MEN'S GOLF

By SHORT PUTT

The Forbes golfers enjoyed the sunshine but the hot conditions and blustery winds made conditions throughout the Christmas and New Year quite challenging.

However there were some outstanding scoring among the many golf competitions played.

Last Saturday, the competition was the annual ‘Righties vs Lefties’ Individual Stableford Medley, sponsored by Steve Grallelis. The field comprised 47 players, with almost all starting before 9.30 am to beat the forecast heat.

The trophy was won by the ‘Righties’ in yet another close encounter and with a margin closer than last year. Their score of 117.9 was marginally better than the ‘Lefties’ 116.0, in a compilation where every player’s score contributes.

The ‘Lefties’ were led by an outstanding performance by Barry Shine but a few more ‘leftie’ players to help the scoring would have won them the trophy. The ‘Righties’ score benefitted from some Ladies scores but overall could have done better.

The Div-1 was won by Barry Shine, a Leftie, with 40 points which was the best score of the day. He built his game on steady play that found the fairway nearly every time and kept the ball below the wind. There were no 4-pointers on his card but conversely only two 1-pointers.

The Div-1 runner-up was Jake LeBrocque, a Rightie, with 36 points. He generally scored well but did have three ‘misses’ which were probably the deciding factor. That is if you ignore the ‘wipe’ on the 1st hole due to an uncontrollable ball.

The Div-2 was won by Cooper Byrnes with a score of 39 points and one position better than last year when he was a ’bridesmaid’.

He had a game of missed opportunities with four 1-pointers due to ‘putting fog’ and a few too many 2-pointers which he could not convert into 3-pointers.

The Div-2 runner-up was Steve Grallelis who managed 36 points to help the ‘Righties’. He had an unsettled start on the first four holes but thereafter scored well on the front-9. His back-9 was steady all the way but a lapse on the 17th green to record no points did not please him.

The Ladies Div was won by Ann Simmons with 34 points. Her steady play with low flighted shots earned her good rewards.

The ball sweep went to 32 points on count back, going to: 36 – N Duncan; 35 – A Moon; 34 – D Mylecharane; 33 – NJ Morrison, S Betland, J Reid, J Coulthurst, S Sallaway, W Simmons: 32 – A Hogan. There were no visitors.

The NTP’s went to: Men - 9th D Mylecharane, 18th NJ Morrison; Ladies – both to B Duncan. They all missed their ‘2’.

As expected under those conditions the 2’s were hard to grab with only four scored and most of those on the 3rd hole. Barry Parker got the lone ‘2’ on the 18th with a putt that was well outside the NTP marker.

The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Shane Sallaway with a shot to 70 cm. The blustery wind conditions played havoc with any high shot so he must have controlled the ball flight well to get so close. It made his ‘2’ very easy.

With no ‘Golfie’ open for hospitality most golfers scattered after the games. But the outstanding story from the event was Barry Shine’s scoring. He scored 20 points on each half. Tree trouble on the 4th and the 15th led to his only two 1-pointers.

But otherwise it was a pleasure to watch for the others in his group. In this group Brian Everest must have been bedazzled and failed to score as he picked up the “Encouragement Award’ across the whole field, if we had such a trophy.

Through the Christmas-New Year period there was quite a bit of golf played. A brief summary of the comps played follows:

On Saturday the January Monthly Medal was played, attracting a field 60 players. Scores were either very good or quite bad with not much in between.

The A-Grade winner was Luke Flakelar with an outstanding 64 nett. His front-9 was a birdie-fest while his back-9 saw bogeys on half the holes. But 2-under on the par-5s was satisfying.

Runner-up was Dave Mylecharane with 68 nett. He has been trialling a range of fittings for his driver and found the answer.

The B-Grade winner was Dale Page with 68 nett. He can thank his putter for saving him from disaster on a few holes and Sandy Paterson for his buoyant encouragement.

The runner-up here was Brodie Acret with 69 nett. He struggled on the par-5’s and was up-and-down elsewhere.

The C-Grade winner was Adam Andrews with 67 nett. His round was inspirational on the back-9 where four pars helped his score.

The runner-up was Steven Rogers with 73 nett. His front-9 had a few ‘snowmen’ on it but he was pleased to finish better than many others.

The NTP’s went to: 9th – P Duke, 18th – H Callaghan with both converting for 2’s.

An outstanding ‘2’ was scored by Sandy Paterson on the 1st hole. The Super Pin was won by Andy Dukes with a shot to 400 cm. Quite a way off but it was windy.

An interesting item shows the foibles of golf. Brad Ashton had a horror start being 8-over after seven holes. Then two birdies to finish the front-9 followed by pars, an eagle and a birdie on the back-9 meant he finished 2-over and a nett of 72.

Thursday 1 January had a Stableford Medley where a small field participated. The winner with 37 points was Andrew Dukes, well ahead of the runner-up Brian Everest on 31 points.

Saturday 27 December had an Individual Stableford with 62 players in the field and relatively benign weather.

The Div-1 winner was Jacob Reid with 43 points. He scorched the front-9 and kept his form on the back-9. Runner-up was Troy Howe with 40 points. He was well nourished after the Christmas dinner and ended his round with a ‘2’ on the 18th.

The Div-2 winner was Rob Scott with 37 points, on count back. He was genuinely surprised to do well, scoring well on the par-5’s.

Runner-up was Matt Walton who had an early start. His blinding front-9 was on a wave which unfortunately dumped him on the back-9 where a ‘miss’ on the 12th hole may have cost him the main prize.

The Betland family were on the score sheet with Scott Betland (Wagga Wagga) grabbing the Super Pin. His shot to 196 cm did not yield a ‘2’.

Boxing Day had a Stableford Medley with 10 players in the field. The winner was Sam Williams with 44 points and thanks to a very tidy back-9.

Runner-up was Dave Quirk who beat Archie Quirk in a count back for the ball sweep. A notable winner of the NTP on the 9th was Sheena Gunn, showing where H/Pro Will got his talent from.

A couple of Wednesday Stableford Medleys were played.

On 31 December the field of 11 scored well. The winner was Wendy Simmons (41 pts) just ahead of runner-up Mark Simmonds (40 pts) who got there on count back over Lee Grierson.

On 24 December the field of 16 were spread out over the day and buoyed by four visitors from Cromer and two other visitors. The winner was Cam McMillan with 40 points who finished ahead of Zach Toole (Cromer) and Brad Ashton both on 39. Shane Sallaway managed to earn a ball, while Sheena Gunn did better than Will Gunn.

On 17 December the field was small but enthusiastic. Ann-Maree Gaffney won the day with 32 points ahead of Ethan Gaffney and Wendy Simmons.

Here is the news:

This week H/Pro Will is taking the Lachlan Valley Junior team to Canberra to play their game in the Golf NSW “Encourage Shield” Individual Handicap Match play event.

It will be tough for them but great experience for the team comprising players from Forbes, Trundle and Parkes. Full results will be available next week.

The Men's CWDGA Pennants will start in February with more information yet to be provided. This year Caleb Hanrahan has the mantle for ‘Pennants Organiser’ and will be in touch to organise the teams.

Don’t forget to catch up on some of the good golf being shown on local tv through the summer.

These include the Webex Series and the Vic Open and the NZ Opens in late February. At the recent Webex Series event held in Perth a Junior player scored an eagle on the 18th hole.

That player was Courtney Houston, daughter of a previous Forbes Pro Simon Houston.

The Golf Program booklet is in preparation and hopefully will be available before the end of February. For that month please refer to the Pro Shop for the upcoming competitions.

It is crystal ball time:

This Saturday, 17 January, will be an Individual Stroke event, sponsored by Steele Tech. Hopefully the weather will be cooler allowing for comfortable conditions and good scoring. And there is the usual Sunday Stableford Medley comp.

SUMMER SIXERS

By SMOOTH SWINGER

The Christmas-New Year break seemed to help many of the teams in the Forbes Golf Club Summer Sixers competition as scoring was quite good in Round 10 of the competition.

Four teams managed a score under 100 while four teams were unable to post a score. Across the board the winning scores were around the 104 to 107 range. But there was little change in the leader boards.

The best score of the round was 92 by Midpro who took ‘F Troop’ to the cleaners despite them scoring 101.5 which is normally a winning score. HD&SI did well to score 99 but were beaten by Forbes Auto with 96. Six Appeal posted 94 which was more than enough to take care of Bump and Runs (110.5).

And still Globe Hotel remain unbeaten and lead Gp 2 with an unchanged lead over Flip Floppers. In Gp 1 Still Trying remain ahead and maintain their lead over Murray’s Mates. No change also in Gp 3 with Bump and Rums ahead of F Troop. In Gp 4 Shankaholics have reduced their deficit behind Group leaders Sandbaggers despite only managing a tie.

The smallest winning margin was 2 strokes, recorded by LITT (102.5) over Sandbaggers (104.5). In other close games the Duffers edged past Haig’s Heroes and Still Trying accounted for Gunns Golf.

The best member score was by Sarah Black (Duffers) with 31 nett. The best non-member score of 29.5 nett was by Tim Prior (Six Appeal) who beat his team mate Nathan Suringa on count back.

As the school holidays continue things may be a bit haphazard but the weather should hold allowing for plenty of run and good scores.

The year 2026 has started in fine fashion for some.

VETS GOLF

Yes, it was hot but not unbearable last Thursday as 15 brave veteran golfers played the first twin towns challenge for 2026 in Forbes.

With limited numbers no twin challenge was recorded but that did not stop the talented Forbes ‘leftie’ in Ross Williams top scoring with 35 points, while keeping it in the host club Bruce Chandler was runner-up with 33 points on a countback from yet another Forbes rep in newly elected club captain Ken Walton.

There was an encouragement award, that went to yet another Forbes player in Alex Mackinnon who openly stated, “I got 28 points playing 12 holes on Tuesday, a different story over 18 holes today,” the happy chappy commented.

There was some joy for the visitors with Robert J Lea snaring nearest the pin on the 18th while at the 9th it was the much travelled Bogan Gate record club champion Don McKeowen now playing out of the Forbes club.

Golf this Thursday in Parkes and with cooler weather on the forecast it is expected enough will play to record the first twin town challenge. Noms from 8.45am for a 9.30am shotgun start. Contact the Parkes Pro Shop, 6862 2044.

From the ever reliable BG scribe where Tuesday 12 hole social golfers are now playing for a monthly accumulated trophy.

Scores for each week will be added at the end of the month where the winner will receive a voucher, not for two to the Masters but similar, along the lines of the cost of a Hot Dog … not inside the ropes but outside the front gate.

But still, a win over some crafty ‘ol gadgers is worth talking about, so stay tuned as to results. Remember the more times you play the better chance of taking home, shall we call it the Hot Dog trophy.

After our first round for January the leaders are two of the big hitters in Tuesday golf, not necessarily on the fairways but still a good ride from the tee. They are Ken Walton (the winner last week) on a countback from Alex Mackinnon after both recorded 28 points.

Ken Sanderson is two points behind with a fist full of players another point in arrears.

The scribe has asked that all who score the card put in full names and to make sure they sign the book outside the Pro Shop to help with Hot Dog scoring.