Saturday saw the playing of the American Foursomes, sponsored by Milton Cartwright, and which there is usually much amusement. Many of the 24 pairings were intent on producing some very good scores.

The winning pair comprised of Simon Houston and Shane Sallaway, who returned a score of 69 5/8 nett, on the back of the best stroke score of 70. This was Simon’s last game as the Forbes head professional, and he was very pleased to finish as a winner. Simon and Shane scored three birdies on the front-9 to turn in 33, and then finished with a 37 on the back-9.

Runners-up were Dan Bayley/Kim Herbert on a nett 71, scratch 77, with their handicap very nearly got them home, but in the end it was a case of too many bogeys.

The ball sweep went to 72 ¼, going to: S Houston/S Sallaway, D Bayley/K Herbert, P Dawson/B Thomas, R Borger/ P Barnes and B Carpenter/ F Hanns. The NTP’s went to: 9th – A Grierson and 18th – P Dawson.

While the recently scarified greens ensured the pins were vulnerable to good chips, the vagaries of scared lines and grass tufts played havoc with many short putts.

The pair of Peter Barnes and Bob Borger used a beautiful tee shot on the 1st which had easily found the green, but then they four putted. If it was not the putts that caused problems it was the dry creek bed that found players in difficult positions.

By Short Put

Over the weekend, the third staging of the Sand Grass Greens Championships was held at Grenfell and Forbes courses. The event, managed by GolfNSW and sponsored by Forbes Shire Council, was attended by over 70 players, travelling from 16 clubs across regional and city NSW.

The first round was played at Grenfell on Saturday. A brief shower of rain did not help the putting on the sand greens but conditions improved as did the scores.

The Round 1 Men’s Handicap winner, on count back, was Ash Whitechurch (Grenfell) with 38 points. The Ladies Handicap winner was Sally Mitton (Grenfell) with 35 points and also a winner in count back. The NTP’s went to: 9th –Men – A McDonald (F), Ladies – nil; 18th –Men – Z Kelly (Parkes) and L McCutcheon (Trangie).

On Sunday, the players were at Forbes playing on grass greens. The Round 2 Men’s Handicap winner, on count back, was Geoff Read (The Ridge) with 36 points.

The Ladies Handicap winner was Chantelle Greaves (Dunedoo) with 39 points.

The NTP’s went to: 9th –Men – B Shine (F), Ladies – J Fletcher (F); 18th –Men – Gerry Bassingthwaite (Cootamundra), Ladies – V Forsyth (G).

The 36-hole event prize winners were:

Men

• 36-hole Scratch winner: M Hale (Mudgee) 67 points.

• 36-hole Scratch runner-up: G Harding (Young) 51 points.

• 36-hole Nett winner: B Hughes (Grenfell) 65 points.

• 36-hole Nett runner-up: I Bown (Forbes) 64 on c/b.

Ladies

• 36-hole Scratch winner: C Greaves (Dunedoo) 52 points.

• 36-hole Scratch runner-up: L Harding (Young) 43 points.

• 36-hole Nett winner: K Solberg (Dunedoo) 71 pts.

• 36-hole Nett runner-up: V Forsyth (Grenfell) 66 pts.

There were also prizes for a team event, where the prizes were $500 from GolfNSW to go towards junior promotion programmes at the club. The winners were:

• 1st: Grenfell (V Forsyth, B Hughes, C Johnson, A Whitechurch).

• 2nd: Forbes (S Grallelis, I Bown, A Rees, G Drane).

• 3rd: Cootamundra (G Bassingthwaite, G Byrne, G Ward).

By Short Putt

Saturday was the Monthly Medal, sponsored by Bernardis Marketplace, and contested by a field of 56 players.

The A-Grade winner and medallist was Paul Pymont with a nett 70. Runner-up was Andrew Dukes, who after being 3-over after 15 holes, had a few bogeys to finish with nett 72.

The B-Grade winner of the voucher was a visitor from St Georges Basin, Brian Druett, who scored 68 nett. Runner-up and winner of the Monthly Medal, was Garry Collits with 70 nett.

The C-Graders were led by Geoffrey Drane with a 70 nett followed close behind by Rod Besgrove on 71 nett.

The ball sweep went to 73 nett on count back, going to: 68 – G Druett; 70 – G Collits, P Pymont, G Drane, S Uphill; 71 – R Besgrove, B Thomas, R Webb; 72 – A Dukes; 73 – A Borger, B Tooth, P Kay, A Alley, N McMillan, B Carpenter. The NTP’s went to: 9th – Brian Everest; 18th – G Newport.

We welcomed a group of golfers from St George’s Basin. Some of them joined the comp while others played socially but they all enjoyed themselves.

Play on Sunday was the LVDGA Mens Keno 4BBB, with 46 players covering representation from Forbes, Parkes, Grenfell and West Wyalong clubs. There was no Stableford Medley.

The winners of the Handicap event and heading to the State final at Bonville were the pairing of Richard Nixon and Niel Duncan.

They finished with +8. Andrew Dukes and Michael Spice were runners-up on +7, ahead of Ralph Baker and Steve Grallelis on count back.

The Scratch event was dominated by Parkes players with Mitch McGlashan and Zac Kelly coming first on +4 and Myles and Blake Smith runners-up on -2.

By Short Putt