MEN'S GOLF By SHORT PUTT The advent of good weather ensured the Forbes golfers were in good spirits to enjoy their golf and do well. This they did with good scores dominating the leaderboard. Saturday’s competition was a Canadian Foursomes, sponsored by Peter Dawson. The field of 66 relished the sunny and warm conditions and did very well on the vastly improved greens from last week. And that number proved prophetic. The Winners were the pairing of Niel Duncan and Stephen Uphill who managed a nett 66. Having similar handicaps ensured the calculations would be easy but also meant their individual play complemented each other. A bogey-bogey start did not look good but after that they tore through the front-9 with pars and a lone birdie on the 6th hole. The back-9 was a bit troublesome with a few mistakes creeping in like the bogey on the 16th when Niel’s second shot put Stephen on the 4th tee with the tee sign in his way. But a birdie-par finish felt good and helped their score. The runners up were the pair of Sam Williams and Jarrod Andrews. They managed a nett 66.5 and took the honours on count back from Barry Parker and Bruce Chandler. Sam and Jarrod started well but they did not fare well on the 6th and 7th holes. Their back-9 was a case of pars interspersed by the odd mistake-ridden hole but they did manage a steady 40-40 split. The ball sweep went to 68 nett on count back, going to: 66.5 – B Parker/B Chandler; 67 – P Tisdell/W Judge, NJ Morrison/J Sharkey; 67.5 – P Duke/T Sharpe; 68 – A Rees/P Kay, L O’Connor/D Mylecharane, A & L Alley, A Quirk/S Betland. There were two visitors – Jarrod Andrews (Mudgee) and Jack Sharkey (Dubbo). Both of them did well. The NTP’s went to: 9th – A Rees; 18th – S Sallaway. Both of them converted for their 2’s. It was a good day on the greens with ten 2’s scored. The 18th managed five of those while one each went to the 1st and the 3rd. The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Ecky Dawson. He was ‘oh so close’ to a hole in one, finishing only 62 cm from the hole. This followed a birdie on the 2nd hole and it looked like he and partner Todd Callaghan were going to eat the field. But golf had its way and they finished out of the prizes. Any foursomes event works best for pairings when they complement each other. While there are no ‘required number of drives’ the format does lean towards a sharing of responsibility for all aspects of the game. The Tee shot is one aspect where complementary skills help. At the end of the day Stevie G and partner Jeff House shared the drives with nine each. But it wasn’t until the 16th hole until Jeff House unleashed his pure driving skill. Alongside them, Jacob Reid was endlessly long all day but partner Jake Banks racked up the ‘frequent flyer points’ with the distance and direction of his drives. In any golfing outing there is a certain amount of psychology in how the game is played. Les Little approached the 9th tee shot with confidence and confidently put his ball into the water. His partner Frank Hanns felt the pressure on his tee shot and with a tight swing cleared the water but finished just short of the green. Using Frank’s tee shot Les stepped up and with his ‘texas wedge’ played the ball without deviation into the hole for a ‘2’. The mental pressure was intense. Harry Callaghan and Cam McMillan had one of those rounds where how they felt about the game did not reflect on the score card. They bemoaned a ‘rough finish’ when in fact their ‘par, bogey’ par, par’ scores meant they finished on 36 for the back-9 and recorded two birdies previously. An example of good complementary play was provided by Pete Cowhan and Brodie Hodges. They managed to ‘eagle’ the 6th hole and followed that with a par on the 7th. However, this play only partially balanced out the bogeys they had on each of the three par-3’s on the front-9. Putting seemed to be much better this week across the board, as evidenced by the upwards jump in the number of 2’s scored. But some found it difficult to read the green. There were numerous lip-outs or shaved holes which meant that quite a few teams could easily have been three or four shots better. Jeff House had at least three lip-outs and Jacob Reid had one on the 17th that would have benefitted his pairing. Some players did play with a heavy burden. Peter Grayson felt good at the outset but somehow managed to ‘do something’ to his back. This meant that he could not swing with a full follow through thus hampering his shot making. His partner Max Haley was very tired by the end of the day. Another burden was faced by Jacob Reid and Jake Banks. They stood on the 18th tee needing a hole-in-one to record a ‘101’ score. This was a consequence of a lip-out on the previous hole. Alas their desire was not fulfilled and they could only manage a bogey. There was no interest in a Stableford Medley comp on Sunday but a few players hit the course on Monday to compete. All the participants scored around their handicap with the winner being Adam Andrews with 37 points. Brad Ashton finished second on 36 points helped along by an ‘eagle’ on the 8th hole thanks to holing his approach shot. The NTP’s went to: 9th – H Callaghan, 18th – W Gunn. All these players look in form for the Championships. Here is the News: The TaylorMade Equipment Fitting day held on Wednesday, 8 October had good interest. For those that missed out contact Head Pro Will to get an update on the new goodies. Players are advised that the Mixed Foursomes Championships originally set for Sunday, 26 October has been moved to Sunday, 2 November. The original date clashed with a Ladies comp so hopefully there will be a good field now. During last week H/Pro Will took a group to the Young Pro-Am, played over 36-holes. In blustery conditions the scoring was haphazard at best. Will finished in the middle of the Pro field which was won by Andrew Evans at 7-under, with the Pro scores extending to 20-over. The Forbes players, Caleb Hanrahan, Dave Quirk and Archie Quirk, acquitted themselves well. Archie had a good event grabbing the 36-hole Junior Stableford prize. It is crystal ball time: Saturday, 11 October is Round 1 of the Club Champs with Round 2 to be played on Sunday, 12 October, sponsored by Lachlan Commodities. A Daily comp will be played in conjunction with the Championship rounds, sponsored by Green Microbes.
