MEN'S GOLF By SHORT PUTT Forbes golfers had a bit of everything last weekend with both rain and sunshine providing different conditions for scoring. Some of the early players scored well despite the rain while some of the later players had moments of despair despite the sunshine. The competition was a Canadian Foursomes sponsored by Peter Dawson. This format requires alternate shots after the best of the drives is chosen. The field of 60 players were generally well matched in their pairings with each having similar handicaps. There were a couple of pairings which had a sizeable gap between their individual handicaps and who used this to good effect. They managed to turn a climbing score into a near par nett result. The overall winners were the pair of Harry Callaghan and Pat Murphy. Their scratch score of 71 was reduced to 65 ¾ thanks to the differential between their handicaps. Long-hitting Harry was able to put the team into good positions where Pat’s precision for the second shot set them up for a good score. They managed three birdies on the front-9 with a run on the 5th, 6th and 7th holes. With no bogeys that meant they turned on 33 and set themselves up for a good score. Their back-9 was a little erratic with consecutive par-bogey holes. A birdie on the 15th helped them to finish strongly for a back-9 scratch 38. The overall runners-up were Peter Dawson and Todd Callaghan who did very well on a tight handicap. With barely any shots to play with they managed a scratch 72 and nett 69 ¾ which was four shots behind. Their scorecard was a model of par-excellence but they could not snare enough of the desired birdies they needed. Their front-9 was a succession of pars interspersed with a lone bogey and two birdies, both on the 6th and 7th. The result was a scratch 35 and already two shots adrift. Their back-9 was consistency after consistency with eight pars recorded and a bogey on the 11th that seemingly came out of nothing. Their run home recorded a scratch 37 but which had promised so much if only a few putts had dropped. The ball sweep went to 73 nett, going to: 72 – A Rees/A Norton-Knight; 72.35 – D Quirk/A Quirk; 72 ¾ - J Page/I Page; 72.87 – D Failey/D Sly; 73 – B Robinson/P Cowhan. The lone visitor was Ben Tranter (Cobar) who teamed with Blake Dunne. They both struggled on the greens and could not capitalise on their favourable team handicap. The NTP’s went to: 9th – P Cowhan: 18th – D Quirk, both of whom converted for a ‘2’, of which there were five. The 9th coughed up the majority of them with a couple on the 18th. Glen Hooper set the early pace for the NTP on the 9th and was only bettered by Pete in the last group. The 18th was more heavily contested. The Super pin on the 3rd hole was won by Glen Hooper with a shot to 277cm. He was well pleased with his tee shot but a little disappointed with his attempt for a ‘2’ which missed. Perhaps he was exalted by his successive ‘Super pin’ and sub-consciously thinking ahead to a ‘three-peat’. He did feel confident about the result though. He was in the first group of the day and played a shot closer than his previous week’s effort which made it tough for the remainder of the field. There were four pairings that managed to par each par-3 hole. These included Callaghan/Murphy, Dawson/Callaghan, Quirk/Quirk and C Alley/Fraser. It was noticeable that in the pairings of a younger player with a mature player it was the younger player who carried the day. Liam Fraser rescued his partner Clayton Alley on numerous occasions. Lachlan Hodge used his longer shot-making on the back-9 to keep partner Stevie G in position for his deft pitch shots. Dave and Archie Quirk teamed well to finish near a nett par. But of course family bragging rights go the Harry Callaghan who pipped his dad Todd for the win. Sometimes the pairings did not work smoothly. Left-hander Anthony Alley and partner right-hander Brett Woonton seemed to spend a lot of their time on opposite sides of the fairway, thanks to both developing a touch of ‘the fades’. Whilst playing the 13th hole Anthony’s tee shot finished on the 5th fairway while Brett’s ventured onto the 14th. Similarly, on the 17th Anthony was on the 2nd while Brett was in the driving range. This made the decision for whose drive to take quite difficult at times. Some pairings did not seem to work. Les Little and Darren Taylor managed the highest scratch score helped by a ‘Bo Derek’ on the 15th. Playing off a decidedly better handicap Adrian Cole and Kailab Tyne managed one of those on the 6th. But the calamity score was recorded by Lindsay Baker and Dave Bernardi who notched up a ‘12’ on the 7th hole. They were doing well until then but this unsettled them to result in a total score that was two shots short of a ‘Warnie’. Here is the news: The Wallace Cup Handicap Matchplay has been completed with a final that was a very tight contest. Brad Ashton and Cam McMillan played their match last weekend with the handicaps very close and requiring Brad to give Cam a shot on the 8th hole, the #1 Match Index hole. Cam got off to a great start on the front-9 with birdies on the 4th, 6th and 7th holes enabling him to turn at 4-up. Brad fought back immediately with birdies on the 10th and 11th. His inappropriate chip on the 12th lost him the hole but he recovered with birdies on the 15th and 17th to be only 1-down. It was do-or-die on the 18th hole. Brad played first and put his tee shot into the gum tree on the right of the green. Cam’s tee shot did find the green. Brad got a ‘flier’ for his chip shot which finished well past the hole. He ultimately conceded the hole handing the victory to Cam 2-up. We have the Club Champs beginning this weekend. Our thanks once again to Lachlan Commodities for their sponsorship of this the pinnacle of the club calendar. Each day will also have a daily event thus giving incentive for those players who make a mess of one round to keep trying for one of the daily prizes. The daily events on the first weekend are sponsored by Green Microbes with those on the second weekend sponsored by Pine Hill Merino Stud. The Mixed Foursomes Championships are scheduled for Sunday 25 October, played over 27-holes. Ensure you get your partner lined up for this and encourage others to participate to bolster the field to better numbers. It is crystal ball time: This Saturday 10 October is the first round of the Club Championships. The second round will be played on Sunday 11 October with the third and fourth rounds to be played on the following weekend. Good luck to all players and let us hope the weather treats the golfers well. VETS GOLF Forbes' Bruce Chandler continued his great form in the twin-towns veterans golf competition when he came out on top of a three-way tie to win the cash at last week's event played at Parkes. Bruce made it successive wins in the competition when he compiled 41 points to edge out club team mate Fonz Melisi win on a count-back, while Parkes' Rob Lea - also on 41 - had to settle for third and a golf ball for his efforts. Considering the wind gusts throughout the day and the fact that putting was testing due to the greens being cored earlier in the week, scoring was high with 14 players at even par or better to their handicaps. Thirty-eight players contested the 18 holes - 20 from Parkes and 16 from Forbes - plus Leonard Wilkes from Grenfell and Shell Cove's David Lawrence the two visitors for the day. It was a big day for the Forbes team winning the twin-towns shield by 231 points to Parkes' 218 and the four nearest-to-pins - Ken Walton and Alex Mackinnon the A and B grade winners respectively on the fourth hole and Steve Uphill and Jeff Moon on the 11th. The ball sweep went to 36 points with the winners as follows: 41 - Rob Lea (P); 39 - Ken Walton and Jeff Moon (F); 38 - Ken Sanderson (F); 37 - Steve Uphill (F); 36 - Tony Cogswell, Adam Andrews and Alex Mackinnon (F) and Peter Boschman, Ian Phipps and Peter Bristol (P). Players are reminded that this week's twin-towns event at Forbes has been cancelled due to the annual Cowra Veterans Open tournament on Thursday. The event is a stableford with a shotgun staff at 10am. Prizemoney of $2000 is on offer with prizes for three grades of stableford scores plus the best scratch scores in each grade. Contact Cowra professional James Hundy (63 421 211) to register and book a cart if required. In last week's Tuesday competition Warwick Judge was a comfortable winner in the field of nine scoring a tidy 32 points for the 12 holes. Peter Scholfield was runner-up with 27 points, one ahead of Jeff Moon. The Top Dog award played over six weeks was hotly contested with more success for Peter Scholfield's over long-time frontrunner Barry Shine by 136 points to 131. Close up in third was Alex Mackinnon 127 points just ahead of Ian Thomas on 126. Twenty-two players competed over the six weeks, with six scoring more than 100 points. One of last week's players was heard to say "I wish Scadger was back because it's too quiet on the course." We hope to see you back on the course soon Scadger. LADIES GOLF Cake day last Wednesday attracted a good field for the Stableford event sponsored by Hair with Style in two divisions. The scores in Division 2 were far better than those in Division 1 this week with the Div 2 winning score being 36 points and Div 1 being 30 points. Division 1 winner was Robin Lyell on a countback from Verna Lane with 30 points while in Division 2 Debbie Tilley was the winner with 36 points with the evergreen Julie Wood the runner-up with 34 points. Balls went to Julie, Lyn Kennedy, Deborah Dingwall and Jill Cripps to 32 points. NTP’s went to Sally Perry on the 9th and Colleen Venables on the 18th. Saturday 3 October was an Individual Stableford sponsored by Lindy Pollock in one division. The variable weather conditions were a deterrent to some potential players while a couple of those who started had had enough by the ninth and retired. Others waited for a while until the storm passed and then headed out on the challenging course. Kerry Stirling proved to be the best on the day, playing well after a short layoff to score 33 points. Ann-Maree Gaffney was next best with 30 points to win a ball. NTP’s went to Ann-Maree Gaffney on the 9th and Sally Perry on the 18th. Saturday 10 October sees the commencement of the 2026 club championships. They will be played over four days on the next two weekends. Championships are scratch and handicap events. There is a daily Stableford event in conjunction for those players who cannot commit to the four days. Veterans championships will be played over the two Sundays. Sponsors for the championships are Fugen Constructions, Storage Solutions (Joe and Kerry Stirling), Colleen Bratton and Robin Lyell. Wednesday 14 October is a Pinehurst which is a partner event sponsored by our captain Sarah Black. Good golfing.
