Next Week’s Details

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

Things were just a little icy, as we struggled to get the first group to tee off, even though at least one of them had a very important birthday to go to. The claim was that it was too dark. Last week, the corresponding group from the 10th were playing with Glo-balls. By the time they got to the bottom of the hill, the ladies were queuing behind, counting how many groups we still had to go. As the only group of three in our field of eighteen members and one guest (Jake, though he hardly seems like a guest), they soon streaked ahead of the field, and started expressing some concern as to how many beers they would have consumed before the rest of the field fronted the judges. They must have showed some restraint, as they both were still upright at the end of the day. We can only assume that Ryan made it to the party on time. The Birthday Birdie says happy many more to the little one who now has one under the belt.

There was ice in lots of places to start the day. On the top of rubbish bins, among the leaf litter under the oaks, but especially underfoot on the fairways. Double socks were the order of the day, although some hardy types still turned out in their shorts. Pres reckons he feels restricted in longs. Eventually, it started to warm a little and the ice melted, and, it seems, that a few golfers took a while to warm up as well. Brendon was one who used most of his handicap on the front nine, with one contribution to his troubles being a power shank to end all power shanks. After the seventh, though, he really knuckled down and finished the last eleven holes right on par, with a couple of birdies off-setting a couple of bogies. This effort helped our birdie total to eight, and did minimal damage to his handicap, with only the winner’s penalty in play.

Wazza played his first competition round today, and it didn’t take him long to get some points on the board, as he finished just a point behind Brendon to take second place. Approach play probably let him down on more than one occasion, but, he has been sneaking out for a bit of practice during the week. So, watch out for Wazza! You could just about hear CJ salivating for the entire round. By the fifth hole, he had already scored three beers, thanks to efforts by Jake, Pres, and Bobbie. Fortunately, SOS was going to drive him most of the way home. CJ’s 34 points was just that little better than Pres could manage, so the Brothers Priems took out the points for third and fourth. Just to spoil the chances of handing out minimum points, Stan, Craig, and Ken all presented to collect a point each for fifth place. Stan could have easily missed out on his spot, if not for a putt on the 10th, that came to an absolute stop on the edge of the cup until a blade of grass must have given way, and the ball fell in.

The first BallPin was on the 4th, and there were not too many contenders for the honour. Porks put in a bid, but CJ was able to trump him for the pill. The Jackpot ProPin on the 12th saw quite a number of potential contenders, but Pepsi had put in an early claim at 2.2m, which you would have to reckon was in with a good chance. But, Marc laid one up to 1.52m to take the heavy money that was on offer. Marc didn’t make it to the list of birdies, but neither did he three putt, as some suggested. The 18th green resisted all attempts at holes-in-one, or even getting a ball onto the green, so there is a Double Jackpot there next week.

Gordo’s score was apparently not helped by managing to put his ball up close and personal to a tree that left no option but to play backwards, or sideways at best, on several occasions. SOS was bragging about having found one of Pepsi’s balls in the rough somewhere. This was based on an inscription on the ball that good manners prevents repeating here. SOS also thought he might have ventured OOB on the 13th, when his ball was heard to clang on the green control box on the left. His provisional finished on the green, so he sort of hoped that his first might actually be out. It wasn’t, and having been denied relief from the effects of the green obstruction, he played a great shot that finished, as nicely as you please, in the hole. After Harry managed to putt way past the hole on the second, he reckoned that it must have been the ice on the green that caused it to slip past. Bob’s buggy was in the news today when it suffered a capsize, as he traversed across the slope down towards the fairway on the 17th. He also sold the fancy rain cover to SOS, who reckons it was probably because he couldn’t get it out of the bag that it came in, because SOS was struggling to do so as well. Gordo found the trees with his drive on the first, didn’t make much of a fist of his second, and left his third short of the green. Adam had smashed his drive and landed his second nicely on the green. Gordo chipped it in for his par, while Adam took three to finish with a bogie. Adam probably felt there was no justice in this world as a result.

Results for Saturday, 14 Jun 2025
1st Brendon Mitchell (36) 2nd Warren Capes (35) 3rd Chris Priems (34) 4th Robert Priems (33) 5th Stan Blackshaw (32) 5th Craig Cameron (32) 5th Ken Watson (32)

Seniors Results: 1st Chris Priems (34) 2nd Robert Priems (33) 3rd Craig Cameron (32) 3rd Ken Watson (32) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (32)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Marc Phillips BallPin No 1 – 4th Chris Priems BallPin No 2 – 18th Jackpot

But you will! You’ve probably heard about lightning not striking twice. Yes, the weather was somewhat inclement. However, it did not quite result in lightning. But, it did rain to a greater or lesser degree for most of the morning, and the sun only showed its face as we sat around after the round waiting for Brendon to work his way through the rather convoluted result sheet. There were cries of – I have to make it home in time for dinner – as the final list was sorted out and announced. The tales of woe that surfaced were many and varied, with the cold and wet copping a fair amount of the blame for some of the results that were handed in. But, just as there are race horses that revel in the wet conditions, there are some golfers that don’t seem to mind it as well.

Well, at least one who didn’t seem to mind the conditions. Leading the field by a country mile was none other than our favourite Mango Man, Ken, who just missed out on playing to his handicap to collect the Medal, and a fruit box full of points. Old Reliable probably thought he wasn’t being particularly reliable, but he was certainly more reliable than the rest, finishing only seven strokes behind the winner. He wasn’t alone on that score, as AndrewV also joined him in second place in both the main event and the Seniors. Stan presented with at least one quadruple and one triple on his card, but he still managed to steal into third place. As pretty much our oldest member, it was perhaps appropriate that he was joined by pretty much our youngest member in Josh. The Hunts kept themselves in the hunt today, with Matt slipping into 4th place with our ‘petrol stealing’ Prez. CJ didn’t want fifth place mentioned in the blog today for some reason, and he swears he is only going to tell his workmates that he scored a point when they ask on Monday.

The next to last match in the second round was battled out today between Josh and Andrew. There were only two strokes to be given, so, on paper, it looked like it could be a close run thing. The early lead went to Andrew, but he was slowly pegged back so that, after the 8th, the match was all square. This obviously inspired Andrew, and he bolted out to a three hole advantage in short order. Josh gave himself a good talking to, and soon looked like taking charge, except that he never quite got to the lead and Andrew held him to one hole down after the 15th. A win by Andrew on the 16th made the match dormie 2, meaning that Josh had to keep winning to force a chip-off for the result. Unfortunately for Josh, Andrew clinched the match by winning the 17th to finish three and one.

There was plenty of excitement about the par threes today. Probably the most spectacular result was on the 7th, where Brendon took out his trusty 3 iron, and barrelled one straight at the pin to hit the green, take a couple of bounces and run straight into the hole. What do you reckon the odds are of Holes-in-One on consecutive Saturdays. No chance for camera coverage here, and only one ball in the Eagle’s Nest. At least the ball he used was in a little better condition that the one he played last week. He did wonder about not handing it over, as it still had several rounds in it. He did have a couple of other 1’s on his card, but, unfortunately, they were side by side for his score on the 17th following a couple of run-ins with the penalty area on the hole. But, this pales into insignificance compared to Raj, who out stripped that effort easily with five in and a sixth just over to finish with 15 for the hole. The computer just about haemorrhaged.

Back to the par three story. One group reported that, on the 15th, the three of them managed to take 16 strokes all up. Pretty obviously not in contention for the Nearest-the-Pin. Actually, the only one to go off was the 15th, where SteveG managed to get within 6m to snag himself a ball. The BallPin on the 18th, and the ProPin on the 12th both went begging and will Jackpot to next week.

Normally, the number of players gets a mention earlier in the blog. There were 16 members who set out from the first, and who finished the round. However, only 12 members finished up being eligible for the final result. Gordo disqualified himself for thinking that we were playing Stableford, and picking up when he ran out of strokes on the 8th hole. Perhaps that thought was instigated by dint of keeping Stableford points for the ProShop card. For the first time in yonks, the teeing area on the 18th was set up on the elevated tee, and part of that teeing area did not present much of a shot at the green. Despite that, one group failed to notice the white markers, and, so, chose to play from the ‘black’ blocks. As they played from an incorrect tee and did not rectify the situation by replaying with the appropriate penalty before proceeding with/ (completing, since it was the 18th) the round, the penalty was disqualification. Tough, but we play by the rules. Of the eligible cards, we produced four birdies and one eagle/hole-in-one. Nalin didn’t play today, so, perhaps he was saving himself for his birthday tomorrow. The Birthday Birdie says have a good one.

Prez was a bit red-faced today. He and Ken stopped at a servo to get some fuel and a cup of coffee, and they got so involved with making the coffee that they forgot to pay for the fuel. Fortunately for Prez, it is a regular stop and the owner knew how to contact him, rather than the fuzz. But you have to wonder why he would be carrying a spare number plate in his kit! Raj was rather excited about the prospect of playing his 100th game with the Club today, but, maybe, after the 17th, he might prefer to forget it. Gordo was a bit cheesed with how his game was going, and, when he stepped up to the 16th tee, he decided that his luck might change with a new ball. He lined up, closed his stance a bit and really gave the ball a good smacking. All he has to do is keep that up from now on. Ryan smacked one straight down the guts on the first, and SOS asked if he wanted to play their match. Not after the round has started was the reply. Whereupon SOS put one ball into the tank, and lost the other, so he might be glad that Ryan didn’t take him up. This also avoided another tricky question about whether the result would have been valid, given subsequent events. If CJ had not had a couple of ‘I’ll just tap this in’ that rimmed out and looked him in the face, he might have had a chance of not being so embarrassed about getting a point

Results for Saturday, 07 Jun 2025
1st Ken Watson (69) 2nd Craig Cameron (76) 2nd Andrew Vogan (76) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (78) 3rd Josh Hunt (78) 4th Matt Hunt (80) 4th Robert Priems (80) 5th Chris Priems (83)

Seniors Results: 1st Ken Watson (69) 2nd Andrew Vogan (76) 2nd Craig Cameron (76) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (78)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 15th Steven Gervasoni BallPin No 2 – 18th Jackpot

Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 7th *** Brendon Mitchell ***