Monthly Archives: May 2024

Whitey has always been known to look on the Brightside of life (especially so these past few years) and lately he has been adding a bit of Artistic Genius to his game.

His miracle par on the 16th, playing a perfect third from under the big tree on the right and then rolling in the putt with his trusty new putter was, a bit like Rory at the Wells Fargo this week, pure genius.

Despite missing opportunities to plus the final two holes, Whitey’s +5 was good enough to street the filed by 3 strokes or in racing parlance, by 3 lengths easing up on the line. It could have been Cranbourne under lights on a Friday night.

Speaking of which, Whitey’s Artistic Genius will take him to Flemington next Saturday, so his stellar round won’t be a factor as the rest of the field lines up for Week 2 of the David Ford Autumn Cup. As it happens, he was ineligible for the major trophy anyway, having not played with us during the previous month.

Next time Whitey plays with us and not his other mates at Heidelberg, your assistant apprentice handicapper (who marked his card and nearly choked on his Weeties when he saw Whitey off 19) is pleased to say his Ivanhoe handicap will be a bit closer to his GA handicap of 16 and more in keeping with his golfing talents.

The leading contenders heading into Round 2 of this year’s second major (third if you count the 2023 Vin O’Meara as part of this season) are Prez Priems and SoS on +2. Charles and Chrispy on +1 are close on their heels, along with Craig (square) and Michael and Dan on -1.

It’s a bunched field and you wouldn’t rule out Harry and Gordo (who won best cap/hat of the week) on -2 or Raj, Targe or the “the Don” Brendon on -3. Indeed Adam on -4 and Ken on -5 might even be a chance from only 7 shots behind, although you would probably rule out this week’s NAGAs – and next week’s BBQ cookers – Porks and Bobby on -7. Harry what is the biggest ever come from behind victory in a major?

Dan’s friend Nicholas joined us as a guest and while he was reluctant to show his card for the blog, claiming he had just had one of his worst rounds ever, his GA handicap of 23 suggests he will have better days at Royal Ivanhoe in future.

Unfortunately we will be missing Dan soon for six months as he is heading off to Shepparton for work. In late July, Charles too will be heading off, in his case for a stint in London.

Meanwhile they both nearly celebrated holes in one this week. Charles shot to the Propin money hole on the 12th finished 26cm from the pin and so nearly went in. Dan’s to the top tier pin on the 18th finished 34cm away.

Ken was a bit stiff to get done for the ball on the 18th having also hit a great shot to the top tier. Earlier Harry and Craig had their name on the sticky note, albeit on the bottom tier.

On the 15th, not for the first time, Gordo was claiming being robbed for a shot much closer the hole than the ball winner, but an inch off the green. Porks was an inch on the green right at the front. With the pin at the back, Pork’s ball win there might break records for the longest ever. There is no truth in the rumour he was considering donating his ball to Gordo as a gesture of goodwill.

Harry sunk the putt of the day from the front of the 7th. With the pin at the far back left and on a downhill slope it was said Harry’s putt never looked like missing and dropped neatly into the hole. Harry talks in metres but I think of putts in feet and if we are talking yards, it was definitely longer than a cricket pitch, so let’s say 70 feet.

SoS hit his drive on the 13th onto the 10th fairway. After surveying a few options for his second, he took on the hero shot to thread the needle through the trees with some left to right needed to get near the green. When he hit it he wasn’t sure exactly where it went and yelled “fore” and his playing partners all ducked and nobody was quite sure where it went. SoS thought it was going to be short right of the green but after lots of searching no ball was the found there. Nobody had thought to check the green, but a quick ball count revealed that’s where SoS’s ball was and two shots later it went in the books as a very handy four a plus.

No sign of Jack Pot this week but Jack Russell was busy on the third enthusiastically running to Chrispy’s drive, picking it up neatly off the deck and without breaking stride heading off proudly towards the green and its owner. The embarrassed owner explained the situation to the group ahead on the green and big brother Priems stepped in to get the situation sorted. The ball was deposited back down the fairway (some say in a slightly better position than where it originally was) and Chrispy had no trouble from there making his four a plus.

Whether it was under rule 9.6 (which applies if the ball had come to rest when the dog picked it up) or 11.1b (if the ball was still moving when the dog picked it up) the procedure is similar, basically put it back as close as you can to where it was when the dog grabbed it (under 11.b you can take a club length as well if you want) and if you’re not sure of the exact spot, an estimate is fine.

Next week’s Round Two should be huge and with a bit of luck, we will see some more Artistic Genius on the course, on the BBQ afterwards, and at Flemington.

Results for Saturday, 11 May 2024
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Rodney White (+5) 2nd Robert Priems (+2) 2nd Stephen O’Sullivan (+2) 3rd Charles Gibbs (+1) 3rd Chris Priems (+1) 4th Craig Cameron (□) 5th Michael Gourlay (-1) 5th Dan Marie (-1)

Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Rodney White (+5) 2nd Chris Priems (+1) 3rd Craig Cameron (□)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Charles Gibbs BallPin No 1 – 15th Ryan Porker BallPin No 2 – 18th Dan Marie

We went close to having a misty start this morning. The cloud appeared to hover just above the tree-tops, and, although the jackets and neck-warmers were out, there were hopes that the sun would eventually break through. It didn’t, and the jackets and neck-warmers were still in evidence at the end of the round. There were fourteen members present, and Charlie (who was accused of not having any friends) brought along his Dad, Steve, and Raj brought his good buddy, Richard, as guests. The ground staff had been busy during the week and had sanded the greens with a particularly sticky batch of sand, that, with a bit of moisture, stuck like you know what to a blanket. Which might go a little way to explaining why we could only rattle in 3 birdies for the day.

After last week’s effort of taking out both the outside and inside comps, Raj had a bit to say about the fact that he had lost a stroke for inside as well as for outside. Perhaps he was inspired to show off in front of Richard, but he did manage three double bogies in the course of the front nine. He then put his head down and bolted for home, recording par on seven of the remaining nine holes. A minor explosion on the 13th for a triple meant that he finished the half, four over the card, to produce a final tally of 67 net. This was enough to break the heart of Prez, who had been clubhouse leader for some time, and Raj was the clear winner of the May Monthly Medal. And he will be able to have something to say again next week about losing a stroke (with us, at least) off his handicap.

Now, Rob was all keen to get a win up his sleeve, only to be foiled at the last minute. Not only because he was beaten by Raj, but also because he was tied by JQ. Their scores of 69 would have necessitated a countback to determine the winner of the Medal. It didn’t come to that, but, between you, me and the gatepost, Rob would have prevailed. They both had birdies to their name, so it was mostly a little blow up by JQ on the 13th that made the difference. Bob started his round with a par on the 1st, and immediately declared it a bad omen. The next couple of holes turned out OK, and then he lined up on the 4th, muttering that this hole always brought him undone. The tee shot finished on the down slope at the front of the tee box, inducing more muttering about the injustice of it all. Despite this, he kept producing his fair share of bogies and doubles, and capped it off with a couple of pars in the home stretch. His final score of net 70 brought him home in third place, and top spot in the Seniors. SOS managed to put together a pretty fair front nine, that was helped to some degree by a chip-in for par on the 2nd, which is no mean feat, although the whites were not back on the bank. The back nine was not quite so spectacular, but he also finished net 70, to tie for third with Bob.

Craig has been using a cart as he recovers from his recent indisposition, and, today, he was sharing with Targe. At the end of the round, they were still speaking and there were no (visible) scars, so all seems to have gone well, although the did complain about being cold and wishing the sun had come out. Probably, the lack of exercise. Craig managed to come home with a net score of 72 to grab a couple of points for 4th place. He did admit to having a bit of assistance on the 18th, when his drive finished on the top deck to the hole on the bottom deck. Very conveniently, an earlier player had putted from the same spot and the track down the slope was still visible. Using this as a guide, Craig’s ball rolled straight towards the hole, but stopped, an agonising 50mm short. Craig wasn’t sure whether to bless or curse the sand build up, for if it hadn’t happened, the ball could easily have finished off the green. Adam has been AWOL for a few weeks, and he was claiming a bit of rust as he lined up on the first. It must be said that the first shot of the day did not inspire confidence. However, he did manage to scramble for a bogey, and put together a bit of a mixed bag for the rest of the round, and he also finished with 72 for a couple of points as well.

Blighty put in a bid to become an honorary Priems after making use of trees to keep his ball in play on at least four occasions. Whether this happened on the couple of holes where he had quads was not revealed, but, despite this, he still managed to bring home a net score of 73 to slot into 5th place. He did have at least one worthwhile shot on the 4th, where he put it on the green close enough to win the Jackpot BallPin. Brendon left himself some long putts today, often the result of less than well executed chips. It was speculated that he was doing it on purpose after he had rattled in several long’uns early in the round. He was particularly pleased with his putt to get birdie on the 5th. Eclectic, says Brendon. And it does bring him within easy striking distance of the lead. There was a Double Jackpot ProPin on the 15th, which went close to becoming a Triple, if it hadn’t been for Raj in the last group, who snuck one in to 4.0m to collect the pool on offer. On the 18th, the only contender for the BallPin was Adam.

There was a result in the Matchplay determined today, although it could hardly be called a match. Harry had to take on Bob, with thirteen shots to be handed to Bob. As it turned out, Bob only needed ten of them. Bob got an early start with his par on the 1st, and Harry managed to hold on to some hope by squeaking in squares on the next five holes. Equal scores on the 7th gave Bob two holes and an OOB for Harry on the 8th kiboshed his chances there, and they reached the turn with Bob three holes to the good. A double run in with the penalty area on the 13th and a double figure score for the hole made the match dormie 5. Faced with pushing you know what uphill, Harry was not able to win even the 14th, and the match went to Bob, 6 and 4.

CJ reckons he was playing under duress today with a condition that he doesn’t want publicised. However, it did not stop him cutting some disco moves on the 15th green as he tried to exert some ‘body English’ on the results of his putt. The boogie bug seems to have been contagious, as brother, Prez, was also moved to try the technique. People were keeping a wary eye on Harry today as he turned out with a brand new WMD (weapon of mass destruction) in the form of a motorised buggy. Despite a couple of hairy moments, there was no damage or injuries inflicted on man nor beast. He was a little disappointed, though, after a number of people had commented during the week about how much using one had helped their game. The Birthday Birdie has a little flutter today to wish a happy one to Geoff.

Second Major of the year coming up next week – David Ford Autumn Cup. It is a Par competition, but don’t let that put you off. It isn’t any more difficult than any other format. Another good reason to take part is that there will be a Club barbecue for lunch after the second round on the 18th. And remember, if you aren’t in it, you can’t win it!

Results for Saturday, 04 May 2024
1st Rajesh Mahto (67) 2nd Robert Priems (69) 2nd John Quinlan (69) 3rd Bob McDonald (70) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan (70) 4th Craig Cameron (72) 4th Adam King (72) 5th Andrew Blight (73) 5th Brendon Mitchell (73)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (70) 2nd Craig Cameron (72) 3rd Andrew Blight (73)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Rajesh Mahto BallPin No 1 – 4th Andrew Blight BallPin No 2 – 18th Adam King