From Tony Durkin
GOLF STRENGTH: After 12 months of ‘rubbish’ golf, Personal Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach Tim Diedricks has acknowledged that brute strength is not the answer to better golf scores. “I was trying to hit the ball too hard,” said Tim, who didn’t miss a fairway in his round of 79 in Saturday’s Monthly Medal, and a win in A Grade with 67 nett. Playing off 12 – a far cry from his seven handicap when he and good mate Paul Henricks combined for 50 points in a Fourball 18 months ago – Tim carded 11 pars and seven bogeys, with three of the bogeys a result of poor chips. “My game felt much better today,” said Tim who played only a dozen competition games last year. Apart from his Personal Trainer role at Jetts in Mooloolaba, Tim is Strength and Conditioning Coach with various sports at Sunshine Coast Grammar School as well as Caloundra Rugby Club. Tristan Scott (also 67) won the B Grade Medal, Trevor Gourlay (72) won C Grade and Dave Rattray (71) returned the best gross score.
CALM MARGIE: When she ‘made a mess’ of the third hole with a quadruple eight in Saturday’s Monthly Medal round, octogenarian Margie White thought ‘this is not going to be a good day’. But playing in the same group as Women’s Captain Sue Jones was her saving grace. “Sue helped calm me down, and I played really well from then on,” said Margie, who turns 84 next month. Scoring 97, for 72 nett, won Margie her first Medal since 2014, and her sixth since she joined Headland from Darwin 22 years ago. And while Sue was a psychological help, a new set of TaylorMade clubs bought from Head Pro Adam Norlander last year, have been the clincher. “It took me a while to get used to them, but I love them now and they are working well for me,” she said. Vicky Sheridan (86) had the best gross.
COSTLY WEDGES: Successive poor wedges from 80 metres out at the par-four ninth – his final hole in Sunday’s Medley Single Stroke event – may well have cost Anthony Fichera equalling his best-ever round (73) at Headland. Anthony was one-over after 17 holes before his mishap at nine, but still won the event – his gross 75 giving him nett 68, and a one-shot win over playing partners Darryl Kong and Rod J Berger. But while his round of three birdies, 10 pars, four bogeys and the double bogey at nine, gave him his first win in an individual event since May of 2020, his score was a lesson to Sam, his ever-improving 12-year-old son who played in the same group. “Sam and I played a lot of social golf over the school holidays, and often I struggled to beat him,” explained Anthony, reflecting on Sam’s uncharacteristic blowout score of 97 on Sunday. “He’s a really keen golfer and a good a student of the game, so I’m sure he will learn a lot from playing with the three prize winners today.”
SEVEN-YEAR ITCH: On Thursday Libby Hall effectively scratched a golfing itch that has lasted seven years – the time since she last won a Monthly Medal. Recently retired from the family construction business, followed by a bout of travelling, Libby has played little golf in the past 12 months and doesn’t recall the scores when she won three Monthly Medals in C Grade back in 2015, her most successful year since graduating from SWING in 2013. “The past seven years has been a drought, it really has,” said Libby, whose handicap has dropped from 28 to 24 following her nett 66 on Thursday, and a slashing win in B Grade. “I play golf because I enjoy it, and today I particularly enjoyed the company of the other girls and – because of the heat – riding in a cart,” she quipped. Fiona Munro (71) won A Grade, Doreen Davidson (72) C Grade and Margot Easton (69) D Grade. Lisa Ramen (80) returned the best gross.
TRIPLE FINISH: Even despite a triple bogey on his last hole (the ninth) Chris Duhig was able to hold on and return the best score in Wednesday’s Medley Single Stableford. The Detective Sergeant, who is now back on the Sunshine Coast after 14 years posted at Gympie CIB, shot 80 for his 41 points, winning B Grade and carding seven three-pointers and a four-point birdie at the 12th. But he also added a double at 13 to his triple at the ninth, costing him his first round at Headland in the 70s. Chris also won the accompanying Fourball event, partnering with regular playing companion and former Detective Bevan Horsnell, to score 48 points and finish the day with a total $110 in prizemoney. Wayne West (39 points) won A Grade and Stu Ennever (38) C Grade.
FIVE-UNDER BEN: A bogey at the par-four 15th has cost reigning Headland Junior Champion Ben Duncombe a second spectacular round at his home course in the past three months. Playing off plus four, Ben shot six birdies and 11 pars in an otherwise-faultless round during Wednesday’s Medley Single Stableford, for a five-under 67, and 37 points. “I missed the green at 15, and hit a poor chip,” revealed the 19-year-old who recently won the Oxenford Plate, a Golf Queensland Men’s Order of Merit event, at Redcliffe, with a four-under 67. In November Ben carved up the Headland course with a bogey-free eight-under round of 64, a score bettered a month later by US Masters Champion Adam Scott, who shot 62. Ben Backed up on Thursday to score another 67, with eight birdies and three bogeys, his sixth successive under-par round.
UNPIPPED: After being pipped at the post twice this year, Sue Jones – Headland Women’s Director of Golf – finally broke through for a win in Monday’s Vets Single Stableford. A ‘rough trot’ midway through last year gave the former Club Champion a few negative thoughts about her golf, but some pleasing results in 2023 have been encouraging. “Mind you, I chipped in twice and sank a long putt for birdie that had no right to go in,” confessed the 11 marker who scored 39 points to win A Grade. And while Sue is enjoying her position as Women’s Captain, she conceded her role as a board member was more demanding than she had anticipated. Mary Gibberd (also 39 points) won B Grade, while Nev Kenzler (37) won Men’s A Grade, Sergio Nogarotto (40) B Grade and Jack Williams (38) C Grade.
BEERS VICTORY: These days, winning the beers at the end of the round is the goal of three-times-a-week golfer and retired teacher Dennis Taylor, who convincingly won Thursday’s Single Stableford for Men. Dennis, who quit teaching a decade ago, scored 39 points in a consistent round of 10 pars and eight bogeys from his handicap of 11, with four of those bogeys on his final four holes. “My victory routine seems to be once every three years, so winning the beers is more important,” he said. Despite the next best Stableford score being 36 points, some rather spectacular gross rounds – and birdies – were registered. Teenager Ben Duncombe (plus five handicap) slotted eight birdies in his round of 67, Head Pro Adam Norlander (1) had four birdies (74), Shane Muller (scratch) four birdies (72) and Assistant Pro Mitch Jacobson (plus 3) three birdies, 71.
COSTLY WIPE: Had she not wiped the par-four 17th on Tuesday, gold medal-winning Masters rower Catherine Peterson would have had two reasons to brag. The retired Phys Ed teacher beat allcomers – men and women – to win the Medley Single Stableford event with 41 points, but the wipe, potentially, cost her best-ever gross score. Back in August of 2020 the 2012 SWING graduate scored 88 to win the B Grade Monthly Medal (67 nett) and she needed only to score a 10 – at worst- on the 17th, to beat that. But she was still more than happy with her three birdies – at holes five, 12 and 16 – five pars, seven bogeys and two doubles in her best round for at least two years, particularly as she had scored just five points on the front nine a week earlier. Married couple, Denise and David Carmichael, won the accompanying Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford, with 46 points.
MO’S OAM: Twenty-year member Maureen (Mo) Lyon has been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her service to the community through a range of organisations in three continents. The youthful 84-year-old still plays golf at least once a week, and is a regular in Headland Vets events. Mo started volunteering when she was just 15 and, as she moved around world with her Nuclear Physicist husband Bob, looked for three things in her new community – a job, a volunteer organisation and a golf course. She has been heavily involved in Girl Guides, Lions, Save the Children’s Fund, the United Nation’s Women’s Guild and the International Committee for Voluntary Social Aid. As a long-term member of Buderim Lions Club, Mo served as President, won the President’s Medal in 2007 and the James D. Richardson Honour Award for the Australian Lions Foundation in 2010. Of her OAM she reflected: ‘Thank goodness I have an understanding family, because if you are a volunteer, or play golf, you must have family support. I dedicate the OAM to the hundreds of wonderful volunteer friends who worked with me, to help others.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Vets, Single Stableford, Women (53 players) – A Grade, Sue Jones (39 points), Bev Kelly (38), Sue Briffa (36); B Grade, Marg Gibberd (39), Ree Condon (36), Joy Logan (33). Men (71 players) – A Grade – Nev Kenzler (37), David W Smith (36), John Sexton (36); B Grade, Sergio Nogarotto (40), Keven Howe (38), Brian Hills (38); C Grade, Jack Williams (38), John Marrington (38), Stuart Dykstra (36).
Tuesday, Medley Single Stableford, (111 players) – Catherine Peterson (41 points), Rod Hamilton (40), Trevor Simpson (39); Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford (111 players) – Denise and David Carmichael (46 points).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford, (221 players) – A Grade, Wayne West (39 points), Geoff Jones (37), Andrew Fisher (37); B Grade, Chris Duhig (41), Robert Chaplain (40), Toby Zaremba (39); C Grade, Stu Ennever (38), Peter Corney (37), Ed Hoey (36). Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford – Chris Duhig and Bevan Horsnell (48 points).
Thursday, Women, Monthly Medal – sponsor, B by B Halcyon and Jodi McDonell, Century 21 (100 players) A Grade, Fiona Munro (71 nett), Lisa Ramen (72), Kate Wilkie (72); B Grade, Libby Hall (66), Althea Mclean (71), Jodie McDonell (73); C Grade, Doreen Davidson (72), Donna Rose (73), Lesley Wilson (74); D Grade, Margot Easton (69), Mary Ann Sanderson (74), Marie Flegler (76). Best gross – Lisa Ramen (80).
Men, Single Stableford (80 players) – Dennis Taylor (39 points), Shane Muller (36), Dick Gibberd (36).
Saturday, Monthly Medal – sponsors, Century 21 (Ryan Tomlinson and Jodie McDonell – Women (29 players) – Margie White (72 nett), Vicky Sheridan (75), Sue Jones (76); gross – Vicky Sheridan (86).
Men (212 players) – A Grade, Tim Diedricks (67), Jack Pyke (68), Dave Rattray (69); B Grade, Tristan Scott (67), Paul Morton (67), Nick Donovan (69); C Grade, Trevor Gourlay (72), John Kingston (72), Olaf Nippierd (72). Overall gross – Dave Rattray (71).
Juniors – Girls, 8-10 years, Paige Prosser (58 strokes); Boys, 7 and under, Ty Swartz (58); 8-10, Benjamin Cox (37); 11-13, Kamran Barden (43).
Sunday, Medley Single Stroke (63 players) – Anthony Fichera (68 nett), Darryl Kong (69), Rod J Berger (69).
