MEN'S GOLF By SHORT PUTT The forecast warm conditions brought the shorts out for most of the Forbes men golfers as they played in the comp on Saturday. The dry conditions enabled the ball to run easily along the lush green fairway. The early golfers had to contend with a slight dew that stuck some of the surface sand to their ball but that soon dried off. The competition was an Individual Stableford sponsored by Roylances Tractor Repairs. The field of 65 players saw most of them play early but there were still a sizeable bunch of players at the end in the Golfie to cause mayhem while H/Pro Leesha did the presentation. The course ran well with the greens proving a challenge to judge the bounce of the ball depending on whether it was a high approach or a low run-up. With good growth the grass will thicken on the greens and cover all sign of the recent renovations. Then the greens staff will have devilish fun in preparing the greens for the players. The Div-1 winner was Isaac Page with a fine 43 points, the best score of the day. A steady opening bogey was followed by two birdies. Then a double-bogey caused concern until Isaac rattled in an ‘eagle’, a birdie, a par and a bogey to turn with 24 points. His back-9 was steady all the way and featured five pars but the real story was a run of 2-pointers from the 15th hole. The Div-1 runner-up was Paul Kay with a handsome 40 points. His round was one of two even halves scoring 20 points on each. He made par or better on each of the par-3’s and mixed bogeys with pars on the other holes where he utilised his handicap well to keep the score board ticking over. The Div-2 winner was John Kuntze (Canowindra) who felt relaxed after his break from the game. He had no bad memories as he amassed 42 points with his front-9 being the better half. He bookended each half with 3-pointers and sprinkled a few more through his round. His steady play on the back-9 was rewarded with eight 2-points then a 3-pointer to finish. The Div-2 runner-up was Frank Hanns with 37 points who was more surprised than anybody else with his good fortune. He out-gunned two other players on count back thanks to a very steady 18 points on the back-9 whereas the other two faltered a bit. He was pleased to manage a par and 3-points on the 9th as well as safely navigating the 15th to pick up 2-points. The Ladies winner was Carolyn Duncan with 38 points. There was a count back for the runner-up which went to Wendy Simmons on 37 points. The ball sweep went to 36 points on count back, going to: 39 – B Ashton; 38 – B Carpenter: 37 - D Taylor, J Ridley; 36 – D Earl, W Judge, T Williams, J Roylance. The visitors included John Kuntze (Canowindra) and Barry Whitaker (Parkes). The NTP’s went to: 9th – J Roylance: 18th – A Alley, both of whom converted for a ‘2’, of which there were ten. Nine of these went to Div-1 players with the easiest of these going to Anthony Alley on the 18th. His tee shot finished barely 15 cm (six inches in the ‘old speak’) from the hole. It led to quite a deal of excitement on the tee as it looked like it was going to score an ‘inner’ – that is, an ‘in her went for a hole in one’. What a great way to finish an otherwise forgetful day. The Super pin on the 3rd hole was won by Peter Dawson with a shot to 221cm. Cam McMillan was at 264 cm with both recording 2’s for their efforts. The re-instatement of ‘play the lie’ still caught a few players unawares but with the overall good conditions on the fairways shot making was still without any dramas. Maybe this contributed to the many good scores returned. As rare as a ‘hole-in-one’ may be, we came close to scoring two on the same day on the same hole. Bruce Carpenter played a magnificent shot to the 18th, that landed short and trundled up towards the pin. From the tee it looked very close indeed. Upon arrival at the green Bruce was pleased with his shot sitting barely 30cm (or 1 foot) from the hole but then disappointed to note the NTP marker inside him. Next time Bruce, next time. Many of the trees on the course provide a pleasing vista and during summer some delightful and welcome shade. However some players made careful inspection of the trees and may not be all that pleased with them. Max Haley struck three trees in a row while playing the 6th, all of which were within metres ahead of him. All he was trying to do was punch out onto the fairway but the trunks seemingly formed a solid wall. Bruce Carpenter’s second shot to the 8th was quite ordinary but did contact the big gum on the corner ‘middle stump’, requiring a Houdini-like recovery to make the green. And Barry Shine found tree trouble on the left side of the 12th. Luckily he is a ‘leftie’ and while his ball lay within one handspan of the tree (remember, no preferred lie!) he was able to get a full swing and advance down the fairway. There were a number of good shots played throughout the day. A large portion of those were by Isaac Page who kept in mind the advice of his dad and played within himself. Barry Shine can take honours for a fine birdie on the 4th hole. A controlled 3-wood tee shot set him up in the middle of the fairway, where a ‘baby wood’ was played to the middle of the green barely 3 feet from the hole. The putt never looked like missing. Here is the news: The junior clinics being conducted by H/Pro Leesha are quite popular. On Sundays she runs alternating clinics and 9-hole comps. Last Sunday 33 Juniors attended the clinic with many looking forward to the ‘comp’ over 9-holes on this Sunday. Also on this Sunday 27 September is the Golf NSW 9-Hole, 2-P Ambrose. This will be played over the back-9 with tee times available throughout the morning. The sponsored prizes will be provided over the three divisions – men's, ladies and mixed. All the scores will go to Golf NSW who will select the best 12 scores across the state to play an Ambrose ahead of the NSW Open held at the Vintage GC in November. The Parkes Open was held last weekend, played over two days. Attendance by Forbes players was low but our impact was high. John Betland secured a win with a three over score of 147, one shot ahead of Cooper Giddings in 2nd place. Steve Betland finished third with Caleb Hanrahan fourth. A Titleist Equip Day has been organised for Oct 8. To book a session either contact H/Pro Leesha at the Pro Shop or use the link provided in a recent email. This weekend sees the playing of the NSW Sand Greens Championships at Binalong GC. This attracts participants from Australia and also overseas. Our own Caleb Hanrahan participated last year and did rather well. He is looking to improve this year. The Summer Sixes competition for 2026 starting soon. Team registration forms are available from the Pro Shop. The first round will commence on 19 October but those non-handicap players are encouraged to play during the two weeks prior to provide a card or cards for handicapping purposes. A reminder to all players that the local “play the lie” rule is in place for competitions for both men and ladies. The vets still play ‘preferred lie’ and social players are encouraged to take a preferred lie to minimise damage to the course. A trial for the introduction of ‘yellow’ tees well ahead of the red tees will start soon. These tees are intended for lesser competent social players and Junior players. Any scoring for handicapping purposes must be played off the red, white or blue tees. It is crystal ball time: This Saturday, 26 September is the October Monthly Medal sponsored by Forbes Concrete. Sunday has the Golf-NSW 9-Hole 2-Person Ambrose. VETS GOLF A resurgence in numbers saw Cowra golfers figure prominently in the combined Lachlan Valley Veterans Championships and monthly Stableford competition played at Parkes last week. The club's numbers in recent years have been few in the Lachlan Valley monthly competitions, but a rush of new memberships over the past week saw 15 Cowra golfers play in the field of 61. In the Lachlan Valley championships the ever-consistent Kim Herbert from Forbes was crowned the 2026 A grade champion following a round of 81 for the 18 holes, one better than runner-up Barry Duncan from West Wyalong. It was another close one in B grade where Cowra golfer Wayne Howard's 93 enough to edge out Parkes' Dale Stait by a stroke. Fonz Melisi from Forbes continued his good recent form and the day's trend for close finishes taking the A grade stableford championship with 42 points, one ahead of Parkes' Lindsay Elliott on 41. The B grade Stableford was decided on a countback when the Cowra pair of David Booth and Elwyn Ward both scoring 36 points before Booth was named the winner. Cowra players dominated In the monthly Lachlan Valley Stableford competition where Ken Harcombe outpointed Parkes' John Creith 40 points to 39 in A grade, while it was a Cowra one-two in B grade with Peter Garlick a comfortable winner on 40 points, four better than Ross Skene. In the nearest-to-pins John Jensen from Cowra and Rob Cunningham from Parkes were the A and B grade winners respectively, Peter Kirwan (Cowra) and Andrew Burley (West Wyalong) victors on the 11th, and Cowra's Terry Windwood-Smith and Peter Garlick on the 17th. It was a dead heat for first in the Coles/Miller shield with Parkes and Forbes sharing the honors on 117 points, followed by Cowra 109 and West Wyalong 103. This week the twin towns veterans returns to Forbes - registrations from 8.45am for a 9.30 shotgun start. LADIES GOLF A good field was greeted by lovely weather for last Wednesday’s competition. The course is looking great and the greens are getting better each week. Playing without preferred lies for the first time in a number of years proved a bit interesting for some. The Stableford event was sponsored by Bunnings in two divisions. Winner of Division 1 was Ev Uphill with 36 points with Ann-Maree Gaffney the runner-up with 34. Division 2 winner was Jean Judge with an excellent 40 points with Sally Perry the runner-up on 36. Balls went to Sally Perry, Sarah Black and Meg Scholefield. NTP’s went to Shirley Davies on the 9th and Sarah Black on the 18th. WDLGA finals day was held at Cowra last Friday. The pennants final was played between Mudgee and Dubbo with Mudgee coming out the winner in a very close match. The champion of champions was won by Sally Kay from Orange with Jan Myers from Grenfell announced sand green champion. Forbes had three representatives in the WDLGA spoon event: Heather and Ev in Division 1 and Robin in Division 2. They had quite good scores but were no match for the winners with their high 30s and low 40s scores. Last Saturday a smaller field faced the starter on another lovely day. Carolyn Duncan was the star of the field with 38 points with Wendy Simmons runner-up with 37 on a countback from Lindy Pollock. Lindy and Sarah Black were ball sweep winners. NTP’s went to Wendy Simmons on both holes. The event was sponsored by Roylance Tractor Replacements. A very social gathering to celebrate the “losers” of a recent foursomes event was hosted by Sharon and Wendy in Sharon and Andrew’s garden last Sunday. They donned the aprons and presented those present with a sumptuous Italian meal. All had a lovely day and enjoyed the hospitality immensely. Saturday 26 September is an Individual Stableford in two divisions sponsored by Mill’s Accounting Solutions. Sunday 27 September is the nine-hole two-person Ambrose that has taken the place of the Keno Ambrose. It can be ladies, men or mixed and the winners are in with a chance to play in the final in the NSW Open week. Wednesday 30 September is an Individual Stableford sponsored by Hair with Style in two divisions. 2026 Club Championships start on Saturday / Sunday, 10 and 11 October and continue on the next weekend. Good golfing.
