Category Archives: Club News

Another lovely day out on the course.  The cool change was still pretty much in effect but, once the sun got up above the tree-line, those cold-blooded ones who needed an extra layer to start were soon able to relieve themselves of it.  The little bit of rain that came with the change has done little to soften the fairways and there was plenty of run to be had for those that don’t make all of their distance through the air.  There were 21 members on the tees today and, following on from some discussions after the round, a quick count showed that nine of them have a handicap of 10 or less.  The old-timers don’t recall such a large number of members on single figures in the Club at the one time.  Something else for the guardian of the database to ponder in his spare time.

Chrispy was back on deck this week and, after the stellar scoring last week, he was pleased to see that he had been able to drag the playing standard back to his level so easily.  Except, of course, for Targe who has been known to complain about being hard done by on the handicapping front.  But, today, he proved that he really is better than a bogey golfer by coming in with +3 in a game format that is probably not his favourite (along with just about everybody else in the Club).  And especially when it is combined with the Yellow Ball Teams.  Championship and Seniors points to the Club Captain.

On the subject of Yellow Ball Teams, there were a few who managed to return their ball to the tee marshall and the best of those were Team Pepsi, Mal and Rod who managed to put together a total for the team of +1 and collect a ball each for their efforts.  The two teams that lost their ball had sort of similar stories to tell in that the person losing the ball was the only one to have scored a plus with it up to that point and both claimed that, if anybody had a right to lose it, they did as a result of that fact.  On a question of rules relating to the YBT event, if the ball goes out of bounds, but is found, it is still out of the event, as the requirement is that the yellow ball player finish the hole legally (according to the rules of golf) with the yellow ball.  An exceptional case would be if no provisional ball had been played and the yellow ball had been retrieved from OOB and had been taken back to the tee (or other playing place) to be replayed (with the appropriate penalties).  For interest, the YBT wins will be totalled on the Handicap Sheet but will not attract any Championship points.

Zimmer’s team was doing quite well and was +3 when Zim took the yellow ball on the 14th.  He judged the pin placement and decided that it was within his range and, in order not to over-shoot, that he should tee up behind the tee markers within the allowed two club lengths.  In the pic, you can see, the tee peg, the ball and the blue markers (unfortunately the divot some distance behind the tee peg is out of frame).  For the first time in the Club history somebody has not even made it to the blue, let alone the red, without having a complete air shot.    This was really the draughtie to beat all draughties.  Even the one down to Simon on the 11th which ended almost back on the spot from which it departed courtesy of an intervening tree branch (and quite a small one at that) that flung it back whence it came with the ultimate of disdain.  At least Simon’s had some chance of going somewhere.  Despite the team going backwards for the rest of the round, Zimmer was able to finish the round with a +1 on the card.

There were rumours swirling around the course that Gordon was on fire and that a call to FES might be in order for an extinguisher to hose him down.  It does seem, though, that there might have been a little exaggeration involved, as the dizzy heights that were rumoured did not appear on the card.  But, on the day, the square result for the old square was enough to gather third place and some valuable points in both sides of the Championship.

Mal was an obvious contributor to the success of his YBT and, on a day not noted for high scoring, his card of -2 was a pretty good result to keep his total in both sides of the Championship ticking over.  John and Chris rounded out the points getters with their cards of -3 apiece.

The BallPin today was on the 7th hole and for once the tee markers were well down to the front of the tee area so the green was well within the reach of everybody.  There is no tally of how many actually finished on the green from the tee but the one who finished closest was Zimmer.  It obviously wasn’t close enough to score the birdie and, for whatever reason, the low scoring was also reflected in the birdie count with only 10 tallied for the day.  The poor old eagle is never going to get a family going at this rate as the nest was raided again today with Pepsi collecting ‘half’ a ball for his on the 17th.  It was close to having to be a draw for it as SOS left a 1m putt for his eagle teetering on the brink of the hole and he had to settle for his birdie.  Mehmet’s drive on the 17th finished about 300mm from the hole (plug) where the hole had been placed for the last couple of weeks.  Mehm was rather irate that the ground-staff had had the temerity to shift it when he had aimed for where he thought it would still be.  Noodless to say, the concept of an eagle putt reaching the hole was beyond the realms of possibility.

While on the subject of Noodles, the ProPin was on the 12th and our favourite flanneled fool was spot on for length and only 2.32m off line from the pin and when he get back from scoring his undoubted century there will be a heap of dosh waiting to be collected.  As it so often does, his mind was obviously elsewhere when he marked his card, put the pencil in his mouth and promptly pulled out his cigarette lighter and went to light up.  Graphite would probably be a bit hard to ‘draw-back’ through.

Ryan started off pretty well with his new handicap and managed the front nine not too far off the pace.  At some point, his game went off rather suddenly and it seemed to correspond with one of his playing partners mentioning Megan Gale in some context or other and other things started to occupy his fertile mind and that could easily have interfered with his golf stroke.  Rob is on record as wanting to get his handicap down by at least four strokes this year so we can look forward to some good results from him.  He also reckons his team was trying desperately to lose the Yellow Ball today but they just kept finding it.  That’s not the spirit Rob!

The Birthday Birdie will be tired out this week with a swag of wishes to deliver.  Tony doesn’t play with us any more and doesn’t have internet but Targe will undoubtedly pass on our best to his bro.  Robert will also be lighting up the candles this week as will StephenK.  Have a happy day chaps from all of us.

The Membership subscriptions are coming in but there are still quite a few out-standing and we really would like to get this sorted as soon as possible.  Also don’t forget, the Matchplay rounds will be starting in March and, if you definitely don’t want to be involved, please register your wishes so that we don’t seed you into the first round unnecessarily.

Results for Saturday, 16 January 2016
1st Targe Mifsud(+3) 2nd Kazim Akdag(+1) 3rd Gordon Hill(□) 4th Malcolm Fleming(-2) 5th John Quinlan(-3) 5th Chris Vinecombe(-3)

Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (+3) 2nd Gordon Hill (□) 3rd Malcolm Fleming (-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Stephen Butterfield BallPin 7th Kazim Akdag

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Andrew Petricola

It was a day that you could only dream about.  The temperature was mild so no need for jackets and no sweaty armpits afterwards.  The sky was overcast so no need for squinting and sunglasses (for some, at least).  The breeze was a zephyr so nothing to blame for the shot drifting off line or pulling up short.  Nothing to blame but yourself.  So, there were twenty blameless souls out and about to contest for not much more than the points and the glory.  And, from the merry band of musketeers, there emerged three who swept all before them to share the honours in first place.  D’Artagnan, Athos and Porthos – er, make that Simon, Steve and Ryan, emerged from the pack with virtually identical cards with 22 points on the front and 21 points on the back for a grand total of 43, which is pretty darned impressive in anybody’s books.  And, to make sure that they keep trying to improve, they each have a nice new handicap for next week.

Not very far behind, and could have taken them out if the near slam-dunk on the 17th had happened, was none other than Zimmer who is making like he is coming back into form with 42 points when it was all tallied up.  He certainly laid into it on the 14th with his drive running up and across the 15th tee to finish just short of the new path and steps on the front face of the mound.  The fact that he managed a par on the hole from there says heaps about how well he was going.

Then there was a bit of a break back to a group of four likely lads with scores of 39 apiece.  Mehmet is keeping up the early pace towards his aim of getting a minor placing every week for the season.  He was joined by Harry and Pepsi.  Oh, and of course, not forgetting Damo who managed to get himself out of bed this week to take advantage of the break in the cricket season.  Seems it will be the last we see of him until early March.

JohnQ came in next with 37 points and he seemed to be none the worse for wear after nearly being clobbered by one of his playing partners on the 17th green.  A couple of points further back was DennisW who took his handicap cut last week well into his stride though the start was a bit shaky with a run of double bogies that went virtually unbroken until he had a birdie on the 6th.  As an aside, the Birthday Birdie neglected to mention Dennis’s special occasion that occurred in the last week

While on the subject of birdies, we managed to rack a swag of them today with a total of 19 of which Pepsi managed quite a few.  That means that he has jumped even further ahead in the Eclectic table and now has near enough to a three stroke lead.  But, it does get harder and harder to improve as time goes by so keep the heads down and he can be caught.  One man who did improve his Eclectic score today was Gordon who played his tee shot on the 14th out onto the 16th fairway and then proceeded to pitch it over the trees onto the green with one bounce into the hole for the first ‘official’ (pink square on the table) eagle of the season.  Unfortunately the unofficial one a couple of weeks back had cleaned out the nest and there was a solitary ball there for the taking.

The BallPin was set for the 12th hole and, for the second week in a row, Pepsi collected a ball for his trouble which is more than he would have done if that hole had been the BallPin last week.  The jackpot ProPin was on the 18th and the ground staff had picked a challenging spot well to the back of the upper shelf of the green.  Over half of the field had been through and the green was still clear but Mehmet saved the day and put it close enough to get his name on the card and collected the loot for his empty (his words) hip pocket.

Michael seemed a little disconsolate as he plodded down the 16th to his 14th tee shot but the scorecard suggested that, by that stage, he should have been pretty happy with his lot.  Perhaps a bad trot on the tail end of the front nine took a while to wear off despite some more consistent scoring.  Pepsi also took the front nine to warm up before running his string of birdies together on the back.  There should have been one more but a buzzing fly around the green on the 17th caused him to miss the eminently gettable 1m putt for the birdie.  At least that is his excuse.

Damo had a pretty good round despite (or maybe because of) his time away from the clubs while discharging his fatherly duties.  One of the highlights was the rattling in of a 13m putt.  Blighty also managed one of those (or even longer) from just off the green on the 17th which brought him some joy on a day that had not favoured the flat stick.

Don’t forget that subs are now due.  Bank transfer is preferred but please put your name or some identifier on the ‘to account’ so that Hon Treas knows who it is from.  Can those that did a transfer in the last week and did so anonymously please get in touch (and provide proof to eliminate false claims) so that the records can be straightened out.

Also time to get your thoughts together about the Matchplay Competition for this year.  Everybody will be seeded based on their most recent three rounds prior to the March Monthly Medal.  If you notify that you do not want to take part you will not be included in the seeding.  If you are seeded, please be aware that the deadlines will be strictly applied and no correspondence will be entered into.  If you cannot play your scheduled match within the time-frame allocated for any reason, please have the courtesy to advise your opponent and forfeit the match.

The following has been chosen at random from Decisions on the Rules of Golf.  Q: A Player’s ball comes to rest close to the putting green and he wishes to use his putter for his next stroke.  However, there is a divot hole just in front of his ball on his line of play.  May the player replace the divot before playing his next stroke?  A: No.  Rule 13-2 prohibits a player from improving his line of play by eliminating an irregularity of surface.

Results for Saturday, 09 January 2016
1st Stephen Kelly(43) 1st Ryan Porker(43) 1st Simon Powell(43) 2nd Kazim Akdag(42) 3rd Mehmet Akdag(39) 3rd Harry Boughen(39) 3rd Damien Lee(39) 3rd Andrew Petricola(39) 4th John Quinlan(37) 5th Dennis Ward(35)

Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (43) 2nd Harry Boughen (39) 3rd Dennis Ward (35)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Mehmet Akdag BallPin 12th Andrew Petricola

Eagle: 14th Gordon Hill

Well, what a turn out for the first round of the New Year.  Speaking of which, Happy New Year to all members and, of course, not forgetting their families and loved ones.  There were twenty players gracing the course today, and that included DennisT who has a bit of a respite from his duties at the Darklands and Bobbie’s son Mick who is planning to make a comeback from time to time.  Dennis was well pleased with his performance after his extended time away from the clubs and Mick was all smiles as well with what he reckons was a personal best result.  Keep up the good work Mick, and the new healthy lifestyle will pay off big time.

But, it was the man who spent the morning with Macca(s) who managed to prevail over the rest of the field to collect his second Medal in a remarkably short space of time as a member, and that was the other Dennis.  A fairly sizzling 62 nett from a card that included a sprinkling of double bogie holes was a performance that deserved some attention from the handicapper and Dennis will have to work a little harder now to emulate today’s performance.  Gordo reckons that Dennis’s clubs are as old as Mal but Dennis is adamant that while they are working as well as they did today, he has no plans to upgrade to more modern kit.  Be that as it may, just imagine what might be possible with some modern engineering instead of hickory and persimmon.

Noodles would have been quite justified in thinking that he was in with a chance with his card of three over, off the stick, for a nett 63 but he will have to be happy with his ball and the five points for second place.  At least the handicap didn’t take too much of a battering as a result.  Chrispy was also hopeful that his card would do the trick but he will have to be satisfied with his ball and points.

Mehmet claims that he would have played better if he hadn’t had to play with Pepsi and SOS and also that this year he is going to be runner-up in the Championship without coming first or second and that today was the first shot in that campaign.  Good luck with that one Mehm.  Still fifty times two points would give you 100 which would be a winner most years.  Gordy was Club-house leader for quite a while and there were some thoughts that his 65 might be enough to take out the trophy but as you can see that was not the case.

But, there was quite a gap of daylight to the 5th place-getter and that was Targe who graced the podium with a card carrying a nett score of 70.  As for the rest, less said, best.

Harking back to the runner-up in last year’s Championship, President Pepsi presented Mehm with his trophy since Mehm wasn’t able to be present on the day to collect his loot.  Well done Mehmet, more shiny stuff for the games room.

Being so early in the season there plenty of moves on the Eclectic and the major position changes were as much due to members not being here rather than out-standing performances.  Pepsi has moved to the top of the table (again) but there are plenty of contenders within a stroke or two and most of the year untouched.  We managed to put in 13 birdies today which, given the pretty low scores from the first four placings, probably wasn’t a huge number.  Pepsi, got close enough on the 4th to take out the Nearest the Pin for a ball.  However there was no name on the card on the 18th for the ProPin and so that will Jackpot for next week.  Blighty did claim to be only 5.01m away but I’m afraid that near enough is not quite good enough.

Speaking of near enough.  This was the position of Mal’s second shot on the 17th.  Very close to a slam-dunk for an eagle (note position of pitch mark) and an easy tap-in for the birdie.  It would have been only one ball though, so not really worth the extra effort of trying to do it.

Harry was bemoaning the fact that he had six pars on his card but languished at the tail end of the field.  Perhaps it had something to do with the draughtie that was almost an airie on the second followed by several duffs and shanks that took him across to the vicinity of the 5th green on his way to completing the hole.  Perhaps it had something to do with a courageous (or foolhardy) attempt to play out of the 13th hazard that resulted in two lots of penalty strokes as well as the wasted shot.  Still, he wasn’t alone on the draughtie front, as Blighty managed one on the 17th.  And, he wasn’t alone in the shanking department either.  Apparently, Zimmer managed a ‘power’ shank from the tee on the 12th and he was joined soon after by Pepsi who managed quite a spectacular result from the same tee.

 

The staff photographer managed to capture some of the drama of this little episode with a shot from the 11th fairway looking towards the 12th green showing the position of the ball and a fairly dejected looking Pepsi plodding has way to take his next shot.  Such a shout went up after the famous shot that Chrispy was convinced that there must have been a Hole-in-One and he was quite prepared to start handing out congratulations.  Despite the kick in the guts, Pepsi still managed to card a four for the hole.

Hand-outs of a different sort came from Targe who went to great lengths to explain his technique for setting up for putts which seems to stand him is good stead, at least some of the time.  After demonstrating the method, with explanations, he proceeded to miss the hole.  Fortunately, this was after the hole had been completed and Targe’s excuse was that he was distracted by having to explain what he was doing.  Don’t give up your day job, Targe.

As mentioned before, Mick played a good round and it was noticed that his fingers were heavily bedecked with rings and his arms with bracelets.  Maybe the extra weight helped him with his swing.

The annual subscription for the Club and VGL (GolfLink) is now due and payment, sooner rather than later, would be appreciated as we would like to get this matter finalised as soon as possible.  Anybody not paid up by the beginning of March will be de-listed and ineligible for Competition.  Bank transfer is preferred (account details under the Contacts main menu item).  Members who are, or who want to be, Home Club members with us will be up for $110 while those who are non-home members or who do not wish to be VGL members will be up for $20.

Results for Saturday, 02 January 2016
1st Dennis Ward(62) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(63) 3rd Chris Priems(64) 4th Mehmet Akdag(65) 4th Gordon Hill(65) 5th Targe Mifsud(70)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (62) 2nd Gordon Hill (65) 3rd Targe Mifsud (70)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 18th Jackpot BallPin 4th Andrew Petricola

It is not known whether any of the Hobbits managed to make it from Middle Earth to Ivanhoe this morning, but there was at least one Orc that was more than happy to lie in bed listening to the rain on the roof and imagining the sounds of the downpipe gurgling its contents into the water tank.  But, if anybody did make it and played and want to be credited with a social round, just let us know and your wish shall be granted – with appropriate authentication, of course.

With a whole new calendar year forthcoming, there is a lot to look forward to and it is an appropriate time to make those New Year resolutions.  The only problem with New Year resolutions is that, by and large, they are only of any value if you actually stick to them.  There could be the usual ones like giving up the smokes, limiting the drinks, being nice to the other half that would help your quality of life; but perhaps we should think of ones that will improve the quality of golf.  Maybe things like, practice more, swear less, slower back-swing, full follow-through would help to improve the scores.  Perhaps things like fill divots, repair pitch marks, cut out time-wasting would help to increase the enjoyment of the game for all.

So, whatever your resolution for the coming year, thank you for being part of the Club in the departing year and we look forward to seeing you on the tees in 2016.

To get things off to a cracking start, can we please get an indication of numbers for the January Monthly Medal on 02 January either by email or through the Registration App.  We had some great turn-outs through December and would like to keep up the pace to get the year off to a flying start.  Also, please note that the tee time is earlier than it has been over the last few weeks.