By Barry Shine

Good ‘ol soft hands Kim Herbert was the standout veteran golfer at the end of the year Christmas dinner and 18 hole competition played in Parkes last Thursday.

While all enjoyed the dinner it was not so for many in the field of 40 who took to a well presented course due to the humid conditions which failed to hinder the play of a select few, including Parkes ace John Pearce who streeted the field scoring 41 stableford points to be clearly the best.

However, in a change of format organisers went for a mystery four-ball where partners were drawn after play. Enter Mr Herbert who scored 39 points to be drawn with fellow club member Niel Duncan who was just as impressive with 38 points for a 77 total.

Runners-up were Parkes couple Richard Hamilton and John Creith way behind on 69 points. Full partner draw and scores at end of notes.

Nearest the pins - 4th – A grade Peter Barnes (F), B grade Ken Walton (F), 4th – Nym Dziuba (P), B grade nil.

During presentations Parkes president Peter Bristol announced the winners of the yearly competitions where ‘that man’ Herbert took first prize scoring 970 points for the season in stableford while runner-up was Parkes speed machine Robert J Lea credited with 963 points.

In points score Forbes players dominated with Alf Davies first with 92 from Barry Parker 81.

Attendance trophy went to the putter king from Parkes, Nym Dziuba with 32 attendances.

Forbes players also dominated in player numbers at both courses.

In Parkes – Parkes 207, Forbes 220.

At Forbes - Parkes 176, Forbes 311.

With Forbes dominating all sections it was only natural that they took home the twin town shield for 2024, 6986 points to Parkes’ 6541.

Four-ball draw and scores - 1st Kim Herbert and Niel Duncan (F) 77; 2nd Richard Hamilton and John Creith (P) 69; 3rd Phil Bishop and Tony Hendry (P) 68; Alex MacKinnon and Steve Uphill (F) 68; Peter Barnes and Ross Williams (F) 68; 6th Peter Bristol and Rob Stapleton (P) 67; Rod Lyut and John Pearce (P), 67; 8th Jeff Moon (F) and Tom Delminico (P) 66; 9th Robert Lea (P) and Greg Webb (F) 65; Ken Walton and Andrew Norton-Knight (F) 65; Ted Morgan and Alf Davies (F) 65; 12th Ken Sanderson (F) and Rod Cheney (P) 63; 13th John Ivey (P) and Bruce Chandler (F) 62; Ian Phipps and Joe Davies (P) 62; 15th Nym Dziuba and Dale Stait (P) 61; 16th Allan Rees and Les Little (F) 59; 17th Barry Parkes and Barry Shine (F) 56; 18th John Fowler (P) and Peter Grayson (F) 53; Graeme Cooke and Lex Hodges (P) 53; 20th Gordon Pritchard (P) and Steve Edwards (F) 47.

While the end of season celebrations were held last Thursday veteran golfers from Forbes and Parkes are advised that a competition from 9am with a shot gun start will be held in Forbes on Thursday.

All invited to have a ‘Christmas’ hit.