Headed out to Yarrambat with the Epping RSL on Sunday. 9 am tee off which is quite a respectable time for them Played a varation on Stroke called Par, which is basically a plus if you go under par on a hole, a minus if you go over & a 0 if you par it. First time I have played this & didn’t have the best of days. Still waiting for my handicap from the club as I took a year away from them so I was playing off scratch, it didn’t end well I still counted stroke so I could put in a card but that wasn’t pretty either. The course is in pretty good nick, with the fairways having a good covering & the greens running true. Found myself ion one bunker & the sand was OK, nothing special but nothing wrong with it either.

Next hit with them I believe is Heathcote, which will be a bus trip leaving bright & early from the RSL. If you want more info leave a comment or drop me a line

Headed out to Moonah Links to play the open course with Neil, Matt & Ron.  Ron is heading home soon so Matt is trying to get in as many rounds as he can before he leaves. The course was in beautiful condition, the fairways were immaculate & the greens were near on perfect. Neil was on fire early on & was struggling a bit. Of the 2 courses at Moonah Links it’s a bit hard to split them. Both look fantastic, have well placed bunkers & fantastic greens. We used a voucher to play out here on this occasion & it worked out to be about $50 each which included a cart & a bucket of balls for the driving range before the game. If you get the chance play one or both of these courses, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

The last round of the year was out at my local, Whittlesea. It’s been a few years since I have been up here. The new clubhoues has been completed & open for buisness. The 10th has had a lot or work done to it since I was last here with a massive a mout of dirt being trucked in. The course is resonable condition. A few of the fairways were like concrete in places but lush in othere. The green were soft under foot but still had a bit of pace to them. If you are looking for a country course to play, I recommend Whittlesea, just don’t expect conditions like Growling Frog

We had a couple of groups head out to Gisbourne on Tuesday. The weather was a bit iffy but we missed the worst of it. Neil, Trevor, Dick, John, Luke, Matt & myself headed out there for a hit using a Cudo voucher. The course was a bit of a weird one. 5 or 6 of the fairways have been “cored”. I have never seen this with a fairway before only greens. I’m sure they have their reason for it but it leaves a few fairways a little rough. The other off shot of this is that they are leaving all of the grass that they are pulling up in the rough, I think we lost about 4 or 5 balls between us in these pile of cut grass. Anyway, enough bitching about the course. It’s been a few years since I have been out here & they have made same changes. There are some fantastic holes out here including the par 3 with the water backdrop, & I’m looking forward to heading back out. I might give it a month or so before I do but

Went out for a hit with Neil, Luke & Matt after work last night. 9 holes at Bundoora. The course is in pretty good nick at the moment except for a couple of small exceptions. The greens have recently been cored but are now good to go. Looking forward to the next hit after work

Matt, Neil & myself headed out to Hidden Valley on what can only be discribed as a horrible day for golf. It was Matt’s first time out so it was a shame the weather didn’t do the course justice. Apart from the weather the day wasn’t too bad. Lost a ball on my first shot of the day but I did hit one of the best shots I think I ever have. On the second hole, about 120-130 from the green, in a fairway bunker, managed to put it in the hole for a par Not to be out done, Neil chipped in on the same hole, also for par. The day was certainly one of extremes, but we all still had a great day & it’s nice to see water back in the back dams at Hidden Valley, it really makes the 13th (I think this is the hole number) a spectacular hole.

Neil Matt Ian & I headed up to Creswick to use up a couple of vouchers on the weekend. The weather couldn’t have been any better, the sun was out & the wind was pretty much non existant The course itself……. well that another story I sad to say that the course was in pretty bad shape, very very boggy. I surprised that they allowed carts out at all. The sign at the pro shop said to tee up on the fairway & to treat all bunkers as GUR. There were a couple of holes were we fish tailed the buggy’s up the fairway & trust me that wasn’t on purpose. It wasn’t all doom & gloom but, some of the holes were still in reasonable condition & a few more days on sunshine will do the place wonders. I just hope that too much damage hasn’t been done in certain areas. With any luck the weather has turned the corner & we can start getting back out on a more regular basis.

Someone wrote the following on our Facebook page & I thought I would share it here as well

“Played” at Kingston Links . Unscrupulous, shoddy or both. Won’t be back anytime…. Went there today, 2nd July. I had taken a day off work and was hoping to play 18 holes of golf. I expected the course to be wet, and with preferred lies, as it had been raining for the past day. What I didn’t expect was that the 9th tee was surrounded by water, and hence unplayable, the walk from the first green to the second tee was a lake (so had to walk on another fairway to get there), the 11th was inaccessible, as was the 12 to the 16th. So 10 holes were playable in all, and barely that. Didn’t stop the chap from the pro shop from taking $45 bucks from me for 18 holes, with no mention of anything!!! Boycotting this course, and will advise anyone else to do the same.”

Trevor, Neil, John & myself played Goonawarra on Sunday afternoon. We teed off at 12:30 & only just scraped home before it got dark. The course & the weather were fantastic but as I mentioned in the title, the greens killed us. I couldn’t seem to get the speed right all day long. Had quite a few that burned the edge but then sailed on 2-3 metres past The company made up for the pain caused by the greens & it was still a pleasant day