During the first day of the Gippsland Super 6 at Warragul Country Club, Martin was struck by ball while on the 248m par-four sixth hole.

Despite the incident, the 37-year-old Neangar Park player buckled down to finish the morning round at four-under par 66 - three shots off early leader Andrew Dodt (-7).

"After it happened the rest of the round was all a bit of a blur to be honest," Martin said to the Bendigo Advertiser.

Despite the incident, Martin was able to score a birdie on the sixth and made the turn at one-under.

He opened the back-nine with a bogey on the 337m par-four 10^th, but was able to bounce back with an eagle and two birdies on holes 12 through 16.

"I was driving it quite well and the chip in eagle on the 12^th really helped."

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Martin heads into Friday's second round confident he will be able to replicate the opening round as he has plenty of local knowledge of the par-70 Warragul layout.

"I know the course here quite well," he said.

"The greens are slightly springy which means there's plenty of chances to get the ball to stop.

"The greens aren't overly big so there's opportunity to hole putts

"My plan is to keep playing the exact same way I have been from fairway to green."

Morning leader Dodt said he was unsure if he was going to tee up in the opening round after a niggling shoulder injury from last week's Victorian PGA Championship.

"Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon my shoulder felt a lot better and to finish today at seven-under is a bit unexpected," he said.

During the round Dodt played it safe with iron tee shots on smaller par-four holes while other players attacked with driver.

"It was simply because my shoulder hurt so I hit a lot of two-irons and once my shoulder felt a bit better I started hitting driver again," he said.

The unique format for the Gippsland Super 6 includes three rounds of stroke play before switching to match play for Sunday's final round where the top 24 players compete in six-hole matches.

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