THE wet weather continues to play havoc with our golf schedule, with the staff battling to be able to get the mowers on the fairways and rough areas due to the wet and soft ground.

Our golfers are made of strong stuff, and willing to brave whatever obstacles mother nature can throw at them, those that ventured out are quite amazed at how well the course has dried out, despite continual downpours.

A big ‘Thank You’ to all those golfers using golf carts and scooters for observing the ‘stay on paths’ directions!

Our featured sponsor for the week was Ecomist, thanks to Andrew Donovan.

On Tuesday 15 March we had 21 brave starters for a Medley Stableford under really wet conditions and further rain during the morning, and unfortunately, twelve of those did not finish their round.

The tough going didn’t worry Rodney Kinnear (16) from Kemspey who scored 36 points to win the event from Russell Lane (18) from Dorrigo RSL with 35 points. Jeramy Ashman 34, Nathan Ison 32 and Philip Mander 30 featured in the Ball Rundown.

On Wednesday 16 March, the Women played a Single Stableford and most found the going extremely tough with 11 of the 34 starters not finishing their round. Sue Brooks scored 33 points to win Division 1 (0-26) from Kerrie Eichorn (12) with 29 points.

Division 2 (27-45) winner was Helen Ferrero (28) from Macksville with 30 points from Debra Gersbach (27) with 26 points.

The Golflink system recognizes the difficult conditions, adding 0.3 difficulty adjustment when updating player’s handicaps.

Ball winners were Glenys Thompson and Judy Boyle 29, Cheryl Gilmour 28, Linne Street 27 & Denise Paluch 26
Thursday 17 March was St Patrick’s Day with an appropriate Irish Stableford event (normal points holes 1-6, double points holes 7-12 and triple points on the last 6 holes) – it pays to have a good back nine for this event.

The best round of the day went to Greg Smith with 81 points to win Division 1 (0-18) from Club Captain Stuart Garvey (9) with 73 points.

Division 2 (19-45) winner was David Gilmour (27) with 79 points from Paddy Byrne (25) with 76 points.

Other good scores from Walter Bortoletto andPaul McElhinney 75, Craig Peart (Coffs Harbour) andRussell Lane (Dorrigo RSL) 73, with the ball rundown to 65 on countback.

Saturday 19 March was a Medley Stableford and qualifying round for the Men’s Singles Knockout with a good field of 92 starters.

Fortunately for most players, and the lovely Marriage Celebration taking place on the deck, the rain stayed away until around 2.30pm.

The best score of the day went to Kim Michelson (9) from Urunga with 39 points to win Division 1 (0-15) from Steve Frost (15) with 38 points. William Mann (17) and Joe Street (18) needed a countback to decide the winner in Division 2 (16-21), both scoring 35 points, with Bill winning the countback.

David Wilson (22) scored 37 points to win Division 3 (22-45) from Jamie Lucas (24) with 35 points.

Other good scores from Nate Beverley 37, Stephen Carr 36, Drew Glasson, Troy Herbert & Darren Key 35, the Ball Rundown to 31 points on countback.

We had a great response from players wishing to nominate for the Singles Knockout – the draw will be placed on the Notice Board shortly.

See you on the Island.

 

By Geoff MCCANN