2024 VIC Champs - 10 Year Anniversary Edition!!!

[LeftyHoges]

Welcome to the 2024 VIC Champs - 10 Year Anniversary Edition!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!

Saturday 2nd March - Wednesday 6th March, 2024

Saturday - Warm-Up Round: Moonah Links Legends Course. 1:20pm - 2:00pm tee-off. $110pp, including cart. You may choose to walk if you wish, but the Green Fee remains at $110. Mens White tees, Ladies Reds.

Sunday - Uncivil War X: Peninsula-Kingswood CGC North Course. $520pp, twin share. If you want a single room it's $1,040! Includes one night COMPULSORY Accommodation and Monday Morning Breakfast. 12:52PM first tee time.

Monday - Champs Rd 1: Peninsula-Kingswood CGC South Course. $250pp. 8:03AM First tee-time.

Tuesday morning (Optional): "The Furrows" - Kingston Heath Short Course. 10:15am kick-off. Information on "The Furrows" can be found on KH's main website, but essentially it's a 9-hole short course of holes ranging from 50m-140m. $60pp. Completely optional. Video here...

Tuesday - Champs Rd 2: Kingston Heath GC. 1:40PM start. $425pp. Lunches will be pre-ordered from the club bar menu. Please note Kingston Heath is a "Cashless club". Complimentary Pull Buggies provided. Comp fee is $5.

Wednesday - Warm-down Round: Heritage St John. Blue Tee, Red tee. 8:03AM kick-off. $100 Green Fee, $25 for a cart. Comp fee is $6.

Accommodation: Will again be at the friendly Carrum Downs Motel. I've booked 5 x Family Rooms (can sleep up to 3), and 7 x Double Rooms for the 4 nights. Please factor a cost of $130 PER ROOM PER NIGHT (So if you're on your lonesome that'll be $130 pn, a twin share is $65 per night, and a triple is $45pn). Unfortunately (and every place I spoke to enforced this) we have to "stay" the Sunday night if we want to go Saturday to Wednesday. Systems won't allow split bookings. Sorry for the inconvenience and extra $$$. It does mean we can leave the majority of our gear there though.

Extra Sunday Night Accommodation: Part of the requirement of playing at Peninsula-Kingswood CGC is staying on Course in their accommodation. IF we only have one or two Victorians they may allow you to not stay and instead pay $645 for your two rounds. This will need to be determined closer to time though, and fully determined by number of Mexicans.

To make things easier, please fill out the below details (you can PM these to me if you're shy...):

Full name:
Golflink Number:
Days of golf:
Sat Cart @ Moonah Legends (Y/N):
Days of Accommodation required:
Type of Accommodation required (Triple share / twin share / single):
Uncivil War Shirt Size:
Interested in playing Kingston Heath Furrows (Y/N):
Preference for Kingston Heath pre-game lunch: Option #
(Option 1) Sandwich platters, sausage rolls and soft drink
(Option 2) Mixed Baguettes, sausage rolls and soft drink
(Option 3) Lunch Pack on the go (Meat and Salad roll, muesli bar, bottled water and banana)
(Option 4) Pre-order from Club Bar Menu
Anything else I need to know?:

I will be closing off entries to this one at the end of January, otherwise I lose a metric shit-tonne of money from deposits...

GIDDY UP!!!!

PLEASE NOTE, MY BANK DETAILS HAVE CHANGED!!!

 

UBank
670-864
16497380
N Hoggan

[LeftyHoges]

Sorry all, this is well and truly overdue.

Well, well, well, what a hell of a trip that one was. From the Pre-Champers who cooked themselves before a single Champs shot had even been hit, to the guys who threw away underwear sadly not before they’d even been shit.

First and foremost, thank you all for your attendance at the 10^th instalment of the VIC Champs, it was wonderful to have you all and I sincerely hope you had the best time possible.

Without further ado, congratulations go to our newly crowned Champion, BobsYourUncle. The diligence and ball-striking required for a low marker to win events like this is an exceptional feat, well done on not only two very solid rounds in the Champs itself but backing it up on the final day to take out the “Monday” round too, good to see that honour stay with the low markers!

Well done to JoeS for a well-deserved second placing. Again, low markers placing in events like this is a tough gig, and the fight shown here to at least push BYU down the stretch is very solid. I believe the gap was 2 points through 27 holes, so a good tussle was definitely unfolding over that back 9.

He backs up the runner-up finish from last year with a podium finish this year, well done to AndyP, completes the top 3 set. Well done mate. Bit less social golf next year though, hey?

In an official close to the original format of the Uncivil War, well done to the Confederates on adding some respectability back to the scoreline. A 6-4 margin probably feels about right, the Confederates really struggling to scrape together numbers by the end, definitely weakened their chances each year. A massive thank you to everyone who’s ever participated in this event in the spirit of which it is meant, whether you’ve been a Captain or a soldier, your contributions towards it all to create the legacy it has is something I’m very proud of. Thank you to the “turncoats” SundayHack and Peppas who made squaring up the teams this year easier than ever, I am eternally grateful for your sacrifice. Though maybe you could also see the writing on the wall and knew my Captaincy could never be challenged, who really knows…

OK, onto my thank you's.

Courty – OZgolf Admin Champion. The sheet was back with a vengeance! Thank you as always for ferrying our drunk / hungover / tired asses around. Thank you also for stepping in with the Calcutta recording, was nice to have a few minutes spare to worry about everything else inside my head.

shazza_rs - Uncivil War shirts. These looked a million bucks, even if they caused me to play like a million blokes chopping wood (yes, that’s right, I’m blaming the shirt for quite possibly the worst ever performance put in on a VIC Champs day, I mean, what else could it have possibly been???). Shazza and Sheree came through for us again and at $30 a shirt you cannot go wrong. Please pass on our massive thanks AGAIN to Sheree and again extend the invitation to her (and any of the other girls if they're interested) for next year, we’re all-inclusive here!!!

SundayHack – Birdie money, it’s the easiest $125 BeyondBlue makes, thank you for your work with this. I like the idea of just adding it into everyone’s entry money for next year, this will definitely be a thing.
Your organising of dinner venues also does not go unnoticed mate, thank you so very much, definitely a load off my mind.

Lucasto23 – Very comfortable back in the auctioneer’s role. Like a nice, cosy pair of jeans. Thank you for the laughs, your efforts, for driving up prices, for putting in money on blokes no one else would.

Bit of a personal one here, but thank you to Courty, Bushy, Ron Burgundy, SundayHack, 3PuttPete and Frodo for your company in the now famous and worst kept Secret Pre-Champs rounds.

Everyone - You all deserve my biggest thanks. For attending, taking everything in great spirit, your generosity when it comes to Calcuttas and Birdie Money and most importantly the laughs that you all provide. I’m absolutely aware that this one was stupid expensive AND held mid-weekish, so I can’t thank you all enough for giving your time, your money and your dignity over to me for a few days of fun and frivolity.

The Wounded – A special mention does need to go to these guys for valiant efforts in the face of injury. Lucasto23, Johnno and Peter_rs were all under significant injury clouds and none knew if they were any chance of getting through all the days, so for them to not only do so and to well and truly get nowhere near the NAGA is an outstanding effort. ESPECIALLY to drop the amount of dimes they did for this trip in particular. Also, a very notable mention to Peppas for making the trip under some trying circumstances, thanks for the efforts mate, all the best…

To anyone who bested 30 points average over the 5 days, I’ve instructed your clubs to watch your handicaps much more closely for next year.

Debutants - Thank you and well done to these guys, as debutants this year we had ParkRoyal, MuffinMan, Frodo and making his well overdue debut Yossarian (as well as his brother and his very short shorts…). Also, not necessarily a debutant but it was lovely to have Rickie Prowler back for his second visit after a longish hiatus. It takes a fair amount of courage to throw money to some stranger on the internet with the prospect of playing golf with 20ish strangers you've never met before, so for taking the plunge we say thank you and we sincerely hope to see you back next year and the years to come. I'm always keen to hear from the new guys if they have any feedback (positive, neutral, negative or otherwise) as they're the ones who see it with fresh eyes, not my 10+ year tired, CBF eyes, so feel free to reach out to me with anything be it in the thread or via PM / Telegram / SMS.

Regulars - You guys and lady know how I feel, I loves ya’s all. As announced while there we had 4 players make all 10 instalments of the VIC Champs and 9 others from this year’s field have now done 5+, so for continuing to support this event I thank you. The Tarantino style "just wanted to get to 10” is now in the bag, we’ll see where we go to from here.

My Playing Partners - Thank you to all of you over the course of the 5 (or days. It was a privilege to play with you all. Was also nice to play with some debutants in MuffinMan and ParkRoyal, while also getting a couple of games in for the first time with Rickie Prowler. Memory often fails me, but it might have been the first time with Johnno also? If so, thank you mate!

Mrs Lefty - She cops an enormous load from me (phrasing!) in the lead-up to this and is a massive help with getting my arse into gear to arrange everything. She does the prize envelopes and NTP pockets and has obviously had a massive hand in the FABULOUS NAGA Belt and Vest(s), as well as a multitude of other little things. But don't worry everyone, I'm always showing her the groups appreciation!

To anyone else who has done things that I've forgotten, I can guarantee you that I appreciated them greatly at the time, and I apologise that I haven't thanked you publicly here.

Last but not least, we have again raised a smidge over $1300 for BeyondBlue and the Leon Treadwell Memorial Golf Day from this trip, so thank you all so much for digging deep and contributing to wonderful causes. This was probably the most payouts we’ve ever had from the Calcutta (usually Gross bets, State of Origin and Union / Confed Bets don’t ALL pay out in the same year, I think this was the first) so the total was a little less than normal, I also didn’t bring out the tin as I figure we’d probably put enough money in for this trip, rest assured it’ll be back and rattling next year.

Much, much, MUCH LOVE, (for you people, not golf)

Lefty.

P.S. As always, any and all feedback good, bad or otherwise is greatly appreciated and taken on board, and I’m hoping next year to make it a little more of a “committee event” as though despite having no social life (by choice) and doing nothing but work, I still struggled to find the time to organise this thing.

We'll keep you informed of what's to come in 2025 as things eventuate, but for now again I say thank you, and we’ll see you all in 2025!!!

[PeteyD]

Big thanks to you Lefty, as always. After missing a few it was great to get back to it. see some new faces and play with people I have not met before. Had an awesome time. Looking forward to next year now!

[Courty]

[rickie prowler]

Thanks for having me! Said it 100 times but so very grateful to get the chance to play great tracks with a great bunch of folks who like golf and love a beer!

[shazza_rs]

Excellent wrap up as always Lefty.

Happy to help out where we can. Takes a village.

Nice to meet a few new faces and catch up with old mates. Hands down a highlight of my golfing calendar. Thanks for letting me be a part of the “boys” trip.

[JoeS]

A huge thanks to Lefty and everyone who helped out. I never thought I would do an internet golf trip, Tassie showed me the way. An awesome time with plenty of laughs and drinks and more drinks and laughs.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[ParkRoyal]

Sorry for the delayed reply to you post Lefty, have been thinking about writing for a while.

I've wanted to get to one of these events for a number of years, but life/kids etc prevented it. But I am really glad that I did. As Lefty said it can be hard going to something where there is already a core group of people who attend and you don't really know them other than a bit of online chat. But you all made me and others feel really welcome and it felt like I wasn't the outsider, it really was the more the merrier. Making new friends and connections can and has been difficult for many people including myself over the past while, so to do that so easily is wonderful.

The organisation, the golf, accomodation etc really was amazing and I can't thank you enough for all of it and I'll be doing everything I can to be there next year.


On another personal note regarding the donations, my wife and I had a friend of ours sadly take their own life and we attended her funeral on friday. Depression/Mental Health is bloody hard thing to deal with and hearing about her struggles and all the things she tried to alleviate that pain really hit home even more so how devastating it can be to the person suffering it and to those around them, so anything that can go towards helping others in similar situations is great.

[AndyP]

Bit less social golf next year though, hey?

Three social rounds, zero competitions since this comment. Cheers!

[BUSHY]

Sorry for the delayed reply to you post Lefty, have been thinking about writing for a while.

I've wanted to get to one of these events for a number of years, but life/kids etc prevented it. But I am really glad that I did. As Lefty said it can be hard going to something where there is already a core group of people who attend and you don't really know them other than a bit of online chat. But you all made me and others feel really welcome and it felt like I wasn't the outsider, it really was the more the merrier. Making new friends and connections can and has been difficult for many people including myself over the past while, so to do that so easily is wonderful.

The organisation, the golf, accomodation etc really was amazing and I can't thank you enough for all of it and I'll be doing everything I can to be there next year.


On another personal note regarding the donations, my wife and I had a friend of ours sadly take their own life and we attended her funeral on friday. Depression/Mental Health is bloody hard thing to deal with and hearing about her struggles and all the things she tried to alleviate that pain really hit home even more so how devastating it can be to the person suffering it and to those around them, so anything that can go towards helping others in similar situations is great.

That’s not great news mate.

You know i think you hit the nail on the head, in the end these trips are all about what happens OFF the golf course.

Golf is just the delivery vehicle.

Similarly, It makes me really happy that the first timers such as yourself have an awesome experience. Because I know that I put off coming to one for way too long. Now it’s the highlight of my year.

Awesome job all around to everyone especially Lefty for his wonderful work once again.