It was a rainbow sort of a day.  First, there was white.  White fog that hung like a pall over the course at tee time and made playing the first couple of holes a bit of a lottery in terms of being sure where the ball went and whether the group in front was out of range.  Then, there was the yellow ball that each team carried for the Yellow Ball Teams Event that was run in conjunction with today’s event.  Next there were the black armbands that the players wore out of respect for Mal Adey, the all round good guy who departed us so suddenly for that great golf-course in the sky.  Not sure how Mal will handle the conditions up there as he did have a bit of a propensity to make contact with the big ball before the little one.

And lastly in the colour spectrum was the Red Letter Day for the Beast.  Bill absolutely streeted the field and went around in just the one over par to score a magnificent +8 and really get the jump on the pack at the head of the Championship Table.  But don’t despair,  Bill is off on his round-the-world golfing tour soon and needs a bit of a buffer to cover for the weeks that he will be away.  He was joined today by his mates Wayne and Angelo who will also be jet-setting with Bill but it sounds as if they could also be interested in joining us on a more regular basis.  After the round Bill said that he would like to dedicate his round to Mal and if he could he would give the points to Mal as well.  And there is no truth to the rumour that the points that Mal did have on his account were to be auctioned to the highest bidder.

Another man who is appearing on the podium with some regularity is ChrisV who took a certain amount of delight in deposing Chrispy from his spot as Clubhouse leader only to be blown away by the all-conquering Beast.  Still a +2 is nothing the be sneezed at and it didn’t do as much harm to the handicap as winning would have.  With his double deposition, Chrispy had to satisfy himself with third place alongside Old Reliable himself, Oliver.  Oliver was laying claims to have gotten thirteen greens in regulation yet barely played to his handicap.  Some people are never satisfied.

CraigC lined up today for his first competition round and the handicapper was quite nervous about the likely outcome.  As it turned out, the handicap was about right and Craig made it to the podium in 4th place alongside Eddie.  Ed will need to be careful or he will get a reputation as a shirt lifter after showing off to everybody that he was suffering with a bad case of chives (or was that shingles?).  Bob looked to be hitting his straps today but ended up squandering some chances around the greens on the back nine easing from +2 on the front to finish -2 overall.  He was joined on the podium by SOS who had to rush off but the card indicates a fairly steady round.

The nearest the Pin for a ball was located on the 4th and there was a certain amount of competition with three names appearing on the marker.  The last one and the winner of the ball was AndrewB.  The ProPin was on the 15th and it was left unscathed so the money will Jackpot to next week.  The birdie count for today was 10 and at least three of those went to the Beast.  Bill had put in a request to be in the last group which is a bit unusual in the scheme of things and there was some speculation as to why – let the fog clear, let the greens dry out – whatever it was, it certainly paid off.

The Yellow Ball Team Event also saw a bit of a break-through as all balls were returned to the starter.  Though apparently, one was lost on the 17th but was later found on the 18th so no card for that one.  The winning team, with a square card, consisted of Chrispy, Oliver and Whitey, which wasn’t such a bad result given the vagaries of the game.

While on the subject of Chrispy, it seems that he was up to his usual tricks of using the trees to advantage to put his ball into a scoring position.  Whitey also seems to be getting in a bit of practice for the Three Club Challenge next week by using his putter on the fairway and playing it like a nine iron out of the rough.  Mehm was so desperate to get some points to help keep in touch with the leaders that he was looking for reasons to disqualify anybody who was in front of him both in the scores for today and in the Championship Table.  Unfortunately that would have required disqualifying about half the field – then again he was claiming extenuating circumstances.  Chrispy has offered him a dispensation for the next month at least.

The membership is taking on the appearance of a Casualty Ward with evidence of a number ailing with lurgi’s and injuries of various types.  Here’s hoping none of them are too contagious.  Trevor managed to soldier on after re-jinking his back on the 14th.  Insisted on taking his turn with the yellow ball on the 17th and managed to square the hole.

Just remember, next week is the Three Club Challenge.  Only three clubs allowed in your bag.  Your choice, you can putt with your driver if you wish.  Championship Points are awarded and if you fancy your chances you can play the inside comp as well but legally the scores can only be used for official (GolfLink) handicapping if you equal or break your regular handicap.  Enquiries will be made as to how the Course management are likely to handle this and advice will be notified.

Results for Saturday, 16 August 2014
1st Bill Eastoe(+8) 2nd Chris Vinecombe(+2) 3rd Oliver Gross(+1) 3rd Chris Priems(+1) 4th Craig Cameron(-1) 4th Ed Kloprogge(-1) 5th Bob McDonald(-2) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(-2)

Injuries, family, work, house renovations, holidays, cold weather, wet weather – the list goes on and on to explain the small fields that we have been having lately.  Trevor turned up getting around like a half open pocket-knife but grinned and bore it to complete the round.  The turf was pretty soggy in places and more than a few balls required a second look to find them buried up to the hocks and higher in the soft ground.  Still we did manage to get sixteen hardy souls to try their hand at mastering the sometimes tricky conditions.

And, what do you know, some did manage to master them and then some.  None more so than Brendon, who obviously reveled in the New Zealand like conditions on the course and gave it and his handicap something of a smashing (particularly on the back nine) to return 40 points and to collect the laurels for the day.  He was seen threading one through the trees from by the 7th green, on the way to the 6th green but he didn’t really want to discuss how he got to be by the 7th in the first place.  Obviously a minor aberration in the scheme of things.

The Beast continues to accumulate the higher order minor placings at a regular rate and today was no exception.  As a result, although there is a bit of a pack developing at the top of the Championship Table, Bill has managed to get a bit of a break on the pack and they will have to concentrate if they want to keep him is sight.  The minor correction to his handicap did no real harm to his position in the Eclectic and the rest of the field desperately need birdies to narrow the gap.  While on the topic of birdies, we managed nine today which was a better strike rate that last week.  Bill also heads the pack in the Seniors table as well.

Noodles seems to have adjusted to his new handicap and stiffened up a bit to share the third place score of 37 points with Snags and ChrisV.  Craig combined his result with the final of the Matchplay Final round against Blighty and this performance was enough to see Blighty off 5 and 3.  It seems that Craig had told Blighty that he was the Matchplay Champion about five times between the determination of the result and the end of the round.

Next cab off the rank was Harry who struggled a bit on the front nine but went close to a best performance on the back nine.  What looked like an excellent result from the tee on the 18th turned disappointing with the ball stationary on the slope between the upper and lower tiers.  A small smudge of dirt and a blade of grass was enough to hold it from running back down to the hole.

Last to collect points today was el Presidente himself who managed to play just one over his handicap and edge out Mehmet who is still ruing his error in the inside comp last week by playing with the wrong (higher) handicap.  This just reinforces the fact that you should check your GolfLink Handicap (and in particular your Daily Handicap) because it can vary quite suddenly and sometimes unexpectedly depending on what drops out of your eight best or out of your twenty latest.

The Nearest the Pin for the ball today was on the 12th and the result went to Brendon.  Obviously, it was his day.  The ProPin on the 18th on the other hand went to Whitey though he was a bit nervous when somebody in a following group appeared to have put one close as well – but not close enough.

Brendon is probably thinking of today’s result as an early birthday present since he has one coming up in the next week and the Birthday Birdie also whispers that ChrisV also has an event to celebrate.

CraigC played for his third card today and raised a couple of eyebrows with a score that did not quite match the early promise – but, hey, we all have our ups and downs.  So a nice new handicap and the chance to show what he can do in the furnace of competition over the coming weeks.

Targe seemed to have it in for the flora around the course and pruned or dented about six trees in the course of two holes early in the round.  During the course of discussions after the round, one of the advantages of being in the first group was deemed to have a greater chance to be classified as Clubhouse leader – at least for a while.  Chrispy lived up to his reputation by sending his tee shot in the general direction of the Yarra and a trip to Dight’s Falls  To his great delight (and dismay of his playing group) it hit a tree and came to rest on a perfect lie on the fairway.  He then chipped up to the verge of the green and proceeded to putt it in for the birdie.  Maybe not the hole-in-one posted on FaceBook but a pretty good result anyway.

Next week there will be further sales in the Golf Simulator raffle and then the draw will be made to select the lucky winner.  If Chrispy keeps buying tickets, he might be better just taking himself to the venue and paying up front.

The deadline for despatch of deposits for the Annual Challenge to Gordo resulted in a disappointing outcome with only two deposits received and several more members opting out .  Given that we were already well behind the confirmation date and the hosts were sounding not too happy about the situation, it was decided that the event would be cancelled.  From feed-back received, it was agreed that a new, closer venue would be investigated for a time around the end of March.  One of the peninsulas is the most probable target which will reduce the travel time significantly and there is some potential to reduce the cost as well.  Mehmet has nominated to lead the investigation and anybody with ideas or feed-back should contact him in the first instance.

Results for Saturday, 09 August 2014
1st Brendon Mitchell(40) 2nd Bill Eastoe(39) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(37) 3rd Craig Sharp(37) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(37) 4th Harry Boughen(36) 5th Gordon Hill(35)

The rain, hail, snow and sleet of yesterday might have caused havoc on the roads and it looked as if it had created havoc with the attendance at Royal Ivanhoe today.  With only five starters on the blocks it was looking as if you would have to have a pretty bad day not to score points.  A late rush of blood (young and not so young) brought the numbers up enough to make a comp of it and despite the best efforts to maximise the number of ties, there were still a few people who missed out on the podium.

One person who made sure he didn’t miss out on the points (and a second medal for the year to boot) was the smiling assassin, Mehmet.  Mehm was going so well on the front nine that he could afford to take and eight (yes eight) on the eighth which apparently included a couple of out of bounds.  Just imagine what his new handicap would have been except for that little aberration (or did he plan it?).

Ryan was keeping up with Mehm over the course of the front nine but he let his guard down on a couple of holes on the back and finished the round just a stroke behind the mark.  Ever reliable Oliver came in next after a round that was punctuated by quite a collection of ten second waits as his ball teetered on the brink but never did quite fall into the hole for him.  Some putts are diamonds – some putts are….!

A fair cluster of players fronted for the fourth place points headed by Bill who is claiming some sort of a record by having a total of five shots for a birdie on the 17th.  In case you are wondering, this included two provisionals when the fate of the first two were unclear.  Craig had some fun and games in the bus in yesterday’s wild weather with a bit of slipping and sliding going on but no slipping and sliding today as he too joined the fourth place getters.  Last, but by no means least in this little group was Targe who could easily have done better.  His drive hit the ground behind the ladies tee on the third which is no mean feat given that the blues and the reds were about 100mm apart.  Fortunately (or unfortunately as the case might be) the ball didn’t plug.

Chrispy was not at all confident that he would score any points when he handed his card in but as luck would have it he managed to hold on to pick up the singleton.

So, there has been some movement at and about the top of the tables and there is now a bit of congestion that means that there could be an interesting run up to the end of the year.  There was also some movement in the Eclectic with a few improvements but none enough to worry Bill at the head of that table.  Only four birdies for the day so fairly thin on the ground even with the small numbers.  Our new qualifying member CraigC picked up the ball on the 18th for the nearest the pin while the ProPin on the 12th went to Ryan who finished a mere 60cm from the hole.  And that after Snags had finished ‘here’.

Bill went close to emulating Keith on the 16th only this time it was a crane, not an ibis, but the bird was nimble enough to skip out of the way.  Bill also had a few problems with the scorecard and was upset when Harry didn’t have a 6 on the hole because he had already written it in.  Usually people get behind on the scoring, not ahead.  While Noodles kept it up last week, this week he seemed to have gone all limp and soggy and didn’t make much of a fist of his new handicap.  CraigC put in his second card which wasn’t quite as impressive of that of last week so his form next week will be of great interest to the handicapper.

The Birthday Birdie has been a bit slack in recent times and he seems to think that Pepsi and Ken might have had one in the recent past.  In the coming week, rumour has it that Ben and Harry will have something to celebrate.

The simulator session raffle is still running so there is still a chance to get tickets over the next couple of weeks.

Those going to Murray Downs for the Annual Challenge should get your deposits to Gordon on or before next Saturday.  As the full payment is due soon after, the Club is going to settle and will be relying on everybody who registers to replenish the coffers.

Results for Saturday, 02 August 2014
1st Mehmet Akdag(65) 2nd Ryan Porker(67) 3rd Oliver Gross(68) 4th Bill Eastoe(70) 4th Targe Mifsud(70) 4th Craig Sharp(70) 5th Chris Priems(73)

By all accounts and from the scores there was a fair bit of excitement out on the course for the second round of the Fred Howe despite the smallish field.  The weather was a bit on the iffy side but Noodles managed to keep it up (doesn’t he always) and brought home the bacon and collected his biggest for the year (trophy, that is).

Not too far behind, by a ‘short’ head was the sharpest shooter in the club (gun) Targe who, if it wasn’t for a couple of wobbles along the way, could easily have stepped up to a higher plane.  Ever consistent Oliver was not quite so consistent this time but still put in a creditable performance to get the points for third place.

Bean-counter Brendon could easily have been suffering from post-hole-in-one-stress-syndrome but despite that he improved on the previous week’s effort and presented to the judges in fourth place.  Mehmet was the big mover on the day with a six point improvement to leap up the ladder into 5th place.

And, as for the rest – less said.

The little birdie had no info on the nearest the pin competitions but we did manage seven birdies.  The Eagles nest has shrunk back to a paltry single ball so undoubtedly there was little incentive to even try.

The event that did almost over-shadow the major though was the first place round of the Matchplay.  This was contested between Snags and Blighty and they both obviously meant business.  Craig has obviously been saving himself for this and put together the best round of the day (and for quite a while for him) with a total of 41 points.  Blighty was not far behind on the points total and as a result they finished the 18th all square.  So, according to the rules, they will have to slug it all out again to try to break the dead-lock.  So still a bit of excitement left with Targe and Damo to also fight it out for third place.

Also a big welcome to another Craig (Cameron) who came along and put in his first card with us.  Craig is a Cats supporter but we can’t hold that against him.  With a pretty impressive 75 off the stick, the handicapper has his pencil out and looking to be writing out a fairly small number after the three rounds.  Well done Craig and hope you have a great time with Ivanhoe Social.

The iffy weather resulted in a decision to have a pizza feast instead of a bar-b-q and it seems that Oliver excelled himself on this score as well and the tucker was enjoyed by all in the comfort of the Clubhouse.

Arrangements for the Annual Challenge trip are under way and deposits are required to Gordo by 9th August ($100).  The cost is estimated to be $260 per player and $410 per couple (1 player).  You can join Murray Downs on line and qualify for a 10% discount on everything at the Club (except scores)

Results for Saturday, 26 July 2014
1st Stephen Butterfield(38, 39, 77) 2nd Targe Mifsud(37, 38, 75) 3rd Oliver Gross(37,35, 72) 4th Brendon Mitchell(34, 36, 70) 5th Mehmet Akdag(31, 37, 68)