MEN'S GOLF

By SHORT PUTT

The Forbes golfers were out early to make the most of the cooler conditions on Saturday and hopefully assist compiling a winning score.

The men's competition on Saturday was an 18-Hole 4BBB Stableford event, sponsored by Knights Fabrications.

The field of 63 players were all off and running by 10am. During the games quite a few enjoyed the water available at the 6th hole with some players dousing themselves under the tap.

The winners were the pairing of Dave Mylecharane and Dan Burton who totalled 46 points.

Individually they were mediocre with both struggling on the front-9. But in combination they excelled with 20 on the front-9 and 26 on the back-9.

The back-9 success was primarily due to Dan’s efforts with an opening 4-pointer and another courtesy of an ‘eagle’ on the 15th.

The runners-up were the father-son duo of Kim and Cam Herbert who produced a steady 45 points, comfortably ahead of a group of four pairs on 43 points.

The ball sweep went to 41 points on count back, going to: 43 – Paterson/Staines, Coulthurst/Dwyer, Rees/Kirkman, Carlisle/J Hayden; 42 – Hanrahan/Hogan, W Judge/K Sanderson, Duncan/B Thomas; 41 – L Baker/H Steele-Park.

The NTP’s went to: 9th – S Thomas, 18th – W Judge. Warwick converted for a ‘2’ but Stuart missed his but did have a ‘2’ on the 3rd. There were five 2’s overall spread across all par-3s. Caleb Hanrahan produced a fine effort on the 1st hole.

The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Todd Callaghan with a shot to 373 cm. Unfortunately, he missed his ‘2’ but not by much, depending on which side of the hole you were standing. Todd is making a habit of scoring the Super pin having won it recently before.

When playing as an individual it is very important to have a good start.

Luckily, in the teams format one player can falter while another does well and overall score well. It is a bit tough when the successful player has to carry the weight from the 1st tee shot.

One pairing had that problem. The first player miscued his tee shot and did not get past the ladies tee.

His second shot was topped into the long grass immediately ahead of him. His third shot struck the big gum on the left and almost came back to meet him.

A few more tribulations occurred and that player recorded a ‘snowman’.

Playing down the fairway is often said to be the best approach to a good score. But some players seem to disregard that. Here are a couple of examples.

On the 4th tee Scadger Parker lost control of his tee shot and it skipped into the paddock on the right of the trees and close to the penalty area. He chipped out, then played through the gap in the trees, across the ‘wee dam’ and towards the green. A tidy chip and one putt ensured a 2-pointer. Who needs fairways?

Shayne Staines tried to overpower the 15th. His drive went down the left hand rough which being dry allowed for plenty of run. His second shot required a line towards the 10th tee but with a curling draw to bring it around the trees.

He did manage that except that it curled too quickly, struck the left-hand trees on the green side of the penalty area from where the ball shot back to the dried mud. His provisional ball was better but also nestled among the trees. At least he was able to recover his first ball.

Having a dry water area can be quite useful. Jeff House played the 10th down the fairway, of sorts, but did utilise the bounce off the dry water-bed to propel his ball onto the fairway. Not his usual shot but he did manage to scramble ‘2’ points.

Sandy Paterson surprised himself on the 15th. When playing his second shot on that hole he quite often, nay let us say usually, sends his ball towards the 10th tee, and sometimes finishing close to the 9th green.

This week he drove the cart across the bridge and veered towards the 10th tee. But then he remembered that his ball had actually followed much of the fairway so he had to change direction towards the green.

Another out of luck was Stevie G. Last week he fired a beautiful shot to the 14th green for a marvelous result. But this week he played a well-crafted but totally unexpected “shank” on the 13th, from which he was unable to recover both mentally and physically.

With the hot conditions there was no play in the Wednesday Medley Comp.

Here is the news:

Players are reminded to manage your activity during the intense heat days we have been experiencing.

Make sure you have plenty of water with you and that you drink it. If you have problems in the heat then even consider not playing. Far better to rest quietly at home than be treated for heat exhaustion in the hospital.

On Sunday the men's CWDGA Pennants competition started. Play was at Duntryleague with no home games in the draw for this year.

All three Forbes teams managed a win although the full results were not known. Round 2 will be played at Bathurst with Forbes teams facing Cowra.

Players are reminded to take care of the bird scarers found on the side of some greens.

With the dry conditions throughout the watered green grass of the golf course are a beacon. If you find a device lying on the ground please stand it up, facing the green. If you need to move it to play your shot please return it once you have done.

For these devices to be effective in minimising damage by birds on the greens it is important that they are functional.

Laying them down means water from the sprinklers can get in and damage the circuit boards. Do your best to keep the greens in good order.

Do not forget the Taylor-Made Equipment Day on Friday 27 Feb organised by H/Pro Will. If you are interested check in the Pro Shop to see if there is a time available for the morning.

I reminder to clean out your Pro Shop account and take advantage of the sale being offered.

The program booklet for 2026-27 is being printed so will be available soon.

It is crystal ball time:

This Saturday, 7 February, will be the Monthly Medal Individual Stroke event, sponsored by Terry Bros Carpets. Don’t forget your sunscreen and plenty of water. And there is the usual Sunday Stableford Medley comp.

SIXES GOLF

By SMOOTH SWINGER

The 13th week of the Forbes Golf Club Summer Sixers competition was lucky for most players this week, although a couple of teams just needed a bit more luck.

This week only one team managed a score under 100. That was by ‘F Troop’ in Group 3 with a very welcome 98.5.

They topped over ‘Bump and Rums’ who had posted a competitive 105 which would have been a win on any other day. The next best scores were by Forbes Auto with 101 who zipped past EHAG, followed by Gunn Golf with 102 who did the same to Birdie Babes.

The Globe Hotel team were feeling good and wanting to bounce back from their defeat last week. But they needed a bit more bounce as their 104.5 was only good enough to claim a draw with Haig’s Heroes.

One less putt somewhere would have made the difference. Also to finish with a draw was Group 1 leaders ‘Still Trying’. They had 103.5 and drew with ‘Murray’s Mates’, thereby retaining their narrow (?) lead of over five points.

Another result worthy of mention was the two shot win by Flip Floppers (107) over Walkers (109).

This kept them ahead in Group 2 by a slim margin 1.5 points. Group 4 remains a tight contest with Sandbaggers and Shankaholics only one point apart but well ahead of third place.

The best member score was by Shayne Staines (Walkers AgnVet) with 31.5 nett. The best non-member score of 30 nett was by Terry Bokeyar (F Troop) who claims he can now rest for the remainder of the comp.

The weather looks like being more enjoyable this week so there should be more competitive scoring being posted. Don’t forget there are two more weeks of normal handicap adjustment before the final two weeks when handicaps are ‘half-frozen’.

Remember to drink plenty of water, and also have fun.

VETS GOLF

The day was hot and scoring a degree hotter when Forbes' Steve Edwards put together a great round of 40 points to take the honors at last week's twin-towns golf competition played at Parkes.

The forecast 42 degrees saw players numbers down - 20 teed-off for the event - and carts the order of the day however the general consensus was "it was not all that bad on course".

"The temperature was 37 degrees when play finished and an hour later 44 degrees; playing early definitely paid off," said Parkes club captain Rob Lea.

Runner-up and only a point back was the consistent Ted Morgan from Forbes with 39 points, with Murray Jackson two points back in third place.

Murray and his brother Tony were welcomed as much needed new blood to the Parkes vets, while Steve Grace and Lennie Wilkes made the trip from Grenfell to enjoy 18 holes on the Parkes course.

Parkes had a rare win in the twin-towns shield by 215 points to Forbes' 196.

Forbes' Alan Rees was a happy man in breaking his duck to win the encouragement award, and the balls he won - he also got nearest-to-pin on the fourth hole - made up for what was a struggle over the 18 holes.

Parkes players won the remaining NTPs with Mick Bond the B grade winners on the fourth hole and Lindsay Elliott and Tony Jackson the A and B grade winners on the 11th hole.

The ball sweep went to 35 points with winners as follows: 36 - Dale Stait (P); 35 - Rob Lea, Mick Bond and Ken Keith.

Forbes hosts this week's twin-town event - registrations from 9am for the 9.30 shot-gun start.

The BG scribe reports only four fool-hardy players braved the heat last Tuesday morning with Peter Barnes getting the win with 23 points for the 12 holes.

He said it was a "blanket finish" for the minor placings.

The morning was also the last for the inaugural Top Dog (monthly award) with winner Barry Shine not having to play a shot to win the award.

He and runner-up Ken Sanderson did not play on the day, however with enough points in the bag from previous rounds Barry (78 points) prevailed by one point.