MERRIGUM
It was quite a windy day for golfers contesting Merrigum’s stroke round on Saturday but that didn’t mean scores deteriorated accordingly.
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The previous week conditions were benign but overall scores were pretty average and this week when conditions were decidedly more difficult a number of players’ skills came to the fore.
Bruce “Imelda” Brown had the round of the day, winning A grade with a score of 80-11-69. He was two shots ahead of several players who finished on 71 nett. Bruce has been a little out of sorts of late but ran into some good form on Saturday. It probably helps to have a matching pair of shoes.
Jeff Newham doesn’t play as much golf as most of us but that didn’t stop him winning B grade with a score of 89-18-71. He is usually a steady golfer and proved that once again with his solid round. Ball competition winners were Andrew Wood and Ash Sanders with 71 nett and Clint Prygoda with 72. Nearest the pins were won by Bruce Brown on both the ninth and jackpot 12th, having taken both off Jeff Newham, and John Fuller on the 14th with a very good shot.
Last Thursday’s twilight competition looked like being washed out with a torrential downpour passing over shortly before hit-off time. Pass it did though and Andrew Wood went on to win with a good round of 41-2-39. He is certainly the form player of the twilight competition thus far. James Campbell was the runner-up with 45-2-43. James also picked up the jackpot for nearest the pin on the ninth, while Woody was closest on the 14th. Simon Doherty won least putts with 14 while the two-point cut was 43.5.
This Saturday’s event is stableford, not par as scheduled in the syllabus.
VALLEY VIEW
Geoff Squires turned back the clock on Saturday to take out the December Monthly Medal by one shot in a popular win within the clubhouse.
An emotional Squizzy told the clubhouse that his round of 94-22-72 had delivered him his first medal win in over 40 years (obviously his last win was as a fresh-faced teenager!).
Squizzy also took home the B Grade winner’s trophy from Rich River’s Andrew Maur, who posted a score of 92-20-72, a round that also netted him the B Grade nearest the pin trophy.
A fellow Rich River member in Greasie Wallace took out A Grade with 87-12-75 from Alan Hausler with 92-16-76.
Jenny Bauerle was the ladies’ winner with 87-13-74 by one shot from Helen Emery with 90-15-75.
Squizzy, Greasie and Jenny also took out the respective best gross score balls.
It’s rare that the medal runner-up has to settle for a ball but that was Rory Kerr’s reward for finishing one shot behind Squizzy in the medal hunt with nett 73.
In our best field for some time other ball comp winners were Peter Lyon (nett 74), Julie Neale (74), Judy Greer (76), Barry Graham (76), Jan McHale (77), Rod Breen (77), Gavon Armstrong (77) and Mick Gallivan (77).
Nearest the pin trophy winners on the 12th were Ron Dixon and Jenny Bauerle while the voucher on the 15th was claimed by Ray Brereton.
Numbers were also good for Tuesday’s comp, which yielded sufficient numbers for two grades for the second successive week.
Kelly Cheong took out A Grade with a super round of 43 points (off a handicap of 12) from Peter Blackmore with 41 while Alan Curnow found some form with 38 points to take out B Grade from Brendon Cornwall with 36.
Nobby won the A Grade nearest the pin ball, Ray Brereton took the same trophy for B Grade and Pete Blackmore added the voucher on the 15th to his winner’s trophy.
Blackers also revealed himself to be a dab hand in the kitchen this week, with a very tasty Irish stew on offer for Thursday night’s golfers.
Ball winners were Parklands Fay Falla with 36 points, Nobby (36), Dean Hubble 34 and Robin Quinn with 33.
Women
Heat and high humidity made for trying conditions at Valley View last Wednesday. With the switch to two grades over the summer months, two players revelled in the conditions. Jenni Bauerle was a clear winner in A Grade with the excellent score of 86-13-73. Tracey Wade was runner-up with 94-18-76.
Results in B Grade matched those in A Grade. Vonnie Morris had another lovely round with 107-34-73 to continue the rapid reduction of her handicap. Dot Bennett represented the seasoned campaigners of our club to be runner-up with 112-36-76, again proving that golf is a game for all ages.
Next week our sponsor will be Sharon Harrison and we will play stableford. Please bring food to share for our Christmas lunch.
PARKLAND
The club’s annual general meeting was held last week, with Greg Ryan taking over from Fred Roberts as president. Vice-president is Nola Arnold with Peter Fraser again secretary. Peter Fawcett remains as treasurer. Les Mitchell will be captain, with Kathy Bell, Naomi Cartwright, Dale Denham and Faye Glover making up the committee.
Lyn Berry was the standout golfer in Saturday’s stroke event at Parkland. Lyn carded 78- 30-48 to win C Grade for the women. Lyn was six shots ahead of runner-up Jan Gentle 83-29-54 after a countback from Bev Wickham. Nola Arnold won A Grade with 71-17-54 after a countback from Heather Sleeth. Lyn Fraser won B Grade with 81-27-54. Ray Coleman was again hitting his straps winning the men’s A Grade with 63-12-51. Runner-up was Peter Barrette 63-10-53. Mal Baker won B Grade with 67-17-50 after a countback from Harry Wayland 65-15-50.Third went to Vin Sleeth 67-15-52. Fred Roberts putted on track to claim the C Grade trophy with 69-19-50. Runner-up was Bob Smith on 70-19-51. Third went to Murray Maxwell with 73-20-53. Ball winners were Heather Sleeth, Bev Wickham, Faye Glover, Pauline Laidlaw, Ken Campbell, Gavin Connally, Howard Teasdale, Kjell Johnsen, Les Harrison, Noel Bailey, Jeff Berry, Mark Ciavarella and Vaughan Moss. Nearest the pins went to Faye Glover on the 9th, Mick Sullivan on the 1st and Jim Miller on the 18th. Tony Potts copped an errant shot after starting his round; however, he still came up smiling with plenty of offers of remedies to cure a sore “butt”.
High scores were the order of the day with 42 points in Wednesday’s Christmas dinner event. The top score went to Tony Potts. Tony won A Grade. Runner-up was Peter Barrette with 39 points. David Kuiper was third with 38 points. B Grade was won by John Bauerle on 35 points. Runner-up was Bryan Prendergast on 34 points, with Don McKenzie third with 33 points. Bob Smith carded 41 points to win C Grade that was after a countback from Kevin Jewell on the same score. Chris Harmer was third with 39 points. Ball winners were Paul Price, Fred Roberts, Ray Coleman, Murray Maxwell, Damien Eade, Peter Fraser and Lindsay Wickham. Nearest the pins went to George Saynor 1st, Tony Potts on the 9th, Jason McKenzie on the 10th as well as the 14th, David Kuiper on the 15th, Chris Harmer on the 18th, Peter Barrette on the 11th, Paul Price on the 8th, Tony Potts on the 6th, Chris Harmer on the 5th as well as Ray Coleman on the 12th. Trevor Risstrom won the encouragement award. The Wednesday golfer of the year went to Vin Sleeth. Members were treated to another well done Christmas dinner provided by the women’s catering committee.
BINGO: Bingo is back, up and running. The jackpot this week is worth $1100 in 57 calls. The Big Bucks game last week gave a patron $318.
Coming Events: ‘Saturday: Mens and Women`s Pinehurst. Christmas Event. 8am-8:30am/11am-11:30am. Shotgun. Tuesday: Women`s Pinehurst. Draw for partners. 8:30am-9am. Shotgun. Christmas Luncheon. Please bring plate to share. Duty: M. Flint, R. Cox, F. Fankhauser, B. Baker, N. Cartwright. Wednesday (15th) Men’s Stableford. Three Clubs. 9:30am-10am.
Women
Some of the ladies were unprepared for the sudden spike in the temperature last Tuesday, November 30, resulting in a few struggling to finish their game. However, this was not the case for all, as other participants relished the 32°C heat to obtain respectable scores.
It was a stroke event and the effort of Faye Fankhauser off a handicap of 35 achieved the best nett score for the day of 51 to take the winner’s title in C Grade from Pam Stokes (29) who was runner-up with 56 nett.
Mary Elliott (21) continued her good form of recent weeks to take the honours in A grade with 55 nett, while Lady President Bev McLay (26) produced a score of 54 nett to win B grade by just one point from Helen Caldwell (24) who finished with 55 nett.
Ball winners were R. Cox, F. Glover and H. Gunstone all on 56 nett, with D. Jewell and Chris Kelly both with 57 nett plus M Ross with 58 nett following a countback from two others.
Nearest the pin winners were Rhonda Cox on the 1st while for the second shot on the 18th it was Kathy Bell, with her second shot finding the hole.
The putting competition, sponsored by Wickedly Deevine, was also included in the day’s play and was won by Di Bruhn
The Longest Day
Nathan Richards is participating in the Longest Day Challenge, which includes 72 holes of golf in one day at Parkland Golf Club.
The day will be run on Sunday, December 12, with members and guests able to play an 18-hole event also to raise some funds for the Cancer Council from noon for a 12.30pm hit-off.