...by our sometimes golfer and part-time reporter, Mick Charenko  

The trip to  Canberra, although long was uneventful; George Makohon and I had decided to drive whilst some of the more affluent members flew in Friday and Saturday.

On arrival, we were confronted with a motel covered in scaffolding, nevertheless we were pleasantly surprised once we entered our rooms, all newly outfitted with comfortable beds and digital TV. 

Our next thoughts were about procuring a good feed. The restaurant had an extensive menu but the consensus was that the German Club conveniently located next door might provide better value.

Having ordered our meals (from a limited menu) a couple of Sydney players sauntered in and in true traditional rivalry, started with boasts about who was going to win and how tough the course was playing.

This continued into the night and the more we consumed the wilder the bragging became about our respective prowess on the course. During the conversation both sides discovered we had nine players from each state representing Sydney and Melbourne, with a number of guests from Sydney.

This was followed by in-depth analysis of respective player‟s potential performance. Only after several hours of friendly banter and Lowenbrau we adjourned to our motel.

You may be wondering why I‟m taking so long to get to who won. You‟ll have to be patient and wait.  

On the day, both teams assembled at the Victory Capital Golf Course to challenge for the trophies on offer. Sydney won the toss and the game was underway.

The conditions were perfect, the sun was out and not a breath of wind to talk about. The conditions were generally the same for the rest of the day and only becoming overcast late in the afternoon.  

It just so happened that our tournament coincided with the Capital Club‟s championship and we were the recipients of a well presented course with cut fairways and slick greens combined with tight fairways, bunkers and plenty of water hazards.  

The long established Stableford format for the game was bastardised with only one card provided between two players and that may have contributed to my poor performance, not being able to refer to distances and the game index for each hole.

A word of advice to future organising committees; “don‟t select the hole rated as #1 for the drive and chip hole.” Only one player, Steve Hawrysiuk managed to reach the hole and what a drive.

I appreciate there is a move to having younger members organise these events but some older and wiser heads should guide the selections?

Speaking for myself; my golf can only be described as mediocre and I‟ m beginning to wonder why on earth I continue playing the game!  

At the end of the game there was the usual round of drinks followed by the presentation at the German Club. The meal was typically German with bratwurst and sauerkraut and plenty of it.

The presentation was hosted by the Sydney President, Kon Medway and after his well received opening comments he handed over the running of the presentations to the respective Captains, Zed Rozek from Sydney and Roman Popowycz from Victoria.

The presentations followed dinner and our only major winner was Tony Kastropil winning Division 1.

I ‟ll leave the announcement of the remaining winners and loser to the AUVGC Club Captain. I‟ll add here that it was quite depressing to see all the trophies go north and it was difficult to join in the Sydney celebrations that continued well into the night.

The following morning George and I decided we needed some spiritual uplifting and decided to go to church at St. Michael‟s in Canberra in the hope we could make it through the day.

Father Michael Solomko must have recognised us from our past attendances or maybe he thought we needed salvation because of our down-trodden looks and greeted us in front of the parish.

At the end of the service he invited us to join the parish for lunch, which we graciously accepted.  

He indicated that should we decide to come back to Canberra at some future date, the organising committee must contact him and he would be more than happy to participate or broadcast the event in the parish community as well as offering the parish hall for the presentation of trophies.  

The journey home was somber and I’m seriously debating whether I have lessons or just throw my golf gear into the Yarra River over the West Gate Bridge.

2009 Melbourne Sydney Stableford Results