VETS GOLF
By John Dwyer
Steve Edwards is one of the better supporters of twin-towns veterans golf and received rewards last Thursday winning with a well compiled 38 points on his adopted ‘home’ course Forbes.
Back home from his winter break and on the ball hitting ‘em well was fellow club member Ken Sanderson who was runner-up with 35 points on a count-back, while Parkes’ Richard Hamilton went home early with the encouragement award.
Nearest the pins: 9th A grade Bruce Chandler (F), B grade Les Little (F); 18th A grade Alf Davies (F), B grade Steve Edwards (F). Twin-towns shield - Forbes again best with 205 points to Parkes’ 182.
With 31 starters - Forbes 18 and Parkes 13 - the ball sweep went to 30 points. Winners as follows: 35 Joe Davies (P); 34 - Ken Walton (F), Rob Staples (P); 33 - Peter Barnes (F), Alf Davies (F); 32 - Robert J Lea (P), Peter Grayson (F); 31 - Alex MacKinnon (F), Stuart French (F); 30 - Barry Parker (F), Ted Morgan (F).
Next weeks twin-towns 8 holes is in Parkes, nominations from 9.30am for a 10 am shot-gun start.
Reminders – The twin towns vets Christmas party on December 5 in Parkes after 18 holes of play.
The next Lachlan Valley 18 hole competition is in Forbes on November 21, the last scheduled for 2024
PARKES GOLF CLUB
By Peter Bristol
Saturday’s Results
Saturday was the Josh Cheney Building 4BBB Stableford event, and it enjoyed a good crowd of 84 starters. Josh is a sometime star on the course when commitments permit, but always a great supporter of the club and its endeavours. A sincere thank you for the ongoing support to the PGC.
Not only did Josh put up the prizes he put a perfect day for golfers to show their prowess.
Logan and Brenton have the greens coming back to their best after their renovations whilst at the same time getting them ready for the GolfNSW Regional Championships on November 9-10.
There was an appreciable lift in speed from last week after the roller was in use on Thursday.
The team winners on the day were the pairing of Aaron Gaffey and Matt Clarke.
They amassed a 49 point haul, a great score on the day, but they then had to survive a countback from the regular pairing of Ron Hetherington and Trevor Chatman.
Matt and Aaron were playing the power game as always but found some finesse around the greens to create the great score they had.
Trevor was in vintage form and was getting playing mate Ron in the slipstream as well. Two very good rounds.
Next best were the pairing of Ken Keith and Luke Clyne on 47 and they were disappointed to lose the lottery ticket to Ron and Trevor on the day.
In the individual stakes the hot hands of Trevor Chatman provide too good for the field with his 43 points defeating Aaron Gaffey by a single point.
Trevor has been hiding his true ability on his last few outings but definitely has been building to something big. He started off with 5 pars, then realised he’d break his handicap by too many and had 4 bogeys – a great 40 off the stick.
On the back 9 it was a mixed bag with a couple of double bogeys but a birdie in a 42 haul, a fine 82 off the stick. Aaron had 3 birdies and 7 bogeys in a round off 76 off his 10 handicap.
His back 9 was a par round which was very commendable. No doubt the handicapper didn’t miss this round. The chasers were many, but Ron Hetherington and Matthew Spedding stood out with their 41’s. Both had 3 birdies with Ron having 7 bogeys and Matthew 8. Ron had an accurate 78 off the stick off his 10 handicap and Matthew his best round ever of 81 off his 14 handicap.
The Nearest The Pins on Saturday were –The Idlerite 1st by Bernie King at 345cm, Griffins Leading Edge 4th by Reggie Murray at 17cm, Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by Cooper Giddings at 190cm, the Harvey Norman 11th by Trevor Chatman at 122cm, the 17th by Aaron Gaffey at 148cm. The winner of the lucky 17th this week was Aaron Gaffey at 148cm.
Ball winners were Matthew Spedding, Ron Hetherington 41, Tim Baker 40, Will Hangan 39, Matt Skinner, Patsie Christie, Cooper Giddings, Luke Clyne 38, Lachlan Pettiford, Lewis McCarthy 37.
The Handiskins final was contested on the great PGC layout on Sunday with a perfect day for the finalists.
This year’s final, as always, was a good mix of skill, guile and handicaps. Jake Thompson was the scratch marker for the day, with the old fox Ian Phipps off 2, Matt Knighton resting back on 10 and Col Breaden the long marker on 13.
The event started off with a couple of squared holes as the nerves cleared and the bodies started to loosen up. On the 3rd hole Ian’s strengths started to show up with his ‘down the centre, chip and putt’ combo coming to the fore.
On the short 4th Ian was the only one to hit the green, but his tee shot rolled off the green a few centimetres but left him a much easier putt to take this hole as well.
The 5th was squared then Matt kicked into gear on the 6th. Suffering from the after effects of a flu bug he managed the hole with a long drive then a ‘beside the green’ second and a 2 putt.
Matt then drove wide right on the 7th but once again got to the green and with a shot up his sleeve managed to take the prize. On the long 8th Ian was again down the middle and couldn’t be matched as the others sprayed shots about and with Ian having a shot up his sleeve the hole was his.
The ninth was squared and down the 10th all drove well but Matt with a stroke in hand was too good as Ian missed a short putt for a square. The 11th hole was squared with Col hitting to about half a metre then missing the birdie putt and Mr Reliable getting his after also hitting the green. Col did win the NTP for this hole though.
On the 12th, once again, Ian was monotonous in finding the fairway and getting to the green, albeit sometimes for an extra shot, with the other 3 getting a shot he was still too good on this hole. The 13th was squared.
On the 14th Col hit 2 great shots to get to the green and then 2 putted for a par, plus receiving a stroke on the hole, making him unbeatable. The 15th was squared so onto the 16th.
We finally got a sight of Jake on this hole with a great drive, then hitting the green and just rolling off for a good par. Jake had been suffering with a tight back and his power game had been missing for most of the day.
On the short 17th Ian was the only one to remain on the green from the tee and his putting ensured another hole. Onto the last hole, and Jake managed to find enough power to hit 2 long shots to the green’s edge then close out with a par and take the hole.
All in all, a great day with golf the winner apart from Ian Phipps who came out on top and is going back to the National Finals again. Jake wisely saving himself for the last few holes, where the most money laid, came in 2nd, with Col just edging out Matt.