It was a day made in heaven. The sky was blue, the wind was calm, the course was well watered (almost too much so in a couple of places), the temperature was balmy and the golfers were not too barmy. We thought we had 18 players but one either didn’t show or was only thought to be coming and so there were only 17 contenders out there including Ken who fronted up for his first round of competition after getting in his three qualifying cards. If history is any guide, we can expect to see Ken on the podium in short order. Not today though.

For the second week in a row, the hunt was on and, despite the slashing that he took from the handicapper’s sword last week and, like the indomitable Black Knight, Matt kept on fighting and managed to complete the course just two over par off the stick and, in the process, he amassed a massive 43 Stableford points. That was enough to take the top points for the day but only just enough.

Just one point behind and putting in a personal best card was Peter who pulled off a couple of amazing recovery shots after putting his drive into awkward locations. The big blot on the copy-book was on the second for a no score and a missed, simple putt on the 16th that would have bought a share of the top spot.

There was a bit of daylight to a fair cluster who scored 39 points to take out third placing. Harry started slowly and was not all that happy about his front nine before shifting into top gear and racking up 24 points on the back. Damo had just a few too many singletons but other than that he managed to par most of the holes on which he got strokes. SOS started out well but, as the day progressed and it closer to time to go to work, his game slipped in the middle of the back nine. Dennis also went well on the back and included a birdie on the 14th to contribute to the fine total of 18 that the team put together today.

Ben and Gordo shared the honours for 4th place and Craig almost got over-looked for 5th place. ‘Somebody’ put Pepsi’s inside card into the Club heap. And Pepsi was rather cheesed to have played to his handicap and not get a point.

There were two Matches played today. Pepsi and Craig did battle and quite a battle it was. Pepsi did have the upper hand for most of the round but every time he made it to two up, Craig would peg him back. When Craig won the 15th and 16th the Match became all square and shared honours on the last two sent the Match to a chip-off. Neither chip was particularly close to the hole and Pepsi had to take the first putt. The ball rolled true and fell into the hole really putting the pressure onto Craig. The putt slipped past and the match went to Pepsi. Harry and Gordo also slugged it out in a very similar pattern of play. Every time Gordon got to 2 up, Harry would reel him in with a win. A birdie for Harry on the 17th brought the Match to square and the result came down to a putting competition on the 18th. Equal scores and a stroke to Harry gave him the Match 1 up.

The Nearest the Pin competition today was pretty much a two horse race. The Black Knight put his shot on the 12th to 0.97m to take out the ProPin, But, the interesting thing is that Matt was not at all happy with the way he hit the ball and whinged something fierce about thinning it. Some reckon that attitude should void the claim for the prize! After all, you don’t have to post pictures on Instagram. And, there was only one name on the two BallPins on the 15th and 18th and that was Damo. With one a Jackpot from last week, that was a nice little earner.

RodG also added to the tally of birdies today with a chip in from about 40m out in the 11th. Craig rattled in a 10m putt to win the hole on the 16th but that effort was dwarfed by a reported 20m putt by Ryan. Simon didn’t get nearly so hot and bothered today and he stayed back for the presentations. JQ was buying a round in recompense for not having reached the red markers on the 15th. Admittedly the blue markers were well back and the reds were quite a way forward but still….

Bob had some mechanical problems with his op-shop electric buggy and had to push the contraption for at least part of the round. To add insult to injury, at one stage he also managed to take a massive divot about half a metre behind the ball and the ball did not move. Gordon was heard to say that he was bending his knee these days. Not because he was praying that Harry would miss his putt but because it helped him get his hips out of the way or something.

Next week is the first round of the Stuart Clarke Memorial. It would be good to see a big roll up of members wearing their Club shirts and/or other Club paraphernalia. On the second week, we endeavour to wear some sort of Hawaiian beach shirt as a mark of respect to Stuart’s penchant for such items of clothing. If you don’t have one in your wardrobe, go check out the local Savers or Op-shop. There will be a bar-be-que after Round 2.

Results for Saturday, 09 March 2019
1st Matt Hunt(43) 2nd Peter Damou(42) 3rd Harry Boughen(39) 3rd Damien Lee(39) 3rd Stephen O’Sullivan(39) 3rd Dennis Ward(39) 4th Ben Akdag(38) 4th Gordon Hill(38) 5th Craig Cameron(37)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (39) 1st Harry Boughen (39) 2nd Gordon Hill (38) 3rd Craig Cameron (37)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin12th Matt Hunt BallPin No 1 15th Damien Lee BallPin No 2 18th Damien Lee

There were some concerns that this could be a stroke round – heat stroke that is – as the day promised to be rather hot with a northerly dragging the heat in from up north. Actually, the day started out pleasantly enough with the temperature mild and the air dead calm. The course management seem to be spiriting water out of nowhere as the course continues to be a picture despite the lack of rain in recent times. But the benign conditions did not last and the northerly doctor sprang up and the mercury climbed and climbed. Would the conditions favour good scoring or would the field flag as the day warmed up.

It gave every appearance of nobody being the the hunt as Matt slotted par after par such that his marker tired of writing down fours and three points as he headed to the turn just one over the card and a very impressive 25 points on the front nine. The back nine did not flow quite so smoothly but a 76 off the stick for a net 65 was still more than enough to take the medal and a first for Matt to boot.

Why the mention of points you ask? Well, as I have been banging on now for two or more years, in stroke events, for a card to be submitted for your official (GA/GL) handicap, the score needs to be entered with a stableford score for handicapping purposes. The stroke score (net) determines the competition result. In the past, the course management (and I) have been soft on players not doing it. But, the new manager of the course is not going to be so lenient and so, in future, please calculate your Stableford points for Stroke Competitions. I will appreciate it as well.

For once, Ben got away to a good start and actually got a par on the first. There are some in the Club who see that as an evil portent, exceeded only by getting a birdie on the first. The evil didn’t really show up until half way through the back nine and, if it hadn’t been for a couple of ‘fat ladies’, Ben could easily have been in the hunt. One of those fat ladies made Ben walk all the way back from near the green to the tee on the 14th. He really appreciated getting a lift back in the other direction, even if he did have to put his life into the hands of Chrispy who was driving the cart.

Speaking of Chrispy, he is nicely fitted out with moon boot and crutches but he is unlikely to be playing again before the middle of the year. His rather seriously broken ankle was down to ‘jumping the fence’ but he was leaping to somebody’s de-fence and not the other sort of fence jumping. In the meantime, he hopes to be here to tee-marshal, and drive/caddy for mates like SOS as he did today.

Noodles played nice steady golf today which is apparently a bit of a contrast to how he played on King Island. But, as they seem to say, what plays on King Island stays on King Island though there was also a rumour that there was not a lot of tinder on the island. But then who wants to be lighting fires in this weather? JQ also put in a nice steady round to finish level with Noods on 69.

Dale started off with Trevor marking his card but, after nine holes, Trev had to retire when the combination of the heat and his recurring back problem required him to retire. The change in card marker did not affect Dale’s ability to score and a pair of 43s gave him a net 70 and 4th place. Brent, Dennis and Porks rounded out the point takers with their common result of 71 on the bottom line.

The Matchplay kicked off today and there were a number of results to report. Brendon and Porks promised to be a slug-fest with only 3 strokes the difference. Brendon got away to a good start and was soon a couple of holes to the good. Then Porks found his mojo and very quickly swung the balance the other way. Any return to form by Brendon refused to stick and Porks edged ahead to take the match easily at 5 and 4. Noodles and Damo had a slightly larger gap to work with and things were all square at the turn when Noods got his nose in front and was not to be denied with a win at the 16th, 3 and 2. Damo reckons he was surprised at how close it actually was considering how crap he played.

With only one stroke between them, SOS and Rob appeared to be nicely matched on paper. And so it proved as each took turns to win a hole and blow a hole and the result all square at the 12th. A venture out of bounds by SOS on the 14th gave Rob a sniff. On the 15th, SOS drove to 1.9m, below the hole to take out the ProPin while Rob was not quite OOB on the 16th tee. Rob jollied it in to be a couple of metres past the hole almost catching the hole on the way past. SOS needed two putts to finish while Rob needed only one to square the hole. A win for Rob on the 16th gave him the match 3 and 2.

Targe and Brent also slugged it out and finished square on the 18th and proceeded immediately to a chip-off. This caused some consternation in the rest of the field as chips-off normally involve full club participation to provide the requisite amount of heckling. Despite that, it was reported that the winner was Targe in the first round. Under the rules of the competition, as Trevor and Ben were present today and Trevor chose not to play the match, Ben was awarded a walkover win under the ‘present/play’ rule.

The first BallPin was on the 4th and Noodles was the only one to make a mark on the card and so he collected a nice new ball. As noted the ProPin on the 15th went to SOS while the second BallPin on the 18th went begging and will Jackpot to next week.

After the round, the AGM was held. The Committee is virtually unchanged from last year so everybody must be happy with the way the Club is being run. A big welcome back to Chrispy as Tee Marshal and a howdyedo to his assistant Dennis. Damo has been added to the list as our Rules Official (see the web-site under Contacts/Club Committee). Minutes of the meeting will be circulated in due course.

Results for Saturday, 02 March 2019
1st Matt Hunt(65) 2nd Ben Akdag(68) 3rd Stephen Butterfield(69) 3rd John Quinlan(69) 4th Dale Webb(70) 5th Ryan Porker(71) 5th Brent Rowley(71) 5th Dennis Ward(71)

Seniors Results: 1st Dennis Ward (71) 2nd Harry Boughen (75) 2nd Targe Mifsud (75) 3rd Simon Powell (78)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Stephen O’Sullivan BallPin No 1 4th Stephen Butterfield BallPin No 2 18th Jackpot

There must have been something important on today if the flurry of requests for a spot in the first group was any indication. It really was a lovely late summer day with a not too cool start and clear blue skies to warm up nicely by the end of the round. The lack of any rain means that there was plenty of run to be had and the greens were in good condition with a tendency to be a bit on the quick side. So, conditions were just about ideal for the sixteen members to make a few scores. Those members were joined again by Ken, who now has his three cards in and has a nice new handicap to chance his arm against the field next time.

Jason was one of the ones wanting to get away early and he bagged a spot in the first group. Just being in the first group, obviously wasn’t good enough, so he decided to take as few strokes as possible to get the game over quickly. This resulted in him carding a 74 off the stick with at least five birdies on the card for a result of +5. It also meant that he scored exactly half of the 10 birdies that the whole field managed for the day. It also meant that his handicap is not quite what it used to be, but, that is the general idea of the system.

Brent came in, breathing a sigh of relief that his card was not good enough to win. As it turned out, it was not quite as good as he imagined as both he and his marker had a little trouble with the balance of plus and minus on the back nine. Maybe it was the excitement of having driven the green on the 14th and then rattling in the putt for an eagle that set their maths akilter. It seems that the pin in could very well have saved him from having to putt again from off the green. His tee shot landed just short of the green and rolled up behind Targe, who froze on the call of ‘Fore’ in order to be as small a target as possible. Rumour also has it that Brent’s first shot of the day was nothing to write home about but that just goes to show that it is how you finish that really counts.

It’s been a bit of a struggle for Harry over the last few months but maybe the little tweaks from the coach are beginning to have effect. Or maybe it was the few weeks away digging in the dirt in Jordan that had an effect. Or maybe it was just the one in twenty (or forty) chance to post a good one. Hopefully it is the first and the +1 (or its equivalent) becomes the norm from now on.

Not only did Rob have trouble with Brent’s card, he had some trouble with his own as well and, as a result, he came in to 4th place on his Pat Malone. Blighty and Dennis rounded out the field of point scorers with their cards of -1. And to round out the tales of woe, Simon dropped out of contention by dint of having scored one hole based on his inside handicap rather than using his club handicap.

And, while on the subject of Simon, he was more than a little cheesed off on the 6th when his ball went ‘walk-about’. Another ball was found in the vicinity and it is assumed that his ball had been incorrectly played by someone in another group. But then again, it shouldn’t have been on the other fairway! Si did manage to collect a ball for the BallPin on the 18th with a shot that was about as far away from the pin as possible with the pin well back on the top deck and his ball barely on the front of the green. Harry reckons he was closer to the pin, just not on the green. The second BallPin was on the 12th and Steve managed to wrest that one from the grasp of Porks. The jackpot ProPin on the 15th went to none other than Brent who followed up from his performance on the 14th to get to 2.75m from the pin. The putt must have been a bit short for him as he could only manage the par for the hole.

There were no draughties reported today although Bob did own up to having an airie on the 6th fairway. Peter executed a fierce shank on the 18th tee and the ball ricocheted from a tree and into the penalty area in front of the 17th green. There was no report as to whether it made it past the red markers. Dennis was hitting the ball well today. So well, that, when he thought he was out of range of the green on the 13th, he rattled it up onto the green and scared the living daylights out of Rod in the process.

Next week, the AGM will be held after the round. Here is your chance to get elected to the Committee and take the opportunity to run the Club the way you would like it to be run. You can download a Committee Nomination Form from the website and there will be a number of printed ones available on the day. Each and every Committee position is open for contest so don’t be afraid to put your name forward. Existing Committee members who plan to retire should endeavour to recruit a replacement.

Results for Saturday, 23 February 2019
1st Jason Hopkins(+5) 2nd Brent Rowley(+3) 3rd Harry Boughen(+1) 4th Robert Priems(□) 5th Andrew Blight(-1) 5th Dennis Ward(-1)

Seniors Results: 1st Harry Boughen (+1) 2nd Andrew Blight (-1) 2nd Dennis Ward (-1) 3rd Craig Cameron (-2) 3rd Simon Powell (-2)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Brent Rowley BallPin No 1 12th Stephen Kelly BallPin No 2 18th Simon Powell

Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 14th Brent Rowley

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We could only manage eight full members on the tees today although the numbers were bolstered a little by dint of a guest brought along by Steve and a return by Ken Watson, after quite a long break, to put in his second handicap card.

As it turned out, bringing his mate along was lucky for Steve as he managed to play out of his skin and accumulate a very fine total of 42 points for the round.

Now that the Jarrod Lyle day is done and dusted, Simon has been able to concentrate on his golf (so he says) and, despite putting in a good one on Thursday, he lined up again and repeated the performance today to garner 39 points.

Breathing right down Simon’s neck with 38 points was the ‘good looking’ Priems followed ever so closely by Michael with 37. This is the first time we have seen Michael for a while so he could easily have been a bit green but he started off with a couple of birdies. A short term fade out later in the round probably prevented him from gaining some ground on the reigning Seniors Champion though he is on record as having an aim to win the event in his inaugural year in the category.

Meanwhile, Targe continued to accumulate points even though he was a little way behind the main pack with only 34 points. Five players in the points meant that only three missed out on a day that could easily have proved easy to present. Big Joe was back for the first time in a while but he had to make a hurried departure to deal with some family matter. Simon also had to rush off to hear somebody sing ‘Don’t cry for me, Marge and Tina!’

The small numbers meant that we only managed to post 4 birdies for the day but there were still some improvements in Eclectic scores to be had. The BallPins were on the 12th and 18th and both fell to the disgustingly consistent Michael but, surprisingly, the ProPin on the 15th resisted all attempts and will jackpot to next week. Noodles has a birthday to celebrate later in the week.

As for the rest of the Club…..at least eighteen took off on Friday and winged their way to King Island to try their hand at handling the fine courses at Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes. Reports are pretty thin on the ground although a few roosters did stick their heads up and at least one displayed some fine style off the tee.

Results for Saturday, 16 February 2019
1st Stephen Kelly(42) 2nd Simon Powell(39) 3rd Robert Priems(38) 4th Michael Gourlay(37) 5th Targe Mifsud(34)

Seniors Results: 1st Simon Powell (39) 2nd Michael Gourlay (37) 3rd Targe Mifsud (34)

Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Michael Gourlay BallPin No 2 18th Michael Gourlay