Category Archives: Club News

Where would we be without Melbourne weather?  A nice drop of rain yesterday to freshen things up but not enough to take the run out of the course.  But enough to make the greens completely different to last week.  Much slower according to Targe who, by his own admission, took over half the round to adjust his putting for the changed conditions.  Still, the clouds cover looked a bit threatening for a while and there were even a couple of drops of moisture that materialised.  Then the sun broke through and you couldn’t have wanted for a better day for playing golf.  Which sort of begs the question as to why the scoring wasn’t super spectacular and we only managed to put together 7 birdies between the eighteen of us who made it to the course.

Four players did manage to beat their handicap and take out the top points for the day with a score of +1.  Rod seems to have struck a bit of a purple patch and has moved up to be joint leader on the Championship Table.  Eddie is back with a vengeance and after the first nine he looked to be running away with it with five pluses and only one minus.  Maybe the thought of handicap pain got to him and the back nine was rather more ordinary.  JohnQ also went pretty well on the front nine suggesting that his newly wedded state hasn’t affected his game but he did leak a bit of oil on the first few holes of the home nine.  The three day week seems to be agreeing with Targe and he put together a couple of very steady nines to join the number one podium spot.

Now if it hadn’t been for the six three putt greens, Trevor might have run away with the day but as it was he had to settle for second place with his square card.  A good swag of points and no harm to the handicap.  That’s the way to do it.

If it was good enough for four to crowd onto the podium in first spot it was good enough for four to crowd on for third.  SteveK put in his first round for the year and didn’t muck about getting points on the table.  The card showed plenty of potential to have been a lot better so he could be the man to watch as the year progresses.  Jason doesn’t know his own strength and drove the green on the 14th, much to the surprise of the group in front who took much delight in blaming Stefan for the infraction.  Jason spent the rest of the round and the gathering after apologising profusely.  Ryan started off a bit ragged but could never quite get a run of scores together and limped in with just the one point down.  And last in the second set of four was Stefan who doesn’t seem to have monstered anybody today though he did go close to driving the 8th and reportedly went close to holing on the 12th.  That would have collected him the Eagles Nest which is starting to build up a bit.  But, the Committee did decide that the Eagle would not lay more than a dozen eggs from now on so there are still a few more weeks before (temporary) menopause sets in.

Fourth place was ably filled by Dale with a card of -2 and lastly but not leastly, the final spot went to Noodles and Rob with -3.  Just as a matter of interest, Dale has quietly slipped into the lead in the Eclectic though it is still early days and there were quite a few significant moves on the cards today.  Now it seems that Rob suffered a technical draughtie on one hole when he put his drive into the bushes but past the red tee markers but to take his relief he had to drop his ball behind the red markers.  Pretty tough group you were playing with there Rob.

One draughtie that there was no doubt about was down to Simon on the 15th who duffed it severely and the ball finished almost under the rubbish bin at the bottom of the path down from the upper level.  The presence of the path/steps allowed him some relief but the overall result for the hole was still not pretty.  Today, the course management did a re-run of the December Monthly Medal after the original event was cancelled due to confusion about which tee markers were being used.  The word today was that we were playing from the white markers (black course) and there was almost confusion again when the back tee on the 2nd was open and carried the blue markers but the whites were on the front tee box.  It was also interesting that some of the white markers were saucers.  Hopefully the kitchen will wash them thoroughly before they re-use them.  To say the least, CraigC wasn’t one hundred percent happy after his round he put in for the original run of the event though he did get the voucher if not the Medal.  He continues to come up short on the putts but he did finish up just outside the main points and picked up one in the Seniors.

Trev was helping to search for a ball on the 17th and tripped over something and went close to falling into the water as a result.  He and Targe were spotted holding hands after the round and thoughts of a bromance sprang to mind but it seems that Trev was suffering from cramps in the hand and Targe was giving him a special Maltese massage.  That’s their story, anyway.

Somewhere out on the course there was a blue-tongue lizard and according to Targe it tried to bite him.  The real story is that Targe tried to ‘pat’ it.  Could you blame the poor animal?  Gordon was resplendent in bright blue shorts today which he claims he wore to match his fetching blue socks.  Whatever the fashion statement, Gordon didn’t want to talk about his game.  Obviously, he wasn’t using his one iron.

The Club has paid the deposit to Shepparton for the Annual Challenge Weekend in August.  We will be looking to firm up on numbers in the near future and anybody who wants to commit can pay a deposit of $50 per person into the Club Account (put yourname/shep in the to account detail).  Gordon will circulate full details shortly but the all up charge will be of the order of $240 for golfers and $190 for non-golfers which includes dinner Saturday and lunch Sunday.  Shepparton does have a lot for the ladies and quite a few are keen to come along.  Apparently, there is a range of accommodation options available ranging from single rooms to four to a cabin but if you want a room to yourself you might be best to get in early to dibs it.

Results for Saturday, 21 January 2017
1st Rod Grant(+1) 1st Ed Kloprogge(+1) 1st Targe Mifsud(+1) 1st John Quinlan(+1) 2nd Trevor Jackson(□) 3rd Stefan Belevski(-1) 3rd Jason Hopkins(-1) 3rd Stephen Kelly(-1) 3rd Ryan Porker(-1) 4th Dale Webb(-2) 5th Stephen Butterfield(-3) 5th Robert Priems(-3)

Seniors Results: 1st Ed Kloprogge (+1) 1st Rod Grant (+1) 1st Targe Mifsud (+1) 2nd Trevor Jackson (□) 3rd Craig Cameron (-4) 3rd Simon Powell (-4)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Jackpot BallPin 12th Stephen Kelly

There was movement at the station for the word had got about that the sand machine was here on last Thursday……  If the greens had been sanded, why hadn’t they been cored?  Maybe, perhaps, because it was fertiliser as there was scant evidence of ‘sand’ on the greens as the round progressed.  Perhaps the rain and watering had dissolved whatever had been spread.  And looking at the greens, they seem to be in need of something with some nasty looking circular patches developing in places.  At one stage there was quite a discussion about the fun guy on the green but it wasn’t Noodles that was the topic of discussion, it was the prolific crop of puffballs that was evident in several places.

But, perhaps, it should have been Noodles who was the topic of conversation because he was quietly stacking up the points into a pretty impressive total of 40 to take out the top spot in today’s competition.  In a discussion about the vagaries and strategies of the game Noods came up with the stat that staying on the fairway was worth at least 8 points in a round.  He certainly proved that today by staying pretty much on the fairway and, if it hadn’t been for the extra eight points that resulted, he would have been well down the field.  He did complain about missing a birdie on the 5th (reckons it is a couple of years since he has had one) but he did score a couple of others and in doing so he contributed to the (fairly ordinary) total of ten that were carded for the day.

Stefan is noted for being able to smack the ball a country mile whether from the tee or from the fairway.  He was spotted playing at least one long fairway shot which sort of suggests that the tee shot was not all that great.  If it hadn’t been for one gash and five singletons, it is not hard to imagine that Stef could easily have filled the top spot instead of Noodles with 43 or 44 rather than his 38.

Now Bob wasn’t necessarily the happiest camper in the tent as he struggled with his short game and didn’t get a two pointer on the whole front nine.  He did manage four three pointers though (as well as some singles).  He also scored four three pointers on the back nine and those, together with a four and a swag of twos put him into third place with a total for the day of thirty-seven.  He even complained about his drive on the 13th, probably his best struck all day, because it was ‘off line’ even though the left to right did bring it to a finish in the middle of the fairway.

Targe also had a few problems with aspects of his short game though some would argue that his whole game is ‘short’.  At one stage after leaving a putt rather short of the length, he referred to himself as a particular sort of girl.  This could be construed as a bit of a dangerous statement with Noodles in the vicinity.  Anyway, the short and short of it was that Targe played to his handicap and put away 36 points for the day.  He was joined on the podium by Jason who managed to score the only known draughtie of the day when he skied his drive from the 18th and it hit a branch on the big gum tree and came back 30m to finish short of the red tee markers.  The excitement was almost too much for Damo who shouted to the world that he was about to be shouted.  Whether it was down to the effect of this shot but Jason was noticed lining up a lesson with the Pro.  So, watch out folks when the effects of this kick in after a few weeks.

Dennis Darklands filled out the podium and gathered his first points for the year with thirty-five of the best.  Dennis started of the round well and put in the best front nine of the day but he seems to have faded a bit on the back.  Maybe he is looking forward to his next Adele concert.

The ProPin today was on the 12th.  Noodles must be short of a quid because his eyes lit up when it looked as if his ball had finished close to the pin.  Although his pitch mark was closer to the mark, his ball had released just a little too far to be closer than the 1.85m that Dale was able to record on the marker.  The BallPin was on the 18th and the only person able to get their name on the card was Ryan who is looking more like a pussy (or should that be cat) week by week.

DennisW is back after celebrating his birthday last week and he celebrated today by managing to get four four pointers on his card.  He did manage to score on some other holes as well but, hey, if you have two point holes, why not make the best of them.  Michael was also back on deck today and rumour has it that he was trying out a new piece of artillery in the form of a putter.  Perhaps Sandy Claws was particularly kind to Michael.  Gordon has probably finished his holiday down in the sand-dunes on the coast and was also front and centre today.  He obviously hasn’t lost any of his touch as he was able to roll one down from the top tier on the 18th green and stay within gettable distance of the hole on the bottom deck.

On the other hand, Simon sorely missed his mid-week practice this week and is hell-bent to get in a round this Thursday.  Reports of a four putt green probably did not help the cause.  SOS spent a bit of time in the wilds on the right of the 11th and after one shot the club left his hands, not with the intention of placing it gently back in the bag with the rest of the set.  Noodles reckons equipment abuse is his bailiwick.  Damo has himself a FitBit and was giving his playing partners a running commentary on his heart rate as he played shots and climbed hills.  Not sure how you look at your wrist while playing a shot but it could go some way to explaining some parts of Damo’s scorecard.

The Birthday Birdie has a few names on the list this week though a couple are a bit hard to track down.  Rob should be pretty easy to give a slap on the back and buy a beer for if you so have a mind.  StephenK might be a bit more difficult though we do see him from time to time.  And, as for Tony, even Targe reckons he hasn’t seen him for some time.  Regardless, the Birdie says have a happy one.

Gordon has confirmed that the Annual Challenge weekend has been booked in for Shepparton on 19/20 August – so pencil it in.  We have to ante up a deposit by the end of January and, if we don’t call for expressions of interest (and contributions) before then, we probably will be soon after.  Shepp is deemed to be partner friendly so it doesn’t have to be a weekend away with the boys.  More details will be circulated in due course.

Results for Saturday, 14 January 2017
1st Stephen Butterfield(40) 2nd Stefan Belevski(38) 3rd Bob McDonald(37) 4th Jason Hopkins(36) 4th Targe Mifsud(36) 5th Dennis Tiernan(35)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (37) 2nd Targe Mifsud (36) 3rd Dennis Tiernan (35)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Dale Webb BallPin 18th Ryan Porker

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In actual fact, twenty players did make it to the tees but it was a close run thing for some.  Damo has a flash new car that is all computerised and stuff but when he went to head off this morning the ‘computer says No!’ and it seems that Damo was going nowhere except for the good graces of the wife to lend him her car.  JohnQ has been off in the Old Dart working(?) and getting married.  The wedding was very successful and the bride did turn up.  As well as the fact that John had flown in from minus 8 to face a 38 today, when he went to start the car it had a flat battery.  Rob was relying on a lift from Matt (unreliable copper from the Basin according to one report) and was waiting at the gate when in comes a text to advise that Matt wouldn’t be making it today.  So, Rob jumped into his trusty emerald green mean machine and made his own way to the course.  After the round Rob was spotted with a set of jumpers connected to Pork’s Mini trying to get the beast going from yet another flat battery.  Gordon was all fired up to get back into it and win the Monthly Medal but there was some sort of last minute change in plans (not sure whether they were Gordons) and he was forced to make the winning of the Medal that much easier for his absence.

It would have to be admitted that it was getting pretty warm out there on the course and the hats, sun-screen, water bottles and umbrellas were being put to very good use.  But, in the end, it was a couple of the older members in the field who managed to show it up to the younger, softer generation to come in with the best two scores of 66 nett.  Now, as this is the Monthly Medal, there can be only one winner and so a count-back was necessary to separate Rod and Harry.  In the end it was Rod who got the nod with a nett for the back nine of 29.5 to Harry’s 31.

Despite almost being left in the lurch, Rob managed to put in a blinder on the back nine to come in exactly on his handicap with a nett 68.  He was joined by Jason who also managed to make a fair fist of the back after a fairly ordinary front nine.  Dale was only a stroke behind and also did better as the day progressed.

Bobbie started the day off in fine style with a birdie on the first which some take as an omen if ill-fortune in the rest of the round.  Bob did have one or two moments but in the end he managed to come in with a pretty respectable 70 nett.  He was joined by Pepsi  who put down for quite a few birdies today and contributed significantly to the total of 16 that we managed to pull off.  The placing of the pin on the 14th caused quite a bit of angst for some players but Pepsi went close to pulling off an eagle when his chip rimmed the cup and finished close for the easy birdie.  Harry also went close on the first when a long second shot ran very close and just past the hole.  And of course we must not forget Chrispy who also got himself a couple of points by consorting with the rest of the fourth place getters.  Chrispy is on the road to Mandalay next week though there probably won’t be any flying fishes playing.  Then, after that, he is off to the Shakey Isles so we won’t be seeing Chrispresident for a few weeks

Even though JohnQ was claiming jet-lag and honey-moon-lag would affect his game before tee time, he seems to have managed to keep the noddies at bay and gather himself a point on his first outing for the year.  Whitey also managed to avoid a cricket score even though he did have to rush off and don the baggy whites after getting an unexpected call up to the team late in the week.  He was in such a rush to head off that it appears that he took the Nearest the Pin containers and markers with him and so we only have his playing mates word for the fact that the BallPin on the 4th actually had Whitey’s name on it and that the ProPin on the 12th actually did have Jason’s name on it.  No record of the distance as a result.

Eddie has been let off the leash again and has been up to his usual tricks of not knowing what his handicap is (12), though he obviously knows what it should be (9).  He also seemed to be having some trouble making up his mind whether he would be gracing the field with his presence again next week.  The last group seemed to have formed the view that they were out of contention and challenged one another to play the 18th using only their driver.  They never did say who won the hole but it was clear that Noodles lost it when his putt from off the green lipped the cup and he had to settle for a five.

There was a bit of wind around today and on some greens more than others.  Targe puts at least some of that variability down to Blighty.  Bob opted to take relief under Rule 9 Number 2 and he was gone so long that the rest of the group were considering mounting a search party.  When you gotta go, you gotta go!  Maybe the long walk back to the 6th tee after his ball could not be found got things into motion.

Brendon was a little astray on the 17th and had to use his putter out of the bushes and in the process he scratched his hand.  It didn’t look to be a serious injury but you know what Kiwis are like!  Jason also got up to some tricks on the 17th.  His drive was somewhat less than spectacular and then he really collared his second such that it could easily have been – next stop, Dights Falls.  However a quick side-step by the large spotted gum intervened and the ball bounced back to within a half a metre of the green and he finished off to get a par.

Trevor didn’t have the worst round of the day but it apparently would have been much better if he hadn’t had seven three putt and 3 four putt greens.  Joe and Blighty abandoned balls as lost on the 13th only to stumble across them further up the fairway.  So, it always pays to declare a provisional (and somebody has to be present to be declared to) if there is any doubt that the ball is lost or any hope that the ball might be found.  For Blighty, there was no doubt about the two balls that went into the pond beside the 16th.  The one compensation was that the 10 wouldn’t have showed up on his Eclectic since the stroke limit for that is set at 9.

And, while it is early days,  Rob has a handy jump on the Eclectic field just at the moment.  CraigC still has the lead in the overall Championship and Craig and Bob share the honours in the Seniors.

One person that was missing from the field today was DennisW.  Perhaps it was because, the Birthday Birdie whispers, it was actually the big day today.  Have a good one Dennis.

Results for Saturday, 07 January 2017
1st Harry Boughen(66) 1st Rod Grant(66 – MM c/b) 2nd Jason Hopkins(68) 2nd Robert Priems(68) 3rd Dale Webb(69) 4th Bob McDonald(70) 4th Andrew Petricola(70) 4th Chris Priems(70) 5th John Quinlan(71) 5th Rodney White(71)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (66) 1st Rod Grant (66) 2nd Bob McDonald (70) 3rd Targe Mifsud (74)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin 4th Rodney White

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As the clock ticked on towards seven o’clock, Simon was starting to get worried.  He’d been up since sparrow’s and at the course nice and early but it was beginning to look as if he would be playing alone.  Had he offended everybody in some way last week was a question that crossed his mind.  No, no more than usual.  It was just that everybody was running a bit behind schedule and in the end, Simon had seven playing partners to choose from.  And as he was the tee marshall for the day, he chose DennisW as one on the fairly reasonable basis that he had never played with Dennis before.  Quite independently, Dennis was moved to comment that he had never played with Simon before so two oversights were rectified in one fell swoop.

Now DennisT has really got the darklands out of his system though he is complaining that he has to go and watch women’s cricket next week and won’t get to try out his new found form at the Monthly Medal.  Just to prove that his handicap breaking form last week was not a fluke, he went out this week and really smashed his handicap.  And, after having had a little whinge when told that the competition for the day would be Par, he went out and showed that it didn’t matter anyway and turned in a card with plus 6.  The handicapper would have had a field day with a card like that.

SOS made it along today after a week off after the break-up party.  It seems that he was one of the group that kicked on at the pub afterwards and he was involved in what he reckons would be a first.  Chrispy and he were refused service and asked to leave Dan Murphy’s.  You’d have to wonder who was driving?  Anyway, SOS is now over his hang-over and was able to keep his head down to bring in the next best card with one point on the plus side.

Damo is itching to take advantage of his mid-season break and is building up quietly for his lunge at the medal next week.  He was reported to be driving like a demon all day and managed to play to his handicap with a square card.

The ProPins today were on the 15th and the 18th.  The greens proved elusive again today and the 15th was left bare although Dennis Darklands did run his through to finish just a few centimetres onto the second cut.  So the dosh was jackpotted onto the 18th which also proved to be difficult to stick a ball onto.  The other Dennis looked to have a very good chance from the tee, but his, too, had just trickled onto the verge and it was left to Noodles to get one actually on the green even though it wasn’t particularly close to the pin.  The way Noodles looks at it, sixteen dollars is way better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick although he did lose the envelop at one stage until a kind person pointed out that it was missing.

Targe hit his tee shot on the 9th into the trees to the left and the ball was found well back into the ‘garden bed’ after what must have been a fairly solid ricochet.  Harry reckons it was a close run thing as to whether it was actually in front of the red markers but a surveyor would have been required to extend the line through the trees and shrubbery.  DennisW also went close to not making it past the front markers on the 15th and it required some careful alignment to determine that he had made the grade by not much more than a hair’s breadth.

The front group thought that Noodles must have been playing with a cricket ball rather than a golf ball when his tee shot from the 17th made such a resounding splash into the water in the pond.  On the same hole, Darklands assessed the fairway to be clear and played his shot to miss Targe by a fairly narrow margin.  The curvature of the earth obviously meant that Targe was below the horizon well before everybody else.  Now Targe has had his little chipping iron for something like ten years and when he bought it he was advised that he should use it like a putter.  Targe started doing just that on the last three holes today and he found that it works a treat.  Who said he was a slow learner?

DennisW is well known for his ‘antique’ driver but he did some work for a mate up in the country who rewarded him with a ‘few dollars’.  As a result Dennis is about to get himself fitted for a new club (or maybe more) so watch this space.  The only problem might be that he will hit them even further ‘out of sight’ like he did today on the 2nd where diligent searching failed to find a ball that should have finished in plain sight.  SOS is reported to have suffered a similar fate on the same hole.  Perhaps there is a black hole there somewhere and the balls are disappearing across the event horizon.

So, next week it will be back to business in earnest with the handicapper reaching into his Santa sack to hand out Championship points to those who make it onto his ‘nice’ list by appearing on the podium.  But, he is also sharpening his knife to deal with those that make it onto his ‘naughty’ list by breaking their handicap in the process.

Have an enjoyable night tonight, whatever you choose to do.  Chrispy has chosen to slum it in some posh hotel in town while others seem intent on spending the evening watching cage fighting.  Whatever floats your boat.  Let the new year bring you good health, good fortune and most of all, good golf.  Happy New Year 2017!