MEN'S GOLF

By SHORT PUTT

The Forbes golfers took advantage of warm conditions last weekend to post some good scores. Good humour prevailed with very few ‘disaster’ holes.

The men's competition on Saturday was an 18-Hole Individual Stableford event, sponsored by Forbes Bus Lines.

While much of the field of 67 players hit off early there were many who enjoyed the conditions right through the day, with all keen to enjoy refreshment in the ‘Golfie’ afterwards.

The Div-1 was won by Clayton Alley who put together a good score of 41 points. He fired on the front-9 turning on 24 points after a lightning start with a ‘2’ on the first hole.

His back-9 was less exciting but he held it together with a 2-pointer on the 16th (from the 4th fairway) after scoring a ‘miss’ on the 15th.

The Div-1 runner-up was Dean Fairley with a tidy 39 points. His game was more even with a 20-19 split.

His back-9 had a few too many 1-pointers but he was thrilled to have scored ‘eagles’ on both the 6th and 15th holes. He was also pleased to ‘get the nod’ after a count back with Doug Churchill.

The Div-2 was won by Greg Hanns with a score of 38 points. He was well pleased to get a decent score on the board after his ‘game’ had been trending upwards lately. Also pleasing was the 21 points he scored on the back-9 and not one ‘miss’ all day.

The Div-2 runner-up was Adrian Cole on 37 points. He also played a steady hand. His front-9 was going well but faltered with a couple of 1-pointers to the turn.

His back-9 also went well but either a lack of concentration or a cold putter produced a few 1-pointers before he rallied to storm home.

The ball sweep went to 33 points on count back, going to: 39 – D Churchill; 38 – D Mylecharane; 37 – A Alley, W Gunn, A Dukes; 36 – D Burton, H Callaghan; 35 – A Carlisle, D Page, J Reid, N Duncan, B Dunne; 34 – M Walton, K Herbert, D Earl, R Smith; 33 – S Uphill.

The visitors included – Simon Flynn (Mudgee), B Isbester (Wentworth) and R Smith (Nelson Bay) who enjoyed their day but could not crack a winning score.

The NTP’s went to: 9th – A Rees, 18th – B Hayes, both of whom converted for 2’s.

The conditions helped the players to manage nine 2’s overall. Both the 3rd and 9th yielded three each while the only ‘2’ on the 18th was scored by a Div-2 player.

Scoring pars on all the par-3’s does help the card and is not often achieved. However Paul Kay managed it this week to keep his score ticking over.

Clayton Alley was in the groove with two par-3’s alongside two 2’s so he shot under-par for all par-3’s. For both of his 2’s he holed good putts with a fine effort on the 3rd from outside 2 metres beaten by Brett Slack-Smith’s effort.

The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Brett Slack-Smith with a shot to 190 cm. He played in the mid-field and bested two other good shots. His shot excited his group but Brett remained calm. On the green he calmly slotted his putt for a ‘2’.

There were the usual comments after the game. Many players had a good front-9 but faltered on the back-9. For some players that could be as a result of finding the water on the 15th as Stevie G did.

H/Pro Will had a good game scoring level par on the front-9 then going 3-under on the back-9. Playing alongside him Caleb Hanrahan used up all of his bad shots to save his better shots for the Pennants on the following day.

Dale Page started okay but then got into problems with his putting. Harry Callaghan, the ‘Hurricane’ in the Div-1 Pennants team, had watched closely and suggested a minor change to Dale’s grip. Hey presto! it worked and Dale scored 2- and 3-pointers thereafter.

Also scoring well were those who recorded an ‘eagle’. Dean Fairley grabbed two (6th, 15th), and Dave ‘Mullie’, Andy Dukes and Ecky Dawson all grabbed on each on the 6th. For Ecky that meant giving a shot back on his +1 handicap.

The Ladies Summer Stableford Comp on Saturday was contested by five players. Ann Simmons went one better than last week and was the winner with 35 points. Jenny Fletcher picked up a ball with 32 points, while Deb Tilley grabbed the NTP on the 9th.

PENNANTS

The men's Pennants teams are doing Forbes proud with another solid performance by against Parkes at Cowra.

This week was important as they each have the bye next week so needed to consolidate their position at the top of the groups.

The Div-1 team recorded a 3-2 win. Leading them was Caleb Hnarahan (4/3), with John Betland (7/6), and Harry ‘Hurricane’ Callaghan (4/3) recording wins. Both Steve Betland and Brad Ashton nearly got there but both lost 1-down.

The Div-2 team recorded a 5-0 whitewash. Dave Mylecharane (3/2). Dan Bayley (6/5), Dean Fairley (7/6), Tim West (5/4) all had easy wins. Ben Robinson got his money’s worth with a win on the 19th hole.

The Div-3 team had an unfortunate loss. Troy Howe and Andy Cogswell both won 3/2, but Matt Roylance and Sandy Paterson both lost 3/2. Jacob Reid almost got there but unfortunately lost on the 19th.

Selection for the team to play the finals will be hard in all three teams as all of the available players have shown good form.

This is a good headache for the captains to have.

The Div-1 and Div-2 teams are assured of a place in the finals after each recorded wins every round.

Div-3 after their loss have to wait for the results of this weekend’s round being held at Forbes and where they have a bye. It will be tight but they may squeak into the finals.

The finals will be held at Wentworth on Sunday, 8 March where the first placed teams in the divisions of each pool will play.

Pool A comprises Bathurst, Blayney, Cowra, Forbes and Parkes. Pool B comprises Dubbo, Duntryleague, Mudgee, Wellington and Wentworth.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Taylor-Made Equipment Day on Friday 27 Feb is still on. Times are available for the morning so contact H/Pro Will the Pro Shop if you are interested.

The golf programme booklet is available from the Pro Shop so pick up a copy when you net visit. The eagle-eyes among you will pick up the error on page 11 (there is no Monthly Medal on Sun 1 March, and page 19 where the sponsor listed is for the comp on 31 Oct.

Players are remined to sign their card. One unfortunate player with a winning score had to be DQ’ed because he forgot to sign his card. The card, not the computer, is the official record and must be completed correctly.

It is crystal ball time:

This Saturday, 28 February, will be a 4BBB Stableford event sponsored by Highlands Design.

Following the presentation will be a farewell for H/Pro Will Gunn. On Sunday the course will be closed in the morning as Forbes hosts the Men's Pennants but will be open in the afternoon for the Stableford Medley and social play.

VETS GOLF

The first Lachlan Valley veteran golfers event for the year proved very popular with 64 golfers from six clubs contesting the day played on a very green Condobolin layout.

Turned out in top condition by club staff and benefiting from a recent and much needed 40mm of rain, the course was testing at times with the best score of the day 37 stableford points.

Parkes' Phil Smith, making a rare appearance on the vets circuit, found conditions to his liking to win A grade with 36 points, one better than local Brad Hurley who came out on top in a four-way count-back.

The B grade winner was the cagey Condo member Jimmy Clyburn shooting the day's top score of 37 points, with West Wyalong's Colin Hope one back on 36.

Jimmy's preparation was similar to one of the trotting team plunges as he hadn't had a hit since December 8 (and form unknown) but still had enough in hand to get the money.

In the team's event - best three scores - local knowledge again paved the way for Condo to get the win with 109 points from runners-up Parkes on 103. West Wyalong was third on 96 points followed by Forbes 94, Grenfell 87 and Bogan Gate 53.

Nearest-to-pins in A and B grade were won by Kim Herbert of Forbes and Parkes' Mick Smith, while Brad Hurley completed a good day winning the All Grades prize.

Ball winners from Parkes and Forbes were Peter Barnes (F) and Ian Phipps, Mick Smith and Dale Stait (P)

This week the twin-towns competition resumes at Forbes - registrations from 9.00 for a 9.30am shot-gun start.

In a first last Tuesday morning on the 12-hole comp - Warwick Judge and Neal Herbert equal on 25 points - could not be separated.

Hot on their heels were Alex Mackinnon 24 and Peter Scholefield 22 with the rest of the 13 starters within four shots.

With only this week to go for the Top Dog February monthly medal the big question is who can catch ‘Scadger’ (Barry Parker)?

Mr Parker sits atop the leader board with 70 points, followed by Ted Morgan 66 and Neal Herbert 64. The rest may have to wait another month to collect the Tuesday cash.

Tuesday social golf open to all, ball toss at 9am, if interested coffee to follow.

SUMMER SIXERS

By SMOOTH SWINGER

Scores in the 16th week of the Forbes Golf Club Summer Sixers competition showed that teams were trying their best to position for the finals.

Two teams managed a score under 100 with both scoring 98 – Midpro (Gp 3) with a win over ‘Bogeys on Barrys’ and Elders Insurance (Gp 2) with a win over Globe Hotel who still managed a 101 but have slipped to third spot.

This has really tightened the race for 3rd and 4th spot in those two groups. Groups 1 and 4 have clear contenders for the 4th spot but you never know.

In Gp 1 the leaders ‘Still Trying’ (110) took another loss, this time to ‘Optimists’ (106.5) but still lead the group by a half point from Murray’s Mates.

In Gp 2 ‘Flip Floppers’ (112.5) kept their lead with a win over Lenny’s Lawn Care (128.5). The Duffers (105) kept 2nd spot with a win over Walkers (108). Gp3 has Bump and Rums well ahead of F Troop, and Gp 4 sees Sandbaggers (104.5) with a win stay marginally ahead of Shankaholics (107).

Other good scores were a 104 by F-Troop to account for Six Appeal (106) and cement second spot in Gp3. Murray’s Mates (108.5) did well with a win over Gunn Golf (113.5) who faltered a little.

The best member score was by Alan McLennan (Globe Hotel with 29.5 nett and trying to keep his team alive). The best non-member score of 30.5 nett was by Judy Hodge (Duffers). The ball sweep went to 35.5.

With only one week to go the race to make the Top-4 in each group and head into the main draw is quite tight in many groups. Those who slip into the Plate Draw will still have a competition with more time to record a low score.

Remember that fun is the primary focus.