Little did the field of 21 players who set out this morning realise that they were about to be participants in an historic event.  Well, 20 lasted out to witness the finish.  Noodles, who started out in the first group because he had to get away but who then relegated himself to the third group, just had to rush off after the 13th to make it to his appointment.  It was supposed to be work and not another dinner date.  If you want a cheap night out, just take Noodles to a vegetarian restaurant.  It must have been an important date as he sat through the night drinking water and didn’t even find an excuse to nick out for a burger.

Enough of Noodles social life (or lack thereof) and onto the really important news.  SOS is a dad again.  The stork flew in on schedule on Thursday and delivered a little sister for Olivia who hasn’t decided on a name just yet so for the time being all SOS’s so-called friends are suggesting that Black and Gold would be a good starting point.  While on the topic of Olivia, she was with SOS for the AGM and was given one of the kid’s putters from the pro-shop and a ball to amuse herself while the meeting was in progress.  Not sure whether it was spontaneous or not but she toddled around and offered the putter to Targe, much to the amusement of the assembled masses.

But, even more importantly, the long drought is over.  After two years and four months, Mehmet has won both an event and a Monthly Medal.  Mehm started out very steadily and completed the first nine just three over the card.  At that stage, the nerves started to kick in just a little and though the weather was a little warm, Mehm began to sweat and reckons he lost about 5kg over the course of the back nine.  But there were only three bogies and one off-setting birdie to finish the nine two over the card to produce a 73 off the stick, net 63.  Despite all sorts of discussions about the possibility of being matched and beaten in a count-back or even beaten outright, nothing eventuated and Mehm was the well deserved winner.  Mehm’s card only sported the two birdies but they seem to have flowed fairly freely today as there were a total of 18 from those that completed the course.  Reports of Noodle’s standard of play suggest that he was unlikely to have contributed a great deal to the total.

Eddie was out and about during the week playing a matchplay round with some other club that he associates with.  He played well enough to win his match and it seems that the practice might have done him some good though he did have to come home with a wet sail after a not so flash front nine that started with a birdie and mostly went down-hill from there.  A pretty spectacular one under the card on the back nine was more than enough the have him secure the second place spot with a net score of 66.  Pepsi played with the two Priems boys today and the love affair with the trees seems to be well and truly alive and runs in the family as both profited from the favourable treatment from the arboreal gods.  Peps also reckons that there is no way that Rob should be playing off 14 (and he doesn’t any more) after his performance today to produce a 67 net for third spot.

As if feeling guilty for only putting one player in each of the first three places, the golf gods decided to make recompense by heaping players onto the last two spots for points.  Three seniors tied up for fourth place by playing exactly to their handicap and a net 68.  They were Craig, Bob and Targe.  Now Craig, it seems, clobbered his drive from the 13th and put it into the hazard on the left.  His shot from the drop was a little left of the line but must have come off the path and down the bank to finish about 300mm from the hole.  An easy, uphill putt made the par look remarkably easy.  Bob was reported to be very quiet today and the thinking was that he must have been going OK and while it wasn’t winning form it was still pretty respectable.  From the 10th, Targe hit his drive into the big tree on the left and the ball finished right at the base of the tree.  Even Targe admitted that the only reason that he was able to make any sort of shot was because of his stature that allowed him to back up, rather intimately, to the trunk of the tree to get a playable stance.

Michael also got a bit of a sweat up as he felt the pressure of playing in the Medal of Medallists event as well as our own high powered competition.  Despite the ‘friction’ between Chrispy and Pepsi during the round, they also managed to come in the the same score to share the podium with Michael with the net score of 70.

The BallPin today was on the 12th (though there was some suggestion that it was supposed to be on the 7th) and the person that got closest in the end was Noodles.  There was a lot of discussion as to whether he was eligible since he didn’t finish the round but, in all fairness, he did pay his money and left for a ‘good’ reason.  The ProPin was on the 15th and Dennis played a provisional ball on the basis that he wasn’t sure if his first had made the distance over the ‘rough’ on the left.  As it turned out, the first ball actually finished on the green 3.86m from the hole and so he was very pleased to put his name on the card.  Standing on the next tee, he was fairly spewing when a ball landed less than a metre from the hole and he threatened to go over and kick it away.  As it turned out, the ball was Damo’s provisional and so it didn’t count anyway.  So, in the end, Dennis collected the Double Dollars thank you very much.  And, while on the subject of Dennis, he will be going to hospital this week for some surgery that will put him out of circulation on the golf course for some time (at least six weeks).  All the very best Dennis for the coming weeks and we look forward to seeing you back on the tees after a successful recuperation.

Harry’s swing was a little off this week so perhaps there was still a bit of a niggle in the old sciatic nerve.  A sconed drive on the 3rd didn’t even  make it to the blue markers and there was a nervous moment or two about the distance still to go to the reds but they were passed comfortably.  A similar wobbly swing on the 15th seemed to result in the ball finishing in the OOB to the left of the bottom tee but the ball did make it to be just out and ‘sort of’ playable though still short of the reds.  The only other reported draughtie for the day was down to Brent on the first who finished, not only short of the reds, and the blues but the whites as well.  A ricochet off the elm tree put his ball several metres behind in the garden bed at the back of the tee box.  It seems he made up for it later in the round when he bombed one amongst the group in front, much to their consternation.

The Beast now has a LaserShot, just like Brendon’s.  He doesn’t measure to the flag, just some nearby feature that is easy to sight on.  Harry blames Bill for his over-strike on the 12th when it was revealed that the distance was measured to the bank at the back.  As if!

After the round, the remaining members gathered for the conduct of the AGM.  Chrispy ran the meeting and reaffirmed that he was standing down as President.  After some formalities of reports and so forth, a new Committee was elected and the new Club president is none other than John Quinlan who was, unfortunately, not present today to take over the reins immediately.  There were several other absences as well but we did manage to get a full complement of Committee members and a full list will be published on the website and in the minutes that will be circulated.  One proposal of note was that there be additional distribution of accumulated funds by way of an extra ProPin each week rather than the Double Dollars on Medal days.  This will be reviewed at the end of the year to assess the effects on the Club’s financial position.

The matchplay draw is done and dusted and is published on the website under the Competitions Menu.  As usual, the person on the top row of each match is responsible for organising the match and reporting the result by the deadline.  No excuses, play or forfeit.  You have up to and including the April Monthly Medal to complete the first round.  The full set of rules is under the Rules Menu on the website.

Results for Saturday, 04 March 2017
1st Mehmet Akdag(63) 2nd Ed Kloprogge(66) 3rd Robert Priems(67) 4th Craig Cameron(68) 4th Bob McDonald(68) 4th Targe Mifsud(68) 5th Michael Gourlay(70) 5th Andrew Petricola(70) 5th Chris Priems(70)

Seniors Results: 1st Ed Kloprogge (66) 2nd Bob McDonald (68) 2nd Craig Cameron (68) 2nd Targe Mifsud (68) 3rd Bill Eastoe (72)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 15th Dennis Ward BallPin 12th Stephen Butterfield

The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the whole world was happy – except maybe for Harry who was banned from playing due to a case of sciatica that was still under repair.  In other words, it was a beautiful day for golf and, if the scores are to be believed, some beautiful golf was played.  However, some of the stories suggest that there were still quite a few points left out there.

A couple of weeks back, it was opined that Jason was not long for keeping his 21 handicap.  And today there was little to suggest that his new handicap will be around for the long term.  When asked at the 5th, his response was that it was his worst round ever and by the 8th he was four points and four balls down having given the trees on the front nine a right royal time of it.  Following Noodles suggestion that he should duck into the pro-shop to see if they still had balls on special, Jason played like a man possessed and carded plusses on the next eight (yes – eight) holes, scrambled a bit on the last two for squares to finish with +4 for the day.  Just wait until the lessons really take effect.

But, Jason wasn’t alone.  Gordon was in a masochistic mood and, after last week’s whipping by the handicapper, put his hand up for another lashing this week.  The fact that he had to share the honour was only due to the two lonely gashes on his card.  Simon has been bewailing the fact that he can do the back nine in 36 during the week but never on Saturday.  Today, he proved that that is not the case and his sub-80 round also put him on the winners dais, also with +4.  Simon was spotted retrieving his ‘inside’ card (+7 no less) to take home as a memento of the feat.  The mid-week rounds seem to be paying off.

Now Noodles reckons that staying on the fairway is worth eight strokes.  Well, he must have stayed on the fairway today because he was right up there with the best of them but a little hiccup on the 18th for a miss robbed him of a place on the top spot, either shared or on his own.  Maybe it was an after effect of Jason’s run of plusses or his ‘miracle’ square on the 17th that got to him. Or maybe it was the bevy of dog-walkers passing on the shared path just behind.  Still a +3 ain’t bad and there is no winners penalty.  Trevor also didn’t make too many mistakes today although one of his putts did draw a disparaging comment from Bob.  Rob was in the same group and entered a very similar card, at least as far a points scoring went but that doesn’t mean they were fighting.

Dennis was another one who took the first nine holes to warm up and at the turn things were looking a bit shaky to say the least.  But, despite sporting paint under his fingernails and up his arm (there is a DIY thing going on) he did a fine job on the back and managed to come home with two on the right side of the ledger.  On the other hand, Chrispy reckoned he felt like a pro after a one client night (don’t ask how he knows what that is like or even what he meant by it) with his third placing score alongside Dennis.  He was apparently going OK despite blaming, loudly and often an ‘air pocket’ in his glove.  However, when he found a brand spanker in his bag and put that on his mitt, he didn’t score nearly as well.  Just goes to show, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The Beast has been lurking in his lair and hasn’t featured much of late but he let it be known that he was alive and kicking today.  Though he only managed to garner 4th place today, his +1 score card included 3 birdies that helped his Eclectic along and contributed more than somewhat to the total of 15 birdies that were carded today.  No eagles though.

The first group was just three players strong and they must have had their skates on as they were finished by 1100 and a good 30 minutes in front of the second group.  Pepsi was one of the members and perhaps he had to dash off to an important meeting (race?).  Still, even if he was in a rush, he managed to play right to his handicap for a square card.  Also lining up for the last point on offer was Ryan.

All in all, it was a good day at the office for Jason as he managed to put his ball closed enough (3.2m) on the 12th to take out the cash for the ProPin.  Hopefully, he counted it as it was passed hand to hand with the advice to ‘take some and pass it on’.  Rod was a bit unhappy about ‘just’ missing his birdie on the 18th after getting his name on the ticket for the BallPin.  Unfortunately, there was no consolation prize as he was taken out by ‘lucky’ Gordon or was that Gordon ‘lucky’.

There were a couple of draughties today.  Opinions varied about the distance that Bob’s travelled from the 16th tee and the methods used to estimate that distance mostly can’t be repeated in polite company.  Whatever the actual distance or the measuring method, opinion is that any contact between club and ball must have been very minor.  Last week, the Beast put his drive from the 17th to within half a metre of the hole and he had his picture published to mark the feat.  When asked to pose for a similar picture after his drive on the 17th, Blighty refused on the basis that the ball was less than half a metre from the tee rather than from the pin.  Go figure.

Just as Noodles was preparing to drive on the 16th a person, described as having legs up to her armpits, alighted from a car in the adjacent car-park.  For some reason, Noodles swiped left and his ball went right – over onto the 14th fairway.  On the sartorial front, it seems that Bob might have been inspired by ‘The Shark’ if the rather sharp straw hat that he was sporting is any guide.  Whether this translates to better golf remains to be seen.  Brendon also caught the fashionista’s eye with the comment that he must have been up early and got dressed in the dark.  Maybe the pink was just to match his eyes although the effects of the after breakup party should have healed by this.

Now, let it be known that the Annual general meeting of the Club is scheduled for next week after the March Monthly Medal.  Reminders have been a bit thin on the ground for which an apology is due, Ryan should have been given a heads up.  Still, some are obviously aware.  All Committee positions are open for contest and Nomination Forms are available from the website under Forms.  Please get a form and have it filled in before the meeting and let the Secretary (Blighty) know of your intentions as soon as possible.  Whilst we can take nominations from the floor, it is desirable to have things in place before hand for efficient running of the meeting.

The registrations are open for the Annual Challenge weekend in August and the deposits should be paid into the Club Account as soon as possible.  The account details are in Gordons dodger and on the website.  If you are not in it, you can’t win it (the Mustard Jacket, that is).

The matchplay draw will be set after next week’s round.  The field will consist of those financial members who have not opted out and who have played at least one round in the last six months.  Seedings will be based on the average (adjusted) strokes taken in your last three rounds with the defending Champion holding first seed.  If there are fewer that 32 eligible players, first round byes will be distributed in seeding order.  If there are more than 32 eligible players, seeds above 32 will be nominated as emergencies for the first round.  The first round has to be completed before or on the date of the April Monthly Medal.

Results for Saturday, 25 February 2017
1st Gordon Hill(+4) 1st Jason Hopkins(+4) 1st Simon Powell(+4) 2nd Stephen Butterfield(+3) 2nd Trevor Jackson(+3) 2nd Robert Priems(+3) 3rd Chris Priems(+2) 3rd Dennis Ward(+2) 4th Bill Eastoe(+1) 5th Andrew Petricola(□) 5th Ryan Porker(□)

Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (+4) 1st Simon Powell (+4) 2nd Trevor Jackson (+3) 3rd Dennis Ward (+2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Jason Hopkins BallPin 18th Gordon Hill

With a bit of cloud cover overhead only 13 members were in play, it was mentioned by Chrispy that you would have to be very unlucky not to score points. As it turns out just over half the field in fact did score at least 1 point. After a few holes the scoring wasn’t so great and it was predicted that something around 34 points would go close to winning. Gordon had other ideas however and put in a consistent effort to win with 38 points for the day.

Chrispy was in fact heading for the predicted 34 points, however he came home strong after momentarily faltering and played to his handicap to find himself in second place. The beast did not have the best start with only 14 points on the front 9, however rallied in the back 9 and came home with a wet sail to place in 3rd. SOS and Targe managed to score 34 points and shared 4th place and last but not least Dennis W and Blighty rounded out the points getters with 5th place and 32 points. Blighty was also a bit inconsistent, only scoring 8 points on the front nine, but it must have been his cuppa tea half way around which sparked a revival and 24 points on the back 9 ensured the day was not lost.

Now the eagles nest had not been poached for quite some time and the nest was included 11 balls up for the taking. The Beast stepped up on the 17th and put his drive within 2 feet of the hole. With a lot on the line, Bill was getting more and more nervous as he was waiting for the others in his group to putt out. Gordon chipped his ball from the round and his ball landed adjacent to a 10c piece on the green. He thought it was Bills marker it turns out it did not belong to anyone in the group. The mystery remains where it came from. Blighty was ‘intentionally’ taking more time than usual to putt out in an attempt to build the suspense, however it was all in vain as Bill slotted the putt to score an eagle and with it 11 balls from the nest. Now Bill must have enjoyed his round so much, he shared the balls he won with his playing group. What a guy! There were only 7  birdies scored all day, one of them by Joe how claimed to have almost scored a hole in 1, but it did not drop, but it was enough for the ball hole prize.

The money was on the 12th and after just missing out the last few weeks, Simon was closest and managed to take home all of $13! His efforts were not enough for the seniors placings with Gordon, Bill and Targe placing in the top 3.

SOS was on the 14th tee and hit a spectacular shot out of bounds on the left. While looking for his ball he came across an abandoned/lost ball. After close inspection the ball seemed a bit out of the ordinary, with the name ‘Jason Hopkins’ marked in lieu of the standard titelist, callaway etc. There was some discussion about its where abouts, did it come from a mysterious manufacturer, or had Jason decided that he would make his own balls.  As it turns out, Jason’s partner had given him the balls as a gift to avoid any confusion on the course.

Reminder to all that matchplay starts in no less than 2 weeks. Please make sure you register your intentions to play so the draw can be prepared. Also deposits for this years trip away can be paid now to register your intentions. It is sure to be a good weekend. Happy birthday to Noodles this week who is celebrating another milestone (it is not 25 which is what he surely tells all the girls).

Results for Saturday, 18 February 2017
1st Gordon Hill(38) 2nd Chris Priems(36) 3rd Bill Eastoe(35) 4th Targe Mifsud(34) 4th Stephen O’Sullivan(34) 5th Andrew Blight(32) 5th Dennis Ward(32)

Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (38) 2nd Bill Eastoe (35) 3rd Targe Mifsud (34)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 12th Simon Powell BallPin 15th Joe Wagenecht

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Bill Eastoe

An improved turn out this week as a few familiar faces returned after a bit of a break. Scoring was good with some very competitive scores handed in, but as expected the new clubs have served Dennis W well who put in a consistent performance which resulted in first place overall on +4 points.

The three second placegetters coming in at +3 were Gordo, Michael and Dale, who played in the same group with Jason. It was actually Jason who turned heads and dropped jaws for most of the round with his tee to green game. Fresh off the back of some lessons from Ivanhoe club pro Chris, Jason was in brilliant form early in the round, hitting it miles off the tee and big high soaring iron shots going dead straight. He easily reaching the 6^th in two and followed it up with a beautiful strike onto the middle of the green on the 7^th. Unfortunately he three putted both greens and late in the round his chipping let him down, but watch out in future weeks because Jason looks a sure bet to kill his handicap of 21 very soon.

3rd place was shared by Stafan and JQ who, rumor has it, have a bit of a bromance going on. It could have something to do with the day’s biggest jaw dropping moment when Gordo, Michael, Jason and Dale were standing on the 10^th tee. The thump of a ball dropping from a great height was heard about 5 metres away and two blokes standing on the first tee turned around with amazed looks on their faces and muttering various, WTFs, did you see that? It was Stef’s tee shot from the 9^th, on the fly all the way to next to the 10^th tee. If he’d hit it straight it would have flown the green!

The Priems brothers tied in 4th place with an even card, Rob was going quite well early on with two birdies on the first 3 holes but faded late. Targe and Jason tied in 5th place with -1 on the cards. The propin was on the 4th today (I think) and it was won by none other than Brendon. The ball hole was on the 12th and again the last group cleaned up as Mehmet put one close enough. There were 15 birdies in total, Matt Hunt had his share and carded 4 for the round but it didn’t help too much with his overall scoring.

Dale relished the opportunity to be out on the course instead of at work pumping concrete and he played well all day apart from an unfortunate wipe on the 16^th that cost him the chance of what would have been a very well deserved first placing. His most spectacular half of the day came on the second where after some adventures down the 6th fairway off the tee and then a visit across the fairway towards the 11^th tee with his second, he had a wedge in hand and one shot left for the half. He hit it so hard and skinny Michael was fearing for the cricket players in the oval behind, but somehow it hit the pin and dropped in! Easy half!

Gordo spent the first six holes whinging about how bad his game has been of late. Something about swaying and a dodgy back foot. It was quietly suggested he made like to change tack, smell the roses, enjoy the nice weather, and try something to fix the problem rather than just keep whinging about it. After scrambling a lucky half at the sixth he then proceeded to plus the next four holes, then sank a monster downhill putt for birdie on the 12^th and looked every bit the winner. Unfortunately wipes at the 15^th and 18^th held him up from a better finish. Michael’s round was another grinding, dogged affair. Indeed the dogs got into the act at the half way mark where Michael spent some quality time chatting with three cute little dogs on the clubhouse steps. After a visit inside, Michael was less inclined to use the word cute to describe them. One of the three, a sausage dog, had managed to stick it’s head in Michael’s bag and steal his ham and salad roll. It was seen happily downing the ham and bread while the other two less enterprising dogs were sniffing and rejecting the salad leftovers. The owner was so embarrassed she bought Michael a new roll and chased him down the 10^th fairway to deliver it, with dog in tow looking very pleased with itself.

We had a new prospective member today as Christian joined the ranks and put in his first card. Things were not going so well for him as on the 11th hole his ball could not be found. After a some time unfortunately it was located, wedged between two pieces of wood. See photo for evidence, it appears that the obstructions were placed there on purpose! Hopefully it does not deter him from coming back next week.

Reminder to all that the matchplay tournament is approaching so please register on the website.  Also please refer to Gordons email about the trip away, which is scheduled for August 18th-20th at Shepparton golf club.

Results for Saturday, 11 February 2017
1st Dennis Ward(+4) 2nd Michael Gourlay(+3) 2nd Gordon Hill(+3) 2nd Dale Webb(+3) 3rd Stefan Belevski(+2) 3rd John Quinlan(+2) 4th Chris Priems(□) 4th Robert Priems(□) 5th Jason Hopkins(-1) 5th Targe Mifsud(-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (+4) 2nd Gordon Hill (+3) 3rd Targe Mifsud (-1)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin 4th Brendon Mitchell BallPin 12th Mehmet Akdag