The final of the 2016 Handicap Matchplay Final was played on Thursday 19th May between Rob Eibisch and Bob Jackson with both players agreeing to hold the final on a Thursday.

It was a nervous start from Rob, making some early mistakes to lose the first hole to a fine up and down from Jacko. More good putting on the 2nd and 3rd, followed by dropping a bomb from off the front of the green on the 4th had Jacko 2 up early however wins to Rob on the 5th and 6th had the lead quickly pegged back.

However from this point on it was all Jacko. Producing a master class in course management and lag putting Jacko quickly gained back the lead on the 8th and 9th to take a 2 up advantage into the back nine where he continued to tighten the screws. With his lag putting still being a highlight and his consistent fades off the tee block being as safe as houses Jacko won the 10th and 12th whilst halves were had on the 11th, 13th and 14th, moving him to dormie 4.

Rob couldn't buy a hole, even when he got into a good position, as his short game let Jacko back into many holes. However with the match all but sewn up it was Jacko's lag putting that let him down on the 15th and when his third found the water on 16 Rob had won consecutive holes and the lead was back to 2.

Both players had good tee shots, Rob just short right and Jacko just short left of the 17th green. With Rob chipping first he could only muster a shot into the heart of the green, still 15 feet from the back left pin. Despite losing the last two holes Jacko showed no sign of nerves hitting a sublime chip up to 2 feet from the hole and when Rob's par putt sailed by a concession was given making Bob Jackson our 2016 Handicap Matchplay Champion, winning 3/1.

The competition held on Anzac Day saw a great field of 38 players enjoy the day, course and fantastic weather. This competition marked the first round of our new Public Holiday Trophy with Jono McGleish taking an early lead with a round of 39 stableford points. 

The full list of winners can be found via this results sheet which will be available within the weekly section of the competition folder found on the bar.

There are 6 more competitions to be held on public holidays during 2016-17 and with the Public Holiday Trophy being based on your best 3 scores there is still plenty of time to enter the competition. Future days are as follows:

Round 2: MONDAY 13th June 2016 - Queens Birthday
Round 3: MONDAY 3rd October 2016 - Labor Day
Round 4: TUESDAY 27th December 2016 - Proclamation Day Holiday
Round 5: MONDAY 2nd January 2017 - New Years Day
Round 6: THURSDAY 26th January 2017 - Australia Day
Round 7: MONDAY 13th March 2017 - Adelaide Cup Day

On Monday 25th April the first round of the Public Holiday Trophy will be held. Competition will be stableford and open to all members and guests with an official golflink handicap with players able to play at any time during the day. There will be no online booking and the course will also remain fully open for green fee players.

Across the year there are 7 events scheduled for public holidays with the best 3 scores over these events counting towards the members final score. The member with the highest score (a count back will apply) from their 3 counting events will win the Public Holiday Trophy.

A separate competition with the normal voucher and ball rundown will be held for each individual event.

The club will be holding junior golf clinics at 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm on the following dates:

Sunday 15th May.
Saturday June 11th.
Saturday July 16th.

The clinics are open to members and non-members and are free for juniors aged 5 - 18, including a free sausage sizzle and can of soft drink afterwards.

Register using the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/junior-golf-clinic-registration-15109301327

Qualifiers and first round matches for the 2016 Handicap Matchplay Championships can be found in the document below. All players are to be present on the first tee at 8:30 am so that the details of the championship, rules and handicap information can be disseminated. 

Players will be booked into their specific start times on the online booking system and at the end of the match it is the winners responsibility to enter the winning result on the sheet within the club room.

UPDATED 14/5/16:

Semi Final results are below:

2016 Handicap Matchplay - Semi Final Results

Over the past 6 months the match committee has assessed the current grading and handicap ranges to try and ensure as even grading numbers as possible so that the weekly competitions are fair for all members. This assessment found that the average player numbers in the Saturday competition was 127 with this split across the grades as follows; 20 in A, 46 in B, 36 in C and 25 in D grade. 

In an effort to bring these grade numbers closer together the handicap ranges were altered and the data used to determine a more even split. As a result of this assessment the following changes will be made to the current handicaps within each grade.
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These changes will help to ensure that grades are more even and that each member is competing within a grading that has on average a similar number of players. The data shows that these changes will bring numbers broadly in line across grades with averages of 29 in A, 37 in B, 32 in C and 28 in D.

The same assessment was made for the Divisions played in during a Thursday competition of over 50 players and a minor adjustment of altering Division 1 to move from a 0-20 range to a 0-19 range will be made.

All of these changes will be in force for competitions from Thursday 7th April / Saturday 9th April.

Whilst these changes will affect eligibility for the Club Championships the Match Committee will review these rules and the competition in general to try and ensure the grading's within the Club Championships are also as fair as possible for all members.

An error has been made on the booking sheet for Saturday the 9th April 2016. No adjustment has been made for the change in daylight savings time and as such the first tee time is at 7:12 am, rather than an hour earlier.

This sheet will be adjusted and extra times will be added with the first tee time available at 6:16 am. All current bookings will be kept as is however the booking sheet WILL BE LOCKED ON THE MORNING OF TUESDAY 5th APRIL. The extra times will be added and the booking sheet will be reopened on Tuesday 5th April at 3:00 pm.

If you would like to alter your booking to an earlier time you may do so after 3:00 pm Tuesday. You do not need to do anything if you are happy with your current booking time.

The 2016-17 season opening on Saturday 2nd April 2016 will once again be an Ambrose event followed by lunch. There will be no online booking for this competition and members wishing to play must place there name and make payment for the competition on the booking sheet at the club.

Ambrose teams will be drawn randomly and as usual numbers will be limited. Bookings will close on Thursday 31st March if not full earlier.

The 2016-17 Club Program can now be found via the link below as well as on the Competitions --> Program section of this website. Members are reminded that this program is subject to regular change and the above webpage will always contain the most up to date version of the Club Program.

Variations made to next seasons program are summarised below:

1. The majority of trophy rounds are now multi round events (either 2 or 3 rounds). This is designed to make these trophies more prestigious as they require the winner to have had multiple good rounds.

2. There are two new trophies:
    

• The "Blue Block Challenge". Three stableford competitions during the year will be held off the blue blocks and the winner of the Blue Block Challenge will be the player with the best aggregate points total over these three events.
• The "Public Holiday Trohpy". There are 7 (stableford) events programmed for various public holidays during the year. A separate competition will be held on each day (much like a normal Saturday or Thursday competition) as we regularly have a number of members playing on these public holidays. The trophy winner will be the player with the highest aggregate counting their best 3 scores over these events.

3. The Foursomes Championships will be permanently brought forward into February. This change commenced in this years program and included holding a matchplay final to determine the net winners along with the regular matchplay event for the gross winners. The matchplay component will be altered for 2016-17 to a top 2 gross AND net qualification with a 36 hole gross final and 27 hole net final to be played.

This alteration also allows the handicap matchplay competition to be brought forward so that we have (a) better conditions for this competition and (b) it leads into, rather than overlaps with, the mens pennants season.

4. Finally the stroke competition for Thursday mid week competition will be moved from the FIRST Thursday each month to the THIRD Thursday each month. This change is aimed to better mix the competitions on a weekly basis and avoid the overlap of holding a stroke competition on a Thursday followed by a monthly medal competition on the following Saturday.

2016-17 Program

- Match Committee

Winners of club competitions can now use their competition vouchers at House of Golf - Mile End. Simply present your voucher and House of Golf will put the face value of the voucher towards your purchase.

The committee hopes that this will provide members with extra value to be able to use their vouchers at a fantastic golf shop to help meet their needs whilst also allow members to support a new sponsor who supports their club.

Members may still use their voucher at the club to buy an array of balls, tees, apparel and accessories, along with food and drinks.