Cold, wet, wintry weather. Damp course. Long fairways. Preferred lies. All things which are now in the past (at least in the short term) as spring is finally here and mid 20’s temperatures were embraced by all. The fairways had been freshly cut too but meant finding balls was now easier, however this did not correlate to high scoring. Maybe it was the omission of preferred lies or the freshly sanded greens but not a single soul beat their handicap.

There were 3 however who played to their handicap and shared the win. Rob Priems, Dennis and Ryan all came home with a square card. Not far behind was damo who handed in a score of -1, followed by Craig Cameron who was a further shot behind again. Damo was especially grumpy following his footy sides loss the night before, missing out on the win by 1 and after putting it to 2.25m on the 18th for the money hole, was beaten in the last group by Ryan who put it to 1.87m. Such a shame it was a jackpot from last week too! All well.

A very popular score was had on -3, with Mehmet, Mark, Blighty, Taner and Targe all ending up tied for 4th spot. Not to be outdone, Chrispy ended up with -4 and on his own in last spot. The less than spectacular scores meant only 8 birdies were had on the day.

The yellow ball teams event was also a highlight, with only 1 team losing their ball. We had a tie on -3 with 2 teams, so well done to Noods, JQ, Zimmer and Mehm followed by porks, blighty and vinni. For those of you who study the championship table day and night, you will notice that the bonus points have not been awarded for this week. Apologies as there was an error when running the handicapping and will have to be rectified when Harry gets back.

The IGL continued with week 2 of finals and results are as follows;

Blues -4 (Rob 0, ChrisP -4) lost to Magpies -3 (Ryan 0, Targe -3).

Tigers -2 (Dennis 0, Craig -2) defeated Hawks -6 (Taner -3, Blighty -3).

This means Blues have been kicked out, Tigers progress to the final in 2 weeks and next week the Hawks and Magpies play off for a place in the final. Interesting, after being on the bottom of the ladder for most of the year, Magpies are in the final 3.

Happy birthday to Alan for this week.

 

Results for Saturday, 12 September 2015
1st Ryan Porker(□) 1st Robert Priems(□) 1st Dennis Ward(□) 2nd Damien Lee(-1) 3rd Craig Cameron(-2) 4th Mehmet Akdag(-3) 4th Mark Berthelsen(-3) 4th Andrew Blight(-3) 4th Taner Kemal(-3) 4th Targe Mifsud(-3) 5th Chris Priems(-4)

September’s medal was up for grabs and with 17 punters taking the field it was a count back ultimately deciding the result. Some very solid  scoring was had by a lot of the field which means that course conditions are improving, or the first event of the month brings out the best in some of us.

Bob handed in a very impressive score of 63 which was also matched by Johnny Q. Both score 1st place wins for the championship however after careful analysis Bob ended up with the medal after countback. Fair to say their handicaps have taken out a fair chunk.

Not far off their heels was Rob who followed up his Nurmurkah form with an impressive 64, who was also not outdone by Dennis Ward coming in equal second. Pepsi was on his lonesome in 3rd with a score of 66 after murdering the course with 1 over off the stick.

Craig Cameron put in a solid round with a nett 67 who was following by 4 others who tied for 5th on even par 68; Mehmet, Noodes, Brenden and SOS. The high scoring correlated to 21 birdies total for the day. There were a number of improvements in the eclectic however Peps is still holding a solid lead.

The ball hole went to none other than Blighty who didn’t have his best round however an extra ball is a small constellation. The pro pin was left on the 19th hole, so next week goes to a jackpot.

The IGl finals have started and for those who are interested the finals follows a final 5 fixture. Hawks had the week off as they finished on top, which left 2 matches of 2v3 and 4v5. Blues(2) lost to Tigers(3) with scores of 133 for the blues (Rob 64 and Rod 69)  and 131 to Tigers (Dennis 64, Craig 67).** lowest score wins as the round was a stroke round.

Magpies(4) with a score of 133 (Bob 63, Targe 70) defeated Bulldogs(5) 138 (Mehm 68, Craig 70) to finish the round. Unfortunately Bulldogs have been booted and only 4 teams remain. This week the matches are Blues v Magpies in the elimination final and hawks play Tigers for a place in the GF.

Happy birthday to Blighty and Ed this week, have a good one!

 

Results for Saturday, 05 September 2015
1st Bob McDonald(63) 1st John Quinlan(63) 2nd Robert Priems(64) 2nd Dennis Ward(64) 3rd Andrew Petricola(66) 4th Craig Cameron(67) 5th Mehmet Akdag(68) 5th Stephen Butterfield(68) 5th Brendon Mitchell(68) 5th Stephen O’Sullivan(68)

Well it appears that Winter has not yet left us and a cold and miserable day was dished up by the powers that be. Not sure if it was the weather or extended hangover from the weekend away, but only 11 contenders rocked up to tame the at times wet Ivanhoe course. Of those who did fight the conditions there was plenty of points on offer, with 9 of the 11 scoring a championship point. (We won’t say who were the unlucky ones, hey Bob:P)

Three equal winners after a miscalculation on Ed’s card meant that he tied on 37 points with Pepsi and Blighty. The andrews both came home on fire on the back 9, Blighty with 23 points and Pepsi going around on even par. During Gordons round he was apparently talking himself up for the monthly medal as he was going alright. Too bad for him the medal is next week, although he did come in second place with 32 points. SOS held his nerve to hold onto 3rd place with 29 points.

Whitey and noods were quite excited to sneak into the points with 28 stableford points, unfortunately for the rest of us due to Ed’s improvement to 1st place they both come in 4th. Rounding out the places was Targe and Priemsy who take out 5th with 27 points. Hopefully the scoring improves next week although generally the scoring was better than at Nurmurkah (apart from Ryan who somehow did worse).

The money and ball went to Noodles today after slotting it close to the pin on the 18th and 12th. Spend that 11 dollars wisely Noodes.

Interesting results in the IGL competition today with two teams scoring zero points after ASADA issues (or a few did not shows). So wins by forfeit to the Blues and Magpies. The hawks had a win over the saints 74 to 57. This marks the end of the regular season and now finals are upon us.

Results for Round 20
Home Team	Player 1	Player 2	Score	Away Team	Player 1	Player 2	Score
Hawks	Andrew Blight	Andrew Petricola	74	Saints	Stephen O’Sullivan	Stephen Butterfield	57
Blues	Rodney White	Chris Priems	55	Tigers	DNP	DNP	-198
Magpies	Ed Kloprogge	Targe Mifsud	64	Bulldogs	DNP	DNP	-198

 

The IGL authorities (harry) have announced that the finals will consist of the McIntyre format with 5 teams playing off. Next week Hawks have a week off after finishing on top. Tigers (2nd) play Blues (3rd) and in the second match the magpies (4th) play Bulldogs (5th).  Unfortunately the saints miss out on a finals birth.  Final ladder is shown below;

Ivanhoe Golf League Ladder

Team						Wins	Losses	Draws	Forfeits	Points
Hawks						14	5	1	0	87
Andrew Petricola	Gordon Hill	Andrew Blight	John Quinlan	Taner Kemal	John Angelopoulos
Blues						11	9	0	0	66
Laurie Mannix	Chris Priems	Rodney White	Chris Vinecombe	Kazim Akdag	Robert Priems
Tigers						11	8	0	1	66
Keith Delzoppo	Brendon Mitchell	Craig Cameron	Stefan Belevski	Mark Berthelsen	Dennis Ward
Magpies						9	11	0	0	54
Ed Kloprogge	Bill Eastoe	Targe Mifsud	Ryan Porker	Bob McDonald	Malcolm Fleming
Bulldogs						7	10	2	1	48
Damien Lee	Mehmet Akdag	Craig Sharp	David Howard	Allan Davies	Paul Rowland
Saints						6	13	1	0	39
Harry Boughen	Rod Grant	Stephen Butterfield	Stephen O’Sullivan	Michael Gourlay	Trevor Jackson

 

 

Apparently Rob was quite pleased with himself with his win in the Country round last week.  So much so that the trophy went straight to the pool room for all to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results for Saturday, 29 August 2015
1st Andrew Blight(37) 1st Ed Kloprogge(37) 1st Andrew Petricola(37) 2nd Gordon Hill(32) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(29) 4th Stephen Butterfield(28) 4th Rodney White(28) 5th Targe Mifsud(27) 5th Chris Priems(27)

Nineteen intrepid souls ventured onto the course at Numurkah over the weekend.  Eighteen were Club members and one was a partner.  Something of a first for the event and surely a sign of a certain maturity pervading the Club.  And what is more, Hayley, ChrisV’s lovely wife managed to show a few of the members how to handle the course and finished just about right in the middle of the field.  There was a suggestion that we could have been two ladies playing but Targe’s wife Nerille was unable to be persuaded to chance her arm against Targe, or was it the other way around?

The couch on the fairways was pretty brown, it being winter and all, but it was still good to play from and certainly didn’t form the basis of an excuse for some of the scores.  The mounded greens did pose a bit more of a problem and it took a while to work out a workable approach technique to get the ball onto and to stay on the putting surface.  But once there, the putting surface was terrific and a lot better than the somewhat bumpy tracks that we have become used to.  The other aspect of the course that came in for comment was the amount of run to be had compared to Ivanhoe at the moment and the tighter more heavily treed aspect of the course also caused some grief from time to time.

Saturday was cracker from a weather point of view.  The sun shone brightly and the temperature was easily in the twenties.  A few people put in early claims for the title of contender and there were three or four within a few points so that an interesting contest on Sunday was pretty much assured.  And there were a few likely types a bit further back in the pack so that a late burst to prominence was not entirely out of the question.  For others though, there was a need of a major train crash to incapacitate the field for them to have a chance.

A number of people entered the local Saturday Comp and a couple of balls were handed out, one for a second place and one for an encouragement award.  Much to the chagrin of at least one member, all of the names and scores were posted on the club scoreboard. Chrispy was involved in a conversation with one of the local lady members about the poor unfortunate who had only managed to accumulate 17 points in the round.  Must have had a really bad day he opined as he sidled away so as to avoid having to reveal that it was he who had fared so badly.

As it turned out, it was one of the pack rats who really came to the fore when it counted and Rob managed to show true form and leap to equal first place with his total of 70 points (29 and 41) with Allan (34 and 36) so that a count-back was required.  With a five point margin on the day, it was not at all surprising that Rob got the nod and was presented with the highly acclaimed Mustard Jacket from the outgoing Champion, David.  David has been caretaker of the venerated cloth for two years, after last years event did not eventuate and he wore it to Friday night dinner with great pride.

Third place in the event went to David who tried valiantly to score the coveted back to back wins and although he improved on Day 2 it was not enough to catch up on the first two place getters.  For the record, Damo was the leader after Day 1 but his deft touch failed him a little and he could only manage to come home in 4th place alongside Gordo who did a bit of sledging at dinner on Saturday by offering Damo a pack of Butter Menthols.  Maybe this was an effective ploy.

There were some ancilliary events over the weekend as well.  There was a secret six event that was won by Allan.  There were a couple of nearest the pins and, given the reported difficulty in getting onto the green, it is possibly a bit surprising that they actually went off.  But, go off they did, and Brendon and Noodles were the lucky winners.  The ProPin was placed on the short 18th hole and Saturday went by and nary a ball had stayed on the putting surface.  After much discussion it was decided that the cash would carry over to Sunday and that it would be nearest, regardless of distance to ensure that it did actually go off.  There was even a suggestion to make it nearest in two if all else failed.  As it turned out, the honour went to Whitey who claimed it was the only decent shot he had made out of 215 that he took over the weekend.

The trees certainly played a part in this but there seems to have been an extraordinary number of draughties over the weekend and in one group three of the four suffered the fate.  Harry was a victim of the trees on the 9th but his didn’t qualify as a draughtie as it was only the ladies on the next door 6th tee that he was almost, but not quite, in front of.  There were even discussions to suggest that one player took several shots to get past the ladies tee but it does seem that one of these was long and out of bounds and the penalty was included in the count.  Something of a moot point it seems.  Not only were there draughties, there was at least one airie and it was Pepsi who owned up to that.  Not a bad effort for a bloke on his handicap.

Mehmet, started out as if he was going to have a blinder and with 17 points after seven holes he reckoned it was the easiest course he had ever played.  Then this peculiar buzzing sound got into his head and the wheels promptly fell off in a big way.  And the buzzing sound continued for the rest of the weekend and could still be heard on the 18th on Sunday.  Whether the same sound contributed to Pepsi’s failure on several holes is a point that would need to be investigated further.

It is not clear whether ChrisV was more concerned about the prospect of being beaten by Hayley or whether their house would burn down because the heating system had been left turned on.  Just to be sure on the latter point, after the game Hayley drove all the way back to Melbourne to turn it off and then returned to Numurkah in time for dinner at night.  They assured us that it wasn’t to save money from the heating bill and Mehmet was adamant that it would have been cheaper to have left it on.  Certainly the car fuel bill would have been considerably lighter.

There was a bit of a crowd gathered by the 18th green watching the field come in, including Chrispy who shouted fore and watch out to the assembled crowd, somewhat in jest, only to be narrowly missed by an incoming ball himself.  Talk about the boy who cried wolf.

Noodles gained some sort of notoriety by managing to turn a birdie putt into an eight but perhaps not as much as by turning up to dinner in his best ‘Farmer Wants a Wife’ outfit just because there was a 21st birthday party going on in the Club house.  While on the clothing front, John was resplendent in a pair of trousers that could be best be described as lairy in a nice shade of red and was described by SOS as being a victim of circus pants.  Brendon was seen strutting round in a puff jacket in a similar shade and doing a fair imitation of the Michelin Man.

There was footy on in Numurkah on Saturday and at one stage Chrispy was discussing the possibility of only playing nine holes and going and playing in the Magoos.  With the oval just across the road and apparently a number of junior games being run simultaneously there was a pretty much continuous barrage of air horns being discharged.  Ryan formed the view that every time he was lining up to putt or in mid-stroke he was put off by a siren blast.  Nothing like that on Sunday though when two shots from the tee ended up in the front yard of a house across the road only a metre or so apart.  Nothing if not consistent.

Needless to say, there were a range of alcoholic beverages consumed during the afternoons, evenings and nights.  Such consumption might or might not have contributed (or detracted from) the playing form of some members.  Besides various craft beers and the almost compulsory Jimmy and Coke (the Club ran out on Friday night) there was some cider being consumed as well which gave SOS the opportunity to repeat several times that his favourite brand was Dickens Cider (whatever that might mean).  Definitely been injected with ‘pun serum’ our SOS.

So, a good time was had by all.  The gardens around the accommodation huts should thrive with all of the attention that was lavished upon them over the weekend.  The Golf Club management were welcoming, attentive and generous to a fault and there is no reason to believe that this will not be a venue that we will return to in future excursions of this nature.

Results for Saturday, 22 August 2015 Annual Challenge
1st Rob Priems(70 c/b) 2nd Allan Davies(70) 3rd David Howard(66) 4th Damien Lee(62) 4th Gordon Hill(62) 5th John Quinlan(61)