From Tony Durkin
GOLF PROPHECY: A recent playing partner of Andrew Stirling suggested it would not be long before the National Operations Manager for an energy company won a Headland competition. And his prediction was spot on, with the eight-handicapper shooting one-over 73 to return the best nett score – by three shots – in Saturday’s January Wood Duck Challenge. “I’ve been playing average golf for a while, but seemed to be hitting it just a little better of late,” Andrew explained after his round of two birdies, 14 pars, a bogey and a double. “But there was nothing too bad at all with my ball striking on Saturday.” Andrew’s two ‘fails’ came on successive holes – a double at the par three 14th, and bogey at the par-four 15th, after he had started his round on ten. “From 15 onwards I was two under, which was really pleasing,” he said. Andrew, who has been at Headland since his wife gifted him membership in 2012 for his 40th birthday, previously shot 69 back in 2023 when he won both the A Grade gross and nett in the September Monthly Medal, on the shortened course. He was one of 19 in the big field of 252 to break his handicap, and collect $77.20 as his share of the spoils from sponsors Greg Edgar (Rapid Equipment Hire) and Nelson and Lachlan Valderrama (Absolute Building Solutions). Wayne West shot one-under 71 to return the best gross score.
EGGED ON: Encouraged to play golf by her husband Steve after they moved from Sydney, Chrissy Eggins came through the highly-successful SWING program in 2016 before joining Headland. Initially, she was not overly enamoured with the game she now loves, and displayed that new-found enjoyment by returning the best score in Thursday’s Par Plus for Women. “But I hate the new bunkers,” Chrissy voiced after not finding a single sand trap on her way to scoring plus four, and winning Division Three. For several reasons, Chrissy did not play a lot of golf after initially joining, but started to play more consistently around the time the bunker reconstruction program kicked off. “I found things really difficult, and wasn’t enjoying my golf much,” she admitted. “But I again love the game, despite my struggles with the bunkers.” Apart from finding no bunkers on Thursday, Chrissy revealed she had ‘more two putts than three putts’, which also helped. Returning plus four, she penned three double plusses and four plusses on her winning card. Kerry Longworth (plus two) won Division One and Nicola Whitmore (plus 3) won Division Two. Former QCA cricket umpire, Garry Holmes, scored 37 points to win the Men’s Single Stableford on a rare Thursday of low scores.
LYNDON WINS: When Headland junior Nash Hoger started liking his golf, and playing well, his dad Lyndon saw that as an opportunity to get serious about a sport he had played ‘probably only three times a year’. And on Wednesday, after just on 18 months as a member, the owner on Kenzee Constructions won his first event. Lyndon scored 41 points to head the C Grade ladder in what was a ‘crazy kind of round’. He started in brilliant fashion, birdying the par-five tenth for five points, but finished with an ‘adventurous’ wipe at the ninth. In between he carded one four-pointer, six threes, six twos, two ones and another wipe. “I played okay. My putter was pretty hot, but my drives were off,” confessed the former cricketer, whose wife Karra has also become a keen golfer. “We live near the course, and I have always liked golf. And when Nash joined before we did, we thought that was a good opportunity to take the plunge and join our local club,” he said. In fact, so enthusiastic have Lyndon and Karra become, they are currently investigating sponsorship opportunities at Headland. For the second successive Wednesday Dave Mayes (also 41 points) won A Grade, and Kate Wilkie, one of only three women in the field of 223, scored 39 points to win B Grade.
INVISIBLE FORM: Marg Smith reckons that when she is playing well, she doesn’t seem to notice her golfing form. “It’s when I’m playing poorly that I get frustrated, and allow that to affect my game,” said the former teacher after winning Tuesday’s Single Stableford for Women. A recent golfing drought, where she has not been playing regularly because of ‘a few aches and pains’, ended with Tuesday’s excellent score of 40 points from her handicap of 19, with six three-point holes and a four-point birdie at the par-three eighth. “Apart from a bad start to the second nine, I was happy with the way I played. And, I needed that outing,” she said. Rain during the morning restricted the size of the Women’s field, with Marg a clear-cut victor by four points with her best score ‘for quite a while’.
SLEDGED VICTOR: ‘Yes, I was accused of that’ quipped first-time Headland winner Ian Crombie after victory in Tuesday’s Single Stableford, despite wiping his final three holes. HH suggested Ian may have been protecting his handicap when he wiped holes seven, eight and nine, when sitting on 38 points, the winning score. “The only thing that surpassed my golf to that stage of the round was the sledging from my playing partners when we finished,” quipped Ian, who has been a member for four years. “I cannot really fathom how the good form transpired, nor why the finish was so dreadful. But it was a big moment in my very brief golfing career.” Ian, who retired to Buderim from Brisbane in 2020, had played scant golf before joining Headland, and he commended Head Pro Adam Norlander for ‘some valuable input’ into his improved game. But he said his knowledge of golf was not of a sufficient level to comprehend the handicap ramifications of deliberately ‘running dead’. As a result of his good round, Ian sliced one shot from his GA handicap, which is now 19.9.
SIMPLY THE BEST: Sparkie Wayne West, who flirted with becoming a PGA member around a decade ago, has returned the lowest round of the week at Headland, winning the third ‘STB’ award for the year. Playing superbly from his handicap of two, Wayne shot one under 71 in Saturday’s Wood Duck Challenge from the blue tees, for nett 69. The owner of Westway Electrical, Wayne fired four birdies, 11 pars and three bogeys in his round, which won him $77.20 as one of 19 in the field of 252 to beat their handicap. 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.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (21 players) – Marg Smith (40 points), Deb Bennetts (36), Penny Cooper (36).
Men (72 players) – Ian Crombie (38), Trevor Simpson (38), John Prosser (37).
Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford – sponsor, Doug Meecham, Meecham Consulting Engineers – (223 players) – A Grade, Dave Mayes (41 points), Max Faulkner (40), Sam Fichera (39); B Grade, Kate Wilkie (39), Bernie Duncan (39), Peter Wark (38); C Grade, Lyndon Hoger (41), Ben Kennedy (40), Chris Byrnes (38).
Thursday, Women, Single Par Plus – sponsors Leeanne Ptak, Vicky Sheridan, Cathy Roberts and Linda Cannon – (94 players) – Division One, Kerry Longworth (plus 2), Huda Olsson (+2), Kathy Atkins (+2); Division Two, Nicola Whitmore (+3), Carol Sinclair (+2), Tracey O’Connor (+2); Division Three, Chrissy Eggins (+4), Barb Marrington (+2), Trish Marsden (square).
Men, Single Stableford (88 players) – Garry Holmes (37 points), Glen Grimish (36), Kevin George (36).
Saturday, Medley Stroke, Wood Duck Challenge – sponsors, Greg Edgar, Rapid Equipment Hire, and Nelson and Lachlan Valderrama, Absolute Building Solutions – (252 players) – Andrew Stirling (65 nett), John Craven (68), Darren Walters (68), Warren Sorby (68), Simon Lowing (69), Wayne West (69), Sharon Purnell (70), Aaron Baker (70), Paul Anderson (70), Ross Kelly (70), Adrian Barr (71), Bruce Reid (71), Graham Miller (71), Wes Houk (71), Ian Moore (71), Brian Callaghan (71), Steve Rose (71), Shadeau Brain (71).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (56 players) – Darryl Kong (37 points), Jude Bannister (37), Steve Ridley (36).
