by Neville Lavis
The Nocturnal Classic started some 27 years ago and has been in the syllabus ever since, enjoyed my many.
Its origin started one night in 1995 when a group of members of the Shepparton Golf Club snuck out to the club one evening only to find the general committee was meeting, people were everywhere and as we hadn’t arranged night time access, we all went down to the 4th Tee and hit off there. The night was a success and plans were then put into place to get permission to run a competition in the dark.
The original plan of doing 3 holes by day, dinner, then 6 holes by night has continued.
Being an Ambrose event, the first two teams hit off at 6 pm, then dinner and finish off the remaining 6 holes with a shot gun start just before 9 pm. As the night balls have a light stick inside them, they can be seen for a considerable distance and look spectacular in flight. At presentations later in the night every player takes home a special prize. Could even be a bucket and spade as we believed they weren’t ever going to get on the American golf circuit
As the night is a fun competition, we have over the years arranged challenges for the golfers which include, hitting off a half-inflated car tube, hitting off a half-inflated car tube with a board over it. Putting with 1 hand on the first three holes by day and using a special club made of steel. The best being the Happy Gilmore for the first hit of the night, with the player moving forward while hitting the ball. As this is the 1st drive of the day everyone is watching and even some of the best golfers have difficulty connecting with the ball when moving. The best ever Happy Gilmore was Leighton Lyle last year who hit a monster shot on the 10th tee down to the corner, a staggering 265 meters, I don’t think it will ever be beaten.
In 2014 after the fire had destroyed out club house, we used a temporary marque at the back of the 18th green and this wasn’t going to deter our spirits. The only problem was we had a team of indoor cricketers staying at the motel and their involvement was to play up on the 1st night of their trip by hitting tennis balls around the marque while presentations were being arranged and in progress. It added a new dimension.
On the 25th year we celebrated the night by having our dinner on the 6th Tee, the night was barmy, and the setting was sensational, and everyone had a memorable time dining with nature.
As the Nifty’s Nocturnal Classic is a fun night, it has created a lot of fond memories over the time and will hopefully continue being well patronised.
