MEN'S GOLF
By SHORT PUTT
Saturday did not beckon well for the Forbes golfers with clouds greeting the early players, but they cleared soon enough and provided sunshine that encouraged good play although it was not all that warm. And the golfers responded.
The Saturday men's competition was an Individual Stroke, sponsored by B&M Tooth.
The winners in the field of 64 players produced some very good scores but many of the rest of the field did not cope well and challenged the arithmetic capability of the markers.
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The Div-1 was won by Peter Dawson with a nett 70.
His front-9 was a bit ‘up-and-down’ with two birdies and two bogeys to finish on even par 36.
He started his back-9 with a birdie and was more consistent throughout with his display of ‘par’ golf.
His final 71 Scratch was the best all day and his nett the equal best all day.
Runner-up was Dan Bayley (71 nett) who struggled a bit on the front-9 and was glad to have parred all the par-5’s.
An unfortunate ‘triple’ on the 9th was not encouraging. It was a different player on the back-9.
Dan reeled off three pars and a bogey then started on a ‘birdie extravaganza’. But a bogey on the last hole cost him the winner’s rights.
The Div-2 also returned an equal best nett score with Mark Watts showing unrecognised form to score 70 nett.
His front-9 was very ordinary with too many shots dropped, although a par on the 9th encouraged him into the back-9.
It was a much better performance there where he scored below his handicap to finish the day well.
The Div-2 runner up was Laurie O’Connor a little way back with 73 nett.
His was a mixed round with pars on awkward holes and bogeys or worse on easier holes. But at least he was consistent throughout the day.
The ball sweep went to 76 nett on count back, going to: 71 – N Duncan; 73 – A Ruperto, B Tooth, C McMillan, R Smith, S Sallaway; 74 – T Howe, W Nash, C Banks, S Uphill, D Mylecharane, H Steele-Park; 75 – P Wells, F Hanns, P Grayson, B Ashton; 76 – J LeBrocque.
There were two visitors, namely: Gary Nicholson (Temora) and Charlie Goodsell (Condo) who takes every chance to play the course when his work is nearby.
They both found the greens challenging.
The NTP’s went to: 9th – B Slack-Smith; 18th – S Betland.
Only Brett managed to convert albeit from a very, very close distance which knocked the stuffing out of the rest of the field. There were five 2’s overall with the 3rd being most prolific.
The 3rd hole Super-Pin went to Shane Sallaway.
His shot to 168 cm was one of the better ones in recent weeks. His effort could be described in eloquent words but Shane is content to say ‘it was a good shot’.
Overall the nett scores were higher than what would have been expected given the sunny conditions.
Maybe it was the greens as there were a number of stories about ‘too many putts’, except of course for Dan Bayley.
The best that could be said was it was an inconsistent day for most.
The scores, in comparison to last week and played in similar conditions, were at least two shots worse overall.
There were numerous incidents where putts were not making it to the hole and probably as a result of the players enjoying themselves so much they wanted to stay out there longer. But then again, maybe not.
One way of reducing the putts was to chip in. Niel Duncan did this exceptionally well twice.
On both occasions a couple in the group missed seeing the shot so anxiously waited for him to do it again.
His chip-in on the 4th was exceptional and earned him a birdie. He chipped in again on the 11th for a good result.
This helped he and his partner to challenge handsomely for the “KENO’ ticket.
The two NTP prize winners classed those shots as the highlights of their day. Both of them did not return a very good Nett score although the difference in ability between them was quite marked. But at least they were smiling.
One who was smiling vaguely was Jake Banks. His tee shot off the 13th tee finished in the red penalty area alongside the 14th hole.
He recovered to score a ‘6’ but the three ‘Bo Dereks’ on his card did not help.
Another in that group needed a transfusion. Brad Ashton was only 1-over after 10 holes and had not hit a fairway on any of them.
His birdie putt on the 11th missed and triggered a few stumbles with a run of bogeys on the last three holes although he began to hit the fairways. Maybe that was the problem.
As is often the case, last week’s Medal winners suffered their ‘Medal Blues’.
Adam Ruperto fared the better of them with a nett 73 but Charlie Howe and Allan Rees were back in the bunch. Neither of them had any blow-out holes but then pars were very rare. But it was fun.
There was some good play out there. Kim Herbert was pleased to have parred the 2nd and 3rd but his 1-under (under ‘10’ that is) on the 4th did not do him well. Liam Fraser earned a ‘prize’ again.
This time for the highest score on a hole. His ‘13’ on the 7th pipped Steve Rogers and Jeremy Auld who carded 12’s elsewhere. Steve Betland almost cleaned the par-3’s up by scoring pars on all except the 3rd.
It was pleasing to see some returning payers do well and especially pleasing to see the sponsor earn a ball.
Here is the news:
A reminder of the 2025 Trundle Men's Open which is scheduled for Sunday, 3 August commencing at 9am.
Entry fee is $50 cash only ($20 for Juniors) which includes lunch. Breakfast is available from 7:30 am. There is a 4BBB Medley to be played on Saturday, 2 August.
We also have notification of the Caragabal Open, scheduled for Sunday, 17 August.
The fee is $50 per player which includes lunch. This year the format is changed to an Individual Stroke and Handicap event but the trestle tables laden with food will still be the same.
Refer to the Flyers at the Pro Shop for details on registration for both of these.
Some of our players travelled away over the last few weekends to play in Opens on the coast.
Caleb Hanrahan took Reggie Murray to his old stomping grounds where both had mixed results.
The results may have been better for Caleb if he had significantly reduced his number of putts down from the average 39 per game he had. We cannot all sink them like Grace Kim.
It is crystal ball time:
This Saturday 19 July is a 2-P Ambrose Medley, sponsored by Hassall Trading P/L. And Sunday has the usual Stableford Medley comp.
VETS GOLF
It was a case of only the brave turned up when 19 golfers took on the arctic conditions which prevailed for last week's twin-towns veterans golf competition played at Parkes.
As well as the cold, gusting winds prevailed throughout the day with Parkes' Ken Keith returning the best score of 34 stableford points.
Hot on his heels with 33 points were Forbes' Ted Morgan and Lindsay Elliott from Parkes with Ted claiming second spot on a count-back.
Parkes had 13 players to Forbes' six and had to fight hard for a win in the twin-towns shield 187 points to 175.
Ken Keith completed a good day winning the A grade nearest-to-pin on the 11th hole and Bruce Chandler from Forbes the B grade winner.
The ball sweep went to 30 points with Parkes players Lindsay Elliott, John Fowler (32) and Gordon Pritchard (30) the recipients.
On a day where no-one played to their handicap, Parkes' John Pearce won the encouragement award.
This week Forbes will host the monthly Lachlan Valley competition where registration will be taken from 9.15am for a 10 o'clock shotgun start.
Forbes members are reminded to come with a plate loaded with the best of ‘goodies’ for morning tea. While unlikely to match the ‘spread’ offered at Condobolin at least make an effort to welcome our guests on these chilly mornings with a smothering snack and cuppa.
Coffee after play last Tuesday was the No 1 hit for social players over 12 holes but Peter Scholefield did enjoy his round winning with 24 points followed by Barry Shine 23 then ‘Bogan’ Steve on 22 with the unassuming Alex Mackinnon next best of 21 points.
Play on Tuesday with ball toss at 9am, all welcome to play then enjoy a cuppa after.
