Category Archives: Club News

Is this the start of the Autumn Break?  The temperature was quite pleasant and the clouds loured and threatened to rain but only managed an annoying mizzle.  Regardless of the weather, there were a few excellent scores handed in.

Brendon made a spectacular turn around from last week by posting no less than 17 points more.  Mehm had hoped that he would come in with 18 more so that he didn’t lose the winners stroke.  Bad luck Mehm, you’ll just have to get used to your new handicap (as will Brendon of course).

Jan had a case of the if onlies posting 38 points with a couple of scratchies on the back nine.  Gordon’s card could easily have been better as well with a series of 1’s and a scratch as well to end up with 37.

Pepsi protected his handicap, such as it is, with 35 to be followed by a phalanx of players that included Chrispy, Harry, Eddie and Oliver with 34 points.

This was the day the some of the youngsters caught up on the Championship table so perhaps the handicapping is starting to take its toll on the Seniors.  Plenty of points up for grabs over the next month with two majors in quick succession so there could easily be some major moves coming up.

There were three matchplay matches today with Brendon tipping out Mal 5 and 4.  Pepsi defeated Mike at 5 and 3 and Eddie was victorious over Bill also on 5 and 4.  Still quite a few matches to be played and we are almost into April so don’t leave it too much longer.

The ProPin (jackpot) on the 15th almost went to Harry’s little brother, Robert, who was visiting from Queensland, but he was squeezed out by Damo by a narrow margin.  Rod was the successful contender for the NTP on the 18th.  As a contrast to last week, there were 13 birdies today so the putters must have been on song.  No eagles though.

Trevor had to pull out injured after the 13th with his crook back.  Hope it is nothing too serious and Trevor will be back on deck soon.  Even though Rod was able to snag the NTP on the 18th, he would have been out of contention if he had repeated his tee shot on the 3rd which didn’t quite reach the ladies – and he forgot to shout.  Style might (or not depending on your point of view) might have had something to do with Brendon’s performance today.  When questioned about his cargo pants, he replied “It’s called fashion!”

Don’t forget that we have two two week events over the next five weeks and, unfortunately, the second week of the Stuart Clarke is on Easter Saturday.  If you intend to play and you think that your name might not have been put on the attendance list, be sure to ring the Club to confirm.

Results for Saturday, 16 March 2013
1st Mehmet Akdag(40) 1st Brendon Mitchell(40) 2nd Jan Siemon(38) 3rd Gordon Hill(37) 4th Andrew Petricola(35) 5th Harry Boughen(34) 5th Oliver Gross(34) 5th Ed Kloprogge(34) 5th Chris Priems(34)

 

 

Talk about the terrible twins.  Both off 19, both 85 off the stick and both 38 points to share the honours for today’s event.  And Harry managed 20 points on the back with two scratches.  Mal had his chances to have done better as well.

Just a single point behind in second place with 37 points was Ben who had a pretty ordinary start to his round and could also have easily done better.

Nobody else bettered their handicap with David being next with 35 points.  There was a change to the announced results due to a calculation error and Ken and Mal A shared fourth spot.

Speaking of calculation errors, there were two others today so the discussion at the meeting about double checking your card is worth noting well.  Fortunately, the strokes recorded were in agreement and there was no more serious fall out.

There were three Matchplay matches played today.  Two of them were pretty close run in the end although Tony and Mal A had fairly comfortable leads well into the back nine.  In the end, the dormie matches ended up going to a chip off and Mo and Gordon walked away with the honours after maintaining a winning streak of 3 and 5 holes respectively.  The other match between Harry and Chris also ended up dormie after the 13th but a win on the 14th gave the match to Harry 6 and 4.

The ProPin on the 15th went begging and will jackpot to next week.  The Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 18th wasn’t that near the pin but was good enough to collect a ball for Gordon.  Although the conditions were just about ideal, if a little hot, there were only 5 birdies reported today.  The eagle gets to keep her little clutch.

There is a suspicion that Tony might be suffering from Malzheimers Disease as he fairly consistently referred to Harry as Mal during the round.  After Harry had slipped from 5 up at the 6th to 2 up after the 10th, David offered him some Butter Menthols after which Harry reeled off 4 winners in a row (including consecutive birdies) to take the match.  Cleared his throat up no end it seems.

There was a Club meeting after the round and President Gordon took the opportunity to welcome a few players that we haven’t seen for a while due to their commitment to some other sport.  Good to see Richard, Paul and Rod W even if their golf form was a little off the pace.  Maybe they were trying for the cover drive.

It is hoped that matters relating to affiliation with Golf Victoria and access to our own Golf Access account will be finalised in the next month.  Hopefully, all will be in place before the June deadline for other memberships that people have taken out.

It has been suggested that our rules for qualification for events such a Monthly Medal etc should be reviewed to clarify special circumstances that might apply due to injury, holidays, work commitments etc.  The committee will work up a proposal for consideration.

There was also a discussion on card management as mentioned above and it was pointed out that what you are signing for are the strokes taken on the hole.  Although it is not strictly your responsibility you should check the handicap sheet to make sure that you record the correct handicap on the card and you should endeavour to calculate the results correctly as well if only to avoid embarrassment at a later time.  It is the responsibility of the committee to confirm the results (and that the correct handicap has been used).

It was also proposed that the committee investigate the possibility of locating a suitable cabinet in the Club House to store the Perpetual Trophies to ensure that they are available when required.

Ben reported that he has 25 registrations for the Annual Challenge with 14 of those players.  There are still spots available so contact Ben if you would like to grab a spot.  From some of the stories around it is a good weekend of golf and partying.

Results for Saturday, 09 March 2013
1st Harry Boughen(38) 1st Malcolm Fleming(38) 2nd Ben Akdag(37) 3rd David Howard(35) 4th Malcolm Adey(34) 4th Ken Grist(34) 5th Gordon Hill(33) 5th Dennis Tiernan(33)

If ‘if onlies’ could be converted into currency, then all golfers would be rich.  If only for that seven, if only for that double, if only for that last putt – it would have all been in vain in the face of the performance that Chris turned in today.  He decided he didn’t like to look of the greens and didn’t want to use his putter so proceeded to chip in three holes in a row for birdies and then had the hide to complain that his chipping had let him down.  Well done Chris for an equal personal best 70 off the stick for a nett 60, a full five strokes ahead of Pepsi who probably thought he was in with a show before he had to dash off after having equalled the par rating of the course off the stick.

Dennis and Harry went head to head all day but both let a couple of chances slip to come in third on 66.  Both will have to enjoy a bit of a reduction in their handicap, particularly Dennis who briefly enjoyed his extra playing stroke.  They were followed closely by Paul, a face we haven’t seen for a little while but he obviously hasn’t lost his touch, playing just under his handicap for 67.  Mike didn’t let the pressure of his new handicap get to him and joined Mal Adey on the final row of the points grid with 69 nett.

The Nearest the Pin for a ball was picked up by Mo while the ProPin went to Oliver although there apparently needed to be a measurement made to confirm that it remained in his hands.  The birdie tally was fairly impressive with 21 all together with Chris and Pepsi racking up near enough to half that total between them.  Nobody managed an eagle, so the nest continues to grow.

There was one Matchplay match played today with Ken downing Mehm 2 and 1.  It seems that there are a number of matches planned for next week and although it is a couple of months to the end of Round 1 it won’t take long to go so it is probably better to get it out of the way sooner rather than later.

Pepsi, might have scored a bit better if his tee shot on the 13th hadn’t hit the 150m marker post on the full and bounced out of bounds (only just).  Ben had a bit of a shocker and managed to double stroke his ball two shots in a row.  Bad enough doing it once but twice must be something of a record.  As usual, Oliver was hitting some great drives despite a minor problem with his left knee and weight transfer but on the 5th the ball rolled and rolled and ended up hard against the big tree on the left.  A leftie shot with the back of a club almost came off.

Not sure what went on at Craig’s wedding but for some reason as a result, Ben was inspired to present Damo with a ‘rape’ alarm.  It certainly was alarming when the damn thing was set off.

For those that are interested, the player statistics page has been updated again.  I’m planning to do the run after each Monthly Medal.

Don’t forget the Club Meeting next week.  Agenda items in advance please.

Results for Saturday, 02 March 2013
1st Chris Priems(60) 2nd Andrew Petricola(65) 3rd Harry Boughen(66) 3rd Dennis Tiernan(66) 4th Paul Anderson(67) 5th Malcolm Adey(69) 5th Mike Mann(69)

It’s easy to see why so many of our members claim to have foreign roots (and I don’t mean the nationality of their wives/girlfriends).  There was a fairly comprehensive whitewash by The Rest if the prize list is any indication.  Although a group by group analysis was not carried out, Harry seems to have been the only Aussie who prevailed by giving Mehm a thrashing on the back nine after a fairly average front nine that lulled the Turk into a false sense of security.  Although Harry did have to buy a round of drinks for Mehm and Cem as the result of an errant drive on the second.

The performance of the day however came from Mike, who blitzed the front nine and kept the game together on the back to front the judges with 40 points.  A nice new handicap and leadership of the points table in both Championships was the outcome for Mike.  Zimmer continues his comeback to regular playing and together with Targe came in to second place with just one less point less than Mike.  A small gap to Ben on 37 points completed the list of those that moved their handicap down.

After some confusion about the placement of the marker for the Nearest the Pin (you didn’t forget to put it out on the 12th did you first group?), Zimmer collected a ball on the 18th.  The run for the money was a close call with Rod in with a very good chance for most of the day with 1.87m on the 15th but he was pipped at the post by Noodles with a marginally better 1.85m.  Well done both of you but unfortunately for Rod, Noodles nicked off with the dosh for the ProPin.

Despite the good playing conditions (except for the water hazards on a couple of greens) birdies were not that prevalent with eight plodded.  The Eagles Nest is slowly starting to fill and the big bird is watching apprehensively to fight off any prospective egg thieves.

Cem Ertekin played with us today.  Another Turk, another Fuzz, another good bloke.  Does have divided loyalties though and won’t be along again until his other Club Championships are over.  The handicapper will be keeping a close eye on the cards he puts in as his handicap from his home course looks a bit over the mark for Royal Ivanhoe.  Welcome Cem.

Despite gathering a few points recently, married life maybe hasn’t agreed with Craig as he was a bit off his game today and he was heard increasing the chances of having to move the 13th tee yet again (and maybe a couple of others as well).  Dennis seems to be rueing his winning performance last week and is looking to claw back some of the lost handicap.  He hit a wrong ball on the 9th and said he ‘lost it’.  I assume he meant his concentration and not the ball he hit.  He certainly didn’t score as well from then on and will get a handicap increment back.  Still, you have to ask, what difference does an extra stroke/point make in the scheme of things?

Because Gordon will be away next week, it has been decided that the Club meeting will be postponed until the week after.  If you have any matters for discussion, please get them into the President or Secretary ASAP.  The committee would prefer that topics are not just brought up on the day so that some thought can be put into matters beforehand and they might be better resolved.

Results for Saturday, 23 February 2013
1st Mike Mann(40) 2nd Kazim Akdag(39) 2nd Targe Mifsud(39) 3rd Ben Akdag(37) 4th Andrew Petricola(36) 4th Mo Sabih(36) 5th Harry Boughen(35) 5th Chris Priems(35)