Yearly Archives: 2025

Who will it be? Who will it be? Who will have the wisdom? Let it be! (with apologies to Lennon and McCartney). The leader board is pretty crowded, with only ten points (or so) from the leader to the tail-end Charlies. Anything could happen, and probably will. The first group were not too tardy, and they remembered where the nearest the pin markers were to go. The weather was fairly benign to start with, but, as the morning progressed, the wind picked up and took on a particularly gusty and swirling character. At times, the wind could be at your back and the flag could be standing at right angles to your line. Possibly based on individual performances, there were early predictions that playing to your handicap might be a bridge too far.

Raj stepped up to the first, and smashed one, just about out of sight, giving rise to the suggestion that he was targetting the top of the Order of Merit again (not updated yet, slight glitch). Despite the impressive start, the front nine was not particularly kind, with a couple of gashes knocking a hole in the total at the turn. However, he must have revelled in the swirly conditions that developed, as he absolutely demolished the back nine, just two over the card and twenty-three points. The thirty-five off the stick was a PB for the nine. Well done, Raj! Targe also got a good one away from the first tee, giving rise to the suggestion that he might be in for a good one today. And, a good one he did have! The card did include four singletons, so an even better result was not too far out of reach.

The pressure of leading out the field, and having to remember the NTP markers obviously weighed on Gordo’s mind, and he started off fairly slowly. Once he had passed the 4th, and had successfully cleared the first NTP hurdle, he obviously relaxed, and his driver started working well, and continued to do so for the rest of the round. So much so that there was not a score under two for the rest of the round, and third place was his. Pepsi would have been fairly happy with his front nine, despite a couple of bogies, that limited him to just nineteen points for the half. A couple more to start the back would have been a disappointment, but the scoring picked up smartly from there. That is, until the last, where an uncharacteristic double undoubtedly wiped the smile from his face. Porks played a pair of three over the card in his round, with a triple on the 16th really taking the shine off an excellent back nine. SOS suffered a bit of a slump half way through the front, but the back was a completely different story. Other than perhaps the 17th where he ‘went for the green’ despite the wind in play. From just off the green, he chipped across, needing to chip on and two putt for a point saving five. Coulda, shoulda!

In the excitement of sorting the cards, Prez almost got over-looked in the announcements, but he was not to be over-looked, and complained bitterly. Sorry, Prez! JQ’s mood was a bit up and down as the day progressed, and his game and luck oscillated between good and ordinary. As an example, a good drive on the 11th was followed by a good pitch that found a ‘twig’ that dropped the ball virtually at the base of the tree. The follow up pitch found the green and rolled just past the hole, missing by a whisker, leaving just a putt for a par. So, a four point turn-around is all that is required for this leading list of members. And, the rest of the field is not too far behind. Next Saturday could/should be moving day!

There were two balls to play for on the 4th, and Marc put in an early claim for the pair. Unfortunately for Marc, JQ managed to finish closer to the hole, even though he did not really see where the shot had gone. You don’t have to post pictures on Instagram! The pin on the 18th was just at the foot of the slope on the bottom deck, which might have contributed to the close fought contest for the ball on offer here. AndrewV put in the first claim from just over 12m, which means it must have been barely on the green, in whichever direction. CJ was obviously closer, but he was no match for Stan, whose shot to 6m was enough to take our day, but we will have to wait and see if he held on for the inside comp. Stan’s short game was apparently OK, as he was credited with one chip in and one putt in from off the green, as well as his 6m putt here for his birdie, and one of the six that the eighteen of us could score on the day. The ProPin was on the 12th, and getting close enough to the pin was difficult with a fair old cross-wind in play. Harry had a go, but his little fade took him just a bit too far to the right. Craig, however, was right on the money, and caused some oohing and aahing as the ball rolled past the hole to the tune of 4.465m. We won’t say how many putts he took, but he finished with a four for the hole.

On the 11th, Whitey put his drive into the trees on the right, and was about 100m out from the green. The brought out his legendary putter which he used to put the ball onto the green about 2m from the hole, much to the amazement of a couple of our newer members. SteveG was thought to have been abducted by aliens as they played the 6th hole. Last seen as they left the tee, he was nowhere to be seen as the rest of the group gathered on the green preparing to putt. Eventually, he was spotted jumping up and down and waving his arms from the other side of the turkey’s nest dam on the 1st fairway. Needless to say, he did not end up in a scoring situation from that sort of location. Marc’s game oscillated between pretty good to pretty awful, according to his group, leading to the suggestion that he might qualify as Young Unreliable.

Make sure that everybody planning to play next week registers so that we can get the catering right. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t play this week, everybody is welcome, and you could win yourself some cash or a ball, or two. If you don’t register, and you turn up, there might not be a sausage or burger for you. And, we would hate that to happen!

Results for Saturday, 19 Jul 2025
Leaderboard Round 1: 1st Rajesh Mahto (38) 2nd Targe Mifsud (37) 3rd Gordon Hill (36) 4th Andrew Petricola (35) 4th Ryan Porker (35) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan (35) 5th Robert Priems (34) 5th John Quinlan (34)

Seniors Leaderboard: 1st Targe Mifsud (37) 2nd Gordon Hill (36) 3rd Robert Priems (34)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 12th Craig Cameron BallPin No 1 – 4th John Quinlan BallPin No 2 – 18th Stan Blackshaw

It was a Beast of a day! Well, not really. It actually turned out quite pleasant in the end. However, we should keep our eye on the clocks rather than rely on how dark it looks from inside the Clubhouse. Our first group was rather late off the mark, and, although nothing was said (as far as is known at this stage), we really should be out there to play at the earliest reasonable opportunity. The rain continues to soften the course, but the grass has yet to get a grow-on. The greens were sanded during the week, and there were a couple of comments about playing ‘down the Peninsula’. But, it didn’t prevent some spectacular putts going down. One worthy of mention was from Pepsi on the 10th after duffing a chip just onto the edge of the green for three. With about twelve metres to go, he lined it up, gave it a good crack, and watched it nestle nicely into the hole for his par. On the other hand, CJ blamed the contrast between the greens at Ivanhoe and the Frog, for his ‘failures’ with the flat stick.

Asked during the round how he was going, the reply from Porks was, not so good. Which was probably fair enough, as he had used all of his handicap on the front nine. But, all he had to do was negotiate the back just one over the card to present with a winning score of 35 points. Craig jumped out of the blocks on the front, and carded four pars on his way to 19 at the turn. The back nine was not quite so kind, and he had to settle for second place, just one point behind. He wasn’t alone on the podium, and he was joined by Gordo, who got to the same total in the reverse order, making 19 points on the back. He might have had a share of top spot if he had not picked up on the 12th, only to realise that he still had a stroke in hand for a point. Raj, on the other hand, played a very even hand with seventeen on both halves. Pepsi was a bit of a surprise addition in this spot, with an ‘over-write’ on the front not being transferred to the bottom line and being used in the total. Tut, tut, Pepsi and his marker – you know who you are!

This left CJ on his own in third place, which he managed, despite his ‘problems’ with the greens. He also did a forehead slap when the found out, after the round, that there were preferred lies in play. Early reports had it that Stan had scored a ‘birdie’, but it turned out to be a ‘duck’. Strictly, it’s a goose, but who’s counting. Anyway, the injured party was able to limp off, and didn’t require despatching with a seven iron, like an infamous ibis some years back. Dan was able to drag himself away from playing ‘It’s a Knockout’ to join us for a round, and, if it hadn’t been for a fair sprinkling of gashes and singletons, he could have finished much further up the order than fourth with his 32 points. Bob was really on a roll today. It started on the 13th, where he managed to drive his buggy into the gutter by the path up the hill and it rolled. Then, on the 14th tee, he walked into the chain between the posts, and went for a roll of his own. Then, on the 15th, trying to play a shot off a 60 degree slope, he overbalanced and narrowly avoided a more serious injury than the cuts and bruises that he sustained. Perhaps an unplayable might have been in order. Despite all this, he snared a share of fourth place as well. Marc and Whitey rounded out the points getters, only four points behind the winner. While we are on a roll, Whitey did admit to giving his putter a ‘roll’ today to get himself out of some tight spots. Nothing from the tee, apparently.

There are often jests made about the lead group not putting the nearest-the-pin markers on the correct hole if they do not get onto the correct green themselves. CJ was in charge today, and he had made both Beast and Dan repeat after me – put the markers out on the 4th and the 12th. Both CJ and Dan got onto the 12th, and, allegedly within five metres with Dan, allegedly, closer, and they both didn’t twig that the marker should go out. So, the ProPin eventually went out on the 15th, and Gordo was more than happy to give himself the dosh, for his shot to 1.85m. The first BallPin, correctly, went out on the 4th, and will be Jackpotted to next week after the far back tee placement proved a bridge too far for everybody. On the 18th, Pepsi was the only one to get his name on the chit with a shot just under 13m away from the pin.

We could only manage six birdies today from a field of 15 players. One of these was down to Harry on the 16th, lying about 30m out for two, the pitch was right on line, the ball settled into a roll, and continued until it disappeared ever so gently from sight into the hole. Never looked like missing, said Bob. The four points helped him to make close to half his total points over the last four or five holes of the round. So, definitely a highlight. SteveG did not join us today, so maybe he was saving himself to celebrate a birthday that is coming up, which gets him a visit from the Birthday Birdie. JQ started out with a pretty reasonable front nine, and, for one hole, that looked like continuing on the back. It is unclear what happened, but perhaps his ‘luck’ on the 16th can give an idea. The tee shot finished towards the 14th green. The second was absolutely ‘creamed’ and was going like a rocket. Except, that it found a small tree in its path, around which the ball rattled about four times before being ejected back over his head, to finish further from the green than he started. Some days are diamonds, some days are tish!

Results for Saturday, 12 Jul 2025
1st Ryan Porker (35) 2nd Craig Cameron (34) 2nd Gordon Hill (34) 2nd Rajesh Mahto (34) 2nd Andrew Petricola (34) 3rd Chris Priems (33) 4th Stan Blackshaw (32) 4th Dan Marie (32) 4th Bob McDonald (32) 5th Marc Phillips (31) 5th Rodney White (31)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (34) 1st Gordon Hill (34) 2nd Chris Priems (33) 3rd Stan Blackshaw (32) 3rd Bob McDonald (32)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 15th Gordon Hill BallPin No 1 – 4th Jackpot BallPin No 2 – 18th Andrew Petricola

A fairly mild winter’s morning was on offer to the seventeen members who fronted the starter to vie for the July Monthly Medal. There was a fair bit of debate about whether it was light enough to tee off again, but first light should start to get earlier from now on. At least until daylight saving kicks in. It was a red letter day for a couple of members. Matt was brimming with confidence for his 200th game with the Club, following some good form on away turf in recent times. Pepsi was also angling for a birthday gift, giving up a sleep-in and breakfast in bed for a tilt at a medal for the pool-room. Despite the incredulity evident when he announced his age, the records showed that he was telling the truth, and had not started counting backwards. As the morning progressed, the temperature climbed, and the hand-warmers were left to warm the insides of pockets rather than pinkies. This was obviously beneficial, as the majority of players had improved totals on the back compared to the front.

Old Reliable did not quite lead out the field, but he did manage to lead it in. This was largely thanks to a ten stroke turn-around, with the back nine taking just three more strokes than the card. This makes the winner’s penalty seem insufficient, particularly if he can repeat the effort for the first half of the round. There wasn’t a huge margin in the victory, though. AndrewV had Craig’s measure on the front nine, but, just failing to make a few pars on the back, left him just one stroke short of the top spot. This high placing scored Andrew a rocket in the Order of Merit, which has seen a few moves today. Ryan started off with one of our two birdies, but, by the end of the front nine, he had used all of his available handicap. Four over the card on the back brought him home with seventy-two and gathered third place for the day. Ryan was another mover in the OOM, and now sits on the top of the order for the first time.

Matt didn’t win himself a Medal to celebrate his 200th, but he did get some points for coming in fourth. Having used up his handicap, plus a couple on the first nine, he did well enough on the back to make a bid for fourth place, three strokes further back. Gordon could be said to have been playing under difficult circumstances today. On the third green, he spotted a pitch mark, and decided to do the right thing and repair it. As he leaned down to do the repair, he steadied himself with his putter resting on the ground. At this point, the hosel of the putter snapped, and Gordon was lucky not to do a face-plant. However, what was he to do about putting. He tried with his 2-iron, but finally settled on his 3-wood. So, scoring fifth place was probably not such a bad effort. An inspection of the break by the resident metallurgist suggested an existing flaw in the metal, and not a superfluity of force. Ken’s regular attendance seems to be paying off, and he has become a regular in the points distribution.

The Nearest the Pin competition attracted a fair amount of interest today. The first BallPin on the 12th hole attracted three names on the card, but Stan was the man to tip out Prez and Raj for the pill. The story was similar on the 18th, but the changes in fortune must have been marginal. SOS was victorious after edging out SteveG by a matter of millimetres. And Steve had managed to upstage Matt. However, SOS was probably less than half a metre onto the green, so, how far onto the dance-floor had Matt’s ball been? The ProPin was on the 15th, and, as the last group approached, there was no name on the card, and hopes were raised for a Jackpot for next week. Unfortunately, the last group included Pepsi, and he whacked his ball in to 2.31m to collect the money, although he did mention that he really needed a ball rather than cash.

There were several draughties today, all in the one group. Harry and Marc came to grief on the second. There was no doubt about H disappearing into the reeds, but some careful alignment was required to declare Marc’s about 10mm short of the mark. Wazza came to grief on the 14th after heading one in the direction of SOS’s car in the car-park before it caught a tree and stopped dead in the tan-bark. Gordo probably wished he still had a head on his putter when faced with a ball hard against the base of a tree. Also on the 3rd, Raj had a putt of about 5m, which he sent on its way running true to the hole, only to stop about 20mm short of the mark. As he walked up to the hole, the putter ‘slipped out of his hands’, and managed to hit the ball, moving it further from the hole. What didn’t move further from the hole was the putter itself, which wedged itself firmly into the hole, requiring running repairs to the hole surrounds, and a longer putt than before. SteveG also had a slippery glove on today when he repeated his backswing on the 11th tee, taking Blighty by surprise when the club made contact. No damage was done, and this was not the cause of Blighty’s bad back. He was putting the blame firmly on the ‘housework’ that he was doing during the week. Using muscles that he has never used before, apparently. Wazza paid his $3 at the 18th, and put his best effort into making the shot. A cry came up – it’s on the green! Only problem was, it was on the 9th green, not the 18th.

Results for Saturday, 05 Jul 2025
1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Ryan Porker (72) 4th Matt Hunt (75) 5th Gordon Hill (76) 5th Ken Watson (76)

Seniors Results: 1st Craig Cameron (70) 2nd Andrew Vogan (71) 3rd Matt Hunt (75)

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

Despite being told that there was nothing to be afraid of, the field looked like being a bit depleted today, but JQ, Whitey, and Jake turned up on the day to bring the field to twelve members, and one guest. One of these days, Jake might just make his mind up about joining us again. The day was a bit gloomy with a heavy overcast, but there was no rain. The thermal situation wasn’t too bad as we hit off, but, by the time we got to about the eighth hole, the temperature had dropped significantly. This didn’t seem to affect Wazza, who was out there sporting a tee shirt, while most others hunched into their jumpers, and gripped for dear life to their hand-warmers. Even around the after-table, said hand-warmers were still being put to use. The board was out for preferred lies, for the first time this year, but, for the most part, they weren’t really necessary, as the ball stayed pretty clean, and the lies were as good as could be expected given the dry season we had and the lack of growing weather these days.

JQ didn’t take long to iron out the kinks after his family matter related break from the clubs, and, on his second outing, he made the game look pretty easy. The front nine was spot-on, with the only blemish a double on the 7th. The back nine was better, though, just three strokes over the card, but featuring only the single square, which limited his total to just plus three. This was just enough to guarantee a place at the top of the podium. He did opine that a couple of birdies had saved him, which is just as well, as the pickings would have been very slim today, as there was only one other reported by the lot of us. Whitey hasn’t played a great deal either, partly due to a shoulder injury that put him out of commission for quite a while. However, his touch doesn’t seem to abandoned him, and he slotted easily into second place, just a point behind JQ. There were no reports of how far he had hit his putter, though it must be said, that he usually reserves that for three club events.

What are we going to do about Raj? There were a swag of frantic phone calls on the way home when Raj realised that the incorrect cards had been delivered to us and the ProShop. Possibly not surprising, as the one that went to the ProShop had his GA membership number written on it, while the one to us just had GA, in pencil, at the top, just enough to suggest that it was a genuine mistake. So, instead of being in a six way tie for third, he ended in a one way tie for third, and he teed Harry off, by pushing him out of the last Championship point. Wazza, SteveG, Gordo, Adam and Marc will have to be satisfied with fourth, and SOS will, hopefully, still be cheering that he was in the points. Hopefully Gordo and SOS were not too put off by the audience on the 7th tee.

The last of the quarter-finals of the Matchplay was fought out today, between JQ and Raj, who looked evenly matched with just two points in favour of Raj. They traded holes for most of the front nine, but, by the turn, thanks to wins on eight and nine, Raj had gathered a couple of holes ahead. JQ won the 10th, and thought he was in with a good chance on the 11th, with him on the green for two and Raj a good 60m out. Raj then lofted one in, in his usual high pitching style, and just about slam-dunked it, hitting the back edge of the hole, and popping the ball out about 10mm from the hole, putting the pressure right back on JQ to get the par for a square. Holes were traded again, until the match went dormie one in Raj’s favour at the 17th, taking the match right down to the wire. JQ won the 18th easily to finish the round all square, and the match proceeded to a chip-off. Despite Raj’s chipping and pitching giving JQ the irrits all day, neither protagonist really inspired with their efforts to get onto the green. JQ’s putt wasn’t too bad an effort, and Raj needed to, at least, match it. Unfortunately, some sort of yip got him and he left it well short. His second putt just slipped by, and JQ just needed to tap his in to take the match.

The ProPin was on the 4th, and the first group grumbled that they would put it out on a hole that one of them got onto. As it turned out, Adam smacked it in to 1.65m, so there was no ground for argument about choosing a different hole. The first BallPin was on the 15th, and it looked like being a Jackpot until JQ came along and got one onto the dance-floor. There was some dispute about exactly how far away it was, with the estimates ranging from 90cm (JQ) to 2m (others). Whatever, it won him a ball. Marc was nearly dudded out of the ball on the 18th after his new good mate, Wazza, wrote his name on the back of the ticket booklet, rather than on the front. The fact that the ball was hardly more than 250mm onto the green should not detract from the prize that he won for his efforts.

SteveG started his 100th round with the Club, muttering to himself, just swing easy. And, he did. For a few shots, at least. It came a bit unstuck at the 3rd, where the ball moved less than 100mm from the tee, and the tee was driven full depth into the ground. The front nine did not set the world on fire after that, but, finishing the round with wins on the last three holes, added some respectability (and points) to the day. SOS was cock-a-hoop on the 15th, when Adam’s drive was somewhat short of spectacular. However, it did require an alignment check to confirm that the ball had not reached the red markers, and, indeed, it did count as a draughtie, as well. Not something we are used to seeing, from Adam, at least. Wazza managed to par the 11th hole, but in a sort of round about way. His drive finished on the far side of the 6th fairway. His second finished in the shrubbery beside the green. The third made it onto the green, with a longish putt for the par. Stan had a couple of putting moments today. On the 8th, he was quite convinced that his squaring putt was going to miss and was striding after it, looking for all the world that he was about to pick it up. The ball just kept rolling and turning, and fell into the hole. Later in the round, on the 16th, similar scenario, and he was striding purposefully to pluck it out of the hole when the ball stopped dead just millimetres short. Must have been one of those ‘volcanoes’ that Bobbie is always on about! There were three ‘rockets’ in the Order of Merit rankings today, so check it out to see how you stand in the order of things.

Results for Saturday, 28 Jun 2025
1st John Quinlan (+3) 2nd Rodney White (+2) 3rd Rajesh Mahto (□) 4th Warren Capes (-1) 4th Steven Gervasoni (-1) 4th Gordon Hill (-1) 4th Adam King (-1) 4th Marc Phillips (-1) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan (-2)

Seniors Results: 1st Rodney White (+2) 2nd Gordon Hill (-1) 2nd Steven Gervasoni (-1) 3rd Harry Boughen (-3)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin – 4th Adam King BallPin No 1 – 15th John Quinlan BallPin No 2 – 18th Marc Phillips