Category Archives: Club News

The golfcourse looks the same
As I line up for a game
And there to greet me is my driver and putter
Down the first I look and pull out the cherry
Taylormade and not too hairy
It's good to touch the green green grass of 'Hoe.

Yes, the grass at the ‘Hoe is definitely green, green. What with the warmish weather, some rain and a modicum of irrigation, the course is as green as grass. And, yes, it is a little furry in places, but the muck has settled, and there was even a little hint of some run to be had, particularly if you kept the launch angle down a bit. It was a bit windy yesterday, and there was still a fair bit of litter around the course. This was particularly irritating on some of the greens, where twigs and gum-nuts abounded. Ground-staff and leaf-blowers were obviously in short supply. Despite the very nice conditions, we could only scare up eight members to contest the August Monthly Medal, which prompted some to speculate that this could mean easy mblmblmbls.

Harry was less than chuffed when his draughtie from the second tee helped him on the way to a quadruple bogie, which might be considered a death-knell for chances in a stroke competition. The rest of the front nine wasn’t spectacular, although a couple of pars did add a modicum of respectability. A birdie on the 11th from a pretty long putt dropping raised the spirits a little, but they were dashed again on the 14th when the drive disappeared into the penalty area, never to be seen again (at least not by Harry). The penalty ball was a pink Precept Lady SIII that happened to be in the collection of ‘finds’ in the bag. May as well finish the round with it, thinks H. Cracks his drive straight at the pin on the 15th, and SOS reckons it must have gone in. Harry, on the other hand, thinks it might have gone past and possibly off the green. SOS was on the green, and he was keen to see whether he was in with a chance for the Jackpot ProPin, so he paced out the distance to the hole, only to be able to claim ‘I told you so’ when he spotted the ball neatly nestled in the bottom of the cup. For the record, this is the second time (of two) that SOS has ‘called’ Harry’s holes-in-one.

Rob has been having a bit of a run of form in recent times, and today was no exception, although a couple of triples did rain on the parade a little. His back nine was going gangbusters until he started to think about his handicap (warning – assumption) which culminated in him missing a ‘tiddler’ on the 18th to bring his net score to 68, right on handicap. Despite this, Rob was quietly confident that his score would be the one to beat. He was practising his acceptance speech and had worked out his brag technique for his triumphal arrival home. Needless to say, he was rather deflated to find that the bragging right had been evaporated by one stroke.

Anthony was bewailing the fact that he doesn’t seem to be able to get down to single figures despite being able to smash the ball a country mile, and turning in his fair share of par scores. A few chipping mistakes and a remarkable number of putts just lipping out or teetering on the brink of the hole prevented him being much better placed on the day, and maybe even moving into the heady realm of single figure handicaps. Maybe next time. Brendon also didn’t go much on the positioning of the tee on the second, but he did manage to make a birdie on the 5th. This was one of just four that the limited field was able to card for the day. The par threes proved to be a bit of a bete-noir for Brendon, but he was only able to put together a 74 to claim 4th place, for which he will happily take the points. Raj was just one stroke further back to round out the points with his fifth place. And as for the rest, not a mblmblmbl to be had.

Needless to say, Harry collected the Jackpot ProPin and the Eagle’s Nest for his shot on the 15th hole. The first BallPin was set on the 4th, and nobody was able to make it onto the green, so there will be a Jackpot for that next week. The BallPin on the 18th went to none other than Harry, who seems to have had a bit of a field day today.

Perhaps it was just the Golf God’s way of wishing him a Happy Birthday, just a couple of days early. The Birthday Birdie has a couple of other calls this week, with Ken and Brendon lining up to blow out the candles and to cut the cake. Belated besties also to Ben and Jonathan who both passed new milestones in the recent past.

Matt, that well known mumbler, was reported to have been possessed by aliens for the first eight or nine holes until the incantations worked and cast them out to allow him to post a ten stroke turn-around for the back nine. Still no cigar, though. SOS also seemed to be suffering demonic possession early in the round, having played three provisionals in the first four holes. Fortunately, only one required the provisional to be played. Raj was spotted with his umbrella unfurled at one stage. As there was no sign of rain, it can only be assumed that he didn’t want to get a tan.

Results for Saturday, 05 Aug 2023
1st Harry Boughen (67) 2nd Robert Priems (68) 3rd Anthony Browne (72) 4th Brendon Mitchell (74) 5th Rajesh Mahto (75)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (67) 2nd Gordon Hill (80)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Harry Boughen BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Harry Boughen

Hole in One Results: Hole in One – 15th *** Harry Boughen ***

In the lead-up to the weekend of golf, the sad news came through that long-time member Keith Delzoppo had died. Tributes flowed on the club’s email network.

It was Brendan who did a bit of googling and found this photo of Keith from April 2022. On that day Keith not only knocked off Trevor in a match play round but joined Craig Cameron on the podium for first place.

Keith played some good golf in his time with us, but he will be most remembered for what good company he was. None of us ever grumbled when the tee marshall put Keith in our group.

Harry and others from the club have been in contact with Keith’s family and passed on our best wishes. More than a few members will be in attendance at Keith’s funeral. Rest in peace Keith.

After the conclusion of the Fred Howe Winter Cup last week, the first three placegetters in that event, Brendan, Prez Priems and Raj, fronted up and headed off in the first group. They are indeed the current form horses of the competition. A few hours later all three were marking cards of 37 stableford points and a triple dead heat for first place.

Apparently, apart from a spectacular effort from Rob on the 12^th (see more below) it was a very uneventful round for all. When asked to name some highlights for the blog, Raj said he had nothing to say. End of story!

The highlight of the second group out on the course was the return of the Beast after ten weeks away helping a lady friend in Wales with her landscaping business. Beast has been known to enjoy his golf when away in the UK and his playing partners Michael and Chris J had a few raised eyebrows when Beast said he was too busy to fit in any golf over there this time. Let’s just say what goes on in Wales stays in Wales and those of you who didn’t turn up missed some very good gossip with some history going back to Beast’s younger days in his twenties.

He can still play too, with 19 points on the front 9, sinking putts from everywhere, including a monster on the 9^th. Bill was going so well Michael couldn’t resist the old curse of telling Bill how well he was playing. Bill duly started the back 9 poorly and could only manage 12 points for 31 overall and third place. Michael himself finished 2 shots better with 34 points, enough for second place points. Chris J brought up the rear of the field, and fourth place, with 24 points including 5 three pointers matched by 5 gashes.

And that was it for groups this week. Two groups, six players, everybody with points and the fifth placed point went begging, as did the third placed point in the Seniors.

Speaking of senior’s moments, the first group were obviously so focused on their tussle for first place that they forgot to put the nearest the pin out on the designated 7^th, despite Raj hitting one quite close to the hole. Beast also hit a good shot there and it would have been a close run thing between the two of them for the ball.

The first ball pin became the 12^th which, with an unusual front right pin position, yielded the only two birdies of the day. It was the scene of the day’s biggest golfing highlight.

Rob nearly slam dunked his tee shot for a hole in one, the pitch mark an inch away. So well struck was the shot it spun back to just off the edge of the green and out of nearest the pin contention. However, after taking the photos and ruing the hole in one that wasn’t, Rob sank the putt for his birdie and 4 stableford points.

Michael followed up with a nice shot to a couple of metres to take the ball. He too made the birdie putt.

The huge sum of $6 jackpots for the ProPin on the 15^th. Again, the first group didn’t bother putting out the marker but this time it didn’t matter, nobody got close to the 5 metre mark.

Beast then knocked off Brendan for the ball on the 18^th. One of the quickest presentation ceremonies ever was had and it was barely past morning tea time when we headed home.

PS. Apart from the car park works, the other big infrastructure development of note comes courtesy of the big James/Brent matchplay out of bounds issue on the 13^th.

There are now new OOB markers in place which should help avoid any confusion if anybody heads out there in the future.

The coming week sees the August monthly medal up for grabs with a spot to be gained in the end year Champion of Champions event for those not already qualified.

Meanwhile, the Championship race is hotting up. Raj is now the front runner, with Geoff, James, Brendan, Harry and Rob in pursuit. There’s also some sneaky money for Captain Matt making a run. If he can get past Porks and then Brent and win the 16 points on offer for the Match Play, he too will be in championship calculations.

Results for Saturday, 29 Jul 2023
1st Rajesh Mahto (37) 1st Brendon Mitchell (37) 1st Robert Priems (37) 2nd Michael Gourlay (34) 3rd Bill Eastoe (31) 4th Chris James (24)

Seniors Results: 1st Michael Gourlay (34) 2nd Bill Eastoe (31)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Bill Eastoe

The forecast said no wind or rain but expect it to be cold at tee off time. And it was! The only players not complaining about the cold were the smart ones who had planned ahead and had the hand warmers or ski gloves deployed in between shots over the early holes.

However by the time our first round leaders in the Fred Howe Winter Cup got to the 6th, things were well and truly hotting up. Brendan creamed his 3 wood second shot to within an inch or two of the hole for a tap in eagle and first claim for the day on the Eagles Nest balls prize (more later on the unlucky second eagle of the day). Having birdied the 5th, Brendan was well and truly on fire! 21 points on the front meant he was going to take some catching.

The pair who started the day in second place, Raj and Harry, were left lamenting a few lost opportunities. Raj had no less than four 3 pointers in his first six holes, but two wipes and then another at the 8th saw him turn with 16 points. Harry faired one better with 17 points, despite a few gettable putts sliding by the hole.

Meanwhile, the big dark horse looking most likely to knock Brendan off his perch was last week’s third place starter Prez Priems who matched Raj with four 3 pointers on the front 9. Without any wipes blemishing his card, Rob turned in 21 points and was looking poised to make a charge if Brendan stumbled.

But Brendan kept the 2 and 3 pointers ticking over on the back 9 and apart from a wipe at the 17th, his scorecard suggested calm consistency throughout for 19 points on the back, 40 for the day, 76 over the two weeks and what turned out to be an easy five shot win. Apparently the scorecard belied a few anxious moments during the journey for Brendan. Having been sledged for slow play by a group of women playing behind, Brendan was apparently fired up and hitting them miles off the tee. On the 14th, what looked like an excellent drive to about pin high just off the green turned into something else when it hit the path and ballooned way past the green into the rough besides the lower 15th tee. Thankfully, Matt was on hand to help Brendan find the ball and after pitching back over the green he eventually managed a good chip back and a one putt par.

Meanwhile the wheels had fallen off Rob’s challenge with a wipe and four one pointers to start the back 9. He regathered himself for a strong finish, including a four point birdie on the 17th, with 37 points for the day, 71 for the two rounds and solo second place.

Raj finished the day with the same score as last week, 35, for a total of 70 and third place on his own. Reports suggest that Raj’s stellar chipping was the main feature of his game today. His 6 points for third also see him charge to the lead in the championship race.

Harry, despite his unlucky putting, finished with 32 points for the day, 67 across the two rounds and solo fourth place, along with another first place in the Seniors. He is now the unbackable favourite for the Seniors Championship, with a lead of 14 points over Geoff in second place.

Michael and Matt limped into 5th place with 66 points across the two rounds. The highlight of Matt’s round was an eagle on the 17th after a drive near the green and a chip that never looked like missing. Unfortunately, when announcing himself the winner of the Eagles Nest, Matt was unaware of Brendan’s earlier eagle on the 6th. Apparently the rule is first eagle of the day wins the balls, any subsequent eagles win nothing, except some sledging at the presentation.

Michael and Matt were joined in 5th place by Jonathan who followed up last week’s 28 points with 38 today. Along the way he hit some shots that suggest he will not be a 20+ something handicapper for long, including a 5 iron from way back in the left rough on 5th that negotiated the big trees and finished 3 metres from the pin. Unfortunately he missed the birdie putt but rectified that with a birdie on 6th after two shots got him close to the green. He then made one of the best up and downs you’ll ever see for par on the 8th from near the back fence after his unlucky second shot bounded through the green. The Punters Club could do worse with their money than to back Jonathan for a few wins in the near future.

Today’s nearest the pin saw Michael win the jackpot “double ball” on the 4th, SOS take out the ball on the 18th and CJ blitz the field with a shot to 2.33 metres to a tough back pin on the 12th.

Whitey was just out of the points in 6th place. He started on fire with a birdie on the first for 4 points, one of 11 birdies for the day across the field. There is a rumour he is soon to jet off to England to replace Pat Cummins as Captain for the 5th test of the Ashes series. Either that or Pat will give him a ring to get a few suggestions on bowling strategies and field placements.

Chris J and Blighty were neck and neck at the tail of the field today, with Chris J eventually getting his nose in front with 2 four point birdies on the back 9.

The best birdie of the day belonged to Brent who was locked at all square in his Match Play semi final against James standing on the 18th tee. With the pin up the top he flew it all the way back there to an inch or two off the green and then made the putt to secure a win 1 up. Brent was the 2021 Match Play champion and runner up in 2022, so he is keen to go again in 2023. He awaits the winner of the other semi between Matt and Porks, with the final scheduled for late August.

Big thanks to SOS for organising the BBQ after the round and a few others stepping in to make sure we all got a decent feed while swapping stories of the day. The playing partners of Chris J, Jonathan and Rob all looked happy as they enjoyed a free drink to go with the hamburgers and snags on offer.

Results for Saturday, 22 Jul 2023
1st Brendon Mitchell (36, 40, 76) 2nd Robert Priems (24, 37, 71) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (35, 35, 70) 4th Harry Boughen (35, 32, 67) 5th Michael Gourlay (31, 35, 66) 5th Matt Hunt (32, 34, 66) 5th Jonathan Lau (28, 38, 66)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (35,32,67) 2nd Michael Gourlay (31,35,66) 3rd Chris Priems (30,35,65) 3rd Rodney White (29,36,65)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Chris Priems BallPin No 1 – 4th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 – 18th Stephen O’Sullivan

Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 6th Brendon Mitchell

Leading up to tee time, there was a lot of talk about rain-free days and the effect of windy ones on the condition of the course. The sign was still out for preferred lies, but the carts were on the move, so that augured well for significantly improved conditions out on the course. And, that augury proved to be accurate, with only patches on the 13th and 14th still a bit on the ‘mucky’ side. The need for preferred lie was still obvious, with the wet clay sticking to the ball and buggy wheels like the proverbial baby cack to a blanket. The greens were soft enough to hold a well lofted approach, but fast enough to let anything skinny skip right on through. The weather was fine, and the forecast showers were nowhere in sight by the end of the round, despite some prognostications made by a few of the eleven members playing, in the face of thickening cloud and fading light late in the piece. All in all, there should have been no real reason not to shoot the lights out.

As it turned out, the best that we could manage was to play to handicap, although you could be forgiven for thinking that that performance could have been rather better than it turned out. Brendon started out trying his best to repeat last week’s start by chipping in for a birdie on the first. The margin of the miss was really quite small. For some reason, the honey-comb track way by the 8th green managed to spook him, and a series of ‘duffs’ resulted in a triple and a no score, leaving him with only 19 points at the turn. At the 14th, after a very purposeful preparation, the drive departed like a bullet, and the ball finished on the green with a straight, up-hill putt for a potential eagle. The putt ran fast and true, but just a little too fast for the section of the cup that it caught, but it finished not too far away to be considered a good birdie chance. Four putts later, Brendon was left with the option of cutting his own throat or carrying on with the game. This he did in fine style (carrying on, that is), and finished with a total of 36 points to lead the field.

Harry struggled with his short game over the course of the front nine, and the three putts cost him dearly, and so, he was somewhat down in the dumps at the turn. However, in a similar vein to last week, he was able to turn the form around to produce the best nine hole points total for the day of 21, to bring his total to a second place holding tally of 35 points. Raj started out just a bit on the ‘average’ side, but, on the 3rd, he fairly cracked his drive well down the fairway, and followed up with a pretty speccy shot to within a couple of metres of the pin. His putt was deadly accurate, but it came to a stop with part of the ball hanging over the edge of the hole. Instead of walking up to the ball, Raj tried kangaroo hopping in the hope that the vibration would make it drop. No such luck, and the Match Committee would have upheld a protest, so he, grudgingly, had to nudge the ball into the hole for the par. Finishing off the round with a couple of pars helped him to attain the second place total of 35 as well.

The 8th hole seems to have had a bit of a jinx upon it today, with no less than four members scoring triples on it for no points. One of those was none other than Prez, aka Rob, who might have done better than his 17 points for the front nine if it were not for that. The back nine did not produce any no score holes, but it could only produce the exact same total, to make the 34 points for the round, which was enough to snag the third podium spot without having to share it. Matt was another who fell victim to the jinx on the 8th. However, his score was helped immeasurably by the three birdies that he managed to score elsewhere, and he became by far the most prolific feather duster for the day, as we only managed four between the lot of us. The fifth spot on the Leaderboard is shared by Michael and SOS with their tally of 31 points. However, with Tail-end-Charlie only three points further back, nobody is really out of the running to do a Bradbury, and to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The options offered for the first BallPin today were the 4th or the 7th. The 7th was ‘eliminated’ as being too hard, and so the 4th it was. And, what do you know, the 4th was too hard, and there will be a jackpot for next week. As an aside, at least one member did get onto the 7th. The ProPin was a jackpot on the 15th, and Harry cracked a mighty fine drive that looked to be right in there with a chance. Brendon did his little wiggle on the tee and spoke nicely to the ball – ‘just finish inside Harry’. And, it did, stopping 2.9m out pin high. Harry needn’t have worried because his was just over the 5m limit. The second BallPin on the 18th fell to Raj with his shot to 5m, which could easily be enough to win the ProShop ProPin as well.

The last of the Matchplay Quarter-finals was played today between Matt and Michael. With only three strokes difference, on paper it looked to be a good match. A good match it turned out to be. Michael, never did manage to get his nose in front, but the margin was never more than two holes. After the 16th, the match was square, with a good chance that it could go either way. Matt won the 17th by scoring one of his birdies to Michael’s par, making the match Dormie 1, and turning the 18th hole into a pivotal contest. On the green, Matt had about a 3m putt, while Michael was faced with about 1.5m. According to all reports, Matt’s putt had well and truly ‘missed’ when it hit a pebble, deflected and ran back into the hole. Completely gob-smacked, Michael then missed his putt, and handed the hole to Matt, making the score-line 2 up to Matt.

Geoff was ‘bragging’ about the number of pars on his card, despite the final score total. It seems that on the 10th, the ball was heading for one, maybe two fairways across, when it hit a tree dead centre, and dropped onto the green from where he made the par. When playing his second on the 2nd from beside the 1st green, Geoff hooked it, with little time for a ‘fore’, and nearly took the pom-pom off Whitey’s beanie. Then again, maybe Whitey (and SOS) shouldn’t have been positioned so far forward. While on the subject of Whitey, he reckons today is the first time he has ever played a round without scoring at least one par (fact check required!). Jonathan was back with us today after a bit of a break, and, just maybe, the match fitness was a little wanting. However, it seems that he could be challenging for the ‘Priems’ title after a couple of ‘sprayed’ shots, on the 3rd and 4th holes, were eventually found comfortably in the middle of the correct fairway. And, on the 10th, the group in front, on the 11th tee, were in serious danger if it were not for the garbage bin that intervened and deposited the ball comfortable back in play on the fairway. The shot of the day was reported to belong to Matt on the 13th, where his drive on the 13th finished in the tree line along the 10th. A sneaky little 2 iron avoided the greenery and finished on the green, leaving just the putt to make yet another birdie. Speaking of Birdies, the Birthday variety missed out on sending a wish to SteveG last week. Maybe that is why he didn’t make it this week.

Results for Saturday, 15 Jul 2023
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Brendon Mitchell (36) 2nd Harry Boughen (35) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (35) 3rd Robert Priems (34) 4th Matt Hunt (32) 5th Michael Gourlay (31) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (31)

Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Harry Boughen (35) 2nd Michael Gourlay (31) 3rd Chris Priems (30)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Rajesh Mahto