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Red, white and green on 01 February 2020
The weather reports promised just about everything – red dust and mud rain, white lightning and hail, and best of all, green grass underfoot. Well, it was pretty warm and the humidity made the place feel more like Darwin than downtown Melbourne. In the end, all the weather gods could do was to send down a few showers of rain and there was little evidence of the other forebodings. Except, of course for the green grass underfoot although it must be said that bitter experience showed that it was possible to find a pretty bare and bony lie. There seemed to be little reason, then, why 24 members and two guests should not be able to shoot the lights out and post some good scores.
However, the red, white and green did end up dominating the day when Enzo did a pretty good job of shooting the lights out to take out the February Monthly Medal with a very creditable net score of 61 from a gross of 81 strokes. This gross also fairly smashed his personal best, at least since he has been a member of the Club. The signs were really good from the get-go when Enzo drew gasps of admiration as he smashed it off the tee on the first. It was obviously not a flash in the pan as the only blemish on the card was a triple on the 8th.
Daniel, on the other hand, didn’t appear as if he was going to set the world on fire early on. He scored a dreaded draughtie on the 1st and an airie on the second but, from then on, there seemed to be little that he could do wrong. He, too, produced a personal best with his 88 off the stick and net 64. Bob was a bit unlucky, perhaps, to fall short of the red markers on the 3rd when his wayward drive caught a tree plumb and the ball rocketed back to finish just ahead of the blues. But, unperturbed, Bob kept his head down produced a score to share the podium with Daniel. According to reports, Chrispy pulled off a similar shot to Bob on the 3rd with pretty much the same result and certainly shy of the red markers.
The ‘come-back’ kid started out like he was really here and actually equalled par off the stick on the front nine. Although the wheels didn’t fall off on the back, there was a little less precision in the steering especially when it came to putting it into the hole and a six over total resulted in a net 66 for the round. Brendon managed a birdie on the 6th with a delicately executed chip in. He then blasted a 4 iron from the tee on the 7th to put the ball less than half a metre from the hole. An easy enough putt for consecutive birdies and a reasonable share of the 9 that were carded for the day. They also helped to claim a share of 3rd place.
Now, while we are on the subject of chips-in, it has to be reported that Gordon shanked his tee shot from the 18th and then put his second to the bank behind the green with the pin placed on the bottom deck just below the finish of the slope. The playing companions said – best of luck with that!. Wouldn’t you know it but the ball ran across the top deck, hesitated at the brow before continuing down the slope to deposit itself ever so gently into the hole. This ‘shot of the century’ scored Gordon 4th place on his own. Blighty came into the club house looking a bit like a freshly beached water rat as the last group negotiated the 18th in the midst of a bit of a downpour. And, if it hadn’t been for a double on that last hole, Andrew might easily have placed better than fifth.
Now, it was reported that Brendon put his drive on the 7th to within half a metre of the pin. He was probably so disappointed that there was no Nearest the Pin on that particular hole that he just had to go and get his name on the two BallPin holes at the 12th and the 18th. The ProPin was a double JackPot on the 15th and there were probably a few bids for sharing of the spoils. There was certainly a fair bit of elbowing to get the nearest position to the pin but, in the end, it was Porks who made the grade with a shot to 2.7m. It was not reported whether he pocketed the lot or whether the largesse was shared about.
Rob and MattH played their first ‘match’ of the year today and Rob came out victorious. Chrispy reckons that Rob should stay away when Matt plays for the rest of the year to have any chance of holding his lead. Ah, brotherly love! The Beast did not have a great day today and he was wondering how it was possible for two players to have five fat ladies between them on the one day. He was at pains to point out that his absence over the next few weeks is down to pre-planned travel and not the sulks.
Stan joined us again today and put in another card. Peter also brought along a friend of his, Matthew Aforozis. His card today had a few rough holes but also a fair sprinkling of good ones. Pete reckons some of it is down to luck after an approach to the 13th bounced on the path and then ran down the hill to finish a couple of metres from the hole. Don’t worry Matt, skillful shots will always make somebody jealous.
Rob apparently took his life in his hands today by chatting away while Damo was on the tee at the 17th. The year of living dangerously! Targe was upset about missing a shortish putt on the 13th and let go of the implement in his hands which fell to the ground and displaced the ball. Now, according to the rules, the ball should have been replaced to the spot from which it was moved with no penalty. However, because the ball was not replaced to the spot and played from where it came to rest, a one stroke penalty applies.
You could almost be forgiven for thinking that we should have a reverse Eclectic where you only take account of your worst holes and the highest score wins. In that case, Noodles would be right up there, as well as in the regular Eclectic, with his 12 on the 3rd. The number of OOBs tallied at least 3. And Noodles was talking about how some people had no common sense after Porks recovered a ball for him, carefully cleaned and dried it and then rolled it along the ground to return it.
Don’t forget, next Monthly Medal day (7th March) is also our AGM. I don’t think the Secretary has been inundated with Nominations for Committee yet but please do consider taking on a role to keep the Club running the way you would like it to be run. Don’t be backward in coming forward as all positions will spill and will be open to all comers.
This day will also be the start of our Matchplay Championship event for the year. The Matchplay Registration form will be opened for you to register your interest or otherwise in being included in the draw. Everybody will be included unless you indicate otherwise. The draw will be published after play on 29 February.
Results for Saturday, 01 February 2020
1st Enzo Cirone(61) 2nd Bob McDonald(64) 2nd Daniel O’Rourke(64) 3rd Damien Lee(66) 3rd Brendon Mitchell(66) 4th Gordon Hill(67) 5th Andrew Blight(68)
Seniors Results: 1st Enzo Cirone (61) 2nd Bob McDonald (64) 3rd Gordon Hill (67)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 1 12th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 18th Brendon Mitchell
Pork barreling has been rampant on 25 January 2020.
The course had a bit of a top-dressing the other night. The north wind raised some dust from the Mallee and carried it down south where it met up with an approaching front being fed with some moisture from the tropics. The resulting downpour was more the consistency of mud than rain and the whole of Melbourne had a rather streaky reddish tinge the next day. It certainly didn’t do the course any harm and eighteen members turned out to take their chances before the kids go back to school and the work year gets going in earnest. We also had Stan Blackshaw along as an extra and, despite playing in a group with Noodles, it seems that there is some chance that he will come back and join our merry band. According to reports, Stan’s GA handicap does not look like stan(ding) for too long.
Another bloke whose handicap has been heading south in recent times lined up as today’s winner. Porks was in a position on the 18th to better his PB by two strokes. Unfortunately, something seems to have distracted him and, after putting his ball close enough to take out the BallPin, he took three putts to only add two points to the 39 that he had scored up until that time. The stroke total of 72 was just one outside his previous best, both of which have been scored in the last six months or so. The points popped him back to the top of the Championship Table. Can he go back to back?
The break from the rough and tumble of grade cricket must be doing Whitey some good or the more regular play is having a beneficial effect. He was able to string together a pair of nineteens today to gather himself a spot on the second podium level albeit with a bit of a cut to the handicap as well as the points. Enzo seems to have found his mojo and continued his form from last week which is a bit of a contrast to what we have seen in recent times. The driver was doing a top job except for one errant shot on the 13th that went high and wide, never to be seen again. Except for that, and a number of putts left hanging on the lip of the hole, there could have been a completely different story to tell.
Harry started off well but let he his guard slip a bit in the latter stages of the front nine and managed to catch a share of fourth place with a tally of 34 points. Noodles, on the other hand, found it difficult to get more than two good scores in a row. When he did score, he scored well and joined Harry on 34. Matt, who was humourously announced as Mike in the call of the card, scored well in the first half but did fade a bit on the run home. Damo was back on deck after a long break and he made sure that everybody knew just how long it had been. His pleas for a handicap review pretty much fell on deaf ears so he went out and proved that he probably won’t need one. In the process, he missed raiding the Eagle’s Nest by millimetres after putting his drive onto the 17th green and leaving the putt tantalisingly close. He got the birdie though and played a part in getting us to the tally of 12 for the day. SOS joined Damo in fifth place and left a fair scattering of missed chances out there in the process.
The first BallPin was on the 12th and the only name on the chit belonged to Blighty. Now, while we are on the topic of Blighty, it should be mentioned that he sank a good 10m putt on the 16th and indulged in such a celebratory dance that his playing companions were proposing a new trophy category to acknowledge such performances. Whether the rush of blood continued to the next tee can only be conjectured. But, there was witnessed one of the finest ‘groundies’ in many a long day. Even the very fine divot cleared the ball which remained firmly attached to its tee. The very Pinnacle of a tee shot.
But, Blighty was not alone. Ken had a couple of weeks off and he reckons it was because his balls were suffering from kencussion. He showed why on the first though there is some argument about whether it was actually a draughtie as the ball could not be found. However, undaunted, he made an undisputed one later in the round. Dennis joined Ken, both in the playing group and on the draughtie list. Damo was spotted playing his second on the 12th just on the wrong side of the red markers as well. And, while not strictly in the category, Stef played a provisional from the 17th after his first shot disappeared into no-man’s-land beyond the fairway. Talk about a super-shank. If the ball had not caught the trees behind the 9th green, it could easily have finished somewhere about the 10th tee.
Dennis managed the t(r)ee marshal job this morning and was running about asking people if they had paid their sub as he was five dollars short. Wouldn’t you know it, but it was Dennis who hadn’t tipped in. The money wasn’t needed for the ProPin on the 15th today as it went to Jackpot once again. Keith has his kids to thank for a new driver that they chipped in for as a Christmas gift. Keith was pretty pleased with the performance of the driver but it seems that it might have had an adverse effect on the rest of his game.
And, while we are on the topic of Keith, the Birthday Birdie owes him a big apology for overlooking him for a good wish last week. And the same goes for Jason, who just happens to share the date with Keith.
Results for Saturday, 25 January 2020
1st Ryan Porker(41) 2nd Rodney White(38) 3rd Enzo Cirone(35) 4th Harry Boughen(34) 4th Stephen Butterfield(34) 4th Matt Hunt(34) 5th Damien Lee(33) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Enzo Cirone (35) 2nd Harry Boughen (34) 3rd Andrew Blight (32) 3rd Gordon Hill (32)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Andrew Blight BallPin No 2 18th Ryan Porker
Things could get a little cocky on 18 January 2020
Hopefully, the weather patterns have changed for the better and the country is getting some much needed rain, particularly in those areas affected by drought and bushfires. While the course is still pretty hard under foot, the fairways are looking much greener for the couple of natural drinks that they have had over the last days and weeks. The day promised to be warm but, all in all, the morning was very pleasant and, with the greens in their good condition, there was an expectation that there would be some really good scores handed in. We only managed to attract eighteen players, which is down a bit on some recent outings and so the stats weren’t quite so favourable for somebody to really put in a blinder and street the field.
He didn’t quite street the field but, that little Peaky Blinder, Targe has done it again and come in at the head of the pack on the day. This just happens to position him at the head of the pack in both the Club Championship and the Seniors. One contributing factor was the unusual way that he played the 18th. The drive finished near to the 9th green. The pitch finished about half a metre from the hole. And the par was a mere formality. The suggestion to have a higher handicap cutting factor specially for Targe is looking more and more attractive. But, he did say he was aiming to get back to where he was before the fall and, slowly but surely, that target is coming into view. Just be patient, chaps!
Brendon was so intent on keeping his own scores that he ‘forgot’ to record the scores for the person he was marking for the last five holes of the round. Rather than focus, could it be incompetence? But, he did chip in for a birdie on the 15th and contributed in a small way to the rather paltry total of six that the whole group managed for the day. Chrispy didn’t start off too well. In case you don’t know it, he is the proud owner of a nice new golf bag and buggy. He decided to test it out by letting it free-wheel down the hill on the first. Guess what, it capsized and the nice new gear isn’t looking quite so new any more. Still, Chrispy did manage to score his very first Senior points today. Rounding out the second place getters today was SOS, who reckoned that playing with him was the highlight of his playing group’s day.
Noodles played in a pretty boring group (again) and he was so bored that he could only manage to beat his handicap by one point. Enzo, on the other hand was in the best form that we have seen for quite a while. He didn’t quite achieve the plus 9 that was talked about early in the round but a tie for third is still a pretty good result. Jason actually looked as if he was going to get +9 after the first nine turn at +4 but, for some reason, the oil started leaking badly and he had to settle for his share of third as well.
Michael was consoling himself with the fact that he was going home with more tees than he started with. But, the knee held up even if the putter would not swing straight. RodG teetered on the brink of having a good one except for choosing to have a bad result on just about every hole that carried two strokes. Bob started to feel a bit unwell on the 4th but, like the old stager that he is, he decided to press on regardless. The golf held up pretty well though and he pulled up to collect his share of the fourth place points. Let’s all hope that nothing serious develops and Bob is back with us in his inimitable style forthwith.
Michael keeps saying that Harry is a good putter out of luck though, today, he was having second thoughts as the ‘good’ putts missed added up. Gordon is so amazed by the swing of one of the pro golfers that he was giving a demonstration on the first tee. Apparently, it involves a massive over-swing and dropping of the club. As a result of Gordon’s demonstration, his ball actually went backwards. Ryan is working with a new swing and, apparently it went OK. The main problems seems to be that he is working with a new swing every week. Probably better than a new swing every shot!
Nearest the Pin for a ball started on the 12th and produced a bit of a contest with Noodles being the last person to put his name on the chit. The contest continued on the 18th and, for a while, it looked as if a distance of about 20 metres was going to take the event. And then along came SOS who managed to make it a more respectable 3 or 4 metres. On the other hand, the ProPin on the 15th went begging, although Enzo, for one, gave himself a bit of a chance but, unfortunately, no cigar. Despite the rumours to the contrary, the Jackpot will not be contested on the 4th hole next week.
Trevor’s ankle seems to be holding up OK and he is looking forward to playing more regularly from now on. You might notice from the Handicap Sheet that, due to the new Veterans category that the Committee approved recently, Trevor’s handicap has moved past 36.
The Birthday Birdie has a busy week this week. He has to get around to both Rob and SteveK to wish them all the best for the coming milestone. One step closer to joining Chrispy in the Seniors, hey Rob.
Results for Saturday, 18 January 2020
1st Targe Mifsud(+3) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(+2) 2nd Chris Priems(+2) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan(+2) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(+1) 3rd Enzo Cirone(+1) 3rd Jason Hopkins(+1) 4th Michael Gourlay(-1) 4th Rod Grant(-1) 4th Bob McDonald(-1) 5th Harry Boughen(-2) 5th Gordon Hill(-2) 5th Ryan Porker(-2)
Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (+3) 2nd Chris Priems (+2) 3rd Enzo Cirone (+1)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Stephen Butterfield BallPin No 2 18th Stephen O’Sullivan
Confusion reigned supreme on 11 January 2020
If you play the inside comp and were confused about the results posted for last week’s event then everybody was confused today as we had to play off the white markers for those taking part in the freshly scheduled (inside) Monthly Medal while we battled it out in our Stableford Competition. There was some very welcome rain yesterday and this served to make the course a very different beast to what it was only a couple of days before. There were a couple of sprinkles about just before tee time but they amounted to not much at all and there was no need to reach for wet weather gear of any sort. A pretty good crowd of twenty players turned out on what ended up being a very nice day for a game even if it wasn’t always golf.
However, there was never any doubt about what the Beast was playing today. It was golf, and golf of a very speccy variety. There was one rather anxious moment on the 13th when the first ball ‘might’ have slipped OOB. A provisional ball was struck so identically that Gordon deemed that if you found the one you would be standing on the other. Bill opted to take his chances on having to play six if they both happened to be OOB. As it turned out, both were in and centimetres apart which caused Gordon to ‘bet’ that Bill was just as likely to birdie the hole. The putt pulled up just short of doing just that.
Whitey hasn’t given up cricket just yet but he is apparently going to play with the seniors/veterans or whatever they are called in that other ball game. His advancing years have not affected his ability to play the small ball variety and he left enough out there, particularly on the front nine, to have easily swept the field before him. Pepsi obviously meant business as he was spotted in deep concentration envisioning his shot into the 14th green over the trees from the 16th fairway. One little twig got over-looked in the image and the ball fell short to result in a bogie for the hole.
Reports that Bob was out-driving SOS on a regular basis might have suggested that Bob was having a better day of it than SOS. However, SOS managed to win the day and get himself into 4th place and this despite having been kissed by Enzo when his Italian blood got the better of him when he chipped in. It doesn’t bear repeating what SOS said in response. Noodles and Jason both started out OK but faded a little on the back. On the other hand, Adam managed to make a bit of an improvement on the run home to tie up with the other two for a share of 5th place.
The GOATee marshal is going to have to pull his socks up after he allocated the ProPin to the 15th after it had been a Jackpot on the 4th last week. In the event, there didn’t seem to be too many complaints so perhaps nobody got close on the 4th. Somebody did get close on the 15th when the Beast finished just past pin high and 1.46m from the hole. The first BallPin was on the 12th and it was quite hotly contested with no less than four names on the card. The name at the bottom of the list was Pepsi and he collected a ball for his shot although there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about what sort of ball he wanted. The BallPin on the 18th looked like it might have gone begging until JQ smacked one in that looked very good from the tee. It was judged to be dead on line but, in the end, it finished a couple of metres past and still close enough to be worth a ball.
Dennis was a little less than happy with his putting, amongst other things. On the 14th, he putted up from below the hole, the ball reached the hole fully inside the diameter and should have fallen in for all money. Instead it carried around the hole and popped out heading back the way it came. Harry, on the other hand, had the longest putt possible on the green from just on at the back to the hole very close to the front. After carefully reading the significant slope to the allowed for and making a last minor adjustment to the alignment of the ball, Harry set himself for the shot. The ball ran and ran, the slope turned the ball toward the hole, the ball slowed, the curvature increased and finally the ball trickled straight down the fall of the green and dropped into the hole for a birdie. Just one of the twelve that were scored for the day.
Targe didn’t make any progress on his resolution to reduce his handicap today but he did have a modicum of luck when his drive on the 13th headed for the private property on the left. Luckily, the ball hit the OOB post and, conveniently, came back into play. Targe played with Rod and they marked each others card. Both were off the same handicap (both Club and GA) and both ended with the same number of points. There was no collusion involved (reportedly). Joe was back with us today for the first time in a while. He says he is going to grace us with his presence more regularly from now on. Perhaps he should make sure that JQ doesn’t find out that he was used as an aiming point by Joe on one hole today.
Results for Saturday, 11 January 2020
1st Bill Eastoe(39) 2nd Rodney White(37) 3rd Andrew Petricola(35) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(34) 5th Stephen Butterfield(33) 5th Jason Hopkins(33) 5th Adam King(33)
Seniors Results: 1st Bill Eastoe (39) 2nd Bob McDonald (32) 3rd Rod Grant (31) 3rd Targe Mifsud (31)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Bill Eastoe BallPin No 1 12th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 18th John Quinlan