Monthly Archives: November 2024

Bedraggled! That’s probably the best word to describe the 13 members who made it to the course today. Porks was only 50/50, and, obviously, the 50 under the line won out. And we can only assume that CJ didn’t Wake in Fright after yesterday’s wake. Or maybe he did! Warm, humid, tropical air has a fair bit to answer for, one way or another. It has provided a reasonable drop of rain, ideal growing conditions, and, quite possibly, it has managed to keep the ground staff in the shed with the likely result that this was the cause of the generally ‘hairy’ condition of the course. And, then, there was the matter of today’s weather. At tee time, the sky was overcast, but it was not yet raining, although the radar did show a rather continuous band of precipitation moving in from the north-east as the moisture laden air circled around the low situated out to the east. Then, it started to sprinkle. Then, it started to rain. It didn’t quite begin to pour, but absolutely everything got wet, if not from the outside, then from the inside as the humidity built up inside the wet weather gear. Most players managed to keep their scorecard reasonably dry, but there were a couple that looked to be only good for adding to the papier mache bucket.

El Capitano had his whip out today, trying to reduce the space between his group and the first group, who set a pace like men possessed. It is not clear whether this influenced his score on the front nine, but he pulled his socks up on the back, and, if it hadn’t been for a three putt on the last, he could have easily broken his handicap, which would have been no mean feat given the conditions as the greens became more and more water-logged as the morning progressed with the 17th being almost unplayable by the time the last group came through. Brendon didn’t score any birdies, but he didn’t need to, as he already had the Eclectic well and truly sewn up.

Pepsi left his dash to improve his Eclectic score a bit late in the season, and scored two of the four that the whole field scored on the day. The first was on the first, but that was soon offset by a double on the second, which ended up leaving the front nine looking a bit tatty with the majority of his handicap used up by the turn. Overall, the back nine was much more respectable with a ‘major’ blemish on the 13th, where a triple resulted. Still, net 71 was a good score in the scheme of things, and certainly good enough to collect second place. Dan made the trek down from Shep, once again, and he is slowly catching on to some of the folk-lore associated with the Club. On the 12th, it looked very much if he was going to have to hope that his ball would float, and that he could walk on water as his ball headed unerringly towards the centre of the pond. When the ball hit a tree and ricocheted back out to the centre of the fairway, and it was called a ‘Priems’, an explanation was in order to clear away his bewildered look. While there were probably more doubles on the card than he would have liked, his net score of 73 scored him a comfortable 3rd place.

Steve showed signs of being rather disgruntled as the struggled with his wet gear, rapidly disintegrating scorecards, and general dissatisfaction with his game. At one stage, in a fit of pique, he tossed his sand wedge out of the cot, and it reportedly suffered significant damage when it hit the nursery floor. Still, his game obviously wasn’t as bad as he thought under the circumstances prevailing, and his net score of 75 snagged him fourth place. And, last into the points with a net 76, we find none other than Gordo who collected the final point for the year with his placing of fifth on the day.

So, the first round of the Strokeplay Championship is done and dusted. First round leader on the Scratch side is Pepsi (77) closely followed by Brendon (78). The Handicap side of the table, obviously, follows the daily placings, and it will be interesting to see how the battle progresses over the remainder of the event. The Club Championship is finalised, and, what has been blindingly obvious for quite a time was confirmed with Michael taking out the Club and Seniors by a goodly margin. He will also take out the Vardon, that that was much more of a close-run thing with JQ breathing down his neck, and maybe one result potentially making the difference.

There was a Double Jackpot up for grabs on the 7th, and you might recall that, last week, Porks would have liked to be able to stretch the tape measure (or was that shrink??) to collect the Single jackpot that was on offer. Today’s result was similarly newsworthy. Craig’s shot landed short of the green, and was deemed to have, most likely, been pulled to a stop by the saturated, longer grass around the green. Perhaps it emulated Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bombs on the Ruhr dams, because, on approaching the green, the ball was spotted lying a mere 4.47m from the hole, requiring no shenanigans with the tape, and resulting in a handsome pay-cheque for Old Reliable. The first BallPin on the 12th did prove to be a contest, but it was Matt who took the day and won the ball. On the 18th, Pepsi was the only one with his name on the card, so he will collect the BallPin there (next week, as he had to dash off to collect the kids).

Raj was spotted dragging on a gasper at the back of the machinery yard, and, when asked how he was going, he expressed some concern that the palms of his hands had turned white. Stan managed to put his drive on the 15th into the bushes on the left, and obviously well short of the red markers. Gordo also found the shrubbery a bit further out. Stan found his, and played his second shot from where it lay. Gordo didn’t find his, and claimed that it couldn’t be proven that the ball didn’t get past the reds, and so it didn’t count as a draughtie. Shades of SOS. Matt was praying for a thunderstorm so that the round would be called off after he sent two balls OOB from the tee on the third. He wasn’t too happy to record a quintuple bogie on his card. Targe and Brendon were negotiating the finalisation of scorecards, and Targe had taken off his cap, almost blinding Harry with the reflection from the chrome dome. As the negotiations went on, Brendon, with a smirk on his dial, said, he didn’t want to be splitting hairs with Targe over the scores!

Next week is the start of a whole new Competition Year with the first round of the Vin O’Meara Christmas Cup. A very good opportunity to come along and get your Championship points off to a good start, with double points on offer for the Major. There is also the optional fixed price Calcutta on the event. For $25, cash on the barrel, you can buy yourself for the event with the chance to share in the pool of funds generated. Money has to be paid before tee off next Saturday. Late entries and payments will not be accepted, so make sure that you have the correct change or miss out.

The Break-up is only a few weeks away, and we need to know numbers coming so that we can get the catering right. Your membership subscription is basically what pays for the party (food and a couple of drinks), so it would be a shame to miss out. You don’t have to play golf on the day, though that would be an added bonus. But we do have to know if you plan to come and party with us. Just look under the Registrations menu item above.

Speaking of Membership subscriptions, they are now due ($50/$100), and a prompt transfer into the Club bank account (look under Bank Transfers for details) would be appreciated. Also, if you have your GA membership with the Club, can you please confirm with Harry whether you plan to continue/join with us or not, as we need to have the house in order before the end of December for the Annual Census for 2025 membership.

Results for Saturday, 30 Nov 2024
1st Brendon Mitchell (69) 2nd Andrew Petricola (71) 3rd Dan Marie (73) 4th Steven Gervasoni (75) 5th Gordon Hill (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Steven Gervasoni (75) 2nd Gordon Hill (76) 3rd Matt Hunt (77)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 – 12th Matt Hunt BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola

Well, where to start? Amongst the 12 members and 3 guests, so many storylines!

Maybe we start with beer.

While the day wasn’t as hot and windy as was feared, it was still hot out there and an after game beer was sure to be on the menu for many.

SoS duly obliged Peps and Brendon with a drive on the 3rd that barely made it off the tee (his tee) let alone past the ladies tee.

So close was the ball, SoS walked straight up and hit his second before anybody else had time to contemplate their own tee shot.

It is assumed Brendon and Peps went top shelf with one of the new fancy expensive beers on SoS’s tab.

By the time he signed for -2, SoS was just out of the points, but well in front of this week’s joint NAGAs, brothers Priems who both managed -5. Obviously a bit of a Priems Cup hangover after their stellar rounds last week.

Chris and Rob played with their mate Peter Stevens who had 82 off the stick and would have been in the points (equal 4th) with a square card playing off his GA handicap.

Dan (himself a +1 card and equal 3rd) brought two mates for the round. Ash and Ray had scores in the 80’s and depending on potential handicapping scenarios if they become members, both might have been close to being in the points.

Thanks for joining us today Peter, Ash and Ray. We hope to see you again soon.

Working our way up from 5th (Gordo and Stan on -1) Steve and Brendon were in joint 4th with square cards and Craig and Peps joined Dan in 3rd with +1.

But the big stories of the day were Raj and Targe.

Raj obviously heard the call in last week’s blog to make his return this week and come out blazing to take on Brendon’s lead in the Eclectic with a birdie rampage. While last week’s blog writer was talking birdies for Raj, nobody mentioned eagles.

Raj hit the turn on +5 despite botching the third with a double bogey gash. Not an ounce of pain in that dodgy ankle as he stood on the 10th tee. On the 13th he pitched it in for a birdie from 20 yards or so. Unfortunately we were playing  Par not Grand Par so the “double plus” only counted for one. And he had already birdied the 13th earlier in the season, so no gain in the Eclectic either.

Wilting a bit after gashes on the 15th and 16th, Raj contemplated his second on the 17th from just past the big tree on the right. A swish of his trademark high wedge to within a couple of metres and then ….. a little roll forward and in it goes for the eagle and the 5 balls in the Eagles Nest. Welcome back Raj!

The Eclectic Scoreboard on Harry’s website reveals it is only the fourth eagle all year, following JQ’s famous 2 on the 16th, Gordo’s equally famous 2 on the 14th and a regulation 2 from Brendon on the 17th. Is it maybe the first year ever when regular Eagle’s Nest bandits Porks and Peps have gone the season without an eagle?

Raj had one more trick up his sleeve on the 18th with a tee shot good enough to sneak inside Steve to win another ball. But then ….. four putts later Raj walked off with a gash and his ankle suddenly started hurting as he signed for +2.

If Raj had two putted the last he would have equalled the winning score of +4 by the big star of the day, Targe. In the three weeks prior to this week, your blog writer played with Targe and could see first-hand that he was working his way into some seriously good form.

Today it all came together for Targe and if not for 4 or 5 putts that shaved the hole and were unlucky not to drop, it might have been +7 or +8.

Starting with halves on the first 5 holes, then a plus followed by a loss on the 9th, Targe hit the turn square and was still square after 13. Then he hit the accelerator very hard with 4 pluses in a row from 14-17, including a “double plus” birdie on the 14th after a classic long downhill putt went straight in.

Unfortunately, like many others today who had trouble carding less than 5 on the 18th, Targe could only manage a 5 a half on the last and signed his winners card at +4. A brilliant effort from Targe and great to see him back in the winner’s circle.

The other winners on the day were Brendon for a ball on the 4th and our good friend Jackpot (for the second week in a row) for the ProPin on the 7th, and of course Brendon and Peps with the free beer.

Big thanks to Gordo for helping out with today’s blog as both your regular blog writers couldn’t make it on course today.

And while Gordo didn’t manage to take a new winners photo, he did supply this nice view of duck trails in a pond.

Maybe the thought process is less golf and more Attenborough style nature docos in future blogs?

Next week is the “last points” of the 2024 Championship Season and in a quirk of our playing calendar, to accommodate the Vin O’Meara as the first major of the new season (December 7 and 14) we play for the December Monthly Medal on the last Saturday of November.

The winner of the Monthly Medal (if not already qualified) will join those qualified for the David Primrose Champion of Champions to be held on the day of our Christmas break-up, December 21.

Meanwhile Craig, the Club’s Committee Secretary has sent everybody an email with details of subs for 2025. It would be handy if everybody could pay asap and save Craig or Gordo (Treasurer) having to chase you up in the new year. Like Raj on the front 9 and Targe on the back, let’s think scoring efficiency and good numbers when it comes to timeliness of paying club subs this time around.

Results for Saturday, 23 Nov 2024
1st Targe Mifsud (+4) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (+2) 3rd Craig Cameron (+1) 3rd Dan Marie (+1) 3rd Andrew Petricola (+1) 4th Steven Gervasoni (□) 4th Brendon Mitchell (□) 5th Stan Blackshaw (-1) 5th Gordon Hill (-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Targe Mifsud (+4) 2nd Craig Cameron (+1) 3rd Steven Gervasoni (□)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 4th Brendon Mitchell BallPin No 2 – 18th Rajesh Mahto

Eagle’s Nest Results: Eagle – 17th Rajesh Mahto

The first round of the Priems Cup back in April attracted a field of 15 (7 a side, plus a 15th – JQ – who didn’t count for either team).

After the dust settled on the score entries back then, Team Chris lead Team Rob by one stableford point, 209 to 208.

For those interested in a detailed recap, hit April 2024 in the Archives list on the left hand side of the home page of the website (and scroll down past “Eagles, birthdays and finally Raj!” – 27 April; and “Twinkle Toes Brendon” – 20 April, to “Priems Cup Cliffhanger!”) or put Priems Cup into the search.

Of the 15 that played that day, 8 were back for Round 2, including of course the two Priems brothers, Team Captains Chris and Rob. Such is the nature of team selection and the mid-season Priems Cup draft, other than Rob and Chris only two players – Michael and Stan – played Round 2 for the same team as they did in Round 1.

This time around it wasn’t a cliffhanger. Team Rob, lead by Dan, the day’s individual winner with 37 points and Rob himself (individual 3rd with 35) gathered 235 points with three players scoring 33 points (Brendon, SoS, Bob) and Michael and Craig both 32.

Despite the best efforts of Chris (individual second with 36 points – announced as 37 on the day but later adjusted to 36 after the Harry system score check) Team Chris could only gather 214 points, with JQ scoring 33, Stan 32, Whitey and Porks 31 and Geoff and Targe in the 20’s.

So Priems Cup bragging rights go to Rob for 2024 by a total 20 stableford points (total 443 across the two rounds, at an average score of 31.6 points per round per player) to 423 (30.2).

We have trialed a few formats for Priems Cup scoring over the years, but have now settled into this two round format (with total stableford points rather than match play) and it will be a feature on the Playing Calendar again for 2025.

Your blog writer played with Rob and Chris and they both played brilliantly.

Rob’s driving was the feature of the day. His straight as an arrow monster drives on 2, 13 and 16 would give the best of Porks and Steff a run for their money, absolute monsters!

Chris was steady all day long except a wipe on the 7th where his tee shot managed to hit a tree near the left of the tee very hard and bounce at a 90 degree angle across the 8th fairway with the ball never to be seen again, perhaps going all the way out of bounds near the river on the right hand side of the 8th. Quite spectacular effort that!

There’s a lot of run on the course at the moment and this brings the 7th into play as a fair enough choice for one of our nearest the pins as, unlike in winter, everybody can make the distance, even if it does require the best hit with a driver for some.

For those who fancy Jackpot $, go for it on the 7th this week because despite Porks effort to shrink the tape measure and get inside the 5 metre limit, Jackpot won the day.

On the 12th Rob added a ball to his bragging rights with a great shot in there and Dan added a ball on the 18th (and the Inside NTP too) with a shot to 5.63 metres.

Meanwhile on the 4th, everybody felt a bit weird on getting to the tee because not only had they cut some trees on the right hand side of the tee (which will allow the tee to get more sun and hopefully better grass coverage) but the big tree on the left had been trimmed.

In theory now you can hit a straight ball at tree height and hit the green rather than having to do a Craig (nice low draw under the tree) or a Porks (big high shot over the tree).

Undeterred Rob stuck to traditional values and hit a big high shot over the tree to the left hand side of the green, so players addicted to going over or through that tree can still do so!

With the 2024 playing season (for points) drawing to a close over the next two weeks, Brendon is keeping an eye on his lead in the prestigious Eclectic. He looks unbeatable, having birdied every hole except the 2nd and with an eagle on the 17th, has a gross eclectic score of 50, 18 under par for net 43.5. Next in line is Raj 47.3, Charles 47.4, Harry 47.5 and Bob 48.1.

Charles is obviously going to struggle from London to improve his score, but what chance a Raj (are you back this week Raj?) or a Harry or a Bob finding 4 or 5 shots, e.g. all Raj has to do is birdie 6, 7, 8, 10 and 18, or perhaps Harry can birdie 3, 5, 9, 11 and 18?

Harry, how many times has Brendon won the Eclectic previously? Do we have a list of past Eclectic winners and their scores on the website? Is Brendon’s 43.5 a world record?

After the round, and Michael’s failed attempt to take a decent photo with Priems brothers and Dan and all players looking at the camera, the Club Committee had a meeting and discussed various matters.

This includes that club finances are a bit tighter than in previous years. In due course there will be an email with information about key decisions, including handing out fewer trophies this year and a small increase in membership subscription fees for 2025.

Meanwhile it is full steam ahead with the drive to recruit new members, with Harry adding a new “Care to Join Us? New members always welcome” section at the top of the club’s home page this week. If you know anybody interested in joining, give them a copy of the new membership pamphlet (copies available in the clubhouse) or point them to the website.

Results for Saturday, 16 Nov 2024

Priems Cup Results: Team Rob {Dan Marie (37), Brendon Mitchell (33), Stephen O’Sullivan (33), Bob McDonald (33), Craig Cameron (32), Robert Priems (35), Michael Gourlay (32)} 235 def Team Chris {John Quinlan (33), Stan Blackshaw (32), Rodney White (31), Ryan Porker (31), Geoff Lyall (28), Chris Priems (36), Targe Mifsud (22)} 213

1st Dan Marie (37) 2nd Chris Priems (36) 3rd Robert Priems (35) 4th Bob McDonald (33) 4th Brendon Mitchell (33) 4th John Quinlan (33) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (33) 5th Stan Blackshaw (32) 5th Craig Cameron (32) 5th Michael Gourlay (32)

Seniors Results: 1st Chris Priems (36) 2nd Bob McDonald (33) 3rd Craig Cameron (32) 3rd Michael Gourlay (32) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (32)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 7th Jackpot BallPin No 1 – 12th Robert Priems BallPin No 2 – 18th Dan Marie

No, we didn’t play a new format. But we did play as two groups of four as there were only eight members who could see their way clear to make it to Ivanhoe on a beautiful clear spring day. Conditions were pretty much ideal. Lovely warm sun after a slightly cool start to the morning. Hardly a breath of wind for most of the round, and then only the slightest of zephyrs to ruffle your hair (or what is left of it!). With no precipitation of any note during the week, the fairways had a bit of run, and the greens could be a bit quick for the unwary with a down-hill putt. There was a query as to whether putting off the green constituted a ‘shout’ or not, but, in the case of Stan, at least, he claimed that sinking the putt back from off the green negated any such ‘tradition’. The question out of all this would have to be, why, then, didn’t we shoot the lights out.

For ‘historical’ reasons, we’ll start the story with Pepsi, who tried to set up his excuses early by explaining that, having followed orders and rested his knee for a month, he was going to give it a try, or go mad if he didn’t give it a try. He’s hoping for a repair job in the New Year. He made a fine start, and was even par after four holes before dropping a couple on the next. Recovery was swift, and he was able to make the turn just one point down on 17. The back nine was completed just two over the card to add another nineteen points, making 36 points for a handicap equalling round. During the round, Pepsi managed to put one onto the 15th green, and qualified for the jackpot BallPin that was on offer there. With the announced results as solo first place getter and BallPin Jackpot winner, Pepsi was awarded four balls. However, between Blighty and Bob, there were a couple of discrepancies between the reported scores and the calculated points, and both were recipients of an extra point on holes marked as a miss. As a result Bob moved up to a score of 36 points as well. Bob’s front nine was a little mixed, and in particular somewhat mixed up on the second hole. The group behind stood on the tee and watched in bemusement, as the group wandered back and forth, and round about, like chooks with their head cut off. What on earth could be going on? Bob was adamant that he knew where his ball had finished, but that it had vanished. What sort said SOS. TaylorMade. What number. Don’t know, it has a black ring on it. Oops, says SOS, I picked that up thinking it was a lost ball! To be fair, there were, apparently, a number of stray balls in the area at the time. Anyhow, despite the dicky front nine, Bob stormed home and racked up 21 points on the back to produce the best nine hole tally for the day.

For reasons that we won’t go into, Michael’s card had the appearance of a dog’s breakfast. His GA number was written on it, scribbled out, written on again, not scribbled out, but we were assured that it was his Club card. Despite the scribblings, it does appear that the scoring calculations were correct, and Michael rambled home with 33 points, which was enough to snare him second place points to extend his total in the Championship table even further. He did show some signs of unhappiness with his game today, particularly when he played a ‘cricket’ shot rather than a ‘golf’ shot. His self described ‘shank’ on the 15th robbed him of the chance to challenge Pepsi for the BallPin Jackpot. Blighty’s card was a good example of why it pays to do a hole by hole check of points recorded because, even though the totals reported on both cards agreed, there was a compensating error on each that disguised the ‘missed’ point. In the process, Harry’s hopes of picking up an extra point were dashed when Blighty’s total moved to 30 points to collect third place. Harry held on to 4th place with a disappointing 29 points due largely to a major fade-out on the back. Stan picked up the last point on offer for his fifth place winning 28 points.

There was a Jackpot ProPin on the 12th, and there were a few hopeful strikes that didn’t quite cut the mustard. However, SOS was able to slot his within the required distance at 3.9m, and so the day was not entirely pointless for him. No birdie was forthcoming for SOS and there was none for Pepsi on the 15th. However, Pepsi did manage to score two elsewhere and another, down to Michael, brought our total for the day to three. Nobody could get the ball onto the green at the 18th, so that will Jackpot to next week. And speaking of the 18th, it seems that the CCTV camera systems, installed at the tee and green, form some sort of money printing scheme, where you can ‘pay’ to have your shot and result filmed on the off-chance that you get a hole-in-one. The details are a bit vague at the moment, as there was no sufficiently knowledgeable management available when the question was asked.

SOS was bragging about the fact that he was able to hit the same tree twice with the same club as he played the 6th hole. Apparently, no club was injured in the process. And, yes, it was a club involved, and not a ball. SOS was also minding his own business waiting to play a shot on the 11th when Blighty played a ‘stray’ one that whistled pretty close by his left ear. Pepsi managed to sky one shot that, reportedly, travelled higher than it travelled long. Harry’s drive on the 3rd looked to have mixed it with the trees on the right, so he opted to play a provisional. Stan came across Harry’s ball in the middle of the fairway. Had it hit a tree and done a Priems? If it did, it was a mightily delayed effect, as H was in the midst of hitting his provisional when the ball re-entered the playing area.

Don’t forget, it is the second round of this year’s Priems Cup. The Captains would like to have some players to select from, so get in there and register early (but there’s no point in registering often). It’s just like a normal round, and the Captains add up their team’s total scores to determine which team wins (provided that they remember who is on their team!). CJ has the first round lead by a single point, so there is everything to play for, and the prize is anybody’s.

Results for Saturday, 09 Nov 2024
1st Bob McDonald (36) 1st Andrew Petricola (36) 2nd Michael Gourlay (33) 3rd Andrew Blight (30) 4th Harry Boughen (29) 5th Stan Blackshaw (28)

Seniors Results: 1st Bob McDonald (36) 2nd Michael Gourlay (33) 3rd Andrew Blight (30)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 1 – 15th Andrew Petricola BallPin No 2 – 18th Jackpot