2019 BC

The Event

The Format: Teams of four playing single stroke Friday, two-ball ambrose strokeplay on Saturday and four-ball ambrose strokeplay on Sunday.

The Rules: Since slow play is a potential problem for our gangs, these rules are designed to encourage play in the right spirit and at the right pace. Teams play their chosen best ball on each shot and play preferred lies – you may place your ball half a club length (about 50cms) from where the chosen ball lies, no nearer the hole. Balls must be placed in the same cut as the chosen ball.

In the interests of fast play from tee to green, teams are NOT required to mark balls and precisely measure from the chosen ball as they play each shot. Pace of play is important so do not waste time unnecessarily. Team members can play in any order on a shot. Once on the putting green, Bushrangers should mark near the chosen best ball so each team member putts from near enough to the exact same position.

No Gimmes: Some nutter once gave someone a short putt in a Cup. This is not on under any circumstances. We are here for fun, but the golf is (slightly) serious. The Bushranger Cup is a strokeplay event (not match-play) and every ball must be holed out. You can concede putts in one-on-one matchplay, but strokeplay is the field vs the field so no gimmes.

Handicapping: Each person is assigned a handicap by the handicapper based on official handicaps and/or info supplied by the Bushrangers. The handicapper will be governed by a commitment to rewarding good play according to a player’s ability. Team handicaps for the ambrose groupings are calculated from the individual handicaps.

Playoffs: In the event of a tie, a sudden-death playoff will be conducted. Teams play together as a foursome (taking alternate strokes playing one ball). Once established on the first hole, the order is continuous and carries over from one hole to the next until the playoff is decided.

Nearest-the-Pin & Longest Drive: Will be contested on all days and, in the interests of team gloating and solidarity, any player who wins a LD or NTP wins prizes and glory for his entire team.

The Rodeo Rule: This is minimum drives for each team member and will be enforced. Each team’s individual rodeo requirements will appear on their scorecard.

A Brief History of The Bushranger Cup

The Bushranger Cup was founded in 2004 with intention of bringing a group of pals together for a weekend of golf and fun. Gents who had accumulated other commitments in their lives, were playing less golf and mates were not getting together so often. The intention of the Cup was to address this work/life/golf imbalance by establishing an event so chock full of fun and drama that it could fulfil a fellows golfing, emotional and spiritual needs for a full 12 months if necessary.

The four-man team format is intended to be a vehicle for mates to enjoy the camaraderie and fun of teaming together. Since most of the original participants did not have official handicaps, the perennial challenge of managing Bushrangers became the guiding principle for the development of the handicapping system and format of the event.

Although it has been the catalyst for the formation of Bushranger Golf and Social Golf Australia, the Bushranger Cup remains a private invitational event. The Cup has forged a reputation for remarkable moments, great drama and hilarious fun and is now, some people say, arguably the most sought after prize in the golfing universe.
 

Editor’s Note: Reader discretion is advised. These reviews are merciless.

The Kelly Gang - The last and most infamous of all the Bushrangers, Ned’s crusade to secede from the colony and start his own republic fell slightly short of the mark. An expert self-promoter, he always knew the importance of snappy dressing for a photo opportunity.

Tim Holroyd (Hatman)         Brett Simpson (Simmo)
Greg Cousins  (The Geesh)          Martin Bayliss (Buzz)

The defending champs are already looking pretty wobbly before a ball has been struck. They are a man down with their spiritual leader and 3-time champ Mikey Dee out of the mix after abandoning ship to fool around with a not altogether different but arguably slightly better-looking crew of reprobates. On the plus side, they have all won this event and they have 8 Cups between them. The flipside is a little more daunting. They look like a scurvy crew on a listing and rudderless ship with no one at the helm and the wind out of their tattered sails. Luckily they know how to have a good time for a long time and will give all the shenanigans of the weekend a red hot go throughout. One to watch.

Form: Clearly a ceremonial entry. Will no doubt get off to a slow start on Friday and then go backwards from there. Just making up the numbers and won’t attract any attention from the more savvy punters.
 

The Stringybark Creek Freaks - At Stringybark Creek in the Wombat Ranges in October 1878, the brooding confrontation between the Kelly Gang and the police exploded into all-out war. Three police officers lost their lives and the Kelly outbreak had begun.

Matthew Pitt (Dubs)        Michael David (Mikey D)
Nick Honey (Ho)             Roger Brown (Arbeige)

The band is back together! The original and greatest Bushranger Cup team that this event was built to serve is back from the wilderness and ready to rumble. After combining for the first two legendary Cups, they decided to have a break and see ‘other people’ for a while. After thirteen years of separation, they are back together, and it is causing quite a stir. It would be an understatement to say they are dominating the headlines at this years’ Cup. This reunion is like a fairy-tale come true for all past, present and future competitors and BR Cup fans. Without doubt the most virile, extraordinary, humble, loquacious, entertaining, disarming, skilful, powerful, chino-packing, jodhpur-bulging assortment of super-mega freaks ever assembled in one place.

Form: They will deliver at speed, on time, every time. Unbackable.
 

Captain Melvilles - Captain Melville was a shabby small-time thief who was apprehended by police on Christmas Eve 1852 when, in a drunken stupor, he fell off his horse outside a Geelong brothel. He had aroused suspicion (and little else) among the local sex-workers by boasting to them about his illegal exploits. A real class act.

Ian Crotty (Crock Diddy)         Fraser Gough (Dr F-Tard)
Sebastian Shand (Bastros)     Mick Van Raay (Da King)

Three past champs and a champion in waiting here, this mob look like the real deal. Notwithstanding his traitorous desertion from the mob of Tards, Dr. F-Tard is far and away the holder of the ‘Best player to not have won a Cup’ mantle. The other three have all saluted here in the past although none of them are bringing any form into this event. Dr Tard always looks the goods, but the same cannot be said for Da King an’ Crcoken-Bass who all look hideously underdone. Crock has all but retired from serious competition since moving up the country and King an’ Bass have taken their infrequent flirtation with golf to another level of infrequency. And flirtatiousness. They will need a lot to go right.

Form: Dusting cobwebs off the clubs is always a bad sign. Unlikely.
 

The Ben Hall Gang - Originally the Frank Gardiner Gang, it became the Gilbert Gang when Gardiner was captured in Queensland in 1861. Then it morphed into the Gilbert & Hall Gang and later, the Ben Hall Gang. Their revolving-door policy remains strong to this day.

Dave Warwick (Deisal)    Phil Peacock (Dust)
Tom Tomlin (Tommy)    Dave Pollock (Toto)

This mob of Tards have had an interrupted preparation and appear a little confused. They might think they know something we don’t as their 7th place finish last year did not suggest they are a likely threat this year. Perhaps they want us to think they know something that we don’t or that they know that we know that they know something that we don’t know. Then again, maybe we know something that they don’t and they are hoping that what we know isn’t the same as what they don’t know we know. Who knows? They have all won here and they have 6 Cups in total and are certainly way overdue to be in contention. What they lack in skill and form they more than make up for in pedigree and character so may be a smokey if things fall their way.

Form: With the Diesal wildcard in the deck, can never be discounted.
 

The Aaron Sherritt Gang - Aaron Sherritt was Joe Byrne’s great mate and a trusted lieutenant to the Kelly Gang. Folklore has marked him as a traitor, but he played a delicate game of espionage pretending to be a police informant. He came undone when the cops got wise and spread rumours he had betrayed the gang. In the end, he was murdered by Joe Byrne for his apparent, but unproven, treachery.

Mark Henderson (Hendo)    Leon Doyle (Leondo)
Shane Lawlor (Shano)    Matt Thomas (T-bag)

The semi-articulate mob of devious reprobates comes in here as the most disparate assortment of flotsam ever assembled in a futile effort of pretension vainly attempting to approximate the type of hardness and lunacy required to forge the unbreakable bond of power required to put even the slightest dint into imitating being a contender for the Bushranger Cup. What they lack in breeding, form, skill, character, temperament, ticker, wisdom, experience and ambition, they slightly make up for in couture with several snappy dressers in this unit. They will fly home in the 4-Ball but they may have imploded on Saturday.

Form: Will look magnificent in the mounting yard and that’s about it.
 

The Canvas Town Mob - A rare city-based mob of Bushrangers who operated in South Melbourne in the 1850s. They would knock off ships at port and then frivolously drink and gamble away their booty.

Rob Lugton (Luggo)          Ivan Jones (Long Slash)
Corey Kelly (Big Cheese)    Peter Calverley (Cuddles)

If you have ever wondered what you get when you take half a team of rejects and papier-mache it together to another, almost identical, but slightly uglier and less well-endowed, half a team of rejects, well, now you know. All 4 here have been rejected and abandoned by their mates and set loose here to drift aimlessly across their own endless oceans of mediocrity and seas of indifference. This marvellous mob of scurrilous highwaymen come in here as one of the most disparate assortments of disorganised rabble ever assembled at a Bushranger Cup. What they lack in breeding, form, skill, character, temperament, ticker, wisdom, experience and ambition, they slightly make up for in cheese.

Form: Papier-mache soldiers with origami swords. Will be recycled.
 

The Harry Power Gang - Harry Power was the wily old lawbreaker who mentored the young Ned Kelly in the refined bush arts of horse stealing and bravely hiding from the law in the scrub.

Richard Fellner (Quigley)        Cameron Dunn (Oveur)
Atholl Johnstone (AJ)      Duncan Lendrum (Donuts)

A team of many talents. Unfortunately, golf is not one of them. Long-time Bushranger stalwart Quigley unceremoniously dumped his three golfing pals and then painstakingly scoured the country looking for Australia’s top golfing talents. He wanted the cream of the crop...the best of the best...his own A-Team! After a completely fruitless search, he grabbed the first three blokes off the street and conned them into making their Bushranger debuts. Thus, the composition of this “Nay-Team” sets up like a tired Dad-joke: A Yank, a Scotsman, an Irish-Australian and a Colin Montgomerie look-alike walk onto the first tee... (unfortunately, after watching each of these blokes tee off, you will immediately see the punchline).

Form: Despite multiple Bushranger trophies in Quigley’s display cabinet, this fiercely competitive, but grossly under-skilled “little engine that couldn’t” team are simply here to make up the numbers, and drink the beer. And cook the food. And make the coffees.