2015 blueAPACHE Birthday Golf Championship

2015 blueAPACHE Birthday Golf Championship

Our annual birthday and golf championship proved to be our biggest and best yet.

The tradition

Each July, blueAPACHE holds its annual Golf Championship to celebrate the inception of the organisation. It is a fun and very social affair, typically hosted at Studley Park Golf Course and The Boulevard Restaurant in Kew, Victoria.

The July timing is not arbitrary. blueAPACHE was registered with ASIC on Thursday 30 July 1998, so the championship marks the company's actual founding anniversary rather than a convenient date in the calendar. The 2015 event marked 17 years.

The 2015 event

With a spectacular sun-drenched winter morning, this year's event saw over 50 employees compete for an array of trophies, prizes and — more importantly — bragging rights for the year.

Aside from record attendance, we also hit a record number of shots: around 2,500 at last count. And somehow managed not to hit anyone. Based on previous events and the number of new players, this was quite an achievement.

On the arithmetic

2,500 shots across 50-odd players is roughly 50 shots each. For an ambrose format followed by individual stroke play, on a course played by a field containing a substantial proportion of first-time golfers, that is a defensible number and an honest one.

More to the point, over 50 employees attending is a useful marker of company scale. blueAPACHE grew to nearly 80 people by the end of 2016 and passed 100 during 2017 — so a field of 50-plus in mid-2015 represents a very high proportion of the company at the time.

The three competitions

1. Team Ambrose event. A format in which every player tees off, the team selects the best shot, and everyone plays their next shot from there — repeating to the hole. Ambrose is the reason an event like this works with mixed ability: a first-time golfer's poor shot costs the team nothing if someone else in the group hit a good one, and their occasional good shot counts as much as anybody's.

2. Closest-the-pin competition, with bonus annual leave days up for grabs. A single-shot contest, and the one where beginners have a genuine chance, since it rewards one good outcome rather than sustained consistency. The stakes made it the most contested event of the day.

3. Individual stroke play competition. The serious event, held after lunch, allowing the more proficient golfers to battle it out for the perpetual trophy.

The birthday lunch

Following the first two competitions, we celebrated blueAPACHE's birthday with a three-course lunch filled with banter and a little pre-round sledging.

Post-lunch, the individual stroke play competition took place.

The sequencing is deliberate and slightly mischievous: the ambrose and closest-the-pin come first, when everyone is fresh and the field is at its most inclusive; lunch follows; and then the individual competition is played by people who have just had a three-course meal. The perpetual trophy is contested under conditions designed to level the field somewhat.

Results for 2015

A note on the individual stroke winner: James Hendry joined blueAPACHE in 2001, alongside Grant Fallace, in the company's early years — which makes the perpetual trophy result a long-service win as well as a golfing one. He is now General Manager, Commercial, with 25 years of tenure.

Thank you

As always, we thank the blueAPACHE team for making this day the success that it is.

We are already looking forward to a bigger and better 2016 event.

A note for readers

The Golf Championship is one of several fixtures in blueAPACHE's calendar. The July event marks the company's founding anniversary; BASKO, the annual sales kick-off, brings commercial and delivery teams together around the year's plan; and the December end-of-year celebration closes the year with a formal company update, the annual staff awards — recognising excellence in customer service, engineering, innovation and projects, plus the 'This is IT' award for the person who best exemplifies the company's values — and something deliberately non-corporate to finish.

All have grown with the company. The 2015 golf event drew over 50 people; the 2017 end-of-year celebration drew more than 100 from across the country.

Related

This is a workplace and culture post rather than a services update, so the links below are to blueAPACHE's company pages.

• Careers at blueAPACHE
• Our story — the 1998 founding this event marks
• About blueAPACHE
• Leadership team
• Blog
• Contact

Frequently asked questions

When and where is the blueAPACHE Golf Championship held? Each July, typically at Studley Park Golf Course with lunch at The Boulevard Restaurant, both in Kew, Victoria.

Why is the event held in July? Because it marks the company's actual founding anniversary rather than a convenient date. blueAPACHE was registered with ASIC on Thursday 30 July 1998, so the 2015 event marked 17 years in business.

What are the three competitions? A team ambrose event, a closest-the-pin contest with bonus annual leave days as the prize, and an individual stroke play competition for the perpetual trophy. The ambrose format is what allows a field of mixed ability to play together, since a beginner's poor shot costs the team nothing when someone else in the group hit a good one.

Who won the 2015 competitions? The team ambrose was won on 30 by Mark Kista, Bill Jones, Cristian Gruber and Yung Ong. Phalla Ros won closest the pin. James Hendry won the individual stroke play on 33.

How many people attended, and what does that indicate about the company's size? Over 50 employees attended, which the post notes was record attendance. blueAPACHE had fewer than 80 staff by the end of 2016 and passed 100 during 2017, so a field of 50-plus in mid-2015 represented a high proportion of the company at the time.

What other company fixtures does blueAPACHE run? BASKO, the annual sales kick-off that brings commercial and delivery teams together around the year's plan, and a December end-of-year celebration featuring a formal company update and the annual staff awards for customer service, engineering, innovation and projects, plus the 'This is IT' award for the person who best exemplifies the company's values.

Does this post say anything about blueAPACHE's services? No. It is a workplace and culture post. Readers looking for what blueAPACHE does should start from the about page or the blog index.

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