Category Archives: Club News

It was a lovely day for golf, so where the heck was everybody.  After weeks of bumper fields, today we could only manage to put together 14 players to fight it out for the last monthly medal before the hump where this year’s Champion of Champions day is closer in time than last year’s.  Granted there was the odd surgery, family event, after-effect of a week of golf and just plain goofing off but the small field did raise the odd flutter in a heart or two at the prospect of some silver-ware at the end of the year or even of the chance to get in on the points distribution.

Now, although the scoring did not exactly set the world on fire, the event ended up being fiercely contested with no less than four members coming in with the same score.  This could very well be a Club record for the number of people involved in a count-back.  In the end, it was Chrispresident who grabbed the trophy in what was thought to be an unlikely possibility after the first nine.  However a ten stroke improvement between the nines meant that Chris was in the box-seat when it came to the count-back and he swept all before him or at least he dodged the fallen contenders in his path.  As for the other three, Targe, SOS and Mr T (aka George), they will have to console themselves with a ball, the points and the handicap cut.

There was a two stroke gap from the winning 69 nett to the second place-getters on 71.  The Beast claimed that he couldn’t get out of his head, Harry’s idea to make lipping the cup the aim of the game, rather than having to get the ball into the hole and that this contributed to him missing the eagle putt on the 17th though the fact that the ball finished about 3 metres past the hole suggests that something else might have bitten him for that one.  Possibly, it was the salivating thought of packing nine balls into his kit that did the deed.   Pepsi came in along-side Bill but if it hadn’t been for a bit of a shaky start and a little wobble on the 16th, Peps could have been much better placed than a mere second.

Bob teed his ball up too low on the first and as a result the ground strike behind the ball caused the club to pass clean over the top for a spectacular and potentially soul-destroying airie.  A higher ball mounting saw the next shot get away down the track but the first few holes did not augur well for a score that would score.  After the 6th, things settled down and Bob came home with a bit of a flurry and managed to sneak into third place with his nett 73 and adding some more points to remain very much in contention in both Championship tables.

Harry’s golf trip to the Murray might have been good practice, or it might have used up all his good shots or it might have worn him out.  Alternatively, he might have just played an average game that was enough to pick up fourth place.  Brendon book-ended his front nine with double bogies but managed to equal par over the intervening seven holes.  The back nine started well but then the engine started haemorrhaging oil and he could only manage to squeeze into 5th place on 75 nett.

The ProPin today was on the 12th hole and after the first group went through it was a bit of a no contest and Targe was able to collect the pool of cash with his shot to 3.7m.  The distance was too great for Targe and he had to settle for a par rather than a birdie but the abbreviated field did manage to put together ten for the day.  The BallPin was on the 18th and it looked as if the ball was going to be unclaimed but, in the end, Mehmet managed to get his on.  Bob also put his onto the green but anyone would have been hard pressed to have been further from the hole than he was.

There were a few improvements on the Eclectic table today but none of them were at the front of the field and so Brendon still has a bit of a buffer going.  While on the subject of statistics, after each Monthly Medal, the player statistics pages are updated so if you want to get a feel for how well or how badly you (or your mates) are going feel free to have a look on the web-site.  New starters don’t appear for a while until they get a few games on the board.

Steve has forfeited to Harry in the matchplay due to a back injury and Brendon will replace Ed for a couple of reasons.  Not least of these is Ed’s recent shoulder surgery that will keep him out of the swing of things for some time.  Take it easy Ed and we’ll see you back when it/they are all good again.  But do feel free to come along and stir the pot when you can.

Whitey doesn’t seem to have gotten completely out of cricket mode yet as he was heard talking about how he almost ‘made the ton’ today – or maybe that isn’t such a good thing!  Ryan nailed his drive on the 15th so well that he ended up OOB at the back of the green and the ball finished out in the middle of the road down to the car-park.  The Beast sprayed his a bit on the same hole in the direction of the 16th tee prompting the play of a provisional ball.  The provisional proved to be unnecessary when the original ball was found in bounds but Bob did wonder whether Bill should thank the people in the car-park, just in case.

When interviewed by the press-corps, ChrisV would only say that he didn’t want to talk about it.  You can draw your own conclusions from that.  Chrispresident, on the other hand, was only too willing to talk about his chip-in from out of the long grass in front of the 15th green.  SOS, who was hot on Chrispy’s heels on the scoring front put the blame firmly on the fact of missing heaps of easy putts.  Ah yes, the old ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’, where would golf be without it?

The Birthday Birdie is taking a bit of a holiday this week as there are no celebrations scheduled.

Gordon is working on the program for the Annual Challenge weekend at Numurkah in August so expect some more information on that shortly.

Autumn Cup starts next Saturday and in the absence of lots of people we made a bit of a guess at who would attend so if we could get an early indication of your intentions regarding this event, it would help us to make the appropriate arrangements.  There will be a meeting of the Committee next week as well, so if you have any matters that you would like the Committee to consider, please contact the Secretary as soon as possible so that he can add them to the Agenda.  Note, it is Committee only, not a general Club meeting.

Results for Saturday, 07 May 2016
1st Targe Mifsud(69) 1st Chris Priems(69, MM c/b) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(69) 1st George Tenaglia(69) 2nd Bill Eastoe(71) 2nd Andrew Petricola(71) 3rd Bob McDonald(73) 4th Harry Boughen(74) 5th Brendon Mitchell(75)

Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (69) 2nd Bill Eastoe (71) 3rd Bob McDonald (73)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Targe Mifsud BallPin 18th Mehmet Akdag

There ended up being twenty one members on the course today after Mehmet turned up at the death-knock sporting a brand new hole in his head.  This lead to all sorts of speculation as to what the surgeons were looking for and, more to the point, whether they had found anything.  But, as they say in the classics, I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.  For future reference, Chrispresident, that’s how it is spelled.

The bit of rain that graced Melbourne with its presence yesterday would have been a welcome addition to the course and some of the lies were noticeably softer but some good follow-up rain really is needed to have any long term effect.  There were a couple of blokes who had their golf brains working today and they revelled in the conditions that were mild with a bit of a breeze.  George lined up for his second win since qualifying a few weeks back and he has taken a giant leap up the Championship Table with his score of +3 today.  Right alongside him was Matt who made a remarkable turn-around from his last appearance to improve by no less than 12 points to share the honours on +3.  If some of the other courses that he plays on are any guide then Ivanhoe must be a doddle for him and the handicapper might have to strike some special rules for when we see him again.  Just joshing.

At least the young whipper-snappers didn’t steal the Seniors points and they kindly left the best of those to Laurie and Harry who shared second place, also in positive territory with +1 apiece.  Laurie apparently had about fourteen one putt greens and chipped one in to square a hole with ChrisV in their match which Laurie managed to take out 2 up although it was a close-run thing all day.  So much so that Gordon and Ed were on the edge of their chairs, figuratively speaking, and perhaps this goes some way to explaining why they were off their game just a little.  Chris fought back valiantly over the last few holes and managed to birdie the 16th after hitting his drive all of 75 metres.  A massive second and a chip in went close to breaking Laurie’s will to live.  The match went dormie on the 17th and the suggestion was that, if it went to a chip-off, Laurie was bound to win based on his performance all day.

On a day on which more people scored points than those that didn’t, it isn’t surprising that there were some multiple placings somewhere in the pile.  And so it was for the members who managed to score -1.  The five who managed this little feat were the Beast, Rob, John, SOS and ChrisV.  Not far behind in scores and number of contestants were Noodles, Gordon and Ryan on -2.  Bringing up the rear on -3 were Mehmet and Ed.

Simon is taking his new role as Tee Marshall seriously and is keen to learn the ropes.  One of the early skills to acquire is to put out the Nearest the Pin containers on the nominated holes before the round starts.  This was because some members carrying them in the first group were considered to be too unreliable.  So, what happened today, the kit with the tape was at the BallPin hole and the other was at the ProPin hole (deja vu).  Not to worry, everybody knew which was which.  Michael added some cheer to his day by getting it close enough on the 4th to collect himself a ball.  And, in what was really the highlight of Mal’s day, he put it to 1.5m on the 12th to collect the shrapnel for the ProPin.  He left it a little shy for the birdie but there was a goodly total carded today with no less than 17 of the little feathery beasts.  Even so, the improvements in the Eclectic were largely restricted to newer and less frequent players but the leader’s lead has been cut in half and there are several members who are well within striking distance.

Speaking of beasts, Bill lost a ball on the 17th, presumably through the green and out the fence because he was claiming that the group in front should have stood around to take one for the cause and stop it.  On the other hand, Chrispy was rather pleased to have Mal as his back-stop when his penalty shot from across the pond was heading for the Yarra with some considerable speed when it struck Mal’s (moving) cart wheel and ricocheted back onto the green to finish a few metres from the hole.  Didn’t really do him any good as he still scored a gash but at least he still had his ball.

There have been rumours that Stef was going to make a comeback and start stealing points in the Championship.  He was here at the finish today but whether that was because he was terribly late out of bed or just being sociable was not clear.  Be warned, the return is imminent.

Rob played the 13th in an unusual manner today by putting his drive across in the vicinity of the 1st green.  He then crossed two fairways to be within striking distance, chipped it on and sank the putt for an ‘easy’ par.  Is that class or the other stuff?  Simon reports that he enjoyed himself on his recent cruise and reports that they even had chipping and putting competitions on board.  The putting is particularly interesting particularly if the ship has any sort of a roll going on.  He also reckons he over-ate.  No wonder he was looking a bit porky (not).

RodG was noticed buying drinks after the round and it seems that his drive on the 15th fell foul of the trees on the left of the tees and didn’t quite make it to the red markers.  Unfortunately, it still counts as a draughtie.  Noodles apparently wasn’t too happy with the pace of play and made his concerns known to his playing partners again and again.  But hang on Noods, you were playing in a three behind groups of four.  Was the pace really that slow?

Chrispy appeared this morning with a freshly (de)mowed upper lip.  Several people commented that they didn’t recognise him.  Could be an opportunity to get out and misbehave, hey Chris!  It will be interesting to hear what the reception was at home because, apparently, even Carolyn didn’t know that the razor gang had been on the job.

Whitey wasn’t on the course today so maybe he was out celebrating his big day or maybe he just didn’t want to drink all the beers that his mates were going to buy for him.  Tell ‘im he’s dreamin’.

Results for Saturday, 30 April 2016
1st Matt Hunt(+3) 1st George Tenaglia(+3) 2nd Harry Boughen(+1) 2nd Laurie Mannix(+1) 3rd Bill Eastoe(-1) 3rd Robert Priems(-1) 3rd John Quinlan(-1) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(-1) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(-1) 4th Stephen Butterfield(-2) 4th Gordon Hill(-2) 4th Ryan Porker(-2) 5th Mehmet Akdag(-3) 5th Ed Kloprogge(-3)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (+1) 1st Laurie Mannix (+1) 2nd Bill Eastoe (-1) 3rd Gordon Hill (-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Malcolm Fleming BallPin 4th Michael Gourlay

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The were a few notable absences from the list of regulars, probably due to the attractions of a long weekend, including Anzac Day, but these were more than compensated by some new and not so new faces on the course.  George was here again, making his presence felt and Matt put in his second appearance.  A real blast from the past was Dick (Hall in case you had forgotten) who is promising to make a comeback, until, of course, the ‘flannelled fools’ start whispering in his ears again as next summer approaches.  No shame in being an all-rounder by any means.  Welcome to the Club chaps.  As a result, we had a fairly good field with a total of twenty players trying their arm for the points and, in several cases, their place in the next round of the Matchplay.

For many it was to no avail that they toiled but it seemed that it was a bit of a cake-walk for Bob who pressed on with his passage through quite a purple patch to take the honours for the day with a pretty impressive 39 points and this with a freshly minted handicap after recent high placings.  When asked what the secret formula was, Bob put it down to generous helpings of gummi bears, which he very generously offered around the gathered members.  Few seemed convinced of the efficacy of this approach as there were few, if any, takers.  They probably wouldn’t have tasted very nice after/with a beer for most.  Regardless of what the secret is, Bob is now top cockie on the Seniors Championship Table and is in a strong position to claim top spot on the Open Championship Table as well.

The Beast seems to have taken a leaf out of Chrispresidents book and was using the trees to great advantage to keep his ball in play and he used that advantage to accumulate 37 points at the end of the round.  In the process, he put his tee shot on the 15th to within a metre (0.9m to be exact) and fairly covering the hole to take out the ProPin.  For some reason, he didn’t manage to sink the birdie putt but perhaps that wasn’t so unusual today as the whole team only managed to make 6 for the day.  Some said the green were good, Bob, it seems, was able to sink them from anywhere, including off the green.  Some were less happy with the condition though, on a number of occasions, the furry cup lips could easily have brought the ball in rather than left it out.  Perhaps the tally tells the story (or not).  On the other Nearest the Pin event, it was Trevor who managed to put it onto the 18th to get his name on the card and to collect the BallPin trophy for the day.

As mentioned last week, George has been quick to make his mark since qualifying for his handicap, so much so that he presented to the judges again this week and very cunningly arranged it so that he lost no more handicap by playing to his new mark with 36 points.  George was joined on that score by Ryan who is also doing his best to protect his current handicap.  And, while on the topic of new-comers leaping into the lime-light,  Matt obviously re-appraised the course and turned around his performance from last week to make an almost handicap matching score of 35 points.

Noodles claims to have pretensions in relation to the Championship at the end of the year, but he will have to pick up his scoring rate from the single Championship Point that he scored with his card of 34 of the Stableford kind.

There were five Matchplay matches in the second round finalised today and several were close and a couple were not so close.  Our daily winner, Bob was involved in a tussle with one of our daily third place-getters, Ryan who looked to be gone for all money half way through the back nine.  However, he came back strongly and managed to have the match square after the 17th.  He made more of a mess of the 18th than Bob did and the match finished with Bob winning 1 up.  The same bottom line was produced in the match between Chrispresident and JohnQ with the scoreline favouring John for all of the card but with Chris managing to bring it back to be able to square the match with a win on the last.  Unfortunately, it was not to be, as he could only square the 18th to give the match to John.

Trevor and SOS were well matched on the day with neither of them setting the world on fire as far as the main competition went.  However, on the matchplay front they turned out to be well matched even thought SOS did appear to have the upper hand half way through the back nine.  Trev made a big come-back, including his BallPin winning shot on the 18th, to square the match and the result had to be decided by a chip off.  Trev left himself a long putt that was a bit off line which opened the chance for SOS with about three metres to traverse after his chip.  In a display that belies the rest of his scorecard, SOS rattled it in easily to shut Trevor out and to take the match.

Damo and Rob played an almost one-sided match which Rob took out 4 and 3.  Rob promptly collapsed over the last three holes causing no little angst to Damo and some questions relating to Rob’s intentions in relation to his handicap.  In fact, if Rob hadn’t won on the 15th, Damo could easily have (won, that is).  The Beast and Whitey looked to be well matched for the first nine or so holes but after the 12th, the Beast put his head down and won the match convincingly, also 4 and 3.

The Birthday Birdie is going to be busy this week with Ryan and Whitey sitting down in front of a cake decked out with birthday candles.  Neither have to disable the fire alarms just yet.  Another big celebration this week is the lot of Steve who is off globe-trotting somewhere to get himself married.  No wonder he hasn’t been answering his e-mails.  Congratulations and best wishes from all your mates at Ivanhoe, Steve.

Michael is still having a few problems with his shoulder and his game was off a little today.  He thought the ProPin on the 15th might offer some consolation and when that didn’t eventuate, he tried for the eagle at the 17th.  The chip came up short and even the birdie putt missed so there was little consolation indeed.

There was a loud shout of ‘Fore’ from the 8th fairway and Damo, in mid-swing on the 9th tee, could do little but finish his shot and adopt a defensive crouched position.  The ball bounced between his feet and struck him on the wrist.  At Damo’s, tempered, request to know who was responsible, all fingers pointed to JohnQ.  Talk about dobbers!  It seems that, from a distance, it appeared that the ball had disappeared into Damo’s fundament and there was a question asked if there was any chance to get the ball back.

Chrispresident was completely fitted out with his new weapons of self-destruction for the first time today and the result was deemed for be on the side of promising.  There was just one caveat in that the grips didn’t feel ‘grippy’ enough.  And, while on the subject of grips, RodG has a new putter with a ‘fat’ grip.  There have some promising early signs but there was no effect on the ‘airie’ that Rod managed while trying to extricate himself from some ‘reedy’/’tufty’ growth.  Harry convincingly shank his tee shot on the 15th into the trees to the left of the tees and one of them generously deposited the ball back in bounds and in the open on the front tee but well short of the red markers and the shot had to be classified as a draughtie, for the record.

RULE OF THE DAY.

Rule 18-1: Ball at rest moved by an outside agency

If a ball at rest is moved by an outside agency, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced.  If a ball to be replaced under this Rule is not immediately recoverable, another ball may be substituted.  An outside agency is any agency other than the competitors side, any caddie of the side, any ball played by the side at the hole being played or any equipment of the side.  A player from another player group is an outside agency.

Thus, if a player from another group plays on with the wrong ball from another playing group and this fact is positively known and the spot from which the ball was moved can be positively identified, the owner of that ball is entitled to play a new ball from the spot without penalty.  Obviously, the player who played the incorrect ball would be subject to the appropriate penalties.

It is a question of fact whether the ball has been moved by an outside agency.  In order to apply this Rule, it must be known or virtually certain that an outside agency has moved the ball.  In the absence of such knowledge or certainty, the player must play the ball as it lies or, if the ball is not found, proceed under Rule 27-1.

Results for Saturday, 23 April 2016
1st Bob McDonald(39) 2nd Bill Eastoe(37) 3rd Ryan Porker(36) 3rd George Tenaglia(36) 4th Matt Hunt(35) 5th Stephen Butterfield(34)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (39) 2nd Bill Eastoe (37) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (29)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 15th Bill Eastoe BallPin 18th Trevor Jackson

It seems like whenever a new member joins, soon after receiving their club handicap  their first win is not far away. This weekends competition was certainly maintaining the trend with George shooting a +5 to run away with the chocolates. Harry was not harsh enough with the initial handicap so a nice adjustment will keep George on his toes next week. It could have been worse however, going into the 17th he was +6 and confident enough to go for the green, he found the far side of the rough and ended up with square and minus 1 on the last two holes to win by a solitary point.

Bob continued some decent form to come in the +4 and second place. He appeared to be quite happy with not winning, not losing an extra point on the handicap could prove beneficial with his upcoming matchplay round coming up. Johnny Q claimed to have played his best round off the stick too, +3 was good enough for outright 3rd place. 4th and 5th was hotly contested with a swag of members fighting it out, Craig Cameron and SOS coming in with +1 and the Priems brothers and Vincenzo playing to their handicap for 5th place.

There was a few frustrated players early on in the day when they realised that the 5th green was blocked off and replaced with a temporary green (if you could call it that). The damage from the young teens a few weeks ago was not up to scratch according to course management, although both Peps and Chris V managed to birdie the hole. Speaking of birdies 13 were carded today which wasn’t a bad result for the 18 members and 1 non member who played. Rob’s mate Matt decided to see what all the fuss was about by joining in and handed in his first card.

The ball hole went to Michael G who put it close enough on the 12th to sink the birdie, for something different the pro pin was on the 15 and Pepsi hit one close enough to come away with the cash.  There were no matchplay games played today, reminder that the second round needs to be completed during the next 2 weeks. Only a single second round match has been played so far.

 

Results for Saturday, 16 April 2016
1st George Tenaglia(+5) 2nd Bob McDonald(+4) 3rd John Quinlan(+3) 4th Craig Cameron(+1) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(+1) 5th Chris Priems(□) 5th Robert Priems(□) 5th Chris Vinecombe(□)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (+4) 2nd Craig Cameron (+1) 3rd Bill Eastoe (-1)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 15th Andrew Petricola BallPin 12th Michael Gourlay