MEN'S GOLF By SHORT PUTT Amidst beautiful summer weather the Forbes golfers were out in numbers to enjoy their recreation. It was made even more pleasant with the absence of annoying flies. On Saturday, the competition was the annual ‘Righties vs Lefties’ Individual Stableford Medley, sponsored by Steve Grallelis. The field comprised 75 players, all keen to see which was the stronger side of the ball. The trophy was won by the ‘Righties’ in the closest encounter for a few years. Their score of 124.29 was marginally better than the ‘Lefties’ 122.0, in a compilation where every player’s score contributes. The ‘Lefties’ had a few scores in the top brackets but unfortunately missed a couple of good contenders in Alf Davies and Al Rees. The ‘Righties’ score was affected by the high number of their players at the very bottom of the listings. The Div-1 was won by Warwick Judge, a Rightie, with 40 points. He built his game on steady improvement through the front-9 and relished the challenge on the back-9 where he recorded a birdie on the 15th for a 4-pointer. The Div-1 Runner-up was Reggie Murray, also a Rightie, with 38 points. He carded 36 Scratch on each half resulting in 19 points for each half. There were no 4-pointers on his score card but he used his only two strokes well with a par on each of the 7th and 11th holes for 3-points each. The Div-2 was won by Mark Simmonds with the best score of the day being 41 points. This helped his ‘Lefties’ team immensely. He did not start well with two 1-pointers but then steadied and like Warwick really enjoyed the back-9 where he had no ‘misses’ and managed a 4-pointer on the 16th. The Div-2 Runner-up was Cooper Byrnes who managed 37 points to help the ‘Righties’. Cooper started with a flyer on the front-9 scoring 23 points. But he stumbled on the back-9 carding numerous 1’s and 2’s and finished with a ‘miss’ on the 18th. The ball sweep went to 34 points, going to: 38 – B Parker; 37 – A Matthews, A Grierson, C Alley; 36 – S Paterson, J LeBrocque, B Thomas, S Uphill, J Shaw, C Hanrahan; 35 - F Melisi, T Morgan, K Tyne, K Herbert; 34 – T West, B Everest, P Tisdell, P Pymont, D Mylecharane. There were a number of visitors including: Brad Hazell (Ramah GC), K Boland & N Boland (Devonport GC), M Boland (Tamworth), R & B Beacroft (Kiama), R Langlands (Murrumbidgee CC) and A Boland (Wentworth GC). The NTP’s went to: 9th – A Dukes; 18th – B Ashton. Andy missed his ‘2’ but Brad had no troubles with his, slotting the shortest of putts after his tee shot had rolled agonisingly close to the hole. There were eight 2’s with none scored by Div-2 players. Surprisingly the 1st yielded three of them. The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Rob Langlands (Murrumbidgee) with a shot to 279 cm. He missed the ‘2’ but the prize was a welcome surprise after his less than accomplished play. His was the only name on the card despite being in the first group of the day. Interestingly Josh Coulthurst managed the only ‘2’ on this hole so he must have dropped a real bomb. Quite a few players returned after the festive season break. Doug Churchill was one and had managed to blow enough dust off his clubs to return a mediocre score. George Falvey was also back into the swing. The family Boland Group had come from afar to see relations in Forbes. They enjoyed their golf and the celebrations but found the small greens and trees quite troublesome. It was good to see them here. On Sunday a small group played in the Stableford Medley. Matt Roylance was the best of the group scoring 32 points to take the accolades. Earlier in the week there was another small group who contested the Wednesday Stableford Medley Comp. Again, the scores did not ascend to the stars, but it was a good hit out. Caleb Hanrahan took the prize with 33 points, the only one who played to score above 30 points. By the look of these scores anybody who plays near their handicap should be a certain winner. Get out there and prove this theory correct. Here is the News: The Men's CWDGA Pennants commences on Sunday 2 Feb for Div 2 and 3 and Sunday 16 Feb for Div 1. We do not have a Div 4 team this year. If you are interested in competing then contact the Pro Shop to find out the Captain for your appropriate Division. The Summer Sixes competition re-commenced last week, being Week 9, with the results calculated on Sun 12 Jan. A few teams were not able to get a score in but among those who did there were some very good scores. There is some good golf being shown on local tv through the summer. Among some of the Aust PGA events being shown is the Webex Series. The next events are Victoria, then Cobram on the Murray and Victoria again. Don’t forget the Vic Open and the NZ Open in late February. While we won’t have Cam Smith or Lucas Herbert the calibre of golf in these events is high indeed. The Golf Programme 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, 18 Jan, will be an Individual Stroke event, sponsored by Steele Tech. It could be a daunting task in hot weather, but an easy day in cooler weather. And there is the usual Sunday Stableford Medley comp. VETS GOLF Twin Towns veteran golfers were in lower numbers than expected from the host club Parkes, last Thursday with the word around most swapped their golf shoes for blue suede dancers honouring the birthday of world famous Elvis Presley at his downtown festival. One who took his chicken moves to the course was popular Parkes member John Fowler on song early in the new year to post 39 points winning by two from the inform Forbes member Ken Walton next best with 37 points. Parkes did have success, Gordon Pritchard was sent home with the encouragement award vowing the improve as the year progresses. Nearest the pins. 11th to Forbes members Kim Herbert (A), Frank Hanns (B). 4th A grade Nym Dziuba (P), no B grader found the green. Twin towns shield, Forbes with 17 players to select their best six scores 211 points to Parkes’ (nine reps) 204. Ball sweep to 34 points. 36 Steve Uphill (F), 35 Rob Staples (P), Frank Hanns (F), Jeff Moon (F), 34 Lindsay Elliott (P), John Pearce (P), Don McKeowen (F), Alex MacKinnon (F), Andrew Grierson (F), Kim Herbert (F). Next round in the twin towns shield will be in Forbes on Thursday, nominations from 8.30am for a 9am shot gun start. All invited to play.
