Club News
Centuries and cover drives on 16 November 2019
You could be forgiven for thinking that the cricket season is well under way. There was certainly the crack of willow on leather and shouts of ‘Howzat’ from the grounds across the road from the course. Michael looked around to watch the replay but, alas, the local ground does not run to such luxuries as a scoreboard let alone one that features replays. The conditions were a bit cool to start with and a few clouds and the occasional A380 got between the 18 players (plus one guest) and the sun but, all in all, it was a great day for golf and the course is still in good condition after some rain and careful attention from the ground staff.
Ken and Blighty were playing in the second group and were concentrating so hard on trying to keep up with Elton and the Rocket Men in the group in front that they lost track of how many and which holes that Ken had two strokes for. Correcting this little miscalculation propelled Ken into first place with a handy little 37 points. And this included the ignominy of having executed a draughtie although it must be admitted that it resulted from a return from the outfield by a tree.
Targe did a fair bit of wandering with shanks pony as he negotiated the front nine and looked to be among the also-rans as he turned into the back. Whether he raided the canteen for sustenance on the way through or whether he just managed to keep his head down, the back nine was a totally different game and he fairly cantered into second place.
Brendon was ensconced in the group that included our guest, Gareth, the course manager and, in the process, he managed to find out all sorts of information about the running of the course. Despite being side by side, it was still deemed necessary to call on a club member to rule on whether Bren’s ball was in a ‘garden bed’ or not over by the 14th green. Porks, on the other hand, was trying his hardest to just keep the points ticking over and conservative club selection was the order of the day. One exception was on the 13th where two balls finished OOB or lost from the tee. In the process, he brought up his century, which is a pretty good result in anybody’s book.
Stefan, the Rocket, blasted off so mightily on one hole that his driver couldn’t stand the pace and finished up somewhat the worse for wear. Despite this set-back Stef still manged to come up with 33 points and got himself a couple of points for his trouble. Harry thought he could have scored better if it had not been for so many edgy putts and Blighty thought he could have scored better on the cricket field, his cover drive was working so effectively.
Michael is just working himself into his comeback and is still a bit tentative about his knee. His tee shot from the 1st did not inspire and his second almost didn’t make it off the tee(peg), scoring Michael his first ever draughtie. To almost cap it all off, on the third he managed to bust out of his favourite pair of shorts. Fortunately, he was wearing jocks, so there were no embarrassing sights to behold. He thought he had snared himself a ball for the BallPin on the 12th and had confidently inscribed his name on the ticket but, when he walked onto the green, he found that the nearest to the pin really belonged to Porks. The pin on the 18th was up on the back deck and proved hard to get close to. JQ won it by getting his ball onto the bottom deck and Blighty reckons he was unlucky to finish much closer but just off the green. Neither got a birdie on the hole and so did not contribute to the nine that came up for the day. Jason had more than a few problems with his game during the day but he came good at just the right moment on the 15th to take out the ProPin with a ball to 2.27m.
Brendon arrived at the course without his usual super crushed up note in his card caddy and had to put the bite on Gordon for a loan to pay his subs for the comps. Not sure of Gordon’s ancestry but he was certainly talking about an usurious interest rate. On Thursday, Gordon thought he might have been able to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but, after today, he thinks it might be more like the express train coming from the other direction. The whole of his group was flipping about plenty of words starting with the same letter according to reports.
One report from the Birthday Birdie this week and, if Daniel is here next Saturday, be sure to wish him a happy one.
Only two more competitions for this season and it is possible for some big moves in the Championship. With Porks out of the equation next week, if the right results turn up, there could be a ding-dong battle between the top four the week after as they battle for the Championship and the December Monthly Medal. That will also be the day for the Calcutta Auction and the first day of the Stroke Play Championship that runs over three weeks and takes in the Vin O’Meara, the opening skirmish in the battle for next seasons Championship.
Results for Saturday, 16 November 2019
1st Ken Watson(37) 2nd Targe Mifsud(35) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(34) 3rd Ryan Porker(34) 4th Stefan Belevski(33) 5th Andrew Blight(32) 5th Harry Boughen(32)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (35) 2nd Andrew Blight (32) 2nd Harry Boughen (32) 3rd Bob McDonald (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jason Hopkins BallPin No 1 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 18th John Quinlan
It paid to be pugnacious on 9 November 2019
You could be forgiven for imagining that we had been transported back in time to the middle of winter. The temperature was barely into double figures and the wind-chill made it feel a lot less than that. Plus, there was the prospect of rain from the occasional angry looking cloud. But, the clouds deigned not to rain and the sun broke through from time to time. It turned out to be a pretty nice day for golf for the twelve members who ignored the forecasts and made it to the course to try their luck as the 2019 playing year winds down to its inevitable conclusion.
The championship leader can be caught but a few things have to fall into place. Porks has given a chance with a couple of absences in the remaining weeks and, if the chancers can get high enough placings, it is possible that it could be a tight run thing in the end. The other big question is, can he make the tonne?
Gordo started off pretty well and looked to be doing it easy when he turned in positive territory after the first nine. Now, whether he just got the yips or he started to think about his handicap for the Vin O’Meara, there were a few scoring chances that went begging on the back and the round finished just one on the wrong side of centre. Just about right to get a bit of a stroke back, thought Captain P. Little did he realise that -1 was going to be the winning score and he became the only person to lose strokes in the whole field. What really rubbed salt into the wounds was the ‘unnecessary’ birdie on the 4th but it did contribute to the eight that we scored as a group.
There was a veritable squadron of players fronting the judges for second place and SOS was torn in trying to decide whether he could afford to extend the ball-run beyond the two that went to Gordon for his win. Chrispy was calling for a countback to determine who should get the third ball. He still would have missed out as he would have been beaten by none other than his little boy, Jake. And Noodles had no chance (in the countback, that is).
Harry had suffered quite a number of ‘just missed’ putts including a careless short range miss on the 11th. So, when he lagged one just shy of the hole on the 12th, the consensus was that he should rest and take his time. So careful was he about ‘taking his time’ that he was walking away from the green with his ball marker still firmly in place marking where the ball had been. And he hadn’t taken the putt either. A bit of a burst of form as the round closed brought him home in third place.
Dennis was apparently playing hooky today and that doesn’t mean that he had skipped school. It seems that his usual arrow straightness has taken a nasty turn to the left. A bit like his politics, perhaps. Blighty played his normal boring game – just ask him any time and Adam had to dash off and nobody was game to dob him in for anything. But they all managed to share 4th place. That left Targe and Stef to take out the last points on offer for the day.
The sharp eyed among you will have noticed that, so far, there have been eleven players mentioned in despatches. Shall we just say that Peter took some beautiful divots today, especially when hitting from the tee. He has a big game on tomorrow so he was planning to head straight to the driving range to try to sort something out. And, while on the subject of sorting things out, Chrispy reckons that, after 30 years of playing golf, he has worked out what he has been doing wrong and the Seniors Championship next year is as good as his.
The BallPins today were on the 12th and the 18th and it was left to Gordon to put his name on both. With this and his comp win (plus a ball-run from last week) Gordon was pretty much up to his balls at the end of the day. The ProPin was on the 15th and Gordon had another go but finished about half a metre out of range. This left it up to SOS, who made it to 4.1m, to take out the money.
Gordo could have been forgiven for thinking that he was wearing some sort of a target today. Dennis had a go at taking his head off while he was standing on the 1st green waiting for Dennis to make his third shot on the second. Then, as he waited on the 7th tee, Jake managed to slice one from the 6th fairway, between Harry’s legs, and hit Gordon on the foot.
Targe covered a fair bit of territory today by traversing from one side of the fairway to the other. His tee shot on the 11th was heading a fair bit to the right and Peter opined that it would hit something and finish OK. Which it promptly did. Nice call, Pete. Stef was up to his usual tricks today and went close to driving the green on the 9th and 11th to name just a couple.
Results for Saturday, 09 November 2019
1st Gordon Hill(-1) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(-2) 2nd Chris Priems(-2) 2nd Jake Priems(-2) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan(-2) 3rd Harry Boughen(-3) 4th Andrew Blight(-4) 4th Adam King(-4) 4th Dennis Ward(-4) 5th Stefan Belevski(-5) 5th Targe Mifsud(-5)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (-1) 2nd Harry Boughen (-3) 3rd Andrew Blight (-4) 3rd Dennis Ward (-4)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 1 12th Gordon Hill BallPin No 2 18th Gordon Hill
The heavens opened for November Monthly Medal 2019
The forecast was for heavy rain all day for the November monthly medal. However things looked promising when at the start of play the sun was almost cracking through the gaps in the clouds and it looked as though it could hold off. And it did. For about 2 or 3 holes, then it rained non stop for the remainder of the round and weekend. It was not enough to deter most of the 17 members who put on the wet weather gear and hacked around the course.
Of the 17, Priemsy decided to hang up the spikes after 9 on the account that the slippery conditions were not too good for his ankle. Mehmet also decided to call it quits after 9, but he was only down for a catch up and coffee in the morning and the 9 holes was just a bonus. At around the 13th hole a couple of the groups joined together to make up groups of 6 and 5 due to the somewhat slower play due to the conditions and the smaller groupings.
Scoring was tough with the exception of 1, and it was Peps who played a blistering round considering the conditions and easily won the medal with a nett 65 and 1 over the stick!. He also scored 3 birdies out of 4 for the day in total which is a great effort considering the soaked clothes and gloves and shoes.
A bit further back was Gordon who played to a very respectable 69 nett. A further stoke back was Noods who was looking very good early on but faltered on the last few holes to end up in third. He was also joined by Beast with a nett 70.
The scoring ended up being quite close for the place getters with Matt and Bob rounding out the points finishers with 72 and 73. You might be thinking that due to the continuous rain the scoring was not that bad. Well for some of the field, yes but there ended up being none less than 7 players who cracked the ton for the round. This included a few 10’s and a lot of ‘s and 9’s.
Michael was back after another lengthy stint on the sidelines and although he did not score points he was close on all the nearest the pins in typical Michael style. He took home the prize on the 12th, but Blighty was probably likely to be closer but he forgot to mark it until after the hole was finished. He was not too disheartened as he putted his birdie attempt down the hill and proclaimed “oh that’s way too hard” as it hurtled down the hill. It was dead centre of the flag however and manged to pop up into the hole for Birdie.
For the 18th ball hole, Michael was beaten by Peps, and again on the 15th, pespi hit his tee shot to 3.5m to take the cash away from him. Noodles claimed that his group were going 5 ways in the prize after peps hit is close, but Peps was having none of that.
There were a few drafties with Ken shanking his tee on the 1st, and possibly another later on, Blighty was awfully close on the 15th and porks blasted quite a few tee shots out of bounds throughout the day.
Reminder that the annual trip away for 2020 has been announced to be in Cobram in October, please refer to Matt Hunts email for details. He is asking that members reply to advise their expended attendance and a deposit will be required book a place.
Happy birthday to Damian who is celebrating the big five oh, and also Craig and Mal who also have birthdays this week.
Results for Saturday, 02 November 2019
1st Andrew Petricola(65) 2nd Gordon Hill(69) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(70) 3rd Bill Eastoe(70) 4th Matt Hunt(72) 5th Bob McDonald(73)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (69) 2nd Bill Eastoe (70) 3rd Bob McDonald (73)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 1 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 18th Andrew Petricola
A dam(n) fine game of Stableford on 26 October 2019
Melbourne is in the midst of the Spring Racing Carnival and in the midst of some typical Melbourne Spring weather. It is a bit unclear as to which of these facts led to there being only twelve players on the tee this morning and one of those was only there for a ‘social’ nine. But, it wasn’t only us, the course car park was pretty sparsely populated as well. Other than it being a bit windy and cold, things weren’t too bad when, suddenly, on the 8th, a nasty black cloud scudded across and started to rain on the parade. Harry had barely finished struggling to get his wet weather pants on when the rain stopped, the cloud disappeared and the sun burst forth once more. Another brief shower later in the round brought the jacket out again with a similar outcome for the continuity of the rain. After deciding not to divest again, Harry came in to be greeted as the resident leprechaun. No crock of gold, just a crock of/at golf!
Adam, on the other hand seemed to be completely unfazed by the conditions and pretty consistently smacked his drives long down the centre and followed up with some fine touch around the greens. A couple of gashes early in the round were more than compensated by no less than six three pointers and one four pointer. The handicapper thinks that it might not be too long before the can take out his axe again if Adam can reproduce today’s performance under more benign weather conditions.
Peter scored the dreaded par on the first and carded gashes on the next three holes, suggesting that the jinx from parring the first was alive and well. However, the man with the golden arm, got it all back together and barely put a foot wrong for the next fourteen holes to grab second place with his card of 35 points. Enzo spent a fair bit of the round begging for ‘gimmes’ as he left any number of putts only millimetres from the hole, if not hanging on the edge waiting for a decent gust of wind to tip it in. With a bit more putt luck, Enzo’s 33 points could very easily have been several more with a consequent placing better than third.
Matty managed the front nine pretty well and turned right on his handicap with 18 points. Unfortunately, the back nine was not kind and he could only manage to scrape together 32 points. Dennis, fresh back from his trip to Trumpneyland, played it the other way around with 18 points on the back nine. On the 7th, Dennis took on the trees on the left and they very kindly delivered his ball back onto the fairway. Dennis approached his second shot with a club ‘that he doesn’t use much’, plopped the ball onto the green and it very gently ran up and rested against the pin. The next wind gust wiggled the flag and the ball dropped in for the birdie, one of only four for the day.
With none of his potential competitors for the Championship in the points today, Ryan was very happy to accept just the one for his effort of 31 points. With the year getting to the pointy end, Targe and Brendon will have to do some knee-capping and some winning to have a chance to catch the young colt who is within spitting distance of reaching his ‘tonne’ for the year.
The first BallPin was on the 12th with a bit of a cross tail wind complicating the aim required for the pin on the left side of the green. Somehow or other Rob was able to get his on and close enough to take out the ball on offer. On the 18th, Rob’s off-sider, Matt was hopeful that his would hold up to win a ball. Unfortunately, he didn’t take account of Enzo, who quite easily got closer to collect another ball for his collection. The ProPin on the 15th was deemed to be hardly worth winning, let alone splitting and it went begging for a Jackpot next week. Dennis was a bit hard done by when his drive hit the green in front of the pin but pulled back and finished only a couple of metres from the pin but 50mm off the green.
The tee on the 2nd was well back on the back tee with pretty much a head wind and, thus, it presented a pretty daunting prospect. One group, however, had two tee shots finish ‘on the green’. Rob’s finished on the 1st. JQ’s finished on the 6th after he absolutely smashed his drive which hit a tree dead centre and returned pretty much level with the starting point. Matty reckoned that Rob was playing so much like a girl that he finished with a ball emblazoned with the name ‘Sue’. Although, there is some chance that it could have been ‘SOS’.
Results for Saturday, 26 October 2019
1st Adam King(39) 2nd Peter Damou(35) 3rd Enzo Cirone(33) 4th Matt Hunt(32) 4th Dennis Ward(32) 5th Ryan Porker(31)
Seniors Results: 1st Enzo Cirone (33) 2nd Dennis Ward (32) 3rd Targe Mifsud (29)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Robert Priems BallPin No 2 18th Enzo Cirone