Next Week’s Details

It was a Beast of a day! Well, not really. It actually turned out quite pleasant in the end. However, we should keep our eye on the clocks rather than rely on how dark it looks from inside the Clubhouse. Our first group was rather late off the mark, and, although nothing was said (as far as is known at this stage), we really should be out there to play at the earliest reasonable opportunity. The rain continues to soften the course, but the grass has yet to get a grow-on. The greens were sanded during the week, and there were a couple of comments about playing ‘down the Peninsula’. But, it didn’t prevent some spectacular putts going down. One worthy of mention was from Pepsi on the 10th after duffing a chip just onto the edge of the green for three. With about twelve metres to go, he lined it up, gave it a good crack, and watched it nestle nicely into the hole for his par. On the other hand, CJ blamed the contrast between the greens at Ivanhoe and the Frog, for his ‘failures’ with the flat stick.

Asked during the round how he was going, the reply from Porks was, not so good. Which was probably fair enough, as he had used all of his handicap on the front nine. But, all he had to do was negotiate the back just one over the card to present with a winning score of 35 points. Craig jumped out of the blocks on the front, and carded four pars on his way to 19 at the turn. The back nine was not quite so kind, and he had to settle for second place, just one point behind. He wasn’t alone on the podium, and he was joined by Gordo, who got to the same total in the reverse order, making 19 points on the back. He might have had a share of top spot if he had not picked up on the 12th, only to realise that he still had a stroke in hand for a point. Raj, on the other hand, played a very even hand with seventeen on both halves. Pepsi was a bit of a surprise addition in this spot, with an ‘over-write’ on the front not being transferred to the bottom line and being used in the total. Tut, tut, Pepsi and his marker – you know who you are!

This left CJ on his own in third place, which he managed, despite his ‘problems’ with the greens. He also did a forehead slap when the found out, after the round, that there were preferred lies in play. Early reports had it that Stan had scored a ‘birdie’, but it turned out to be a ‘duck’. Strictly, it’s a goose, but who’s counting. Anyway, the injured party was able to limp off, and didn’t require despatching with a seven iron, like an infamous ibis some years back. Dan was able to drag himself away from playing ‘It’s a Knockout’ to join us for a round, and, if it hadn’t been for a fair sprinkling of gashes and singletons, he could have finished much further up the order than fourth with his 32 points. Bob was really on a roll today. It started on the 13th, where he managed to drive his buggy into the gutter by the path up the hill and it rolled. Then, on the 14th tee, he walked into the chain between the posts, and went for a roll of his own. Then, on the 15th, trying to play a shot off a 60 degree slope, he overbalanced and narrowly avoided a more serious injury than the cuts and bruises that he sustained. Perhaps an unplayable might have been in order. Despite all this, he snared a share of fourth place as well. Marc and Whitey rounded out the points getters, only four points behind the winner. While we are on a roll, Whitey did admit to giving his putter a ‘roll’ today to get himself out of some tight spots. Nothing from the tee, apparently.

There are often jests made about the lead group not putting the nearest-the-pin markers on the correct hole if they do not get onto the correct green themselves. CJ was in charge today, and he had made both Beast and Dan repeat after me – put the markers out on the 4th and the 12th. Both CJ and Dan got onto the 12th, and, allegedly within five metres with Dan, allegedly, closer, and they both didn’t twig that the marker should go out. So, the ProPin eventually went out on the 15th, and Gordo was more than happy to give himself the dosh, for his shot to 1.85m. The first BallPin, correctly, went out on the 4th, and will be Jackpotted to next week after the far back tee placement proved a bridge too far for everybody. On the 18th, Pepsi was the only one to get his name on the chit with a shot just under 13m away from the pin.

We could only manage six birdies today from a field of 15 players. One of these was down to Harry on the 16th, lying about 30m out for two, the pitch was right on line, the ball settled into a roll, and continued until it disappeared ever so gently from sight into the hole. Never looked like missing, said Bob. The four points helped him to make close to half his total points over the last four or five holes of the round. So, definitely a highlight. SteveG did not join us today, so maybe he was saving himself to celebrate a birthday that is coming up, which gets him a visit from the Birthday Birdie. JQ started out with a pretty reasonable front nine, and, for one hole, that looked like continuing on the back. It is unclear what happened, but perhaps his ‘luck’ on the 16th can give an idea. The tee shot finished towards the 14th green. The second was absolutely ‘creamed’ and was going like a rocket. Except, that it found a small tree in its path, around which the ball rattled about four times before being ejected back over his head, to finish further from the green than he started. Some days are diamonds, some days are tish!

Results for Saturday, 12 Jul 2025
1st Ryan Porker (35) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 2nd Gordon Hill (34) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (34) 2nd Andrew Petricola (34) 3rd Chris Priems (33) 4th Stan Blackshaw (32) 4th Dan Marie (32) 4th Bob McDonald (32) 5th Marc Phillips (31) 5th Rodney White (31)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (34) 1st Gordon Hill (34) 2nd Chris Priems (33) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (32) 3rd Bob McDonald (32)

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

A fairly mild winter’s morning was on offer to the seventeen members who fronted the starter to vie for the July Monthly Medal. There was a fair bit of debate about whether it was light enough to tee off again, but first light should start to get earlier from now on. At least until daylight saving kicks in. It was a red letter day for a couple of members. Matt was brimming with confidence for his 200th game with the Club, following some good form on away turf in recent times. Pepsi was also angling for a birthday gift, giving up a sleep-in and breakfast in bed for a tilt at a medal for the pool-room. Despite the incredulity evident when he announced his age, the records showed that he was telling the truth, and had not started counting backwards. As the morning progressed, the temperature climbed, and the hand-warmers were left to warm the insides of pockets rather than pinkies. This was obviously beneficial, as the majority of players had improved totals on the back compared to the front.

Old Reliable did not quite lead out the field, but he did manage to lead it in. This was largely thanks to a ten stroke turn-around, with the back nine taking just three more strokes than the card. This makes the winner’s penalty seem insufficient, particularly if he can repeat the effort for the first half of the round. There wasn’t a huge margin in the victory, though. AndrewV had Craig’s measure on the front nine, but, just failing to make a few pars on the back, left him just one stroke short of the top spot. This high placing scored Andrew a rocket in the Order of Merit, which has seen a few moves today. Ryan started off with one of our two birdies, but, by the end of the front nine, he had used all of his available handicap. Four over the card on the back brought him home with seventy-two and gathered third place for the day. Ryan was another mover in the OOM, and now sits on the top of the order for the first time.

Matt didn’t win himself a Medal to celebrate his 200th, but he did get some points for coming in fourth. Having used up his handicap, plus a couple on the first nine, he did well enough on the back to make a bid for fourth place, three strokes further back. Gordon could be said to have been playing under difficult circumstances today. On the third green, he spotted a pitch mark, and decided to do the right thing and repair it. As he leaned down to do the repair, he steadied himself with his putter resting on the ground. At this point, the hosel of the putter snapped, and Gordon was lucky not to do a face-plant. However, what was he to do about putting. He tried with his 2-iron, but finally settled on his 3-wood. So, scoring fifth place was probably not such a bad effort. An inspection of the break by the resident metallurgist suggested an existing flaw in the metal, and not a superfluity of force. Ken’s regular attendance seems to be paying off, and he has become a regular in the points distribution.

The Nearest the Pin competition attracted a fair amount of interest today. The first BallPin on the 12th hole attracted three names on the card, but Stan was the man to tip out Prez and Raj for the pill. The story was similar on the 18th, but the changes in fortune must have been marginal. SOS was victorious after edging out SteveG by a matter of millimetres. And Steve had managed to upstage Matt. However, SOS was probably less than half a metre onto the green, so, how far onto the dance-floor had Matt’s ball been? The ProPin was on the 15th, and, as the last group approached, there was no name on the card, and hopes were raised for a Jackpot for next week. Unfortunately, the last group included Pepsi, and he whacked his ball in to 2.31m to collect the money, although he did mention that he really needed a ball rather than cash.

There were several draughties today, all in the one group. Harry and Marc came to grief on the second. There was no doubt about H disappearing into the reeds, but some careful alignment was required to declare Marc’s about 10mm short of the mark. Wazza came to grief on the 14th after heading one in the direction of SOS’s car in the car-park before it caught a tree and stopped dead in the tan-bark. Gordo probably wished he still had a head on his putter when faced with a ball hard against the base of a tree. Also on the 3rd, Raj had a putt of about 5m, which he sent on its way running true to the hole, only to stop about 20mm short of the mark. As he walked up to the hole, the putter ‘slipped out of his hands’, and managed to hit the ball, moving it further from the hole. What didn’t move further from the hole was the putter itself, which wedged itself firmly into the hole, requiring running repairs to the hole surrounds, and a longer putt than before. SteveG also had a slippery glove on today when he repeated his backswing on the 11th tee, taking Blighty by surprise when the club made contact. No damage was done, and this was not the cause of Blighty’s bad back. He was putting the blame firmly on the ‘housework’ that he was doing during the week. Using muscles that he has never used before, apparently. Wazza paid his $3 at the 18th, and put his best effort into making the shot. A cry came up – it’s on the green! Only problem was, it was on the 9th green, not the 18th.

Results for Saturday, 05 Jul 2025
1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Ryan Porker (72) 4th Matt Hunt (75) 5th Gordon Hill (76) 5th Ken Watson (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Matt Hunt (75)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 1 – 12th Stan Blackshaw BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan

Despite being told that there was nothing to be afraid of, the field looked like being a bit depleted today, but JQ, Whitey, and Jake turned up on the day to bring the field to twelve members, and one guest. One of these days, Jake might just make his mind up about joining us again. The day was a bit gloomy with a heavy overcast, but there was no rain. The thermal situation wasn’t too bad as we hit off, but, by the time we got to about the eighth hole, the temperature had dropped significantly. This didn’t seem to affect Wazza, who was out there sporting a tee shirt, while most others hunched into their jumpers, and gripped for dear life to their hand-warmers. Even around the after-table, said hand-warmers were still being put to use. The board was out for preferred lies, for the first time this year, but, for the most part, they weren’t really necessary, as the ball stayed pretty clean, and the lies were as good as could be expected given the dry season we had and the lack of growing weather these days.

JQ didn’t take long to iron out the kinks after his family matter related break from the clubs, and, on his second outing, he made the game look pretty easy. The front nine was spot-on, with the only blemish a double on the 7th. The back nine was better, though, just three strokes over the card, but featuring only the single square, which limited his total to just plus three. This was just enough to guarantee a place at the top of the podium. He did opine that a couple of birdies had saved him, which is just as well, as the pickings would have been very slim today, as there was only one other reported by the lot of us. Whitey hasn’t played a great deal either, partly due to a shoulder injury that put him out of commission for quite a while. However, his touch doesn’t seem to abandoned him, and he slotted easily into second place, just a point behind JQ. There were no reports of how far he had hit his putter, though it must be said, that he usually reserves that for three club events.

What are we going to do about Raj? There were a swag of frantic phone calls on the way home when Raj realised that the incorrect cards had been delivered to us and the ProShop. Possibly not surprising, as the one that went to the ProShop had his GA membership number written on it, while the one to us just had GA, in pencil, at the top, just enough to suggest that it was a genuine mistake. So, instead of being in a six way tie for third, he ended in a one way tie for third, and he teed Harry off, by pushing him out of the last Championship point. Wazza, SteveG, Gordo, Adam and Marc will have to be satisfied with fourth, and SOS will, hopefully, still be cheering that he was in the points. Hopefully Gordo and SOS were not too put off by the audience on the 7th tee.

The last of the quarter-finals of the Matchplay was fought out today, between JQ and Raj, who looked evenly matched with just two points in favour of Raj. They traded holes for most of the front nine, but, by the turn, thanks to wins on eight and nine, Raj had gathered a couple of holes ahead. JQ won the 10th, and thought he was in with a good chance on the 11th, with him on the green for two and Raj a good 60m out. Raj then lofted one in, in his usual high pitching style, and just about slam-dunked it, hitting the back edge of the hole, and popping the ball out about 10mm from the hole, putting the pressure right back on JQ to get the par for a square. Holes were traded again, until the match went dormie one in Raj’s favour at the 17th, taking the match right down to the wire. JQ won the 18th easily to finish the round all square, and the match proceeded to a chip-off. Despite Raj’s chipping and pitching giving JQ the irrits all day, neither protagonist really inspired with their efforts to get onto the green. JQ’s putt wasn’t too bad an effort, and Raj needed to, at least, match it. Unfortunately, some sort of yip got him and he left it well short. His second putt just slipped by, and JQ just needed to tap his in to take the match.

The ProPin was on the 4th, and the first group grumbled that they would put it out on a hole that one of them got onto. As it turned out, Adam smacked it in to 1.65m, so there was no ground for argument about choosing a different hole. The first BallPin was on the 15th, and it looked like being a Jackpot until JQ came along and got one onto the dance-floor. There was some dispute about exactly how far away it was, with the estimates ranging from 90cm (JQ) to 2m (others). Whatever, it won him a ball. Marc was nearly dudded out of the ball on the 18th after his new good mate, Wazza, wrote his name on the back of the ticket booklet, rather than on the front. The fact that the ball was hardly more than 250mm onto the green should not detract from the prize that he won for his efforts.

SteveG started his 100th round with the Club, muttering to himself, just swing easy. And, he did. For a few shots, at least. It came a bit unstuck at the 3rd, where the ball moved less than 100mm from the tee, and the tee was driven full depth into the ground. The front nine did not set the world on fire after that, but, finishing the round with wins on the last three holes, added some respectability (and points) to the day. SOS was cock-a-hoop on the 15th, when Adam’s drive was somewhat short of spectacular. However, it did require an alignment check to confirm that the ball had not reached the red markers, and, indeed, it did count as a draughtie, as well. Not something we are used to seeing, from Adam, at least. Wazza managed to par the 11th hole, but in a sort of round about way. His drive finished on the far side of the 6th fairway. His second finished in the shrubbery beside the green. The third made it onto the green, with a longish putt for the par. Stan had a couple of putting moments today. On the 8th, he was quite convinced that his squaring putt was going to miss and was striding after it, looking for all the world that he was about to pick it up. The ball just kept rolling and turning, and fell into the hole. Later in the round, on the 16th, similar scenario, and he was striding purposefully to pluck it out of the hole when the ball stopped dead just millimetres short. Must have been one of those ‘volcanoes’ that Bobbie is always on about! There were three ‘rockets’ in the Order of Merit rankings today, so check it out to see how you stand in the order of things.

Results for Saturday, 28 Jun 2025
1st John Quinlan (+3) 2nd Rodney White (+2) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (□) 4th Warren Capes (-1) 4th Steven Gervasoni (-1) 4th Gordon Hill (-1) 4th Adam King (-1) 4th Marc Phillips (-1) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (-2)

Seniors Results: 1st Rodney White (+2) 2nd Gordon Hill (-1) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (-1) 3rd Harry Boughen (-3)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Adam King BallPin No 1 – 15th John Quinlan BallPin No 2 – 18th Marc Phillips

Cock-a-hoop is how you would describe the mood as we milled around, ready to celebrate the Solstice with the prospect of earlier sunrises from now on. Until, that is, Adam pointed out that the daylight extends at the other end of the day rather than the morning for a while yet. And, because of the thermal inertia of the atmosphere, it will be rather longer before the weather gets significantly warmer. Sales of hand warmers will continue to boom as a result to try to keep aging fingers from seizing up entirely. Initially, we were supposed to have nineteen players, including Jake, who tagged along with Dad again today. However, one member seems to have decided that the doona, or what was under it, was more attractive than the 0 C temperatures that prevailed out and about, so it was seventeen (plus one) who teed off eventually, once Brendon had decided that it was light enough to pull the trigger. He did set a cracking pace that the rest of the field struggled to match, as he needed to get away to an important game, and to jump start a car that also didn’t like the low temperatures.

AndrewV did not get away to a good start when his drive from the first crashed into the side of the adjacent sandbox. However, he was much relieved after the round to find out that he had out-driven Nalin, who actually had to remove his tee from the ground to take his second shot. This minor setback did not faze him, and he went on to score a total of eight three pointers on his way to a winning total of 38 points. Ken got away to a good start, but he did score a modicum of good luck on the third. After spraying his tee shot out of bounds, his next attempt finished with the corner tree offering a degree of difficulty. The shot headed for the 90% air, found the 10%, and, fortuitously, deflected left rather than right to finish on the green to deliver two points rather than the possible zip from another OOB. Despite a couple of zips further down the card, he still made it to thirty-eight, to share the first place with Nalin.

Harry took four or five holes to find a way to grip his club firmly enough to play a reasonable shot, and, by the back nine, he seems to have mastered it, and finished making 21 points to bring the total to thirty-six overall in second place. Adam started out with a bang, cracking a birdie on the first for a four pointer, and in the process contributed to the six that we managed as a group. He cracked another feathery on the 11th, which seems to have presaged a bit of a slump over the next few holes, which limited his total to thirty-four points. Targe had his driver working pretty well today, according to reports, but a couple of zips and a few singletons got in the way of a better score than the thirty-three that garnered him fourth place. He wasn’t alone in the spot, with Marc needing a couple of four-pointers to drag his total up to thirty-three as well. Craig and Porks, brought up the rear on the points distribution with no real disasters in evidence, just not enough good ones.

Three of the Matchplay quarter-finals matches were contested today, which might, or might not, have influenced people’s competition play. Porks took on SOS, and had to give seven strokes through the match. SOS got his nose in front from the get-go, and held his one hole advantage for a couple of holes. After a win on the fourth, Porks kept winning enough to reach the turn with three holes in hand. SOS fought a determined rear guard action, and, after Ryan put one out of bounds on the 17th, the match was square with one to play. Ryan managed to win that one and the match, one up. Marc was up against Andrew, who had to concede 15 strokes. After Andrew’s inauspicious start, Marc kept up the pressure (despite some problems of his own), and built up a very handy lead. Andrew found his MoJo, and pegged the lead back to three holes by the turn, with some hope of turning the match around. Mark had other ideas, and hammered the final nail into the coffin on the 14th to take the match 5 and 4. Harry took on Rob, and, with equal handicaps, there was no quarter to be given. Rob took advantage of Harry’s grip on his clubs (if not on reality), and was up by two holes after three. As Harry’s grip improved, he managed to sneak into the lead at the eighth, and had hopes of making it two up on the ninth as Rob’s putt from down in the hollow whistled up the hill at a great rate of knots. He just about cried when it rattled the pin, stopped dead, and fell into the hole rather than the rough at the back of the green. The match remained square for the next four holes, when the pressure of H’s improving form took its toll, and the match finished after the 16th, 3 and 2.

Two balls were enough for Ryan today. He could have collected four for taking out the BallPin on the 7th, and the Double jackpot BallPin on the 18th, but he opted for two and ten (dollars) instead. The ProPin today was nothing, if not controversial. It was supposed to be on the 15th, as marked on the registration sheet and on the chit in the box. The outside markers were in the hands of the group that included the Club Captain, no less. But, what do we find, but the box is put out on the 12th hole. Fortunately, nobody from that group had put their name on it otherwise suspicions would have been raised. Nalin had put one close, and Rob had done a heel and toe that was inconclusive, so out came the tape, which put his ball a mere 20mm further away. It was all to no avail, as SteveC beat them both by half a metre to collect the $18 (not $54 as the treasurer was starting to dole out). And, he blamed the new-fangled results sheet for the confusion when the error was pointed out. Despite SOS’s claims of laying up in the expectation that the ProPin was on the 15th, it was decided that the result should stand.

Both Marc and Andrew managed to find the trees from the front tee-box on the second hole, which, it would have to be said, is quite a feat. Needless to say, neither scored well on the hole. Steve also had a mishap on the first, and drove right into one of the bushes to the side. The ball was not found, and there was some discussion as to whether it had actually reached the distance of the red markers. Rob also managed to score a draughtie on the 15th, which helped to cancel Nalin’s on the first. The ball finished on a 45 degree slope, held up in a tuft of weeds, but Rob opted to play it, and went close to putting it on the green. For a moment there was concern that he would overbalance, and impale himself on an adjacent tree stump, but his undoubted athleticism allowed to save himself and stay upright. Jake is nothing, if not a Priems. A shot on the 8th disappeared into the depths of the penalty area on the left, rattled around among the trees, before flipping out onto the fairway some several seconds later. Or so it seemed.

Results for Saturday, 21 Jun 2025
1st Nalin Samaranayake (38) 1st Ken Watson (38) 2nd Harry Boughen (36) 3rd Adam King (34) 4th Targe Mifsud (33) 4th Marc Phillips (33) 5th Craig Cameron (32) 5th Ryan Porker (32)

Seniors Results: 1st Ken Watson (38) 2nd Harry Boughen (36) 3rd Targe Mifsud (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 1 – 7th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Ryan Porker