The A Division winner was Tony Cogswell, with 42 points, and he did well to team alongside a left-hander in Alf Davies. Runner up was Doug Churchill with his creditable 39 points. Doug was a little wayward on the front-nine, but did score well on the back-nine with numerous twos and twos pointers.

The B Division saw Peter Tisdell score 43 points. Peter showed consistency throughout his game, finishing with 43 points. Close behind in runner up was Bob Borger with his 42 points. 

The ball sweep went to 37 points on count back, going to: 43 – P Tisdell; 42 – T Cogswell, R Borger; 40 – G Webb, M Watts; 39 – D Churchill, R Morris; 38 – P Kay, G Collits; 37 – P Cowhan, R Nixon, L Little, P Grayson.

The NTP’s went to: ninth – P Pymont; 18^th – M Watts. Unfortunately, neither of them got their twos, of which there were six scored overall. There were no visitors, apart from Brad Ashton who we can now class as a local.

We cannot go past a story about the best shot of the day, which resulted in a two to Tony Cogswell. This occurred on the tenth hole. His tee shot was slightly left, from which he needed to draw his second around the trees. The strike felt good, and landed where he planned. The ball rolled and rolled and disappeared into the hole. His jubilation was shared by all in his group.

The scores were that good on the day that the Course Committee is considering having a dusting of sand on the greens all the time. No! – only kidding. But it was pleasing to see the greens recovering with more grass and less sand than last week. There was still some variety in the conditions. 

Every week we hear of players having very close relationships with the trees. For example, Niel Duncan’s tee shot on the sixth skipped right and finished under the low hanging branches of a pine tree way to the right. This led to a ’miss’. He mentally reset on the seventh tee and proceeded to score another three misses in a row.

But all was not done. His tee shot on the 11^th ran through the fairway stopping past the 150 marker. His only shot was to play between the rows of trees towards the hole. But their branches reached out and grabbed his ball twice. Another miss! Luckily Stevie G was on hand to ensure no damage was inflicted on the trees.

Brad Ashton is enjoying playing more regular golf. And he is regularly missing his own fairway, but coming up with inspiring recovery shots. His tee shot on the 16^th was so wide he had to wait until the group playing the fourth had gone past. Mind you, he is a lefty.

Mark Watts was in the last group of the day, and managed to wrestle the NTP on the 18^th in his name. Alas his putt for a two missed, but the tap-in three meant that in his round he had recorded ‘three-a-three’ on all par-threes. 

A very good ‘four-a-four’ was scored by Craig Barrett on the seventh, a hole which brings calamity to many. Craig was so pleased he reminded his group on each hole thereafter of his feat. Perhaps that is why Al Rees was seen to always be striding out in front, with Paul Kay close behind, and Terry Griffiths looking comatose in the cart far behind.

The dry creek bed on the ninth and 15^th still challenges many people. Frank Haans was noted to play his shot out of the creek bed on the 15^th, rather than lose a shot. This time it worked. Richard Nixon avoided the creek on the ninth, but found the OB beside the cart shed twice. Yet he still managed 37 points.

Maurie Westwood found the bunker on the ninth and the creek on the 15^th. Both times he was coached by Les Little, who actually was part of the opposing team that day.

Sunday was a beautiful Spring day, which was enjoyed by a small but energetic field in the Stableford Medley. The winner was Bruce Carpenter, with 33 points. He nudged in ahead of Rod Besgrove on count back. There was no ball sweep.

The NTP’s went to: ninth – Bess Shields; 18^th – Rod Besgrove. No twos by anybody, but an enjoyable day was had by Kevin Rivett, a visitor from Portland GC. He was in the mix with the front-runners but unfortunately missed out on count-back.

A group of Forbes players flew the flag for the Club at the Bogan Gate Open, held on Sunday. A field of 45 players were welcomed by typical full-on hospitality. The course was understandably dry, which also resulted in some unexpected bounces of the ball, some of which were very unfriendly.

The only Forbes player to feature in the prizes, but Neil McMillan, with his wealth of sand greens experience. This was a handsome fire extinguisher which he could use on his next hot score day!

Here is the News: The Wallace Cup matches have continued. Andrew Dukes played against Niel Duncan. They both claimed to play badly, but somehow the match continued right to the 17^th, where Niel won 2/1. Niel used his eight shots well, while Andy was aghast at his double bogeys.

Other Quarter-final matches see Ian Bown versus Stephen Uphill, and Steve Grallelis versus Niel McMillan. Ash Tucker and Niel Duncan await their opponents.

On September 30 the Club will be holding a ‘Play-nine’ event. This will be a nine-hole event run alongside the Sunday Stableford Medley. All participants in this event will be eligible for the draw to win an all-expenses paid trip to the Australian Open to play nine holes during the third round.

The winner of this week’s Score Card Medallion Draw was Bob Borger. There are often groups of Forbes players playing around the District and travelling to exotic places. A small group tried their luck at Wentworth on Saturday, only to find the course closed because of wet weather.

Then there was group who went down to the Murray River. They arrived at the first stop, played their game then wanted to get to their motel. Unfortunately the organiser had forgotten what motel he had booked them into, so numerous phone calls were needed before Peter Grayson found the motel that he had originally selected.

It is crystal ball time: September 15 we have a 4BBB sponsored by Cahill Footwear. On Sunday we have the 18-hole Stableford Medley. This weekend also has the Parkes 4BBB on Saturday and the 27-hole Open on Sunday.

-by Short Putt

It has been a busy week for our Ladies with Spring having arrived and no better time to be on a golf course. Starting with the Canowindra Tournament on Thursday, September 6 which was testing with strong winds saw Heather Davidson come in as runner up in Division One Scratch. Alison Kingston was runner up in the Handicap Division Two and the Winner of Division Three Stableford was Lyn Kennedy. The winners of the teams event was Heather, Alison and Janet Smith.

Sunday, September 9 Shootout was won by Colleen Venables which gave her the loot and her name on the bucket for the first time. The 18^th hole had to be played twice with Julie Hurkett to achieve the result. Coming in third was Jill Cripps who surprised herself with the good result and surviving numerous playoff holes. Forth Kerry Stirling maybe a touch unlucky on a low handicap and 5th was Ethel Coombs who found the dry river bed on 15^th. Heather Davidson found lots of trees and came in 6th along with Enid Baker being seventh, Barb Drabsch came in eighth with no excuses with Robin Lyell having a nervous start being the first to go out on 11^th. Thank you to Kevin Miller, Whitty and Lennon the major sponsors and to all the girls that entered the competition at the start of the season. Congratulation Colleen.

Nine Forbes girls competed at the annual Veterans two day ornament at Cootamundra on tenth and 11^th with a challenging course where none had ever played before only  came home with memories plus a few balls won in the sweeps. Back to Forbes golf on Wednesday 12^th  the Gotta Luv It sponsored Stableford was won by Julie Hurkett in Division One (37) with runner up Verna Lane (36). Division Two Julie Wood (37) and runner Up Jill Cripps. Ball Sweep to Julie W, Julie H, Verna and Colleen Bratton. NTP ninth Julie H and 18^th Robin Lyell. This Saturday is the 4BBB Stableford Medley sponsored by  Cahills Footwear.  Wednesday, September 19 is a Stableford event with Teresa on cards.

-by Roving Reporter