From Tony Durkin
SHANNON’S MUG: After his first two holes in Saturday’s Monthly Mug – par, birdie – 29-marker Shannon Walters thought ‘this could be my day’. Seven holes and 42 shots later he was contemplating trying to get through the next nine and not embarrass himself. But with plenty of encouragement from his playing partners, who included his dad Darren, Shannon signed for a six-over 42 to return a nett 63, the best score in the big field of 226 players, a six-shot win in C Grade and his first Monthly Mug. A Headland junior, Shannon was playing off 18 when he left the Sunshine Coast to head north for work, playing only social golf with his mates during a decade away. When he returned at the start of 2017, he re-joined the club and now the tiler tries to play at least once week with his short-term goal to return to that 18 mark. ‘Playing smart’ on the second nine and ‘listening to the old man’ were the reasons Shannon gave for turning in the lowest nine-hole score of his golfing life.
CONSISTENT COLIN: Despite accruing seven stableford points on the 17th and 18th holes at Headland on Tuesday, it was the consistency of his winning round that best pleased retired Marine Surveyor Colin Williamson. Colin scored 42 points from his 26 handicap to win the Single Stableford event with identical scores on both nines – 46 strokes and 21 points. The Scot, who started playing golf at eight with a set of cut-down Hickory clubs at North Berwick Golf Club – founded in 1832 – joined Headland when he retired and moved to the Sunshine Coast six years ago. He plays two to three times a week, loves the challenge the course presents and regards his par on the difficult 17th on Tuesday as ‘almost equal to scoring an eagle’.
HOT AND COLD: Andy Hempsall had just returned from a 10-day trip to the Antarctic before taking on the oppressive heat in Wednesday’s Single Stableford event at Headland – a temperature variance of around 40 degrees. And Andy’s hot and cold golf certainly mirrored the diverse weather conditions. In his score of 33 points – from a 23 handicap – he had three three-point holes, two four-pointers and a five-point birdie on the seventh. And just for good measure the retired Aircraft Engineer, who has been a member of Headland for a decade but only started playing competitively three years ago, wiped the first four holes on the back nine and followed that frustration with a birdie at the 14th and a par on the 15th. He is, not surprisingly, looking for some tepid consistency in his game.
CAME, AND TRIED: More than 30 prospective SWING members attended the ‘Come and Try’ day at Headland on Sunday, for the 2019 program – under the guidance of Club Professional Adam Norlander – to kick-off next Monday (February 11). As well, an information session is being held this Tuesday (February 5) for the 39 ladies coming through the SWING program from last year. Speakers will include former Australian Open and PGA rules official and Headland Course Marshall, Ian Hepburn, Headland Golf Manager Clay Williams, Club Vice-President Kathryn Tales and new SWING Co-ordinator, Di Stark. Participants from last year will continue their golf education with on-course training and mentoring from Tuesday, February 12. In the six years of Headland’s highly-successful and innovative SWING program almost 90 ladies have graduated to become club members and regular players, with some joining the committee, others progressing to A Grade level and a couple even scoring competition holes-in-one.
FIRST SUCCESS: Former Caloundra Golf Club Ladies Captain, Denise Hutchison, has made a smooth transition to her new club with a win in the Ladies Single Stableford on Tuesday. Denise has played just a handful of games since joining Headland in October after she and her husband Peter moved north to Buderim from Pelican Waters, for family reasons. She signed for 38 points, beating Trish Murphy on a countback, and started superbly on a course and layout she says she loves. After four holes Denise had scored 12 points, and despite wiping the fifth had 20 points on the front followed by 18 on the back. Members of Brisbane’s Indooroopilly Golf Club before moving to the Sunshine Coast a decade ago, both Denise and Peter are thoroughly enjoying the challenge of playing Headland.
WHOOPS I: Anyone seeking a lawyer to get them out of a bind may be well advised to contact Tony Pattinson, winner of successive A Grade Wednesday Single Stableford events at Headland. While last Wednesday week’s win – with 41 points – was a better score than Wednesday’s 40 points, it was nowhere near as spectacular. Tony and his group regularly play Wednesday afternoons, and habitually in the 12.19 timeslot from the 10th tee. And, as customs are difficult to break, the group did exactly that on Wednesday. But alas, they were booked to tee off on the first, not the 10th, and did not discover their mistake until after they had played their tee shots. The result? A return to the first tee, a two-stroke penalty for each member of the group and a six of one (with penalty) for Tony. The back-to-back winner finished with 81 from his 13 handicap, with a one-over 37 on his second crack at the back nine and, on a countback, managed to beat Daniel Lane and Ross Kelly.
WHOOPS II: Ross Carvell has been a Headland member for 38 years and claims his recent indiscretion – wearing odd shoes into the clubhouse – was only his second lapse of judgement in that time. Ross, totally unaware of his dress code ‘violation’, was spotted by a fellow member after golf on Wednesday and when approached he promptly confessed that he had changed one shoe post golf, but – neglectfully – not the other. And he also admitted it was the second time in the past 12 months he had made the error. A retired plasterer, Ross was adamant he was not plastered at the time of the gaffe.
PENNANTS: Headland has not had the best start to the 2019 Sunshine Coast Golf Zone Pennant competition with losses on Sunday in the opening two matches. The Masters team was beaten 5½-1½ by Noosa Springs at Noosa, while the B Grade team lost 4-3 to Noosa at Cooroy. Ian Moore was the only Masters player to win (3&1) while captain Warren Selvage squared his match. Brian Kesby lost 4&2, Burgess Stephenson 2&1 and Peter Holt was two down, while Neven Daniel and Simon Whittle took their matches to the 18th before being beaten. Father and son Michael (4&2) and Blake (5&3) Thomas were two of the winners in B Grade’s loss on Sunday. Dan Diachkoff (3&2) was the other winner, with Matt Prince (2 down), Simon Mitchell (3&2), Matt Hetherington (4&3) and Dean Jones (3&2) on the losing end of their matches.
WEEKLY WINNERS:
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Ladies (47 players) – Denise Hutchison (38 points), Trish Murphy (38), Di Stark (37); Men (76 players) – Colin Williamson (42), John Robertson (40), Tony Newell (38).
Wednesday, Men, Single Stableford (216 players) – A Grade, Tony Pattinson (40 points), Daniel Lane (40), Ross Kelly (40); B Grade, Jim Saunderson (43), Tony Coad (43), Brendan Southey (41); C Grade, Phil Martin (42), Gordon Peak (42, Toby Zaremba (40).
Thursday, Ladies, Follies Foursomes (112 players) – Ellen Bloxsome, Kay Campbell, Ann Dykstra and Sandy Linnane (129 points), Jill McAndrew, Deborah Thomas, Helen O’Neil and Jackie Walkington (125), Maggie Fitzpatrick, Lynn Nicholson, Kate Wilkie and Lisa Ramen (118). Men, Fourball Best Ball Stableford (78 players) – Paul Stephens and Patrick Carmody (49 points), Mick Kelsey and Malcolm Galletly (48), Glen Wakefield and Brad Reddan (47).
Saturday, Ladies, Monthly Medal (26 players) – Sue Jones (74 nett), Lisa Ramen (74), Dominique Paice (75). Men, Monthly Mug (226 players), A Grade, Andrew Fisher (66), Justin Walsh (66), David Mayes (67), Peter Gablonski (68), Gross, Jamie Hill (73); B Grade, Ross Kelly (67), Chris Klazema (69), Ross Roberts (71), Brett Stephenson (71), Gross, Ross Kelly (81); C Grade, Shannon Walters (63), Mark Gersbach (69), Denis Brumby (70), Vince O’Neill (71), Gross, Glenn Brooker (91).
Sunday, Medley Monthly Medal (39 players) – Mathew Duncan (67 nett), Ash Reck (68), Steven Bell (69).
