Yearly Archives: 2013

What was it that put everybody off?  The field was down, the carpark and fairways were empty, the roads were quiet.  Either it was the threat of more wind and rain or it was the Richmond/Carlton match at the G.  The windy weather has certainly taken its toll on some of the trees on the course, particularly down beside the 11th where a branch from one tree has effectively debranched another.  Needless to say, the roped off danger zone seemed to be rather attractive for golf balls.

Only eighteen members graced the fairways of ‘Royal’ Ivanhoe and the golf played seems to have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.  At the sublime end was Mr Reliable, Oliver, who is defying the handicapper and is starting to get out to a very comfortable margin the both Championship tables.  He’s either got to snap an Achilles or somebody has to do some serious winning if it isn’t going to be daylight second.

Bob was struggling to keep up with the cracking pace set by the first group in the field (after the second hole that is) but it must have focussed his mind to post a very creditable score.  Priemsy was hitting some very Chrispe shots into the green to give himself birdie chances though a lot of them did manage to flutter away.

Stefan came in next to post a +2 that was helped no end by an Eagle on the 17th.  That’s two in a row so the Big Bird is absolutely devastated and could only very reluctantly give away a single egg.  Zimmer and Tony rounded out the point getters for this week so not a huge number of points given away.

The Nearest the Pin on the 12th was gathered by Mo while Snags collected the ProPin on the 15th with a result that wasn’t all that close to the hole but within the  5m limit.  The inaccurate shooting also kept the number of birdies down to 9.

It wasn’t Damo’s day today.  Not only did he reckon his golf was crap, he got back to his car and found that it was crap(ped on) as well.  Not sure whether he glared any bird down out of the trees but he was obviously in a hurry to get home to get the missus to wash the car if the departure from the carpark was any guide.

Another one who figured he must have walked on a Chinaman’s grave was Harry, who managed to pull off a windy on the 9th.  At least it was on the fairway and it wasn’t a draughtie as well.  Chrispy was a bit concerned on the draughtie front when his drive on the second found the trees and headed back in the direction of the ladies markers. Fortunately (or not depending on your point of view) it stopped short of the danger zone.

The Club Meeting after the round was well attended and resulted in some extensive discussion particularly in relation to the proposed changes to the handicapping system.  The consensus was to take some more time to consider options before ratifying a decision one way or the other.

Other items of immediate interest were motions to run a trial of drive length/accuracy on the 8th.  Some of the fine detail still needs to be worked out.  It was also decided to reintroduce the Eclectic Competition from the start of next year.  There will also be a Club Handicap Championship event run over the three stroke rounds concurrent with the December Monthly Medal and the Vin O’Meara.  It was also agreed that we should trial an Orange Ball Event as a way of introducing some more social activities/ novelty events.  A move to give a ball each week as an Encouragement Award was narrowly defeated.

It was also decided that, with immediate effect the Competition Fee will increase to $5.  This is the first increase for some years and recognises the fact that the cost and number of the balls distributed each week has increased.

Before the new Program for 2014 is set, the running of the Matchplay will be reviewed and streamlined to shorten the time that it takes and consideration will be given to a second Matchplay Event in the schedule.

Results for Saturday, 17 August 2013
1st Oliver Gross(+5) 2nd Bob McDonald(+3) 2nd Chris Priems(+3) 3rd Stefan Belevski(+2) 4th Kazim Akdag(□) 5th Tony Mifsud(-1)

What a super day it was – weatherwise any way.  The aftermath of the recent wet was evident in the soggy ground underfoot and in a couple of places, balls were seen to land but were not found.  The preferred lie rule was in place again and relief from casual water was a regular necessity..  Still, hardy lot that we are, we managed to paddle our way around the course with varying degrees of success.

Far and away the most successful was none other than Ben who seems to have been channeling Arnie in more ways than one, declaring at the presentations “Ahmm Baack”.  He also denied that he had been anywhere Windy Hill in recent times and the bottle containing blue liquid on the table in front of him was not his ASADA sample though many think that they should be notified.  Plus, there was a mis-calculation on his card to give him 45 rather than the 44 that his marker recorded.

Noodles probably thought he had a good chance of collecting the major points with his very respectable total of 41 that included a gash on the 17th – perhaps he was reliving last week’s effort.  His tally included three four pointers that included one for an Eagle on the 14th.  His drive finished about 2.5m from the pin and he made the putt.

Ben wasn’t the only one with a blue on his card.  Pepsi neglected to check his handicap and his card was calculated based on last week’s which gathered him an extra point to fill third place on his own after daylight between him and Noodles.  Eddie and Targe then filled fourth place with more or less complementary rounds – Eddie blitzed the front while Targe pulled up his socks on the back.

Zimmer and Craig gathered the last of the points and Chrispy is not looking forward to work next week with Craig having come in in front.

Ben and Noodles moved themselves up the Championship Ladder a few rungs but Oliver still has a very handy lead.  Targe picked up the points in the Seniors and edged a little closer to the top as a result.  The ball for the nearest the Pin on the 7th was won by Eddie who finished only a metre or two from the hole.  The resulting birdie gave him a four pointer.  There were nine other birdies reported for the day, perhaps a little down for the size of the field.  The ProPin on the 15th went to Harry at 141cm but in line with recent experience with the flat blade he didn’t make the birdie.

Joe Demir was with us again on his comeback trail and submitted his third card and so has a brand new handicap.  Interestingly, it is not all that far from where his old one was.  Willy Ghidetti joined us as well and we look forward to welcoming him as a full time member.

The last two matches of the third round of the Matchplay were decided today.  Stefan was well in front at the 13th when he was overcome by some sort of stomach upset and had to withdraw but not before gentleman David had conceded the match.  In the other match, Targe was victorious over Jan 4 and 3 which is much closer than their respective stableford scores would have suggested.  It seems Jan ran out of steam just as Targe was coming good.

Mostyn ran foul of the tree on the corner of the 17th with his second, which put his ball into the hazard with the ball coming to rest past the edge of the water but resting on a bed of decayed reeds.  He insisted that he could play the ball and proceeded to put the ball on the green and running on a direct line to the hole.  It did stop short but a great shot nonetheless.

Don’t forget, there will be a Club Meeting after the round next week.

Results for Saturday, 10 August 2013
1st Ben Akdag(45) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(41) 3rd Andrew Petricola(35) 4th Ed Kloprogge(34) 4th Targe Mifsud(34) 5th Kazim Akdag(33) 5th Craig Sharp(33)

The ducks were quacking all over the course today and the thought was that it was because of the recent rain and the fact that the breeding season will soon be upon us.  If the behaviour of a couple of them in the pond by the 4th is any indication, it already is upon us.  The fact that there had been rain forecast and a few spots late in the round caused a few worries for some but the real bucketting didn’t arrive until much later and the continued application of preferred lies pleased quite a number of the contenders.

Whether it was the preferred lies or a favourable alignment of the stars, David managed to put a comfortable margin between himself and most other contenders with a nett 65.  Fast Eddie was the only one who came close but having played Matchplay rules he was not eligible to contend.

AndrewB and Bobbie very cunningly played exactly to their handicap to fill second place as well as collect the top points for the Seniors.  Andrew could have been right up there except for a couple of lapses in the home stretch.  Zimmer, Snags and Tony were only a stroke behind with the odd double bogie costing them points if not thousands in prizemoney.

Mehmet, Oliver and Pepsi came in a stroke further back while SOS copped the last of the Championship points.

The Nearest the Pin for a ball on the 12th was not bettered after the first group went through, leaving it to Gordon to collect the little white pill.  Snags left his mark on the ProPin by using a permanent marker but a close contest between Zimmer and another in his group squeezed the big fella out and Zimmer collected the funds.  Targe also collected the loot from last week and reckons it will come in handy to pay his comp fees.  Things must be slow in the shop.  Another good swag of birdies (and no they weren’t ducks) with 15 in the bag.

Eddie and Oliver slugged it out in the matchplay with Eddie clinching it on the 15th, 4 and 3.  Eddie, according to him, messed up his second shot on the 5th and sailed it over the intervening trees to have it finish pin high.  He then sank the putt for the birdie and the hole and almost broke Oliver’s heart in the process.

Snags was feeling a bit out of it with everybody else in his group having posted birdies until the 17th when he finally snagged one.  The joy was tempered somewhat by the fact that pretty much everyone else in the group got one as well.  Also on the 17th, Noodles was on for two and had an eminently gettable putt for the birdie but didn’t quite make it and left himself a still pretty easy par.  However, not sure whether he was in any way distracted by his tweet-heart, but he forgot that it was a stroke event, chased the ball around the hole and ended up carding an eight.

Stefan was heard to be complaining about not liking short chips to the green after leaving himself just short from the tee on the 10th and 13th.  Not sure whether Chrispy’s losing his hair but he certainly had his head well wrapped up in a woolen concoction that had him looking like something between a bear hunter and a rapper

The third round matchplay should have finished this week.  Still two matches to be played.  A week’s grace has been given so get organised for this week.  If the matches aren’t played, the person who turns up wins by a forfeit.  If you don’t know who you are, check the results page.

There will be a Club Meeting on 17th August to ratify the decisions taken by the Committee.  Minutes of the Committee Meeting will be posted on the web site shortly.  Most of the Club Rules have been updated and the current Local Rules are also on the website.  The report on the Handicapping system and the changes to be introduced are there for the reading and if you have any questions or comments, please make them beforehand.

One other suggestion that was not formally discussed by the Committee was the question of whether the Club should also have a Playing Championship to be run over three rounds of Stroke Play in conjunction with the December Monthly Medal and the two rounds of the Vin O’Meara.  Please give some thought to what you think of this.

Results for Saturday, 03 August 2013
1st David Howard(65) 2nd Andrew Blight(68) 2nd Bob McDonald(68) 3rd Kazim Akdag(69) 3rd Tony Mifsud(69) 3rd Craig Sharp(69) 4th Mehmet Akdag(70) 4th Oliver Gross(70) 4th Andrew Petricola(70) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(71)

What a day to wind up the Winter Cup for this year.  A bit on the wintry side to start with just a hint of a breeze developing as the day progressed.  The course was wet under foot after the drenching it got last week and the preferred lie rule was in place.  And, no, it doesn’t refer to your best tall story about your golfing adventures.  There were a few muddy balls that needed cleaning and one player who forgot to air his bag after lasts week’s soaking was borrowing ball cloths because his was freakin’ reekin’.

And who was it that was able to slay the three headed dragon?  Not St George, but our own St Efan whose tightly clad steed trampled all over the course to score 41 points and front the judges with 76 overall.  The terrible twin, Zimmer put in a steady 37 points to tie with Oliver, who could easily have taken the big prize, on 74 points.

There was a glimmer of daylight then to Gordon and Craig four points further back followed closely by Damo.  So, in the scheme of things, the three heads of the dragon managed to stay pretty much in contention.  The biggest mover of the day was Noodles who dragged himself into fifth spot alongside Chrisper (and I don’t mean the thing in the bottom of your fridge) though if you believed the reports coming from around the track he should have won the thing easily.  It is suspected that there might have been a little exaggeration going on from some of his playing partners.

There weren’t a huge number of Seniors in the main ranks and the only points went to Oliver, Gordon and Harry who didn’t seem to be able to sink a putt to save himself.

The outcome of all this is that Oliver is extending his margin on both of the points tables but, don’t despair, there are still plenty of points on offer and maybe the handicap will start to bite even though he has been able, cunningly, to minimise the damage on that score.

The Nearest the Pin was on the 7th and Noodles managed to win the ball after blocking anybody else out, unless they scored the ace that he barely missed by the margin of a couple of centimetres.  Two nearly HIOs in two weeks.  That’s downright careless chaps.  The ProPin on the 12th was not nearly such a close run thing and Targe will collect the cash when he gets back from Nurmurkah.  Not sure whether he had a bad round or was in such a rush to get away that he forgot but there was no card in the pile for him.  Ditto for Ben.

Despite there being at least a couple of balls on the green from the tee on the 17th, there were no eagles and the pool is now off the ground floor.  The birdie tally was 14.

Nobody switched off SOS’s fancy buggy but he did lose control coming up the hill to the 9th and it hit one of the pipework ruts and capsized spilling balls, tees and other odds and sods far and wide.  Unfortunately, there were no cameras handy to record the carnage.

Ben and Whitey did a great job of cooking the snags on the barbie and they were wolfed down in short order.  So much so that Whitey had to make a trip to the shops for another pack.  Zimmer got over-excited after his mate Stefan was presented with the winners cup and tripped over Davids buggy and got mud all up his trouser leg.  His main concern was what would his mum say!

The third round of the matchplay is coming up to its advertised completion date and there don’t seem to have been too many matches completed so far, so better get your skates on chaps and organise your competition for the fray.  We wouldn’t want to see it going more than a week over the limit.

Results for Saturday, 27 July 2013
1st Stefan Belevski(35, 41, 76) 2nd Kazim Akdag(37, 37, 74) 2nd Oliver Gross(36, 38, 74) 3rd Gordon Hill(34, 36, 70) 3rd Craig Sharp(37, 33, 70) 4th Damien Lee(37, 32, 69) 5th Stephen Butterfield(29, 38, 67) 5th Chris Priems(34, 33, 67)