MEN'S GOLF

By SHORT PUTT

The annual staging of the Forbes Nissan Classic weekend was bathed in sunshine throughout, accompanied by a shifting breeze that sometimes kept the flies away but also made scoring difficult.

The major event was held on Sunday with the running of the Classic Stroke Event.

The field of 118, including ladies, had representatives from 17 clubs with 38 visitors attending. They all enjoyed a course in tip top condition, greens that were deceptively quick in places and good hospitality afterwards.

Joint-organiser Tony Cogswell welcomed all the visitors and thanked Frank Spice Nissan, the Forbes Shire Council, and the other sponsors that help make the event possible.

Prizes were offered for Scratch, Handicap and Stableford across three Grades in the Men and one Division in the Ladies. Additionally there were NTP’s on the par-3’s and a couple of novelty shots with ‘Nearest 2nd shot’ being awarded.

The Men's A-Grade Scratch winner, and holder of the Nissan Classic Trophy, was Caleb Hanrahan who managed a 69 on the day.

On his front-9 pars were his worst score with only 5 accompanied by 4 birdies to turn in 32. His back-9 was almost blemish free but the 17th caught him out to finish with a 37.

The Men's A-Grade Scratch runner-up was Shane Sallaway with 74. He was near flawless on the front-9 but lost concentration on two holes on the back-9 to go with six pars and a birdie. The birdie on the 15th helped his score.

The Ladies Scratch was won by Heather Davidson with 88. It was a ‘steady as she goes’ day with pars mixed among bogeys. A ‘2’ on the 9th was very pleasing.

The Ladies Scratch runner-up was Ev Uphill with 94. It was a day of achievements with 2’s on the 9th and 18th along with some excellent play at the end of the field.

Other prize winners were (Forbes unless stated otherwise) were:

Men A-Grade Handicap: D Bayley (70 nett), A Leete (Mudgee - 71 nett) on c/b.

Men A-Grade Stableford: K Tyne (36 pts) on c/b, B Robinson (36 pts).

Men B-Grade Scratch: S Paterson (85), G Hooper (88).

Men B-Grade Handicap: M Walton (72 nett), J Hemming (76 nett).

Men B-Grade Stableford: L O’Connor (33 pts), J Reid (31 pts).

Men C-Grade Scratch: P O’Connell (96) on c/b, A Fenton Carlisle (96).

Men C-Grade Handicap: J Tuovinen (Cabramatta - 67 nett), J Banks (76 nett).

Men C-Grade Stableford: B Ferrao (Breakers – 33 pts), Cody Banks (32 pts).

Veteran: Scratch – P Kirwan (Cowra - 77), Handicap – A Acheson (D-league 74 nett).

Junior: Scratch – L Fraser (98), Handicap – L Iyer (83 nett).

Men Visitor: Scratch – R Hey (Parkes) 75.

Ladies Handicap: S Crosby (73 nett), R Fuller (Wentworth 74 nett)

Ladies Stableford: J Fletcher (34 pts), C Duncan (33 pts).

Best Ladies Visitor Stableford: K De Brock (Gosford) 31 nett.

The NTP’s went to:

Men: 1st A-Grade – Nil, 9th C-Grade –B Ferrao (Breakers), 18th B-Grade – C Beattie (Condo).

Ladies: 9th – H Davidson, 18th – E Uphill.

The super-pin was won by Kelly De Brock (Gosford) with a shot to 206cm, who welcomed the opportunity to spend some more money.

The sometimes blustery wind did affect the scores but most comments resulted from the pacey greens and sometimes challenging pin placements which led to higher scores than previous years.

In some places it was definitely a case of being on the correct side of the pin for an uphill putt else a downhill putt if missed would then trundle away.

The 17th hole was the hardest hole to master in this respect. Peter Cowhan started a putt from above the hole and watched as it trundled all the way down the green and off the front.

Others approaching the hole misjudged the wind, flying their approach shots over the back. Niel Duncan was one who did manage to get up and down safely for a bogey.

Other players stumbled on the 1st hole when their tee shots went OB as they tried to ‘work the ball’ in on the breeze. This is another way of saying they could not control their slice. But Andrew Dukes bucked the trend. He had done his handicap after four holes but steadied and managed to shoot only 2-over on the back-9.

On Saturday the ‘Forbes Advocate Trophy’ 4BBB was played, with 116 players, including three juniors, participating.

Once again it was important to have a good pairing to ensure you combined well to score highly.

The Men's Scratch Stableford winners were Steve Betland and Dan Bayley, who managed to accumulate 43 points which was the same winning score as last year. And again there was a fair margin back to the runners-up, the pairing of Peter Dawson/T Callaghan with 38 points.

The Men's Handicap Stableford went to Clayton Alley and Richard Smith with 47 points. This was exciting for Clayton who celebrated his birthday with this win.

It was a classic case of shared halves with Richard doing the work on the front-9 and Clayton managing the back-9.

Runners-up were Ken Sanderson and Alf Davies with 46 points. Alf had the front-9 while Ken had the back-9.

The Ladies Scratch Stableford went to Brianna & Carolyn Duncan with 24 points and managed to scrape in on count back.

Just pipped at the post were runners-up Heather Davidson and Jenny Hubbard also on 24 points.

The Ladies Handicap Stableford went to Ann-Maree Gaffney & Kate Steele-Park with 42 points, also on count back.

Runners-up were Ann Simmons & Megan Starkey (North Ryde) with their 42 points. If only they had managed the 18th hole better.

The ball sweep for men went to 42 points on count back, with 14 pairs being recipients. The ball sweep for Ladies went to 40 on count back, with three pairings being lucky. Check in the Pro Shop if you think you were successful.

The NTPs went to:

9th – Ladies B Duncan; Men D Mylecharane, 18th – Ladies B Duncan, Men D Earl. The ‘2nd shot nearest’ winners were: Ladies (on 13th) – S Grierson; Men (on 12th) – A Gde: J Anderson, B Gde: C Alley, C Gde: M Duff.

The Superpin was snatched by Steve Betland, whose shot to 70 cm more than halved the previous shot.

The conditions on the day were good although sometimes the golf was not so good. Joel Anderson chipped across the 17th hole twice and finished up further away than when he started. Jeff House and Stevie G had a tussle for the KENO finally losing on the 18th thanks to a copybook par by Steve Rogers.

But nobody could deny the ‘birdie fest’ played by Steve Betland. A double-bogey start was followed by two pars and six birdies to turn at 32. His back-9 was very plain with two birdies and three bogeys.

Here is the news:

Head Pro Will has a Taylor-Made Equipment Day scheduled for Fri 14 Nov, with times available from 8 am to noon. Contact him at the Pro Shop if you are interested in trying some gear.

The Mens ‘Medal of Medallists’ will be held on Saturday 15 November.

All those who won a medal from December 2024 to November 2025 are eligible to compete for the top honour. The Wallace Cup is sponsored by Lachlan Commodities.

We wish Archie Quirk good fortune on the weekend when he participates in a ‘Jack Newton Junior’ event at Goulbourn.

The 2025-26 Summer Sixes comp is going well with very low scores being recorded and unfamiliar teams leading the groups.

We shall see what happens when the handicaps settle down. There are nine rounds before the Xmas-New Year break, with the grand final scheduled for 6 April. There is a lot of fun golf to be had!

It is crystal ball time:

This Saturday, 15 November, is a Stroke event sponsored by Loomzy’s Fish n Fix with the ‘Medal of Medallists, sponsored by Lachlan Commodities. There will be a Stableford Medley on the Sunday.

SIXES

By SMOOTH SWINGER

The highlight in the third round of the Forbes Golf Club Summer Sixers competition was the lowest score in this season. Bogeys on Barrys really fired to card an 89.5 and earn a win.

This week all teams managed to get a score in with only one getting under the 100 total.

The next best are: Forbes Auto (100), Elders Insurance (101) and The Optimists (102). Maybe the handicaps are settling in nicely. The closest result was in Gp 3 where ‘Midpro’ (104) accounted for ‘Southside Swingers’ (106).

The leaders in the groups are Gp1 - ‘Still Trying’, Gp 2 -Elders Insurance, Gp3 – ‘Bump and Rums’ and Gp4 – Sandbaggers’.

Three of them have a ‘nice’ lead but a loss could wipe that out. And Elders Insurance are under pressure from Globe Hotel with a lead of only a half point.

Some teams still need to earn bonus points for the ‘6 cards’ which would help their progress up the leader boards.

At this early stage only five teams remain unbeaten. Eyes will be on three of the groups where the leaders go head-to-head. The Gp4 leaders have a small reprieve but they could be knocked over.

Best Individual scores for Week 3 were: Members – Hugh Hope-Hodges (Bogeys on Barrys) 24 nett, and for Non-Members – Dougie Dwyer (Bogeys on Barrys) 28 nett. That all helped to give them a sensational score.

Some players still need to remember to enter their ID number or name on the card as well as signing it, or else the score will not count.

Keep the swings going and enjoy it out there.

VETS GOLF

Being Cup week Ted Morgan took it to another level last week enjoying a week away horse riding in the hills at Howqua River, Mansfield in Victoria returning home full of vigour for a game of golf.

He did just that, in time for a brush up in Tuesday’s 12 hole social comp before hitting his straps on Thursday blitzing the field in the twin towns comp winning with a creditable 40 points.

Like most, he praised the condition of the Forbes course which was being set for the Nissan Classic. “I had a couple of three puts but also sank a few long ones. The course is really great for the big weekend coming up,” he commented after play.

It was all host club members at presentations with Steve Uphill runner-up on 37 points while Ken Walton had a tale of two games, taking home the ‘burner’ for the encouragement award while only inches from a hole-in-one at the 18th. Almost doubled his score on the one hole.

Ball sweep winners to 33 points. 36 Lex Hodges (P), Neil Herbert (F), 35 Francis Hanns (F), Bruce Chandler (F), 34 Allen Rees (F), Kim Herbert (F), 33 Rob J Lea (P), Lindsay Elliott (P), Joe Davies (P).

Not much changed in the T/T shield with Forbes again on top with the best six scores from 20 reps posting 217 points to Parkes’ 197, 13 travellers. Nearest the pin 9th Jeff Moon (F). Parkes did have a winner with Lindsay Elliott taking home the meat raffle.

It was again reminded that subs for both clubs are now due, Forbes $10, Parkes $15.

On reminders, Lachlan Valley Association 18 holes in West Wyalong on Thursday followed by the twin towns in Forbes on the week of November 20.

After the Forbes round the local AGM will take place due to it being postponed last week with hard working secretary/treasurer Beryl Roberts unavailable. The AGM is expected to see limited changes but one important position will need to be filled with another who has served Forbes golf magnificently for decades in Jeff Haley deciding it is time for the association to have a change in the position of club captain.

All Forbes vets are encouraged to attend this most important meeting.

The threat of rain last Tuesday saw quite a few regulars come and go but in the end eight ‘crazy’ hitters ventured out for 12 holes in relatively dry conditions.

There is no denying the strength and golfing ability of Barry ‘Scadger’ Parkes as he won again this time with 24 points in a three way count-back.

Be there this week to beat the ‘ol fella with ball toss at 9am which is follow by coffee for the ‘chosen’ few. In fact all are chosen for coffee and the conversation usually solves all the problems of the world. Smart blokes those Tuesday golfers.

LADIES GOLF

Ladies Golf notes begin with Wednesday 5 November, Bokeyar Electrical our sponsor with play in two divisions.

Winners were Sally Crosby in Division 1 carding an 80 nett, Division 2 with a 74 nett was Colleen Venables and Lynn Kennedy taking out Division 3 with 71 nett.

Ball winners were Sarah Black, Jean Judge and Kerry Stirling.

Pin winners were Jenny Hubbard on the 9th and Jean Judge on the 18th.

Colleen Venables won the putting competition with 30 putts.

Saturday November 8th was the Nissan Classic 4 BBB Stableford. The Duncan girls were the winners of the Scratch on count/back from Heather Davidson and Jenny Hubbard both with 24.

Handicap winners were Ann-Maree Gaffney and Kate Steel-Park again needing a count-back to take the win over Ann Simmons and Megan Starkey both pairs carding 42.

Both pins were won by Brianna Duncan.

The 13th second shot winner was Sharon Grierson. Ball winners were Wendy Simmons and Sharon Grierson, Kerry Stirling and Deb Dingwall, visitors Jennifer and Kelly De Bock from Gosford Golf Club.

Heather Davidson was the scratch winner over Ev Uphill.

Sally Crosby won the nett from Wentworth golf Club’s Ros Fuller.

Jennifer Fletcher was the Stableford winner and Carolyn Duncan R/U.

Nearest to the pins were Heather Davidson on the 9th and Ev Uphill on the 18th.

Matches set down for play this week include on Saturday an 18 hole Stroke sponsored by Kate Steel-Park in two divisions. Medal of Medalists sponsor for this match is Walkers Ag-N-Vet.

Wednesday November 19th is Individual Stableford Sponsored by Grace’s Hair Studio and Taryn’s Beauty Therapy in two divisions.

Until next week good golfing everyone.