MEN'S GOLF

By SHORT PUTT

A busy golfing week continued into the weekend for both men and lady golfers.

The weather could not have been better and helped to bring the best out of the Forbes golfers.

The men's competition on Saturday was the May Monthly Medal, sponsored by Adept Plumbing.

The field of 62 players had a smattering of visiting golfers but the Forbes players were keen to grab the prizes and keep the inter-loppers at bay.

The A-Grade was won by Peter Dawson with a classy 68 nett, off his scratch handicap. He was untroubled all day with two birdies on the front-9 and three on the back-9.

A hiccup on the 17th for a bogey resulted from the ‘tin cup goalie’ that turned a putt outside. But once again it was a beautiful display of golf.

The A-Grade runner-up was Scott Kirkman with a nett 72. He stepped onto the 1st tee with initial thoughts of repeating a historical performance but his tee shot betrayed him.

He staggered to the turn then with eye-piercing focus proceeded to demolish the back-9. If only his front-9 had been better.

The B-Grade was won by Paul Pymont in what is best described as a steady performance to score a nett 70.

A triple-bogey start did not faze him as he turned under his handicap. The back-9 was a similar story although he lamented the 13th hole where a double-bogey crept onto the card. “Where did that come from?’ he lamented.

The B-Grade runner-up was Matt Walton who finished on nett 70 also. He was pleased with the 5’s on some holes but not those on the par-4 holes.

Nevertheless his front-9 was tidy enabling him to turn under his handicap.

A concentration lapse on the 11th resulted in a ‘triple’, which was further compounded by a 3-putt bogey on the last hole. One less shot on either of those would have been most welcome.

The C-Grade went to Dave Bernardi who has had a ‘Jekyl and Hyde’ approach to his golf over recent weeks. His 67 nett this week contrasts with some ‘bat raising’ on previous weeks. But his broad smile was infectious to many.

The C-Grade runner-up was Jake Banks with a nett 32. He arrived at the course in a cloud of dust and launched himself onto the course, much to the amusement of his playing group.

His round started well but he found some difficulty on holes 4, 5 and 6 before settling down. His back-9 was marred by three triple-bogeys but offset by a par on the 15th. Such are the ways of golf.

The ball sweep went to 74 nett, going to: 70 – B Carpenter; 71 – J Hemming; 72 – P Wells, S French, T Griffiths; 73 – C Alley, B Woonton, K Tyne, G Falvey, P Duke; 74 – S Skipper, D Mylecharane, A Dukes, P Murphy L Iyer.

The visitors included – Sam Skipper (Guyra), Sam Jarrett (Wagga City), Stephen McAlister (SGA) and Peter Jackson (Coffs Harbour). It was a day of fun for all of them sharing laughs within their groups.

It was good to see Peter back who with wife Patricia are visiting Alf and Marg Leslie. Peter enjoyed his golf among a group of scally-wags.

The NTP’s went to: 9th – D Bernardi, 18th – L Flakelar. Dave could not convert but Luke sank a beauty to bring him back again. There were eight 2’s overall with the 9th and 18th contributing the most and all of those by the A-Graders.

It must have been an easy pin position.

The Super pin on the 3rd hole can be made by a player in form or be a high spot in an otherwise lack-lustre game.

This week it was the former occasion when Phil Wells put his ball to 220 cm from the hole. His keen eye followed the flight and then read the putt well to convert for a ‘2’. What an easy game it is.

Harry Callaghan can claim the ‘Par-3 Champ’ banner this week although there is some debate about that.

He managed to par three of the short holes but on the fourth he scored a ‘2’ so technically he hasn’t parred all four holes. But it was good play indeed.

There were numerous favourable comments about the greens, with many of those being spoken by the visiting Vets players.

The locals did not have it all their own way though as the stories in the ‘Golfie’ included many of the 3- and 4-putt laments.

Scotty had one of those on the 7th where he was on for ‘3’ looking for a birdie and finished with a double-bogey. How does that happen amid pars on either side?

On many of the par-5’s an ‘8’ score was quite common with not too much damage met on the 15th.

A few 9’s were recorded on the 11th hole, perhaps brought about by tree trouble.

And one can only guess at the reason for the ‘9’ by Lachlan Alley on the 6th hole. This hole shapes well for his ‘controlled fade’ by a leftie but something went wrong.

There was an abject lesson for one player in ensuring that Rule 6.3c is clearly understood.

This player had thought his ball had gone OB and correctly played a Provisional ball.

On advancing down the fairway he found what he thought was his first ball and finished the hole with that.

He proceeded to play the next hole before realising it was the wrong ball and was DQ’d. This was a bad day gone worse.

The obvious lesson is to always check your ball, even if you need to mark the spot to lift and verify it. Replace it exactly, without cleaning, to be assured of a good outcome.

Here is the news:

The course is holding up well under the onslaught of golfers, with much credit to the course staff for their work and to the volunteers who are out there also.

With the Ladies WDLGA Tournament next week and the Men's Open at the end of May the Forbes course will be looking for a rest. You can all help by filling in your divot holes and repairing your pitch marks.

There is a working bee scheduled for Sunday 10 May. The aim is to tidy the course so bring rakes, shovels and gloves. More info will be available at the Pro Shop.

This Saturday, 9 May, will be an Individual Stableford playing for the ‘Wilf Hodges Memorial Trophy’, sponsored by the Hodges family. Sunday has the 18-hole Stableford Medley as well as many family activities for ‘Mother’s Day.