seniors Results: 1st Matt Hunt (38) 2nd Craig Cameron (33) 2nd Targe Mifsud (33) 3rd Ken Watson (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 – 18th Ryan Porker