From Tony Durkin
HOURN SOUNDS: “I’m just getting used to the course,” was the ominous warning from Jack Hourn following his slashing win in Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford. On the Headland waitlist for three years and a provisional member until December, Jack shot two-under 70 for 40 points, returning the best round of the week and a win in A Grade. With five birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys on his card from his handicap of two, Jack quipped ‘I left a few out there’. A FIFO miner who hails from Kingaroy – where his dad Graham is a golfing legend, having won 16 consecutive club championships – Jack moved to the Sunshine Coast three years ago. “I came here playing initially as a visitor on a handicap of plus one, but blew out to four. Headland is a really difficult course,” he stressed. “But I’m starting to find my feet, although it is tough to get some momentum when I’m only playing every second week.” Ironically, the 27-year-old bogeyed three of the four par threes on Saturday, while birdieing five of the more difficult holes – one, seven, 10, 16 and 17. “That’s golf,” was his simplistic clarification. Neil Oxley found form with his 39-point round winning B Grade, the same score Kurt Lawlor returned to top the C Grade field.
WINNING WHITMORE: Nicola Whitmore has sustained her 2026 winning streak with Division One victory in Thursday’s Women’s Stableford. Since her golf-nut husband Andy finally cajoled her to take up the game in 2023, Nicola has reduced her GA handicap from her starting point of 38, to 23, where she stands following her 37 points on Thursday. “I’ve finally figured out how to play this game,” confessed Nicola, a former tennis player. “I was trying to hit the ball too hard, as is usually what you have to do in tennis.” Playing from the red tees off her daily handicap of 28, Nicola penned five three-pointers, nine twos and four singles on her winning card, continuing her super start to the new year. In a 2026 blaze of glory, she won the first Women’s event of the year with 40 points, followed by a second placing (38 points) in a Medley event 10 days later. Then, last Thursday week, she won the Division Two Plus Par event, with plus three. And that super start followed her superb farewell to 2025 – joining Carolyn Fisher, Laura Mason-Baierl and Sandee Brimblecombe in winning the Long Lunch team’s event, hot on the heels on her December Monthly Medal. Wendy Derrick (37 points) won Division Two on Thursday while the Division Three prize went to Ballina visitor Vicki Lawrence, with the outstanding score of 43 points.
HOOKED OFF GOLF: Pharmacist Chris Risby, who shot the lowest round and returned the best score on Wednesday, has not been totally in love with golf for the past six-to-eight months. “I’ve been battling the hooks,” said Chris, who shot 74 for 41 points to win A Grade in the Medley Single Stableford. “Honestly, my golf has been terrible in that time, and I have preferred taking my boys (eight and five) fishing.” But he returned with a vengeance, firing four birdies and ten pars, and shooting three-under for his final 13 holes after a sluggish start. And two of those birdies – at holes nine and 17 – were prized ‘gets’ for the Birdie Board competition played among his Headland Hustlers group. “Because the ninth green is so difficult to hold, that is a really good birdie to kick start the year,” he explained. While he works a couple of days a week as a locum, Chris is heavily involved in his own software company, STAT. “With work, and the family, I don’t seem to get as much time for golf now as I once did. But it was great to get out there on Wednesday, and also rid my game of the hooks,” he quipped. John Jones (38 points) won B Grade and the evergreen Darryl Chapman, also 38, won C Grade.
SORRY, KATE: Gwen Nancarrow was practically apologetic for winning Saturday’s Single Stableford for Women. “I beat Kate Wilkie on a countback, but only because of my huge handicap,” said a disenchanted four-time Headland B Grade Champion whose handicap has blown out by three shots over the summer months. “Like a lot of ladies, I am finding the course so difficult to play, yet I’m still enjoying being out there.” Both Gwen and Kate scored 38 points, Gwen winning by virtue of her 22 points on the back nine. “Kate played beautifully, and I was lucky to beat her. She had five pars and a bogey in her final six holes.” Gwen said a four-point birdie at the par-three 14th, alongside pars at 12, 16 and 18, had ‘saved’ her round. And although frustrated with her current game, the win was the second visit to the podium in January for the 23-year Headland member.
WORST, BEST: Despite recently attending a week-long golf school on the Gold Coast, David Carmichael still cannot comprehend the vagaries of the game. “In the first three rounds when I returned, I had two seconds and a first, but then it all turned to rubbish,” said the former North Queensland car retailer and business identity after winning Tuesday’s Single Stableford for Men. “And in the past three weeks I have again gone from bust to boom, with a worst of 22 points followed by my 40 points today.” While Tuesday’s round was not his best, the score included two four-point holes, six threes and five twos, with a wipe at the first hole his worst result. Notwithstanding the ups and downs, David still enjoys his regular Tuesdays and Thursdays on the course, as he imagined he would when he moved from Townsville to retire on the Sunshine Coast 15 years ago. In fact, so keen was he to secure his Headland membership, he and his wife Denise joined three years before their move. And it wasn’t just David who enjoyed Tuesday’s outing. Denise collected $5 in the Women’s rundown, and won $6 for an NTP – a tad less than David’s windfall of $105. A publicity-shy Marg Howard won the Women’s event, with 38 points.
AUSSIE JOHN: He was born in South Africa, spent his childhood in Zimbabwe and now travels the world for work, but John Anderson considers himself a dinki-di Aussie. “I was naturalised 26 years ago,” John declared after winning Monday’s Australia Day Medley Single Stableford. The two-decade Headland member, who plays almost exclusively on Sundays but made an exception for the Australia Day holiday competition, scored 39 points from his 23 handicap to beat the ever-improving Narelle Hollowood on a countback. And his card was quite remarkable – 46 shots on both nines with one par, six bogeys and two doubles, also on both nines. “It has been a long, long while since my last win,” he said, revealing that for the past year or so he had been shooting ‘around his handicap’ but never breaking through. John owns and operates a business called Endangered Adventures, a service which provides access to the most endangered and remote species in the world. The business is based in Mooloolaba, and John makes regular visits to Borneo, Uganda, Botswana, and Tonga.
MAIDEN SUCCESS: Nurse Jenny Hartwig could not wait to get to work on Monday to inform her colleague, Dr Trevor Beall, that she won Sunday’s Medley Single Par event. “He won’t’ believe it, just like I can’t,” enthused Jenny, after scoring plus three to post her first win as a three-year Headland member. “I had a really good day, as I suppose is usually the case with most winners on such a tough course.” Jenny started golf as a kid at Jandowae on the Darling Downs, but after a long break decided to join Headland when she moved to the Sunshine Coast in 2022, and into her new home adjacent to the seventh fairway. “Because I work four days a week, I don’t get the chance to play as much as I would like. In fact, today was just my second Sunday game,” she revealed. Jenny carded eight plusses, five halves and five misses, to win by a single shot from Di Gilmour, two of only 16 women in the medley field of 62. Club Champion Adam Richards, playing from plus two, shot an impressive two-under 70, to return plus one.
TWIN NINES: A 15-metre putt for birdie at the par-three fifth hole which ‘just kept rolling’ was the highlight of Josh Poole’s win in Thursday’s Single Stableford for Men. “I putted really well, and the boys kept ‘chatting’ me about that,” said Josh, whose nines on the day were identical. He shot 42 on both the front and back, with 20 points on each for his winning score, one better than runner-up and playing partner Kevin George. “He needed to birdie the 18th to beat me, but parred it,” quipped Josh, who finished with two bogeys and two doubles after starting the back nine with five successive pars. A Headland member for 13 years who played golf as a youngster, Josh said his golf of late had been giving him a hard time. “I’ve played to my handicap a couple of times, but that is my best round in ages,” he said. And the win was also financially rewarding, with Josh having $115 added to his House Account.
FAREWELL MANDY: Headland has lost one of its most treasured members, with Mandy Oster last week losing her long battle with an insidious illness. With her husband Bill and son Dean, Mandy joined Headland in 2009 after moving from Rockhampton where she had been a member, and joint Ladies Captain, at Yeppoon Golf Club. Prior to that Mandy was a member, and C Grade Champion, at Mount Gambier Golf Club in South Australia. Her golf game kicked off at the prestigious Yarra Yarra club in Melbourne, with 21 being her lowest career handicap. Such were Mandy’s leadership qualities, her popularity and golfing ability, that she soon became ensconced in the Headland community after joining, taking on the roles of Women’s Captain (2015-2016) and Vice President (2018) before her illness struck. A Celebration of Mandy’s life will be held on Friday (February 6) at 11:30am at The Cove, 88 Sportsman Parade, Bokarina, followed by an informal gathering from 2pm at the nearby Brightwater Hotel.
SIMPLY THE BEST: With his two-under par 70 on Saturday, Jack Hourn has returned the lowest round of the week, to be named Headland’s STB. Jack shot five birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys from his handicap of two, for 40 Stableford points, the best score of the day and a win in A Grade. Each week in 2026, HH will name our ‘Simply the Best’ golfer – those who return the lowest round – in recognition of the club’s low-handicap golfers.
EAGLES NEST: Eagles have landed regularly at Headland during January, with 11 nestled since the 2026 golfing calendar opened on January 10. And two golfers – Terry Ward at hole seven and Matt Griffiths at hole 13 – teed off their respective years with eagles on Opening Day. Then followed Shane Muller (January 15) at hole two, Scott Lindsay (10) and Denis Orr (16) two days later, Trevor Simpson (January 20) at hole six and Ty Pilcher, at the tenth, on January 21. Mike Hardy started his round in spectacular fashion on Saturday (January 24) with an eagle at the first hole, while Lincoln Harris eagled the par-four third the following day. And, to end the month on a high, two more eagles landed on Saturday, the last day of January, with Barry Newton (hole 11) – on the eve of a forced three-month sabbatical – and Brendan Duncan (13) both celebrating what is a rather infrequent golfing event. At the end of each month during 2026, HH will acknowledge all our eagle hunters for their special golfing feats.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Australia Day Medley Single Stableford (57 players) – John Anderson (39 points), Narelle Hollowood (39), Michael Rutledge (37).
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (37 players) – Marg Howard (38 points), Ellen Bloxsome (36), Gay David (36).
Men (68 players) – David Carmichael (40), Keaton Fox (36), Kevin George (36).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford – sponsor, Adam Robins, AR Coastal Scaffolding – (228 players) – A Grade, Chris Risby (41 points), Jack Pyke (40), Graham Smith (38); B Grade, John Jones (38), Robert Chaplin (36), Ross Kelly (36); C Grade, Darryl Chapman (38), Dave Whalley (38), Phil Martin (37).
Thursday, Single Stableford, Women – sponsor, Sunlife Skin Cancer Care Centre – (100 players) – Division One, Nicola Whitmore (37 points), Helen Fraser (36), Kerry Longworth (36); Division Two, Wendy Derrick (37), Odette Day (36), Lynn Hayman (34); Division Three, Vicki Lawrence (43), Debbie Proud (38), Belinda Watman (36).
Men, Single Stableford (78 players) – Josh Poole (40 points), Kevin George (39), Malcolm Woods (38).
Saturday, Single Stableford – sponsor, Ben Laycock, Sunshine Coastal Storage – Women (20 players) – Gwen Nancarrow (38 points), Kate Wilkie (38), Suzanne Pledge (37).
Men (230 players) – A Grade, Jack Hourn (40 points), Michael Thomas (39), Mark Selig (39); B Grade, Neil Oxley (39), Peter Wark (38), Marco Di Nardo (38); C Grade, Kurt Lawlor (39), Tony Vickers (38), Barry Potter (37).
Sunday, Medley Single Par (62 players) – Jenny Hartwig (plus 3), Di Gilmour (+2), Dave Mansley (+2).
