The September Monthly Medal, sponsored by McFeeter’s Motor Museum, was played on Saturday with the field of 68 returning some variable scores.

Barry Shine won the A-Grade with 72 nett, on count back from Alf Davies. Both were consistent scorers but the handicap helped Barry.

The B-Grade saw Garry Collits defend his title from last month, proving that a good holiday lasts a long time. His 69 nett was a good margin ahead of runner-up Scott Kirkman on 73 nett.

James Morgan blitzed the C-Graders with his 62 nett, but unfortunately for him the medal went to Don Ridley with 68 nett.

James still gets his prize though.

The ball sweep went to 75 nett on count back, going to: 62 – J Morgan; 68 – D Ridley; 69 – G Collits; 71 – B Squires; 72 – B Shine, A Davies, R Besgrove; 73 – S Kirkman, M Cartwright, R Taylor, B Doyle; 74 – S Sallaway, D Bernardi, S Grallelis, A Borger and 75 – J Zannes, R Morris, D Churchill.

The NTP’s went to: 9th – J Morgan; 18th – S Kirkman. Scott scored the only ‘2’ of the day. Danny Acret was the lone visitor, enjoying the company of old friends if not the weather.

With the greens under renovation it seemed that 3-putts were the norm as well as challenging. The ‘borrow’ was sometimes difficult to determine and putts bobbled hither and tither. But the greens were generally receptive to high approach shots. ‘At Card Draw for the Day’s Comp’ went to Paul Kay.

By Short Putt

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