MEN'S GOLF
By SHORT PUTT
On Saturday it was breezy but cheesy for the Forbes golfers who were pleased the forecast deluge of rain did not eventuate. Nevertheless, the conditions were difficult in which some excelled, but others faltered.
Saturday’s competition was an Individual Stableford, sponsored by Forbes Holiday Park. Their generosity enabled the prizes to extend to third place which was most encouraging to the field of 54 players.
Div-1 was eclipsed by John Betland who made no errors as he used the soft greens and breezy conditions to his advantage. His scratch score (32-32-64) earned him 40 points.
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He was ‘hampered’ on the front-9 by having to give three shots back where three birdies resulted in only 2-pts each. But he was less hampered on the back-9 and made no errors while carding four birdies.
Runner-up was Anthony Alley with 37 points. He may have done better except for a ‘miss’ on the last hole but otherwise he used his handicap well to not earn any less than 2-pts on a hole.
Third place went to Cooper Byrnes with 36 points and on count back from two others. He was scratchy on the front-9, thinking that his recent form had deserted him, but fired well on the back-9 with eight 2-pointers and one 3-pointer.
The Div-2 was won by Cody Banks with 37 points, and who hopes this form will carry into the Summer Sixes Grand Final. His front-9 was blemished by an ‘8’ on the 2nd hole but otherwise it was 2- and 3-pointers. A couple of 1-pointers on the back-9 held him back.
Runner-up was Hamish Steele-Park with 34 points who finished ahead of third on count back. He had a roller coaster front-9 with ‘misses’ and 3’s but really enjoyed the back-9 scoring 21 points. This undoubtedly helped him notch a better prize.
Third place went to Paul Pymont (34 pts) who played early on slower greens which turned many of his par putts into bogeys. Despite that he was very steady throughout scoring 17 pts on each half.
The ball sweep went to 33 points on count back, going to: 36 – C Hanrahan, J Anderson; 34 – B Robinson, B Ashton, J Pendleton, J Dobell, T Callaghan, S French; 33 – N Ryan, Alf Davies, C McMillan, F Hanns and D Bayley. There were no visitors.
The NTP’s went to: 9th – C Hanrahan; 18th – T Callaghan. They both converted for 2’s, and both broke the heart of the many names before them on the cards. There were five 2’s overall with the 9th the easiest hole of all.
The 3rd hole Super-Pin was taken by Caleb Hanrahan with his shot finishing at 439 cm adrift from the hole. His attempt for a ‘2’ was ‘good but no cigar’. At least he showed the way for Tim West who was trying out his new clubs.
Initially the number of players scheduled to play was quite low as a result of the less than encouraging forecast for heavy rain. But as the day dawned and the weather cleared more players came out to play, with those playing later having the benefit of drier greens but having to contend with a ‘breeze’.
Despite the conditions John Betland played some fine shots to carve up the course. Starting with four 4’s he was two points behind on stableford. But a birdie on 5th set him on his way. The 6th was a birdie and the 7th was an eagle, a score which is not very common on this hole. Birdies either side of the turn with three more on the back-9 cemented an outstanding score.
John was playing in what could be described as a ‘power group’, which included Club Champ Ecky Dawson, Head Pro Will Gunn and ever dangerous Todd Callaghan. Unfortunately, they were mere bystanders to John’s game, with each of them scoring above mid-70’s and Todd having the better points tally of them.
It was very pleasing to see the sponsor Joel Anderson out playing. And he did very well, scoring 36 points, having the same points split as Caleb but managing only a 1-pointer on the last held him back. He was in good company and had plenty of laughs in the group.
Also good to see Jack Dobell back after recovering from his arm injury, where a few weeks ago the plaster gave it away. He managed a creditable 34 points as a lead up to his appearance with his team in the Summer Sixes GF. Kim Herbert also made a return but showed rusty form to finish well down in the field.
JB’s eagle on the 7th was at one end of the spectrum with 8’s and the occasional ‘9’ at the other. One player looked to have scored an ‘18’ on this hole but on closer examination it was merely an ‘8’ behind an unintentional pencil mark.
Both the 7th and the 15th grabbed a few ‘misses’ in both Divisions. Archie Quirk had three ‘misses’ on the front-9 where the last was on the 7th from where he tightened his game and tore home on the back-9 with 19 points. A very good recovery.
There was no play in the Sunday Stableford Medley.
Here is the news:
The Wallace Cup has gained good support enabling a draw to be completed in the next week or so. It is still intended to commence play in May, after we get through the Mens Open busy period.
Don’t forget to nominate for your relevant Open and the Vets ‘Week of Golf’. The work the course staff are undertaking coupled to good growing conditions will see the course presented in excellent condition for each event.
Sunday afternoon will see the culmination of the 2024-25 Summer Sixes competition with the Grand Final being contested by four teams. The teams of ‘The Duffers’, ‘The Foxes’, ‘Lost in the Trees’ and ‘Up to Par’ will battle is out.
A toss will be made to determine which 9-holes are played. This will mean social play will be limited to the other half. The winners will be announced at the Presentation Dinner that night. Contact the Pro Shop to provide numbers for the dinner and get further details.
Head Pro Will is running his Junior Classes again, with a strong contingent in each class. Among these young players is most probably a future Club Champion.
It is crystal ball time:
This Saturday, 5 Apr, will be the ‘Roadies’ 18-Hole Individual Stroke Monthly Medal event, sponsored by the group of P Grayson, S French, D Earl and M Haley. Sunday has a Stableford Medley comp and also the Summer Sixes GF.
SUMMER SIXERS
By SMOOTH SWINGER
The third week of the Forbes Golf Club Summer Sixers Competition Finals saw some more of the fancied teams fall by the wayside as the Grand Finals teams were finalised. Scoring needed to be low to have any chance of success.
A couple of the fancied seeds in the Main Draw are now out. Gp 1 leaders Blackridge Hire (103.5) went down to second seeded Globe Hotel (100.5), while Gp 2’s leaders Gunn Golf (107.5) could not put it together and were beaten by second seed Forbes Auto (102.5).
Gp 3 saw second seeds LIV (108) go down to Southside Swingers (102), while Six Appeal (98.5) accounted for king slayers Still Trying (103.5) in Gp 4.
In the Plate Draw Group 1 saw the Duffers prevail, Group 2 had Foxes (99.5) knocking off EHAG (104), Group 3 had a win by LITT (101.5) and Group 4 saw Up to Par (103.5) edge out Part Time Putters (111).
The best team score of 98.5 this week was by Six Appeal with Foxes (99.5) close behind.
The Finals Week 3 Best member nett score was made by Terry Sharpe (Up to Par) with 32. The Best non-member nett score was made by Brett Stace (Six Appeal) with 30.5 nett. The ball sweep went to 34 nett.
The Main Draw Grand Final has – Globe Hotel, Forbes Auto, Southside Swingers and Six Appeal playing. This will be held on Sun 6 April, with tee off at 2 pm, so get there early to hear the announcements by Head Pro Will. There will be a special draw with groups comprising players from different teams.
The Plate Final sees – Duffers, Foxes, LITT and Up To Par play their games any time through the week. Cards must be at the Pro Shop before 5pm on Sunday and be correctly completed.
All results will be announced at the presentation dinner. This is free for the players while there is a small fee for the guests.
All players are reminded that the Presentation Dinner is on Sun 6 April. Please put your names and guest numbers forward at the Pro Shop to aid in catering. This will be a 6pm gathering for 6:30 pm commencement of proceedings.
Good luck to all those playing and may you cast aside the stress.
VETS GOLF
Forbes players again showed their liking for their home track when they dominated at last week's twin-towns veterans golf competition.
Leading the way was Forbes president Peter Barnes who accumulated a tidy 39 points for the 18 holes to shade team mate Niel Duncan by a point.
Thirty-two players faced the starter - 18 from Forbes and nine from Parkes - with the locals easy winners of the twin-towns shield 214 points to 180.
Ken Sanderson continued the Forbes roller-coaster winning the A grade nearest-to-pin on the 18th, while John Fowler got Parkes on the board taking the B grade prize on the ninth hole.
The ball sweep went to 32 points with winners (all Forbes unless stated) as follows: 36 - Bruce Chandler; 34 - Frank Hanns, John Fowler (P) and Nym Dziuba (P); 33 - Ken Sanderson, Don McKeowen, Alf Davies and Alan Rees; 32 - Barry Parker, Ted Morgan and Ken Walton.
Popular Forbes player Frank Hanns celebrated his 80th birthday on the day, while club stalwart Alan Rees blew out 73 candles last Sunday.
This week Parkes will host the twin-towns - registrations from 8.15am for a 9am start.
Another reminder that the April Lachlan Valley veterans event at Grenfell has been brought forward a week to April 10 and the May event at West Wyalong back a week to the 29th.
Only nine players last Tuesday for the social hit but enjoyable by all who strolled out for the 12 hole comp where the BG scribe tells us Ted Morgan was best with 25 points from Ken Walton on a count-back.
Only one point behind were Ian Thomas, Neil Herbert and Barry Parker. The rest were hot on the heels of the above.
As usual, Tuesday ball toss at 8.30am, ‘comp fee’ only $3. Everyone invited to play.
LADIES GOLF
On Wednesday March 26, the ladies played a very entertaining Three Club Event which was sponsored by Pat Jones and Colleen Bratton.
There was quite a variety of clubs chosen with some not choosing to take a putter and putt with a wood or hybrid. Some were very successful in doing this. The scores were quite good overall.
There was a twist to the event and this was that Colleen chose 10 random holes, five on the front and five on the back and the total of these 10 holes determined the winners.
There were joint winners in Division 1 and as it was not possible to do a countback, Sally Perry and Ev Uphill decide to share the spoils.
In Division 2, Captain Sarah Black not only had a good round but scored well on the selected holes to be declared the winner.
The ball sweep was done over the 18 holes with Kerry, Ann-Maree, Jenny H and Heather winning balls. NTP went to Robin Lyell on the 9th and Alison Kingston on the 18th.
Last Saturday’s field was affected by the weather forecast with the threat of heavy rain scaring a few players away. It turned out to be a great day to play golf with no rain and cooler temperatures.
Brianna Duncan obviously enjoyed the day with an eagle on the 13th hole and an equally impressive par on the 15th after her second shot hit a tree branch and rebounded into the water. Her 4th shot was just short of the green and she chipped in for the par. Great golf Brianna.
Brianna went on to win with a handy 36 points. Well done to Brianna and thank you to Isabel’s Place for sponsoring. Robin Lyell and Kate Steele-Park took the NTPs on the 9th and 18th respectively.
Last Sunday seven ladies travelled to Parkes for their annual ladies tournament. It was a pleasant day not being too hot but it was very windy at times which made it interesting.
There were 52 ladies playing in three grades.
Forbes ladies met with some success with Heather Davidson winning Division 1 Handicap with a nett 74 and NTP on the 11th.
Jenny Hubbard won Division 3 NTP on the 17th which was also the money hole so she came home with a bonus as no one in the field bettered her shot.
Robin Lyell was the longest drive winner in Division 2. Jenny Fletcher and Ann-Maree Gaffney won a ball each. Cath Kelly from Parkes had her first ever hole-in-one on the 11th hole.
Saturday April 5 is an 18-hole stroke event, Monthly Medal and Putting as well as Golf NSW Medal and Veterans Country Championships sponsored by Euphoria Road in two divisions.
Wednesday April 9 is a 4 ball Stableford Multiplier sponsored by J Smith and J Wood.
Grenfell tournament is on Sunday April 13. Information is on the noticeboard.
Forbes Ladies Tournament information and nomination sheet is on the noticeboard.
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