Monthly Archives: 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