Ivanhoe Men’s Social Golf Club

There wasn’t a cloud to Blight the sky on 17 August 2019.

Posted on August 17, 2019 Updated on August 17, 2019

Last week was wet and only the most hardy (or foolhardy) ventured out and sloshed their way around the course. This week, the forecast promised better things and the hardy and the not so hardy turned out to the tune of seventeen players to try their chances. The rain gods had sprinkled the ground with another six millimetres or so yesterday so there were a few pretty wet spots around and the preferred lie was welcome in most places. Gordon did opine at one stage that he chipped better when he played as it lay but others expressed the view that ‘enhancing’ the elevation of the ‘preferred’ spot was not beyond the realms of possibility. But, the early cloud cleared away and the morning finished in brilliant winter sunshine but the expert view still was that a score of thirty-six would be enough to take the day.

That prediction looked very much like holding true until the last group finally handed in their cards. The waiting masses were torn between the options of the scores being so high that they had run out of fingers and toes or that it was just Blighty. And, just Blighty it was, after he dried out the back nine, so hot was he running. But, the real feature of the round was the birdie on the 7th that netted him no less that 5 points in one fell swoop. Everybody in the group agreed that it was a lovely putt. Not quite a club record for points on one hole, but right up there. Six singletons and a miss prevented the card from being a real show stopper.

Brendon started out like the veritable house on fire and put together a very impressive twenty-three points on the front nine. The first signs of a wobble came with a singleton on the ninth. Four more and a miss soon after put paid to a win and another spectacular score. JQ, on the other hand, played an even hand and filled in the third spot with a creditable 37 points. This was John’s last round for a while as he sets off to foreign fields for a well earned rest and some work just to keep his hand in.

Three unlikely types protected their handicap by coming in with 35 points. Jake joined us for the first time in a while and it seems that a venture into the real estate market has been occupying his mind more than somewhat in recent times. Porks was his usual non-committal self but obviously did enough to get his couple of points and keep his advance up the Championship Table on the go. Ken joined in and put his success down to the fact that he took eleven strokes fewer on the front nine than he did when he played with Chrispy and Rob last time.

And, in fifth place was another trio of Dennis (How good is golf), the Beast and Chrispy, who is looking forward to the Annual Challenge with his recently enhanced handicap. A summation error on Simon’s card meant that he was relegated and did not collect his much anticipated point.

The first BallPin was on the 12th and the only name on the card was Jason although Harry was only a tad further out from Jason’s marker. The ProPin was on the 15th and it was left to the Beast to collect that one with his shot to 3.99m. Bill reckons the best shot he has seen in a long time was down to Harry on the 18th who left it just 1.63m short of the hole to collect the second BallPin. The putt rattled home for the birdie (one of twelve for the day) and one less stroke on the Eclectic.

Gordon really lashed out and bought himself a box of HotDot balls and, on Thursday, played like a bit of a HotShot with one. After a not quite so stellar performance today, he changed horse in mid-stream but did not play significantly better with a ‘better’ ball. Harry played with a Wilson Staff but doesn’t blame the ball at all.

Jake might have scored better if it had not been for a draughtie and Harry’s ‘scone’ shot on the 11th left him well short of the red markers for his second. Gordon is trying to create a new rule that if you putt off the green, that constitutes an offence worth a shout. Jason managed it today on the 18th when a four metre putt finished off the green and a scratch score was the final result. Surely, punishment enough!

After the round, Bill was seen inspecting the backs of everybody’s legs and wondering why he was the only one that had mud splattered from ankle to knee. Maybe it was from his (unsuccessful) foray into the depths of one of the ponds to play a shot. Although Peter absolutely smashed the ball a few times today he wasn’t altogether happy and was heard to wonder whether he might do better if he learned to play ‘normally’. Whatever do you mean Pete?

SOS turned up to do the Treasurer thing and brought Olivia along to fit in a bit of coaching in the subtle art of the putter. When he spotted Jake at the table, he reckoned that Olivia had been to golf more times than Jake.

Tension is building as the Annual Challenge weekend at Rich River approaches and there is talk of handicaps needing to be protected. Play will be from Club handicap adjusted for the slope difference between Ivanhoe and RR. There will be points for both the home event and the Annual Challenge (aggregate) placings. Handicapping for the AC will be based on the highest Stableford score of the two rounds.

Results for Saturday, 17 August 2019
1st Andrew Blight(39) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(38) 3rd John Quinlan(37) 4th Ryan Porker(35) 4th Jake Priems(35) 4th Ken Watson(35) 5th Bill Eastoe(34) 5th Chris Priems(34) 5th Dennis Ward(34)

Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (39) 2nd Bill Eastoe (34) 2nd Dennis Ward (34) 3rd Simon Powell (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Bill Eastoe BallPin No 1 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 2 18th Harry Boughen

Wild and Wintery Par Competition – 10th August 2019

Posted on August 11, 2019

The cold blast was well and truly sweeping through from the West. There was snow in Canberra at the AFL, Simon issued a dire warning to everyone the night before via email after he had heard a damming report on the news about the weather. Nonetheless the bravest, most dedicated and frankly, the ones who had nothing else better to do, turned up to face the elements.

8 members were there bright and early, and there was much debate as to whether the course was fit for play. The course was deemed to be well and truly soaked, with the 17th green surrounded by puddles. Course management did their bast to place the pins around the puddles and after much consideration it was decided that play would commence. With the exeption of JQ, who decided that it was not worth the potential soaking that would most definately occur.

As it turned out, it rained heavily for about 3 holes and they rest of the day was pretty good, albiet with a damp course. This did not hinder Dave and Dale who played consistent enough to hand in cards with -1 to tie in first place. Dave has had an extrordinary year, he is sitting a tight third in the championship tally and has only played 11 times for the year with an average of 5.73 points per week. Dale was reaping the rewards of a relatively quite week at work due to the weather which obvioiusly helped free up his swing.

Even though blighty was in the first group, he was still counting up his score and working out his playing card some time after when everyone was waiting for the announcments to take place. He also managed to turn Brendon’s card into a rabble that was water damaged and all torn up! All those calculations proved to be correct after all, and he ended up on -2 for the day for 2nd place overall. He was asked if he had any eagles for the day after last weeks efforts, he simply replied with, sadly no but I just had a 4 pointer! Pitty we were playing par.

The beast managed the only 2 birdies for the day, dropping a 10ft putt from off the green on the third and also making birdie on the 13th. He also won a ball on the 4th hole for the nearest the pin. Noodles was not keen to play at all, but after porks was the 6th person to agree to play in the morning to make it an official round, the potential for points was too hard to pass up. He was neck and neck with porks all day, and ened up just ahead on -3. Porks was not far behind on -4 to be in 5th place. He also won the pro pin on the 12th to put it to 4m but wasnt that impressed after winning only $7, Blightly also mentioned that one of the dollars was already his that he had put in, which made it so much better. For whatever reason, it was decided not to play the 2nd ball hole due to the low numbers. Porks was not impressed at all after hitting it close on the 18th!

Blighty hit the same tree branch twice on the 2nd hole in the exact same spot, and they both skewed off into the swamp. There were no reported draughties however there were some lost balls from tee shots after finding their way into the rough or trees.

With only 7 played members, there was much discussion as to whether anyone would miss out on points or not. Well Brendon was not even close and ended up on -10. Tough day at the office. The damaged greens were showing sign of repair with the exception of the 3rd which is looking worse after being down for months now.  Happy birthday to Brendon, Chris Vinecombe and JQ who all celebrate milestones this week.

Results for Saturday, 10 August 2019
1st David Mullenger(-1) 1st Dale Webb(-1) 2nd Andrew Blight(-2) 3rd Bill Eastoe(-3) 4th Stephen Butterfield(-4) 5th Ryan Porker(-5)

Seniors Results: 1st Andrew Blight (-2) 2nd Bill Eastoe (-3)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 4th Bill Eastoe BallPin No 2 – No contest

August Monthly Medal 2019

Posted on August 4, 2019

It was a dark and gloomy morning for the July monthly medal and there was news that the course had taken a bit of a beating overnight. It was not from the weather but the infamoous local teens who had taken a liking to the greens and thought it would be best to leave there mark by doing some skids with they motorbikes. As a result, the 3rd, 9th, 11th and 18th greens had a local rule where two putts maximum would be taken if you ended up on the green.

What would this mean for scoring, if there was no chance of 3 or 4 putting? Well it didn’t help that much as the course was also fairly soggy from some rain, but it did not seem to hinder Dennis as he played consistently well to score nett 66 and take home the medal. His confidence was soaring as he was about to tee off on the 15th, as he announced to his group “how close should I put it”. Gordon responded with”how about a foot” and Dennis said no worries and hit a beautiful shot to put it to 55cm. It was more than close enough for the pro pin too!

Blighty had an up and down day, with his ball not making the ladies on the 3rd. He seemed to take a liking to putting off the green and was sinking putts left right and centre from the rough on about 6 holes. Although after coming off a 4 putt and 8 on the 16th, he hit a nice drive on the 17th to be about 30m from the green. In keeping up with his lack of use of the green for most of the day, he hit a nice little sand wedge which ran out and dropping in for an Eagle! 12 balls from the eagles nest later, he scored well enough for second place after a miscalculation on his handicap. It could have been better on the 18th as his tee shot was just off the green, all he needed to do was hit it on the green for a guaranteed bogie, but he proceeded to hit it through the other side and ended off the green. In typical Andrew form he hit his 3rd well past the hole, and then sunk the easiest of 15 footers for bogie after all.

Second place was also shared by Noodles and Dave with a 69 nett. Targe was complaining that his handicap keeps on creepinng out but he keeps on scoring points, and he played well enough on the day to come in 3rd place. Adam, Brendon and SOS all slotted into 4th with nett 71 and finally a couple of lefties in Ryan and Brent rounded out the placings with 72.

After blighty had sunk his eagle approach shot, there was a bit of celebrating and commotion, and with Blighty talking in SOS’s swing, he proceeded to shank it from the 18th tee. There were rumours that Dale had been consistently shanking them all day too.  There were 7 birdies carded from 21 players, which included Brent who won the ball on the 12th. The final ball was won by Beast who hit a nice shot on the 18th.

There was a bit on controversy on the local rule on the 9th, Ryan was going for a birdie on the damaged green, but hit it past the hole and it rolled down the hill and off the green. He argued with noodles for the rest of the day about the rule, stating that he should recieve 4 for the hole even though his second putt would have been from off the green. It was verified with the club pro that this is the correct rule, much to Noodles dismay.

There were some rumours circulating that Dennis had been doing some welding work around Harry’s place and had been given some juicy handicapping benfits as a result. As H is away on a golfing expedition, the assistant handicapper is having none of this and has taken the liberty of adjusting Dennis by a couple after his win! Simon has taken a liking to gardening recently and is also considering helping out Harry too!!

Results for Saturday, 03 August 2019
1st Dennis Ward(66) (c/b t9) 2nd Andrew Blight(69) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(69) 2nd David Mullenger(69) 3rd Targe Mifsud(70) 4th Adam King(71) 4th Brendon Mitchell(71) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(71) 5th Ryan Porker(72) 5th Brent Rowley(72)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (66) 2nd Andrew Blight (69) 3rd Targe Mifsud (70)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Dennis Ward BallPin No 1 12th Brent Rowley BallPin No 2 18th Bill Eastoe

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Andrew Blight

It was a bit of a Whitewash on 27 July 2019.

Posted on July 27, 2019 Updated on July 27, 2019

The whole club was on tenterhooks. Would JQ make it from the airport on time? Would Porks be sober after the staff party? Could Whitey put together another good round? Would any more first rounders drop out? Would any more casuals turn up? So many questions, so few answers. In the end, JQ did make it in plenty, Porks was sober and we had a field of 23 players which meant that over a third of the field was there for the love of the game. Mehmet even said that he only came because he wanted to play golf, it was just a bit of a pity that he didn’t really (play golf, that is). The course was pretty soggy in places and the preferred lies were welcome as the ball seemed to pick up mud without even moving. There were even a couple of cases where the ball went deeper underground than along the ground. Chrispy reckoned he had a new club in his bag, called a shovel. Maybe he should be looking for a job on the City Loop as well.

So, how did things pan out on the day then. Well, the round of the day went to Matt. Fairly obviously, the surgical intervention took an extra week to kick in and Matt fairly kicked arse today to complete the back nine in 2 under the par for 23 points and a round total of 40. When put together with his field tailing round last week, this gave him a chance of scoring a point at least for his troubles and the cut to his handicap. But more of that later.

Despite some concerns that the pressure of leadership might weigh heavily on his shoulders, Whitey managed to keep his eye on the ball, his bat on the crease and his pads in front of the wicket to block his way to a pretty respectable 36 points for a grand total of 75 for the event to take the Fred Howe Trophy for 2019. Not a bad win for his first Major. Early in the round there was a hint that the wheels could fall off with a gash on the 2nd and a drive OOB on the 4th. The chip in from about 20m out saved the hole.

The card sported quite a few singles but a massive four on the last ball of the day really put the sealer on the result. The birdie that gave him that result was one of eleven for the day and it also scored him the double BallPin on the 18th. This was after some unreliable types forgot to put the marker out on the 15th where it was supposed to be. If you can’t trust the Club executive who can you trust? Then again, SOS was probably distracted by all of the chatter about BitCoin, BrainCoin and so on and so forth with Mehm and Stef. Or, maybe, they just didn’t have time, as they managed to finish at least two holes in front of the next group despite being held up by a group of interlopers after the 13th. They did have to get the bar-be-gue going to make sure that the hordes did not have to wait around for their tucker.

Brendon managed to improve his overall ranking by putting together the second best card for the day and he did express the view that he had let himself down a bit on the back nine. JQ did not appear to have been affected by jet-lag and played right to his handicap to stay level with Brendon and share second place. The flat blade was working well and it was estimated that John had sunk putts totalling 150m in the round which, if anywhere near the truth, was a remarkable result.

Peter was stamping around impatiently on the 17th tee waiting for the bell to be rung (which it wasn’t, much to his chagrin). Not sure if he made the green or not but he did manage to par the hole, which brought his score up to 34 for the day and his event total of 67 placed him third overall. Allan tried to sneak in an extra point on the 16th and he had to be relegated to fourth place as a result. This proved to be a bit of a disappointment for Matt as it meant that Dennis, Rob and Targe dropped back into 5th place to take the last points on offer.

There was a double Jackpot on offer for the ProPin today and it was placed back in its rightful place on the 12th hole, Porks, Harry and Ken agreed to share. Ryan was on line but got it fat and finished short. Harry’s length was good but way right while Ken finished too far to the left. So, it was left to Rob to put his name on the card at 4.3m and Rob didn’t agree to share with anyone.

Now, it seems that Targe had a bit of a dose of the shanks today and each time that he shanked one, the ball headed in the direction of Allan. In the end, Targe wanted Allan to stand near the pin on the basis that that was where the ball would finish. One member did comment that Allan and Thunderbird reminded him a bit of Stephen Hawking. And reports have it that Thunderbird did struggle a bit on some of the wet steeper slopes.

Ryan had a lesson during the week and the swing analysis showed that he had some nasty ‘outside-in’. The fix at the lesson was some alignment sticks. The fix today seemed to be to drop-kick the ball to keep it straight and send it a mile. It didn’t quite work on the 4th with the first OOB on the right and the provisional lost way to the left. Simon (aka Thor) was saved by his recent efforts around the course. His drive on the 12th was in the drink for sure until the ball hit one of his nicely painted red stakes that saved it from the water if not the penalty area. And, Simon didn’t take a lesson from last week and mis-scored on the 18th (again!).

The bar-be-que after was expertly catered by Brendon (or Mrs Brendon maybe) and expertly cooked by Matt and SOS although the onions were a bit beyond it by the time the last group came in. Stef and Mehm watched on while Mehm filled out his footy tips by backing the opposite of what Noodles predicted. Si reckoned it was nice to be fed by two coppers and not be in jail. The voice of experience?

Results for Saturday, 27 July 2019
1st Rodney White(39, 36, 75) 2nd John Quinlan(35, 36, 71) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(33, 38, 71) 3rd Peter Damou(33, 34, 67) 4th Allan Davies(31, 35, 66) 5th Dennis Ward(33, 32, 65) 5th Robert Priems(31, 34, 65) 5th Targe Mifsud(30, 35, 65)

Seniors Results: 1st Allan Davies (31,35,66) 2nd Dennis Ward (32,33,65) 2nd Targe Mifsud (35,30,65) 3rd Bill Eastoe (33,31,64)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Robert Priems BallPin No 1 18th Rodney White BallPin No 2 18th Rodney White