Next Week’s Details

We didn’t quite manage to keep Matt out of the points, but a field of fifteen members and Marc’s mate Neil is as good a showing as we have had for a while. If Josh hadn’t pulled a ‘sickie’ it would have been even better, but Gav, who was a late nomination, fitted into his spot like a glove. With not a lot of rain last Saturday, and very little more during the week, the course has dried out quite a bit, and there was even a bit of run to be had where the ground felt quite firm under foot. Some areas are still quite soft and a few shots barely made it out of their pitch marks. The preferred lies were definitely worth having for the remaining sticky patches on the course. With clear skies and bright sunshine, the dew that had settled on the greens eventually disappeared, and the putting characteristics changed quite markedly, but whether that can be blamed for all of the putting woes that were reported is debateable.

Gavin has been threatening to turn up for a game for a while, but his boss keeps making him offers that he can’t refuse, to work on Saturdays. Dearly beloved has persuaded him to enter the Melbourne Marathon to keep her company in the Half, except that she missed out on the ballot. So training for that is also keeping him fit. Which might explain why he was able to come out today, not having held a club for months (self reported) to produce a winning score. It did take him a few holes to really get going, and, if it had not been for a gash and four singletons, who knows what the eventual total might have been. But, you all know what they say about your Aunty!

Initially there was only a two way tie for second, but SteveG, and his marker, seem to have suffered from the same brain-fade, and didn’t quite get the points calculation right. Come on guys, it ain’t rocket science! Net bogey is one point. But, three times? No such problems for Raj, who was very proud of having made exactly the same score (off the stick) as last week. Is he the new Mr Consistency? CJ was also pleased with his performance, including his birdie on the 4th, which was one of six that we produced for the day. But, it wasn’t because he won the Jackpot ProPin on offer on the hole. That honour went to Dan who made it to 2.1m from the hole, but who did not get a birdie (on that hole, at least). With ties being a bit of a feature of the lower placings, third was not to be outdone, and there was a three way here with Craig, Pepsi and Prez sharing the honours. Matt and Dan shared the podium for fourth, while AndrewV advanced into a point, thanks to Steve’s (and AV’s) mathematical skills.

With the ProPin taken by Dan, the competition for the BallPins was hot, with everybody trying to get a piece of the action. The first BallPin was on the 12th, and, after chasing down the group in front to get the marker that they had neglected to put out, JQ made an early claim. Raj made the next claim and had written his name on the chit and marked the ball position, only to be informed by Steve, that the ball in question was his second shot. Close, but no cigar. In the end, Marc sealed the deal and collected the ball on offer. There was a little bit of congestion at the front of the field over the last few holes, and JQ suggested that the two groups on the 18th should play out together. CJ said, why not. What does JQ do but crack it straight at the pin after struggling with his game for most of the round. He does love an audience. On the green, separated by millimetres are CJ’s and JQ’s tee shots. The tape gave the honour to JQ. But, they didn’t count on Pepsi, who snuck one closer to take the ball on offer.

The second semi-final of the Matchplay was played today when Matt and Marc were finally able to get to the course on the same day. Matt was just a little concerned about having to concede twenty two strokes, and he wondered whether his worst fears might be realised when he comprehensively lost the first hole scoring a bogie to Marc’s par. They mostly traded holes over the front nine, but a win on the 9th gave Matt a two hole advantage at the turn. Another win on the 10th started to fill him with confidence, and he was not too concerned to trade holes or to lose one over the next few. But, then, Marc found just a touch of form and won three on the trot to make the match dormie one in Marc’s favour after the 17th. Matt pulled out a par on the 18th, which Marc could not match, and the round ended with the match all square. Chip-off! With an excited crowd watching on, and other players very kindly interrupting their pre-game warm-up, the first chip off hole was squared. The second hole potentially had Matt under the pump again with a significantly longer distance to cover with the flat stick than Marc had. He finished it off in two leaving Marc an opportunity to finish it off with a single putt. Maybe it was nerves, but the miss put the pressure on to force another hole. And that pressure proved too great, handing the match to Matt, who now has to match up with Harry, while Marc will have to face up to Nalin for the minor placings.

Dan has been having a bit of a run of form in recent times, but the Handicapper was looking askance at the gashes on the last two holes after no less than five three pointers out of the previous seven. Ken was a bit up and down today, and made a few up and downs. Unfortunately, he also scored a draughtie on the 12th where his ball suffered an untimely end in the pond. JQ eventually let him off having to buy a round for putting off the green on the 16th. When Ken did get onto the ball, it seemed to have some sort of attraction to Craig, who had to take evasive action a couple of times. Pepsi reckons he could have taken on Gavin for top spot if it had not been for an attack of the yips on the back nine after turning with 20 points, the best front nine of the field. SteveG has bought himself a rangefinder online from Temu. He was a bit disappointed, as he was having trouble getting a reading. Then AndrewV pointed out that there was a focussing ring on the eyepiece. Apparently it made a huge difference when it was properly adjusted. The Birthday Birdie has one call to make this week as our Life Member Allan Davies ticks off another year on the calendar of life.

Results for Saturday, 12 Sep 2026
1st Gavin Quirk (37) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (36) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (36) 2nd Chris Priems (36) 3rd Craig Cameron (35) 3rd Andrew Petricola (35) 3rd Robert Priems (35) 4th Matt Hunt (34) 4th Dan Marie (34) 5th Andrew Vogan (31)

Seniors Results: 1st Steven Gervasoni (36) 1st Chris Priems (36) 2nd Craig Cameron (35) 2nd Robert Priems (35) 3rd Matt Hunt (34)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Dan Marie BallPin No 1 – 12th Marc Phillips BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola

Craig stuck by his decision not to risk his health by venturing out in the rain that started just as we were arriving at the course. Raj was running late, so it looked as if our field of eleven might be down to nine. However, Whitey lobbed up after a month and a half break, and Raj turned up right at the death-knock to keep the field size almost respectable. There was quite a bit of action on and about the first tee. There were quite a few umbrellas unfurled, and, with a few gusts of wind about, there were at least three buggy capsizes, including two by Steve’s kit. It also seems that the black and white Ping umbrellas have a bit of a weak spot, as two of them were sporting broken ribs in the same spot. Nalin was in the first group, and stepped up to the tee full of confidence, wound up for his best possible swing, almost missed the ball, and moved it forward a handful of metres. You could say he book-ended his round, because, on the 18th, he shanked his drive at ninety degrees and into the pond on the right. Anyway, the rain soon petered out, the pools of water soaked into the greens, the sun came out, resulting in quite a nice day for golf,, even if some of the golf did not match the quality of the day.

SOS is one person who reckons the odds on the prize pool on the 18th are pretty good, with at least 1500 shots to get an ace before you are out of pocket. So, as usual, he fronted up today to spend his $3 only to be informed that the option wasn’t available other, than between 1330 and 1630. So what does he do. He takes his seven iron and hits it as sweet as you like. You guessed it, it finished fairly and squarely in the hole. As a result, he collected a nice little trophy for the pool-room, a ball for the BallPin, and seven balls for the eagle from the Eagle’s Nest. Which is all well and good, but still has the taste of a Clayton’s, after missing out on the $6500 on offer in the pool plus a video of the event. The eagle also saved us from the ignominy of producing not one birdie or better from an event. The ProPin was set on the 4th, and, if the last group was any guide, even getting onto the green was a challenge, let alone hitting the 5m circle. So, there will be a Jackpot pool on offer next week. SOS will be loaded down with balls after today, as he managed to get onto the green (just) on the 7th, to take the BallPin there.

The drink you have when you’re not having a drink was not finished with us yet. There were no reports that Whitey had been away having sneaky lessons or otherwise practicing his game, but he certainly brought it with him today. He did misstep slightly on the handicap that he used on his card, but that did not affect the overall result. Unfortunately, his little break away meant that he did not meet the qualification requirements for Monthly Medal, so he had to be satisfied with the pair of ProV1’s for first place (not forgetting a bit of a handicap adjustment as well). Whether the balls did have the numbers one and two was not revealed, but there is a suspicion that SOS might have been winding up JQ, who has some sort of an aversion to balls sporting high numbers.

As a result, the Medal was awarded to Raj, who didn’t appear to be setting the world on fire over the first nine, but who came back with a vengeance on the back to produce a very respectable thirty-six off the stick (the best nine holes from the field for the day), which belies the fourteen handicap that he played from. Pepsi seems to have forgetten that your handicap can change from one week to the next, and scored his card with last week’s handicap. Theoretically, the Rules of Golf state that that handicap should stand, but that is one rule that we choose to ignore (and besides, the ‘system’ doesn’t allow for such a case). As a result Pepsi, stands in third place by himself, not in a tie as announced by Prez at the call of the cards. This pushed CJ down to fourth place in the main event, though he did hang onto second place in the Seniors, which now has him level-pegging with Harry in that Championship. This also meant that Pepsi and CJ agonising over count-backs was even more of a sip of Clayton’s. JQ filled the last spot available, thanks to the second best back nine after an ‘average’ front. Nalin thought he had scored a point despite his two draughties, but that was not to be despite having entered his inside card for consideration.

Ken was probably very pleased that there was a round of drinks on offer courtesy of the Club after taking four shots to even get off the tee box on the 4th. Plus another one didn’t make it to the red markers. He wasn’t alone in the draughtie stakes with Steve scoring one on the third with a rebound bringing the ball back along the path to be saved from the pond by the collection of buggies parked at the front of the tee. Other than that, most of the reports were ‘Nuthin’ really’. In other news, Blighty will be out celebrating during the week as the Birthday Birdie flutters around trying to track him down.

Results for Saturday, 05 Sep 2026
1st Rodney White (65) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (67) 3rd Andrew Petricola (73) 4th Chris Priems (74) 5th John Quinlan (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Rodney White (65) 2nd Chris Priems (74) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (81) 3rd Robert Priems (81)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 7th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan

Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 18th *** Stephen O’Sullivan ***

With fourteen members turning out today, the weather gods smiled down and turned on a nice sunny day. There hasn’t been enough of a break in the weather for the course to dry out too much, and some of the rough is getting a bit hairy. However, there did not seem to be too many lost balls, though CJ is convinced that one of his developed a pair of legs and headed down the adjacent fairway in a nice warm pocket. The greens wore a bit of fuzz and the dew hung around for quite a while until the sun could break through the early cloud cover. Some like to think that this contributed to their atrocious putting performance.

Last week, we had ‘When Harry met Danny’. This week, to continue the theme, it was “I’ll have whatever he’s having”. Not satisfied with the cut to his handicap for being two under last week, Dan went out and came home three under this week, to take an even larger cut to his handicap. The big question everybody is asking – can he do it again next week and get down to single figures? After completing the front nine with nothing worse than bogie, Dan set out to beat last week’s performance on the back by stringing together six consecutive pars. A mini collapse on the 16th and 17th was partially redeemed by another par on the 18th giving a very handy three over for the nine, which would definitely warrant a single figure handicap. Dan obviously loves the back nine on a wet track.

Ken has been able to join us on a reasonably frequent basis of late, but podium positions have proved elusive. However, today, he rectified that in a small way, and put together a square card to get onto the second step, on his Jack Jones, as Brendon would say (for some obscure Kiwi reason). Brendon didn’t get to say it today, as he had to rush off to the NZ Sheep Judging Championship, or something similar. Ken made the turn a couple of holes down, but warmed up with the sun on the back to redress the balance and finish square for the day. SteveG spent half of his time complaining about his poor short game, and the other half thanking the Handicapper for his generous handicap. He should be careful, as the Handicapper might take notice of the latter rather than the former. Pepsi managed to match Steve on the scorecard, and once again featured in the points on his way back from a period in the Doldrums. Nalin finished in fourth place one point further back, and Matt (curse him) another point back in fifth.

We could only manage four birdies from the field today, and a couple of them are worthy of comment. The ProPin was on the 12th, and everybody was keen to be in the cash on offer. A discussion about which club was used produced some guffaws from SOS when CJ revealed that he had use his nine iron to finish off the back of the green. Turns out it was exactly the right club, as he knocked it into the hole for the bird, which SOS could not match. The ProPin was won after a tight contest after JQ made it to 4.78m, only to be pipped by AndrewV at 4.35m. The first BallPin was on the 15th, and CJ sent his drive on the way right in line with the pin and appearing to finish very close to the hole. Perspective is a terrible thing, because it wasn’t nearly as close as it appeared from the tee, and, in any case, Brendon already had the prize sewn up with his ball pin high and about 300mm from the hole. The birdie was a lay-down-misere. There was undoubtedly a certain amount of bulltish in the announcement of the BallPin on the 18th, which went to Matt.

Speaking of Matt, the Birthday Birdie will be visiting him during the week, and this might explain why he will not be able to play next week. There were a couple of notable Priems shots reported today. On the 5th, SteveG had not excelled off the tee, and played his second from some longish grass. The ball took off like a rocket, and hit the big gum tree on the left with a resounding crack. After some searching around, the ball was spotted in the middle of the fairway about 80m ahead. Talk about a glancing blow. On the 9th, Prez and Ken were waiting somewhat in advance of where AndrewV was playing his second shot. A shank sent the ball scooting in the direction of Prez, but the shout of ‘fore’ froze him to the spot and the ball got him right on the point of his ankle. The ball ricocheted back into the centre of the fairway. So a Priems off a Priems! That has to be a first. Harry didn’t have a particularly good day with the flat stick, and when he ‘duffed’ his putt on the top side of the 13th, he threw up his arms in disgust (expletive deleted), whereupon the ball trickled on and on and, on its last legs, dropped into the hole. On the same hole, Dan had over-clubbed and his ball was up the hill behind the green. Coming back down, the slippery slope got the better of him and he had a bit of a sit down. JQ didn’t make the birdie count with this one, but he did get a birdie. His approach shot from about 70m out was right on line for the pin, but a random duck got in the way, and the ball came to a stop with a resounding thump. The duck survived, and did not require CPR.

Results for Saturday, 29 Aug 2026
1st Dan Marie (+3) 2nd Ken Watson (□) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (-1) 3rd Andrew Petricola (-1) 4th Nalin Samaranayake (-2) 5th Matt Hunt (-3)

Seniors Results: 1st Ken Watson (□) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (-1) 3rd Matt Hunt (-3)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Andrew Vogan BallPin No 1 – 15th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Matt Hunt

The weather gods keep dropping enough of the di-hydrogen oxide on the course to keep life interesting. They even made a desultory effort today with half a dozen drops falling about half-way through the back nine. Brendon and his group fell a little behind the pace, not because they were a four, but because they kept having to search for balls that embedded or just otherwise disappeared. At least there were no reports of balls being picked up by random others, like there were last week. With various members out on recuperation or for family reasons, the field was limited to ten members today. But, despite the softness on the fairways, the greens seem to have been favourable, with six birdies in the cage for today. The prime contender for the shot (and birdie) of the day would have to go to AndrewV. After expressing disappointment in his second shot on the 3rd, when it finished just over the brow of the slope down to the penalty area, he slotted it up onto the green, and it rattled into the hole, as if he meant it to do so. Which he said he did!

Harry and Dan led out the field in the first group, and, as a result, they topped the leaderboard for pretty much the whole day. And, when it counted, after all the cards were in, they still topped the leaderboard. Harry put in the best card for the front nine from the field, and he was holding his own on the back when Dan struck a rich vein of form to string together four consecutive pars for three pointers on his way to the best back nine from the field. Harry thought he had tipped the balance with a two point swing on the 17th, but he gave them straight back on the 18th to share the top spot for the day. He also topped the Seniors again, but at least he had some competition today. Dan was itching to get away after the call of the cards, and people thought maybe he had some important surgery to attend to. An equally likely explanation was that he had a birthday party to attend – to whit, his own. Happy Birthday, Dan.

It was Andrew V Andrew today. Not so much in the main event, but in the Nearest the Pin. There was a Jackpot BallPin on the 4th, and AndrewV was early off the mark to get his name on the card. Not for long though, as AndrewP managed to finish just a little closer, though the was some suggestion that there might have been some side-spin involved. The ProPin on the 15th, was another one that got AndrewV excited when he finished just 3.43m from the hole. He wasn’t super confident that it would last, with the quality of the following field, but, in that regard, he was wrong, and not even AndrewP could outdo him. Then we come to the 18th. It was a no-show for AndrewV who seriously bombed out on the hole, which left it to AndrewP to take the cake (read ball) once again. Anyway, Pepsi was pretty pleased with the 37 points that he managed to put together, and even more so with the fact that he did not have a single double bogey.

Brendon took one stroke fewer per hole from the first, but couldn’t keep up the trend by failing to eagle the 5th. But, he did manage one birdie on his way to his third place score. Both he and Prez managed to drive the 14th, and finished mere centimetres apart on the edge of the green. No eagle for either, but Prez could only manage the par. Brendon also did his little bit to push Matt further down the points table. Adding able assistance in this matter, CJ sneaked in with thirty-two points to capture the fourth spot. This left the final spot to be filled by a swag of triers, who happily accepted the last point on offer, namely, Matt, Prez and AndrewV. We won’t mention the couple of members who missed out on a placing. not here, anyway!

Matt was blaming a cortisone injection that he had during the week for his slump in form, though how his foot caused him to three putt so many times (his admission) is not immediately clear. Bob will have some explaining to do when he gets home about the skid marks on his back. A too vigourous swing and slippery conditions contributed to an unceremonious tumble. Only pride was harmed. AndrewV pushed his drive on the 14th well towards to boundary of the course, and he was in the throes of giving it up as lost when there was a resounding ‘clunk’ when the ball landed on the plastic duck-boards, and it bounced back into play. Not quite a Priems, but it produced a similar result. It seems that there is a macropod residing on or around the course, as there were prints spotted on the green of the 6th, and, during the week some were present in the squelchy area on the 14th fairway. Gordon lobbed up after the round with a couple of clubs in his hand. He had thought of making a come-back today, but a wiser head suggested that a little more R&R might be in order. So it will be back from Chile, before we see his smiling face out on the course, somewhere around the start of October. The bionic hip is reported to be working like a dream.

In case you are wondering about the mentions of ‘leaderboard’, we have been trialling the concept of using MiScore for our Club competitions. This would have some implications for the operation of the handicapping system (among other things), and Harry is working hard to understand what is possible, and what is not. It will be a little while yet before a decision is reached on the best path forward.

Results for Saturday, 22 Aug 2026
1st Harry Boughen (38) 1st Dan Marie (38) 2nd Andrew Petricola (37) 3rd Brendon Mitchell (33) 4th Chris Priems (32) 5th Matt Hunt (31) 5th Robert Priems (31) 5th Andrew Vogan (31)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (38) 2nd Chris Priems (32) 3rd Matt Hunt (31) 3rd Robert Priems (31) 3rd Andrew Vogan (31)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Andrew Vogan BallPin No 1 – 4th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola