2021 BR Cup

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 (SGA), 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.
 

The Bushranger Cup Player Form Guide

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.

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

Standing on the brink of history, this mob appear destined set new standards at this event that most thought unimaginable. They have already achieved more than any other crew here, but their thirst and desire remain unquenched. Last year they powered to the first ever legit back-to-back Cups with Dee completing a personal three-peat, so this year they are going for an unprecedented back-to-back-to-back and Mike is looking for four in a row. What’s more, they can sense the opportunity to drive a psychological stake through the collective hearts of all the other contenders. After swapping their optimal tw0-ball pairs last year for a sub-optimal set-up to give the other mobs a chance, this year they are fielding sub-sub-optimal pairs on Saturday to try and scupper their own ship for the greater good. If they fail in this higher purpose and decimate the competition again, the psychological and emotional carnage inflicted on the field may tip this event to breaking point. If this GOAT of BR Cup teams takes things to another level (again), could this be the end of the Bushranger Cup as we know it?
 

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.

Tim Holroyd (Hatman)            Brett Simpson (Simmo)
Greg Cousins (The Geesh)     Stephen Foxwell (Foxy)

Sometimes the approach of under-promising and over-delivering is a recipe for success. This makes it easier to exceed expectations and can take the heat off those who don’t handle the blowtorch of white-hot pressure-package challenges such as the Bushranger Cup. With their warped logic and suspect intellects, this semi-articulate mob of devious reprobates may attempt to flip that philosophy around. Alas, they don’t appear to have the armoury to attempt to over-promise and over-deliver, which leaves them two unenviable options: to over-promise and under-deliver or to under-promise and under-deliver. They believe they can win, which counts for something, but self-delusion is not self-belief. Don’t rule out uber-subterranean-under-delivery for this mob.
 

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)

Last year when the Good Dr F-Tard withdrew late, they tried importing the greatest player ever to front at a BR Cup and they put together a shabby Friday, a miraculous Saturday and average-to-middling round on Sunday to secure 2nd place when the Cup was theirs for the taking. After replacing the irreplaceable with the even more irreplaceable, they are now re-replacing the unreplaceable irreplaceable with the no longer as irreplaceable Dr F-Tard who was replaced in the first place. Confused? Well, so are they. Still, they have ticker and pedigree, so if they don’t blow up on Friday and are able to post a half-decent number to stay in the hunt, they could get better as they weekend progresses and be amongst the action on Sunday as the swoopers start making a dash for the line. A classy operation who are always thereabouts.
 

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.

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

This mob have had an interrupted preparation and appear a little confused. They might think they know something we don’t know. Or 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 certainly know how to contend here and there is some serious x-factor in the line-up. What they lack in collective skill and form they more than make up for in pedigree, wits, character & humour. One to watch as they are very capable of shooting seriously low numbers if they find their range.
 

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.

Gav Doran (The Rose)          Ian Steer (Steery)
Peter Calverley (Cuddles)        Pete Russell (Rusty)

The Dictionary defines Destiny as: the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or Bushranger Cup team in the future. And then there is Manifest Destiny which is more of a sense of mission to redeem the world by high example. Wow! Who are these guys? It has been said that old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance. Whether or not that is true, it seems what this mob lacks in treacherous exuberance, the make up for with antiquity. They appear to have the pedigree of a potential champion, but they lack the work ethic, technique, ticker, athleticism, nous, spirit, match-fitness and all-around spiritual and spatial awareness to compete at the highest level. Really more of a show pony than a legitimate racer, this mob are happy to be here, but just can't be bothered with the actual work and training and stuff. They are here for a good time and will not disappoint, but they are likely just making up the numbers this week.
 

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.

Mark Henderson (Hendo)      Richard Fellner (Quigley)
Leon Doyle (Leondo)           Cameron Dunn (Oveur)

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, half a team of rejects, well, now you know. Both these pairs of reprobates have been forsaken by their mates and set loose here to drift aimlessly across their own endless oceans of mediocrity and seas of indifference. This mob of scurrilous highwaymen come in here as one of the most disparate assortments of disorganised rabble ever assembled at a Bushranger Cup. Ever. But what they lack in breeding, form, skill, character, temperament, ticker, wisdom, experience and ambition, they slightly make up for in good humour. This mob believes that, on paper, they are a major-winning-machine that appear to be a dead-set-certainty to take out this year's BRC. But as we all know, golf is not played on paper. It's played on grass. These are papier-mache soldiers with origami swords. Will be recycled.

The Captain Moonlite Gang - The devious Andrew George Scott, a man with three first names, became the infamous Captain Moonlite when he began robbing banks in the 1870s after throwing in a promising career as a preacher.

Kirk Hayward (Joe)        Darren Nelson (Dazza)
Rob Lugton (Luggo)         Dean Mitchell (Deano)

Impossible to draw a form line through this rag-tag gang of golfing megastars. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so where does that leave these blokes? They have four equally weak links – what if they all snap at the same time? They could just as easily rip this field apart or disappear into oblivion. Although this mob are not the sharpest tools in the shed, the Bushranger Cup is a big shed with plenty of tools. One is a past champion, but the rest have not so much as hinted at contention in their previous attempts. What they lack in ball-striking power, they slightly make up for in character, hair colouring, dental hygiene and dancing ability. They clearly have some kahunas, bravado, golfing insanity and liver power, so must be given some sort of chance, but if you see one of them ordering another tray of shots at 3am on Friday, perhaps leave them out of your box trifectas.
 

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.

Paul White (Whitey)           Dennis Williams (Dizzy)
Craig Jukes (Jukesy)          Clinton Mayes (Mayzie)

This 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 necessary to put even the slightest dint into imitating being a contender for the Bushranger Cup. On long-term golfing form, they appear to be among the top favourites here this weekend with some serious pedigree as big-hitting, beer-swilling, knee-slapping, gut-wrenching, ball-bursting, rib-tickling, nut-busting, side-splitting bushrangers with a devil-may-care attitude. Alas, their form has deserted them in recent weeks, and they come here in a serious state of collective shabbiness. Moreover, there are questions around whether they have the ticker required to carry all before them at this level. They will fly home in the 4-Ball on Sunday, but they may have already imploded on Saturday. Or Friday. Or both. If there is any mob here that is a risk of self-harm, it is this lot. Avoid.