Mar 2015 Newsletter: Victorian Veteran Golfers Club

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Veterans Golf Club of Victoria

Victorian Veteran Golfers Club

March 2015 Newsletter

Monday 16^th saw 46 starters including 4 guests enjoy the quality Keysborough course complimented by beautiful golfing weather. The game was Stableford playing for the Thord Lorich Trophy.

Captain and Acting President Donald wishes to update the members on 3 separate issues arising from the events at Keysborough.

Correction of Keysborough Results:

Since the announcement of the results at Keysborough at our post-match lunch, it has come to light that errors were made during that process.
The corrected scores means that the winner of the Thord Lorich Trophy for 2015 is Stan Odachowski. Three players finished with a total of 38 points, namely Stan Odachowski, John Hiscock and Alwyn Abraham.
As is the normal practice, the countback is done on the last 9 holes. The scores were Stan with 20, John with 20 and Alwyn with 19 pts. Because Stan and John remained tied, the scores of the last 6 holes were taken to decide the eventual winner. When corrected, these scores were Stan with 15 and John with 14 pts. Consequently Stan is our winner.
Our congratulations to Stan who also collects a 'House of Golf' voucher for $30. John is now declared the 'A' grade winner for March. My apologies to David Vine our initial winner.
I must sincerely apologise to both Stan and John for the errors that were made and the subsequent upset to both members. I thank them both for their understanding and the sporting manner in which they have accepted the outcome. To err is human but nevertheless we remain determined to make our competitions both fair and correct. Donald MacDonald (Capt).
What prizes our Guests can and cannot win at our competitions:

Noel Nealon, a guest at Keysborough, was awarded the 'B' grade winner's prize and many of the members (though not everyone) believe this was an error. In fairness to Noel he did say he was a bit surprised to win the grade prize, but that was put down to Noel's display of modesty. We are delighted that Noel had an enjoyable day with the Vets and leaves with fond memories.
The whole topic of prizes will be discussed at our next committee meeting and the outcome will be published in our next newsletter.
Scorecard Accuracy:

At Keysborough, it was noted that a number of scorecards were either inaccurate or incomplete, which is a matter that has arisen before. I must admit that I was one of the offenders, having submitted an incomplete scorecard.
Our handicapper, Ray Desmond, provides the following statements of what are the players responsibilities regarding scorecard accuracy.
a) Mark the correct gross score on the scorecard.
b) Make sure the correct gross score is on the scorecard for each hole.
c) Make sure the card is signed by both the player and the marker.
d) Hand your card to the scorer.

President's Report

Acting President Donald stood in for President Bernie who was banging balls off the rear of a cruise vessel around NZ!
Donald welcomed all members to the Keysborough GC and thanked the Club for the use of their excellent course, facilities and lunch.

Number of Players:

He said there were 46 starters including 4 guests on the day.

Apologies:

Too numerous to mention - some on holidays and a large number representing the Club at the VVGA State Comp at Maryborough.

VVGA 4-Ball Championship at Maryborough GC 16-17 March 2015.

Our Club, the Vic Vets, entered 4 teams to represent our club and I am delighted to report that all players acquitted themselves very well.
In Division 1, Ray Desmond and Laurie Comerford had a nett 126 for the 2 days and figured in a 3-way tie for 1st place. Unfortunately the countback saw them finish in 3rd place.
In Division 2, Neal Hills and Ray Underwood finished 2nd with a nett 125 over the 2 days. Malcolm Turner and Kel Tyler finished with 129.
John Currie and Daryl Edwards finished with 131.
All of our representatives finished high up in the overall results, which is a terrific result, possibly the best ever showing by the Vic Vets in a VVGA competition.
Our heartiest congratulations go to all of our representative team members.
Another member, Harold Hayes who is a regular attendee at the VVGA events had a very good tournament alongside his playing partner Robert Taylor of the NE Vets.
Congratulations to all participants and their wives / partners who by all accounts had a great time and enjoyed good fellowship.

Scoring system at Maryborough

The scoring system at maryborough was quite confusing to the un-initiated. Special scorecards are used where both players record their stroke score for the hole. In a third column is entered the better nett stroke score for the hole and the sum of this column is the score for the pair.
Thus Ray and Laurie's score of 126 was 18 shots better than the par of 144.

Sick List:

Ray Reed is recovering from a gall bladder op. Don Barrett is on the mend and is down to play at Waterford Valley in April. Robin Miller is also in recovery mode and hopes to play on his return from an overseas holiday trip.

Guests:

4 guests enjoyed our fellowship - Ken Pembleton (Jeff Taylor), Rob Bailey (Mike Bainbridge), Ross Hargreaves (Stan Odachowski) & Noel Nealon (John Farrow). Happy to report that Ken, Rob and Ross are now members of the Club. Noel has returned to the NE Vets where we wish him well. Since Keysborough we have had applications from Gary Morland and Gerry Van Hees to join the Club.

Starters today:

Donald thanked John Molloy and Roger Huxstep for being our busy starters for the day.

He also thanked Peter Ross (Handicapper) for his tremendous support throughout the event.

Raffle Prize:

The members gave a big thank you to the Keysborough GC for their generous raffle donation of a round of golf for 4 at Keysborough GC.
The winner of the raffle was Roger Selwood. Congratulations Roger!

Special Achievements

(1) Alex Johnson won the Par comp at Brighton GC with a score of 9 up after a countback. This was on Wed 11th March.
(2) Laurie Comerford won the Midweek Medal at Rossdale GC on Tuesday Feb 17^th with a nett score of 63.
(3) George Giles won the annual comp of the Sara Lee social golf club but sadly did not receive any "Sara Lee" cakes which came as a huge disappointment to George ! Not even a nibble I'm told !

Donations:

On behalf of all members I would like to thank both Robin Miller and Noel Manning for their generous donations of red wines. Thanks Guys!

Club Jumpers:

Club jumpers are now available to members - cost $75. See our Marketing Manager, Daryl Edwards.

Donald's Special Message: It is poor golfing when a game takes 5 and 1/2 hours to play! This may upset Host Club members and potentially jeopardise playing the course in the future. We must remember that we are guests at each golf club we visit and therefore are bound by the same code of conduct as the members of these clubs. That includes doing everything we possibly can to avoid slow play.

Webmaster: Laurie Comerford

Our web site:

Outside of its primary role of keeping members informed, our web site has had its first positive effect on membership with new member Ken Pembleton having identified the club from the web site.

Business cards:

The business cards handed out at Rossdale are designed to advertise the club by pointing golfers to the web site where they can find details of the Club to aid them in making a decision about joining. I always talk about the club to people I play with and have already succeeded in distributing some 20 cards.
How many have you distributed?
We have plenty of cards. I'll be able to give you more at Waterford Valley - all you have to do is ask.

Club Jumpers

Club jumpers are now available to members - cost $75. See our Marketing Manager, Daryl Edwards.

Acting Captain Mike:

Welcomed members to Keysborough GC who gave us an excellent course to play on.

Overall winner:


As mentioned earlier, the winner of the Thord Lorich Trophy was Stan Odachowski (23) with a total of 38 points on a corrected countback score. Stan will also receive a $30 House of Golf voucher for his efforts.

Grade winners


A Grade:	John Hiscock (15)	38 points
B Grade:	Alwyn Abraham (25)	38 points
C Grade:	Jeff Taylor (32)	34 points

Nearest to the Pin:


3^rd hole:	Chris MacGeorge	8^th hole	Ken Griffiths
12^th hole:	Alwyn Abraham	15^th hole	Rob Bailey

Balls down the line:


Noel Nealon (guest)	39pts	Ronnie Chong/ David Vine/ Noel Valle	37pts
John Farrow	36pts	Rod Goode	34pts
Stan Klofa/ John Sutherland	33pts (c/b)

NAGA Award:


Roger Huxtstep was our lucky winner.

Birthday Boys for March 2015

Congratulations and best wishes to our members whose birthday falls in March.


		Jeff Stevens
		Brian Guinane
		Colin Wiseman
		David Vine
		Geoff Cohen
		Ken Smith
		Harold Hayes
		Daryl Edwards
		Bill Frey

Women are always consistent!

A Jewish husband and wife are having dinner at a very fine restaurant when a young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a big open mouthed kiss, then says she'll see him later and walks away.
The wife glares at her husband and says, "Who was that?"
"Oh", replies the husband, "she's my mistress."
"Well, that's the last straw", says the wife. "I've had enough, I want a divorce!"
"I can understand that", replies her husband, "but remember, if we get a divorce it will mean no more shopping trips to Paris, no more wintering in Barbados, no more summers in Tuscany, no more Jaguar in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours, of course!"
Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous babe on his arm.
"Who's that woman with Moishe?" asks the wife.
"That's his mistress", says her husband.
"Ours is prettier", the wife replies.

Next event

13^th April at Waterford Valley GC - please be there by 7.15am.

If you haven't been there before, the entrance road is opposite Scoresby Road off Ferntree Gully Road. Drive as far as you can go over the numerous speed humps. The Clubhouse is on the left.