This was the day that promised much and in true style of a Melbourne Spring day, it delivered.  Cool and overcast but no rain and a week or so without much of the wet stuff has seen the condition of the course improve.  A bit like our winner really, a great round by Jan for 42 points with two gashes looked like streeting the field until Brendon lobbed in just one behind.  No gashes for him but a solitary single pointer blotted a pretty fine copy-book.  Brendon’s marker, Pepsi, came in third.  Suspicions of collusion are believed to be completely unfounded.

Oliver, Andrew B and Allan were the point scorers in the Seniors Competition.

The other big event of the day was the Matchplay Finals and the competition was, as expected, pretty fierce.  Damien and SOS faced off for the major trophy and Damo was the ultimate winner 4 and 3.  It seems that Damo put the mockers on SOS by slamming monster drives using only his three wood causing SOS to ask for a ruling to limit his usage to six times in the round.  Unfortunately for SOS there were no members of the Rules Committee to consider his appeal.  There was also a story that Damo was incentivised (if that is a word) by offers from Noodles if he kept SOS out of the big championship points.

The play off for third and fourth in the Matchplay between Gordon and Bill was a much closer run affair with Gordon pipping Bill at the post 2 and 1.  By all accounts, this match was contested in a much more gentlemanly manner.

In other event news, the Ball Hole at the 12th was picked up by Dennis Tiernan who should be with us more often now that the footie season is over.  After next week, Dennis will have his Club handicap and though it is late in the year he says he has ambitions to rack up some points before the year is out.  The ProPin on the 15th went to Oliver with a shot close enough to snag him the birdie.  Not that that particular form of wildlife was particularly rare with eleven being plodded all told with Brendon and Pepsi scoring three each.  The big bird did not settle today so the number of balls in the nest is growing.

Craig and Noodles were involved in some serious sledging during the round and maybe Craig got the better of it, as Nood’s round was not one of his best – or maybe the handicap cuts and the pressure of front running are beginning to take its toll.  It was also suggested that the golf gods were looking after Chris after some fine examples of his power fade and favourable ricochets but Chris reckons that can’t be right because he is a Scientologist??

Rodger, unfortunately, had to take another break with a sore shoulder.  Look after it Rodger and you’ll soon be back into your usual form.  On the topic of Rodger, he reports that there are still a couple of places left for the Annual Trip so speak up quick if you fancy a weekend away for some serious (or not so serious perhaps) golf.

The other thing that has come to my attention is that there are occasional errors in calculating points (stableford and par).  The rules of golf say that you are responsible only for the record of strokes taken and that the committee is responsible for checking competition scores and declaring the result.  So just try to be a bit more careful so that the committee isn’t faced with the possibility of having to change results particularly if point scorers are involved.

Results for Saturday, 15 September 2012
1st Jan Siemon(42) 2nd Brendon Mitchell(41) 3rd Andrew Petricola(37) 4th Oliver Gross(36) 5th Chris Priems(35)

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the image says it all.  What do we have to do to stop this guy short of knee-capping him or pleading with his cricket club to take him back.  Seriously though, congratulations Noodles on a excellent score of 39 points under conditions that were not perfect.  The wind was biting and the overcast threatened but there was no precipitation of any consequence.  The course has dried out a lot and the greens are pretty fast if not as smooth as they might be.

The new tee area on the 13th has changed the aspect of that hole and could bring the lateral water hazards into play for some people.  It should suit Chris Priems with his ‘power fade’.  At least he knows what causes it after being overheard to say “I cut right across that one” after a particularly fine example of the art.  Despite all this and a lot of ‘bad’ luck, including threading the ball through a gap in a pine tree not much larger than the ball itself, Chris came in second with an impressive enough score of 38 points.

And, just as you can go to the fish shop and order minimum chips, today there was an order of minimum points with only three other players in the points, Andrew Blight, Gordon and Trevor.  Well done fellows.  As to some of the other scores, the less said the better.

On the topic of Andrew Blight, he fronted up to the 18th and nominated that he needed a birdie to have a reasonable round and promptly plonked it on the green to within 1.8m.  He rattled in the birdie but the shot wasn’t enough to get his name on the comp marker.  The birdie count this week was ten including two to Chris.  I’m guessing that it wasn’t on one of these holes that his watch alarm went off just as he was putting causing him to miss the putt (so he says).  Imagine what he would have said if it had been somebody else’s alarm.  Another birdie of note was down to Craig on the 13th.  His second shot ended above the road behind the green and almost out of bounds.  Craig called it in the hole as soon as it left the club and it surely did.  Great skills Craig.

The ball hole was knocked down to Ken Grist and Mike Mann picked up the cash for the ProPin.

Welcome back to Rod Grant, who has emerged from his winter hibernation.  Although the various media are telling us spring has sprung and the footy finals have started, it wasn’t the best of days to make a comeback.

Next week will see the battle royal for the Matchplay Championship between SOS and Damo.  Bill and Gordon will fight it out for the minor placings.

Also, do try to get there in plenty of time for the starter to organise the groups.  I gather there was some confusion again this week.

Results for Saturday, 08 September 2012
1st S Butterfield(39) 2nd Chris Priems(38) 3rd Andrew Blight(35) 4th Gordon Hill(34) 5th Trevor Jackson(32)

Even though the weather was fine it seems as if it was raining (birdies that is – not cats and dogs).  According to my count there were eight in all but not necessarily in the hands of the winners.  The count-back to decide the Monthly Medal winner had to go back to the last six holes before Bill Eastoe prevailed over Tony the Malteser, both with very creditable net 66.   The extra golf that Tony is putting in seems to be paying off in consistent appearances in the points list.  Laurie made a return to the lists a stroke behind along with Chris and they will both suffer a little pain on the handicap front.  The rest of the point scorers managed to avoid death by a thousand cuts by a comfortable enough margin.

Gordon and Damien fought it out in their matchplay round that Damien brought in 2 up but it could have gone either way in the closing stages.  Whether Gordon’s hiccup on the 18th was a payback for Damien’s gentlemanly allowance for a plugged ball on the 16th will never be known though a birdie would have been necessary to force a chip-off.  This leaves us with only the finals to complete in two weeks time.  Damien has to face off with SOS for the big silver and Bill and Gordon have to fight it out for the valuable minor points.  Despite their showing in the eartlier rounds, the Walkover family seem to have faded from the picture and hopefully will have no place in the Grand Final.

In other news from Saturday, it was good to see Mal Adey back on his feet and on the course after his misadventure in Tassie.  Eddie Kloprogge also hasn’t wasted any time getting back amongst the points after his return last week.  Tony, Trev and Ed also seems to have done their best to try to confuse the handicapper with crossing out of names, asterisks and arrows all over their cards.  Might have to think about a penalty for untidy scoring /;-{)}.  Despite all that, Tony managed to pick up the Pro-pin on the 12th though he didn’t feature in the birdie list.  Rod White snagged a ball on the 15th and though he was in the birdie list, it wasn’t on that hole.

The race to the Club Championship is hotting up with Noodles still holding out the front running but with at least five others within striking distance.  The outcome of the Match-play finals will add an element of interest with at least three of the peloton due to get a boost from that.  In the Seniors Championship, the field of contenders is similarly tight and new leader Tony will have to watch his back in the coming weeks.

Also, please note the earlier starting time next week at 0715.

Results for Saturday, 01 September 2012
1st Bill Eastoe(66) 1st Tony Mifsud(66) 2nd Laurie Mannix(67) 2nd Chris Priems(67) 3rd S Butterfield(70) 3rd Ed Kloprogge(70) 3rd Damien Lee(70) 3rd Rodney White(70) 4th Gordon Hill(71) 5th Ken Grist(72)

What a contrast to last week.  The weather was fine and the course was dry (relatively speaking) though we still had the luxury of preferred lie through the course.  Numbers were also up due in part to the appearence of some faces not seen around the tees for a while.  Carltons recent form is reported to have brought David Howard out of his hibernation, Ken Grist is back from his SKI holiday in foreign climes and despite being somewhat restricted due to a back injury, Eddie Kloprogge tested his swing and showed the benefits of the ballet lessons he has been taking during his sabbatical.

David and Priemsy were going neck and neck all round but David had opened up a bit of a lead at the 17th only to see the advantage evaporate on the slope leading up to the 18th letting Chris (and others) take out the top points.  Chris had his moments on the 15th when he put his drive out of bounds, left the next about 20 ft? from the pin and rattled in the putt for a point.  Eddie had had a few moments during the round and walking up to the 17th entered into a contest with Tony the Maltese Terrier for cake to go with their coffee.  He must have been hungry because he tried for birdie on the 17th and hit the pin with his chip on the 18th but couldn’t quite overcome the unflappable Tony.  Oliver Gross obviously had some sort of a brain fade (the greens weren’t that fast) when a 5m putt turned into a 40m approach shot.

Maybe everybody are trying to protect their handicaps (though that’s a bit hard for the winners) with the top score of 36 points being shared with Chris by Harry and Brendon.  There was a veritable herd following closely behind on 35 points.  There’s is a bit of movement near to the top of the Championship table but Noodles is still holding out in top spot.  Harry improved his position in the Seniors but the top position could still be a tightly contested affair with at least five players with a good chance for a final dash down the straight.

Richard Hall picked up the money on the 18th after squeezing out a couple of other hopefuls and David Howard did the same for the ball on the 4th.  Bill Eastoe wanted it on record that he finished the whole round and he wasn’t on a promise last night.

You might have noticed that it is getting light noticeably earlier these days and as a result the tee times have started moving.  A big jump this week back to 0730.  So early to bed next friday night.

Results for Saturday, 25 August 2012
1st Harry Boughen(36) 1st Brendon Mitchell(36) 1st Chris Priems(36) 2nd S Butterfield(35) 2nd Bill Eastoe(35) 2nd Richard Hall(35) 2nd David Howard(35) 2nd Targe Mifsud(35) 2nd Tony Mifsud(35) 3rd Gordon Hill(33) 4th Oliver Gross(31) 5th Ken Grist(29)