Category Archives: Club News

Today marked the start of a whole new year of competition for the Club’s comprehensive list of prestigious trophies. And, arguably, there is none more prestigious than the year’s kick-starter, the Vin O’Meara Christmas Cup. And, in case you haven’t already, you should make a point of feasting your eyes on the Club’s brand new Trophy Cabinet which will house the perpetual trophies in perpetuity. Sorry, guys, no more – straight to the pool room. Many thanks are due to SOS for sourcing the fine piece of furniture and to SOS and Gordo for doing the heavy lifting to bring it into service. The weather was cloudy and warm with a change due to bring wind and rain about lunch-time. So, the forecast was no impediment to the 24 members and two guests who turned out for the fray. There were some who thought that the change in the weather could very well arrive before they had completed their round. And, although it was compared in length to Tolstoy’s infamously long War and Peace, everybody was safely home before the weather set in. Seriously, though, keep in mind those little time saving tricks like, ready golf, mark your card at the tee, plan your shot before it is your turn, read your putt while waiting for others, one practice swing, and so forth.

Young Zimmer is on the come-back trail after an extended break from the Club. He put in his three cards to re-establish his handicap and the consensus view was that the number might have been on the generous side. Is that the case or this just a flash in the pan? The proof of the pudding will be in the eating and Zimmer will have to be on his mettle when he comes up against Stan next week. Now, Stan is a man who has not been with us all that long and maybe he has been hiding his light under a bushel. He certainly pulled one out of somewhere today and was able to tie it up with Kazim with their net scores of 66 strokes. Game on!

CJ chucked a bit of a hissy-fit during the week when he received all sorts of requests after the tee list went out. In future, guys, put in any requests by the close of registrations or they will not be considered. Any way, he seems to have settled down a bit and that seems to have reflected in his game with a very respectable, and in there with a chance, score of 67 on the bottom line. SOS was keen to get away to work but the pressure did not prevent him from being right in the mix with his 67 as well.

In one of the most bunched up fields that we have had in a long time, there are three players with the scent of a win in their nostrils on a dead-set handicap equaling round of 68. Michael, who is also back from a spell and could be ready to fire, Brendon, that unflappable precision player from New Ziland and JQ, who takes the occasional break from the mire of legalese to play, made up what could almost be styled the Three Musketeers on Third.

Yet, there are another four within back-stabbing distance of the leaders, and they comprise Craig, Adam (also back from a spell), Damo and Porks on everybody’s favourite number, 69. Titter, titter. Last in the game for hypothetical points was that old dark horse, Keith. Now, the big question is, will Keith come back next week for the kill. Or, will Gordo kill Keith if he does (and wins).

The other game in play is the Club Stroke Championship. In the scratch division of this event, there is a close run thing going on between Michael and Pepsi for the top spot with only a couple of strokes in it. From what Pepsi said today, a few what-ifs could have made all the difference. Craig and Porks have a bit of work (or some knee-capping) to do. Despite some woes brought on by an excess of three putt greens, Harry has managed to hang onto his lead with still a bit of a margin over Craig. Michael and SOS are a few strokes further back. The full table is on the web-site under the Competitions Menu.

The ProPin today was on the 12th and Porks went oh so close to snagging the elusive golfers dream, leaving the ball a mere 320mm from the pin. Naturally, he got the birdie and so contributed to the total of 21 that the field was able to card for the day. Gordo was able to squeeze one close enough on the 15th to collect himself a ball and it was up to Craig to get one close enough on the 18th to take out the final BallPin for the day.

A quick welcome to a couple of prospective members. Pat McSweeney has been along a couple of times now as a guest of Pepsi. He has decided to throw his hat in and join us, and he now has two cards to his credit. Matt Van Dam came along today as a guest of JQ and, he too, has expressed a wish to join our merry band, and he has his first card in the system. While we are on the subject of Membership, the Club membership of $30 and the GolfLink membership of $90 normally falls due in December. So, if you can see your way clear to pay your subs into the Club bank account (details on the web-site under Contacts) that would be much appreciated. The Committee is prepared to be a little more relaxed about deadlines coming out of this difficult time, but, we really do need to know your intentions about GolfLink before the end of December so that we can adjust the database before the census on 31st.

SOS also scored a birdie today on the fifth hole. Damo reckons that the score was down to him when his leg got in the way of SOS’s ball and prevented it from going into the rough stuff behind the green. Noodles broke a club today and he didn’t even mean to. He was playing a fairly simple shot and the shaft folded about halfway down the grip. Presumably he had to grip down on that club from then on.

MattA went a little astray on his approach to the 2nd green and finished on the 6th tee. Not a problem, he just chipped it over the bank, onto the green and it rolled in for the easiest of pars. Adam smashed his drive almost out of sight from the 16th tee and his tee peg finished past the red markers. He was wondering whether there should be a new tradition where the rest of the group buy him a drink for the feat. Peter was convinced that there was a curse on the ball that he was using and decided to change from the yellow to white. He was then searching for a yellow ball thinking it might have gone into a hazard, and completely ignoring his actual white ball, even to the extent of planning to drop another.

Blighty caused all sorts of havoc after the round by having forgotten to get cards and his handicap when he registered at the ProShop before the round. Much scribbling and transcribing of scores as the crowds waited on. We know they do things differently over the ditch but, do they really turn taps anti-clockwise (and in line with the pipe) to off as Brendon was noticed trying to do when he finished washing his cart. Bob sank a long turning putt for a birdie on the 18th for what he reckoned was his only decent shot for the day. Apparently, Bob and Damo were arguing all the way around about the scores, and they were still arguing up until the moment that the cards were handed in. Damo reckoned his head hurt from dealing with such large numbers.

Don’t forget, you still have to register for your game each Saturday even though, next week, the Leader Boards will determine the pecking order. The week after next will be the Stuart Clarke Champion of Champions and the Chump of Chumps. This will be followed by the Break-up and Trophy Presentations. Once again, this will be held at JQs house which is located at 24 Atkinson Street, Templestowe. If you haven’t already, can you please also register for this event so that we can be sure of the needs for catering.

Results for Saturday, 05 December 2020
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Kazim Akdag(66) 1st Stan Blackshaw(66) 2nd Chris Priems(67) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan(67) 3rd Michael Gourlay(68) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(68) 3rd John Quinlan(68) 4th Craig Cameron(69) 4th Adam King(69) 4th Damien Lee(69) 4th Ryan Porker(69) 5th Keith Delzoppo(70)

Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Stan Blackshaw (66) 2nd Chris Priems (67) 3rd Michael Gourlay (68)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 15th Gordon Hill BallPin No 2 18th Craig Cameron

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This is the way the Championship ends
This is the way the Championship ends
This is the way the Championship ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper.

With apologies to T. S. Eliot

And so we come to the end of a rather unusual year of golf. We’ve had lock-downs. We’ve had shut-downs. We’ve had knock-downs. But, at least we haven’t had any drag-outs. And, at the end of the day, we managed to navigate our way through it all to still have a modicum of interest in the outcome of the final round of the competition for this year. The weather was fine, but overcast, and there were just a couple of spots of rain. The increased freedoms and the impending silly season did not impact our number by too much and 22 members and Pepsi’s guest, Patrick, set out to do battle with the elements and the trees. JQ was on deck to celebrate his little milestone of 300 games with the Club. He could have passed it years ago if he hadn’t gone gallivanting to the four corners of the globe in pursuit of his career. But, just maybe, his career was just a tad more important.

Noodles and Porks took to the field side by side with Noodles intent more on limiting Ryan’s chances of scoring any more points than him than on winning the day. Ryan went astray early, which might have lulled Noods into a false sense of security and by the turn his three stroke advantage had disappeared and the scores were equal. They then traded stroke for stroke as the back nine progressed with neither being able to garner any advantage. Porks had the chance to pip Noods by a stroke on the 18th but the par proved elusive and, at the end of 18, the scores were still dead equal and, regardless of position in the field, the 2020 Club Championship was clearly in Noodles hands, with a total of 57 points, four points clear of Ryan on 53. Pepsi held his placing on the table to finish third with 47 points.

Of course, the real event of the day was the December Monthly Medal. Harry has admitted to watching a few instructional videos over the period away from the course and, there are those among the members who reckon he hits the straightest driver in the Club. As a hint, his driver from the back blocks on the 15th pulled up around a metre short of the hole, creating more than a little excitement on the tee. But, whether it is the instruction or just the one in twenty outlier, it does not take away from the fact that he fairly blitzed the course today to take out the trophy with a handicap devastating net score of 62.

Somebody reckons that Stef is looking even more like a porn star than ever with the Mo-vember and the tatts. But that has not stopped him from hitting the ball a country mile as well as being able to score. He managed to play exactly to his handicap and stepped up for a share of second place. His partner in crime on the podium was Craig who had a couple of scratchy ones to start off but settled down and barely put a foot wrong from there on.

MattA also had a few scratchy ones early in the round, but he managed to settle for the final twelve holes and came in, just a stroke behind in third place. He wasn’t alone in that spot although he very well could have been if MattH’s putt on the 18th had dropped in for the birdie rather than hanging on the rim of the cup and just staying out. Not sure whether there was something about that hole, but Michael and Daniel also went tantalisingly close but missed by circling the cup and hanging on the edge.

Pepsi had an uncharacteristic result on the 6th with a couple of ‘chunked’ shots undoing an otherwise nice round. Brent was nurse-maiding his father-in-law and, so, might be forgiven a couple of aberrations that impacted his ability to score as well as he might. Then followed a list so long that Damo was loathe to read them all out during the announcements. But, here goes. Noodles, Beast, Michael, Gordo, Porks and, last but by no means least, SOS. All got a piece of fifth place.

Gordon managed to sneak into 3rd place in the Seniors points today but, that was not quite enough and, so, he will have to be satisfied with second place in the Seniors Championship just a single point behind the redoubtable Bob who takes it out with 24 points. Harry’s top placing today means that he was able to jump to 23 points and into third place by leap-frogging over Targe who has not been placing well in recent weeks.

The first BallPin, on the 12th, proved to be a bit difficult with the pin on the hard right of the green. However, JQ managed to get it on and held off all comers to take out the ball on offer. On the 18th, the pin was on the bottom deck which seems to be much more to peoples liking and the eventual winner was MattH. His missed putt did not contribute to the tally of birdies for the day. Noodles did manage to get a new birdie on the 9th which did add to the total of 16 for the day. It was also enough to seal him as the winner of the Eclectic for the year with a net score of 46.2, less than half a stroke ahead of Peter. The ProPin was on the 4th and there were numerous valiant efforts that did not quite make it to the 5m limit. Pepsi did manage to squeeze one under the limit but, he was unseated when Damo managed to knock one to 3.85m.

Peter managed to drive one onto the 10th green today. The only problem being that he was playing off the 2nd tee. Chrispy wasn’t able to go too far astray on the 6th today as he managed to play shots into trees a total of five times. Three of those times, the ball finished behind where it started so it is not surprising that he finished the hole in double figures. Another one who finished in double figures was Ben who managed to lose four balls OOB on the 8th on his way to a 15. Maybe it was the ‘gorillas’ on his shirt that affected his approach to the game as he almost took out Porks and Harry at various stages during the round.

Bob was the only reported draughtie today and, it seems that it was a beauty. It happened on the 18th and it could very well be the only recorded instance of the ball finishing behind the tee that it was hit from. The Beast also had his fair share of problems on the last two holes. A couple of shanks on the 17th had him playing down the 18th. Then, on the 18th, he walked up to a ball, checked that it was a blue numbered Srixon and played on. Only to find that his actual ball, a blue numbered Srixon but with prominent green dots and line, lay in the grass a couple of metres away.

The Vin O’Meara starts next week for the first points of the 2021 competition. This event will be played using your latest handicap. It also comprises the final two rounds of the Club Stroke Championship, the result of the handicap branch of which will be determined using today’s handicap. The usual Calcutta Auction for the VOM has been suspended for this year and there will be a $25, draw for player, event in its place. Could everybody who intends to ‘buy’ a player please register their intention on the web-site under the Registration Menu/Register for Calcutta Purchase. The usual $25 buy yourself, winner-take-all will also be available.

The break-up will once again be at Past-President John’s home after the Champion of Champions on 19 December, and we sincerely thank him and Andrea for making their facilities available once again. To help with the catering can everybody please register their intentions on the web-site under Registration/Break-up Registration as soon as possible. Any changes of mind can also be made there, but we would prefer firm decisions.

Results for Saturday, 28 November 2020
1st Harry Boughen(62) 2nd Stefan Belevski(68) 2nd Craig Cameron(68) 3rd Matthew Aforozis(69) 3rd Matt Hunt(69) 4th Andrew Petricola(71) 4th Brent Rowley(71) 5th Stephen Butterfield(72) 5th Bill Eastoe(72) 5th Michael Gourlay(72) 5th Gordon Hill(72) 5th Ryan Porker(72) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(72)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (62) 2nd Craig Cameron (68) 3rd Bill Eastoe (72) 3rd Gordon Hill (72) 3rd Michael Gourlay (72)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin4th Damien Lee BallPin No 1 12th John Quinlan BallPin No 2 18th Matt Hunt

There was movement at the 'Hoe course.
For the word had got around,
That the points to set the Champ,
Were still in play.

As the number of double doughnut days continue to mount, the general populace is getting more and more excited about what exactly the next round of restriction easing might be. Top of the wish-list would appear to be a relaxation of the face-mask rule but, there are some who would prefer to be safe than sorry as well as having consideration for the health and safety of others.

The weather continues to be fine and warming up but still nice enough for a really enjoyable for a game of golf. We managed to get 21 of our members onto the tees this morning and young Kazim joined us once more to submit his third card. He managed to show that he has not lost too much form during his recent lay-off, and he carded a 71 off the beater today. This included an eagle on the 14th after driving it to pin high and following up with a very handy chip-in. Unfortunately, it does not count for the Eagle’s Nest. Maybe next week! His eventual handicap of 9 from his three cards looks too generous by far.

On the face of it, with the weather showing a benign face and, with the course well mowed and the greens in tip-top condition, there was absolutely no reason not to turn in a good score today. And, it took Gordon to show the field exactly how it was done. It was a case of playing mostly to your handicap and taking advantage of the occasional opportunity that offered itself. A couple of blemishes, with the minimum amount of pencil lead expended in the result column on the back nine, prevented the score-line being rather more than the +3 that resulted.

Stefan was probably hoping to ‘Mo’ down the field, but he might just have to wait until later in the month when the face-fuzz has made more of an impression. He also had a couple of pen saving results on the back nine and improving those could have converted the result from his +2 into a winner. Simon managed to mark his card on the wrong side but, at least, he did point it out to the handicapper. And, it pretty much guaranteed that he was not recycling his card from Thursday.

Harry was also carrying a ‘burden’ from Thursday but it didn’t seem to faze him too much. He even gave the spot where the flag on the 7th had been on Thursday a bit of a nudge but, the ground-staff had moved the hole to another part of the green. The last three holes turned a potential winner into a fourth placer with a net result at square. MattH, on the other hand, stayed pretty much square the whole round to join in on the points on offer. Damo looked like having a bit of a shocker when he was five down after six. Getting back to square was quite a fine effort from there. Chrispy, of the shining dome, turned up with a minus 1. He was joined by Michael who has come back after quite a long break. Michael did admit to having had a couple of rounds and so did not come back completely cold.

With one more round to play in this year’s competition, there are six players with a mathematical possibility of slotting into one of the top three spots in the main Championship so the competition next week will undoubtedly be fierce. In the Seniors, there are five members in a similar situation if we discount Dennis, who is probably unlikely to make it back to take part. In the Eclectic, three players can take the trophy with a birdie and there are another couple within an eagle (or a couple of birdies). And, while on the topic of birdies, Bob fell just short of acing the 18th to win the BallPin and tapped in for his birdie to add to the other 16 that were scored today. The other BallPin was on the 15th and that was taken out by Zimmer. The ProPin today was on the 12th but the recipient claims that he didn’t know what he had won. Blighty, if you have to measure the distance (2.3m by the way), it is the ProPin. As an interesting aside, the other name on all of the nearest the pin chits was Michael.

There are a couple of milestones to mark today. Keith lined up for his 400th game with the Club. Keith doesn’t think he will catch up to Chrispy though. The Birthday Birdie has a good wish for Daniel who will, undoubtedly, be cooking up something special later in the week.

The Matchplay Championship was played out today with a match between Pepsi and Dave. From a handicap point of view, there was only one stroke in it and it promised to be a corker of a match. And the match was generally a very close run thing with Pepsi struggling to hold on to his early advantage. It could very well have been the flat stick that was the telling difference between the two. The match eventually went dormie 2 at the 16th and a loss at 17 gave the match and the Championship to Pepsi 3 and 1. One of the events of the round was when Pepsi’s ball went missing on the 10th fairway near the first, where it was strongly suspected that it had been ‘picked up/played,’ a fact denied by the potential perpetrators. On the 11th, a ball appeared from the second that just happened to be the same make and number and with the same markings as Pepsi’s missing ball. What Dave said to the culprit doesn’t bear repeating but the look on his face was apparently priceless. The win propelled Pepsi right into the action at the top of the main Championship table.

Brendon was plagued by a bit of an attack of the shanks, including a beauty from the tee on the 12th straight into the penalty area (aka water hazard). A tank shank you might say. On the 13th, Peter put his drive behind a tree on the 10th fairway and then played a ‘brilliant’ shot that headed across the 13th, curved around over the left hand hazard, bounced around the bank and ran down the hill to finish just off the green. It is suspected that this was not exactly the shot that Pete had envisaged. Gordo also shanked his second on the 8th into the billabong but, like the real trouper that he is, he put the next shot just short of the green and chipped in from there for a square on the hole.

Blighty was overheard wondering what he might do with the cash that he had collected from the ProPin. Perhaps he could buy himself some balls as he was also overheard saying that he had ‘only’ lost three today, including two on the 17th. Rob’s rough trot does not seem to have been alleviated by a week off and he really struggled on the front nine, weaving something of a zig-zag course. This performance included a draughtie on the 3rd. Hopefully things have turned a corner for our esteemed President as he managed to play to his handicap on the back nine.

Arrangements for the break-up are still a bit up in the air until we know more about what will be allowed in terms of gathering sizes and locations. The committee will finalise decisions on the event early next week and will advise shortly afterwards. Also, don’t forget that next Saturday is the last round for this competition year and will be a stroke round for the December Monthly Medal. It will also be the first round of our Club Stroke Championship which will extend over the following two weeks of the Vin O’Meara. The VOM marks the beginning of the new Championship so everything to turn up for.

Results for Saturday, 21 November 2020
1st Gordon Hill(+3) 2nd Stefan Belevski(+2) 3rd Simon Powell(+1) 4th Harry Boughen(□) 4th Matt Hunt(□) 4th Damien Lee(□) 5th Michael Gourlay(-1) 5th Chris Priems(-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (+3) 2nd Simon Powell (+1) 3rd Harry Boughen (□)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Andrew Blight BallPin No 1 15th Kazim Akdag BallPin No 2 18th Bob McDonald

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There have been lots of things attributed to the effect of the lockdown ranging from increased domestic violence, to increased alcohol consumption, to declining mental health. Maybe we can add declining mathematical ability to that list, if the length of time that some pairs took to finalise their cards and the number of adjustments to number of points due are any guide. You certainly couldn’t blame the weather, with a fairly calm and cool to balmy day being just about perfect for a round (of golf). Our numbers, at 23 players, were just a little down on recent weeks but the raising of the ‘ring of steel’ and the need to prepare for holiday season probably helped to keep a few members otherwise occupied.

The course was in tip-top condition and some were confidently predicting that a score in the forties would be needed to collect the top points. However, the consensus, during and after the round, was that the greens were fast for chipping but slow for putting which seems a bit of a contradiction in terms but the thought did come from a number of independent sources.

Now, whether it was one of the perceived effects of lockdown, there was a suggestion that SOS possibly should not have been in charge of a motor vehicle on his way to the course. And, by the third hole, he was in need of an urgent source of relief, which, mercifully for his playing partners, was close at hand. His game certainly picked up more than somewhat after the 4th hole. But, he was obviously able to keep his head down and brought home a card showing a handicap equalling 36 points with 21 of them on the back nine. Brent started out well but then faltered a bit, got it back together, faltered a bit, got it back together etc, etc. Finally making it to the line with the same tally as SOS and taking a share of the top points for the day.

Damo was a bit unsure how to tackle the first off the new tee ground, but stuck with his choice of driver and took on the direct path over the trees. On the second he took on the trees again but, this time, he managed to get caught in one and the ball hit timber about five or six times before it eventually decided to drop to the ground. The handicapper is beginning to think that there should be a new limit to the size of handicap allowed, at 18, given the number of people who seem to ‘forget’ which holes they get multiple strokes on. Among the culprits today were Bob and Ken who managed to get themselves ‘promoted’ into a share of second place with Damo for a score of 35 points.

Harry played the back nine during the week and hoped that he had been able to ‘bottle’ it after a PB total of 36 off the stick. Unfortunately, the flat stick, in particular, did not quite cooperate to the same degree, and a total for the round of 34 was the best on offer. Craig claimed that there was nothing to report on his game or that of his companions, just average golf, in other words. ChrisV, on the other hand, made good use of the trees, in some cases for good and, in some cases, for evil. Thus, the good, the evil and the average succeeded in also scoring 34 points to share the third podium spot.

Simon also had some good nines during the week, and he was hoping that he might be able to recycle the cards for today’s event. The handicapper was right onto him though, and so he had to do the right thing and submit his real card with 33 points on the bottom line. JQ hasn’t been practising during the week, but he still managed a nice steady game with just a few too many slipping through to the keeper and preventing a significantly better tally. Porks managed to shrug off a putt missed from about 300mm on the 5th hole to score a single point and to narrow the gap ever so slightly between he and Noodles at the top of the Championship table. The game is afoot! Daniel picked up a ‘forgotten’ point to drag himself into a share of fifth place.

And, while on the subject of Daniel, there was a lot (of dosh) riding on the ProPin at the 15th hole today. There were some close, but no cigar, until Daniel smashed one to 1.38m to remove almost any hope for the rest of the field. As if to console himself for missing that ‘one-footer’ and for scoring only one point, Porks took it upon himself to take out both of the BallPin competitions on the 12th and the 18th. Neither of them resulted in birdies, and so he did not add to the tally of eight for the day. Pepsi did contribute by getting a birdie on the 9th, although it was a little on the unconventional side. His drive finished in the middle of the 18th, and so he had to pitch over the trees and sink the putt to get there. Which he did with the greatest aplomb.

Peter did not have a great day of it, and that was exemplified by his tee shot from the 10th that finished on the cart path from the first. MattA also struggled a bit and his game can be best summarised by the fact that he ‘scored’ a draughtie with his second tee shot after the first went OOB. The ‘unofficial rules’ committee were scratching their heads over that one. Our other Matt(H), when asked how it went, responded that he only comes to play on Medal days. Bob is still having problems keeping his cart under control. He reckons, sometimes his reflexes are too fast and sometimes they are too slow and, sometimes it has a mind of its own and heads off when he doesn’t even have the controller on him.

Brendon was playing the 10th on the 13th and, wisely, decided to move back out of the firing line as Dale smacked it down. The further back that Brendon went, the further round Dale’s ball followed, with Damo urging it on from behind. It is unclear whether this ‘near death’ experience caused Brendon’s next shot to pop up into a tree and plop, ignominiously, into the pond. It did result in one of several gashes.

Results for Saturday, 14 November 2020
1st Brent Rowley(36) 1st Stephen O’Sullivan(36) 2nd Damien Lee(35) 2nd Bob McDonald(35) 2nd Ken Watson(35) 3rd Harry Boughen(34) 3rd Craig Cameron(34) 3rd Chris Vinecombe(34) 4th Simon Powell(33) 4th John Quinlan(33) 5th Daniel O’Rourke(32) 5th Ryan Porker(32)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (35) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 2nd Harry Boughen (34) 3rd Simon Powell (33)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Daniel O’Rourke BallPin No 1 12th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 18th Ryan Porker

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