From Tony Durkin
PRINCE MICHAEL: With his best-ever Headland score on Saturday, and a first Monthly Medal win in January, Mick Prince is entitled to feel like golfing royalty. “It felt really great out there today,” said Mick after scoring 43 points to win Division One in Saturday’s Medley Single Stableford, penning 80 for the first time. “That is my best round by six shots.” Winner of the Handiskins National Championship in 2024 and a member of the winning Headland Handiskins team last year, Mick senses he might be approaching his peak again, heading towards the May finals this year. Playing in drizzly and windy conditions on Saturday on renovated greens, he penned 12 pars and four bogeys, with doubles at tough holes 15 and 16 his only major blemishes. “I three-putted them both, so they weren’t exactly shockers,” informed the 15-handicapper. Mick, who owns and operates Quality Carpet Dry Cleaning and Pest Control on the Sunshine Coast, joined Headland seven years ago, from Gosford. Saturday’s Division Two winner was provisional member, Taksil Dias, with 39 points. NOTE: The Australia-wide Handiskins tournament was first played in 2016, and Mick and fellow Headland member Bruce Heseltine have been consistent standouts. While Mick won in 2024, Bruce was the first Headland member to jump on the podium, finishing third in 2023. And the pair was joined by Doc Fleming, Peter Dunn and Sue Bolton to win the teams event last year.
CHIPPER ROUND: Forced to play with just three clubs on Thursday for the first time, Lee Heseltine learnt a valuable golfing tip. “I decided to take a chipper, rather than a wedge,” the seven-year member confessed after returning the best score in the three-club plus putter event. “And I even managed to successfully get out of a couple of bunkers with it, which was a nice surprise.” Lee revealed that in the past when the annual event was played, she has been away, so was undecided which three clubs to take. She ultimately chose a three-wood, a six hybrid and the chipper, and scored 38 points playing the front nine twice. “It was a different game, but very enjoyable,” she said. “With just three clubs, you need to think more about the kind of shots to play, and I was happy with the way I was able to improvise.” In fact, Lee revealed that had a few more putts dropped, her ‘good’ score could have been ‘amazing’. Two four-point holes, both on the par-three fifth, highlighted her round, with five-three-pointers and five twos also enhancing her card. Lee won Division Two, while Bev Kelly (37 points) won Division One.
BOB’S TWINS: Before Tuesday’s round at Headland, octogenarian Bob Trevor had officially either shot or equalled his age in a round of golf on 92 occasions – a record that must surely rate highly among his fellow amateur golfers. But always keen to continue adding notches to his golfing belt, the former Telecom/Telstra technician created another first during his Medley Single Stableford round. He beat his age – 81 – once again, but on this occasion, for the first time, playing the same nine twice. “No, I can’t recall ever doing that previously,” Bob conceded to HH after shooting six over-par 78 for 38 points and finishing runner-up in the event. Playing the back nine twice, he scored two birdies – both at the par-four 11th hole – eight pars, six bogeys and a double at the 16th, the second time around. But Bob, who tends not to ‘keep score’ during his round, confessed he was surprised with the end result. “It didn’t feel as though I was hitting the ball that well. And the sixteenth was very messy,” he said after hitting a poor second shot and duffing a chip. Peter Hutchinson (39 points) won the event, while Trevor Simpson and Richard Dinkleman matched Bob’s 38 points.
PERFECTLY PACED: “I have played in heaps of two-ball Ambrose events, and that is the best gross score my partner and I have ever returned,” announced Chris Pace after he and his wife Natalie won Wednesday’s Medley Two-Ball Ambrose at Headland. In fact, the husband-and-wife team did not just win the event, they smashed the opposition in a field of 116. Playing the front nine twice from a handicap of eight – Chris GA 7.5, Natalie 26 – the victors scored three-under par on each flawless nine, with six birdies and 12 pars embellishing their superb 18-hole card. “We never looked like scoring a bogey,” said Chris, who admitted the sandy greens, because of the current renovations, had helped. “The ball now stops on the green, and putting becomes less strategic.” Chris was full of praise for Natalie, a champion hockey player who has recently adopted golf as her ‘other’ sport. “She played really, really well, and our birdie at the par-three fifth the second time around was all her work. But it was team effort,” he said. Chris and Natalie scored 58 nett, a massive 7.5 shots better than the next best score, jointly returned by the teams of Lydon Hoger and Rory Hanley, and John Harris and Erik Larsen.
SPORTY JOSH: Between the State Junior Triathlon Championships and the Queensland Nippers titles, 13-year-old Josh Kay was able to fit in a round of golf at Headland on Sunday. And the one-year member made the most of the opportunity, scoring 41 points to win the Medley Single Stableford competition by four points. Josh, who was playing in just his second comp round and from a handicap of 36, used all his young nous with one four-point hole, five three-pointers, ten twos and two singles on his card. The previous weekend the Grade 8 Sienna Catholic College student finished 25th in a field of 104 at the State Junior Triathlon Championships in Hervey Bay, and this coming weekend will compete in the 2026 Queensland Youth Life Saving Championships at Maroochydore. “But he is really into his golf,” said his dad Kevin, who has been a member of Headland for four years and predicts he is about to be overtaken by Josh in the handicap stakes. “Josh has played four times this week, and from a starting handicap of 37, is now down to 31.”
LUCKY RICK: Scoring his first win since 2021, Rick Popik reckons he was lucky, because course renovations meant only half the normal Thursday Men’s field was playing. “We played the same nine twice, so that limited the size of the field. And some of the Fraser Follies members, who always play on Thursday, were visiting Caloundra,” he revealed after scoring 37 points to win a low-scoring Single Stableford event. Rick, who joined in 1988 but severed his playing ties for 16 years when he was based in in North Queensland as a fly-in, fly-out supervisor in the oil and gas fields, is hoping his game has developed some green shoots. “I am embarrassed by my current handicap of 25. It is the highest in my life,” said the once 13-marker. “But hopefully this win is the start of things turning around.” He disclosed that during the week the lie and loft on his Ping irons had been changed after a visit to the Pro Shop experts, and he has ordered new graphite shafts. “My short game and my putting have been costing me,” he conceded, after penning five three-pointers and nine twos on Thursday’s winning card. “And the bunkers, where I have been having recent trouble, were kind to me today.”
SIMPLY THE BEST: Battling persistent rain and wind on Sunday, scratch marker Jack Hourn has won his second Headland STB award for the month of February. Jack carded par 72 for 36 points in the Medley Single Stableford, with 12 pars on his card plus three bogeys on the front nine, and three birdies on the back. Back on Saturday February 7 Jack, playing from a two handicap from the blue tees, shot two-under 70 for 40 points, and a win in A Grade. On Sunday he scored 36 points, from the white tees. 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, Medley Single Stableford – back nine twice – (64 players) – Peter Hutchinson (39 points), Bob Trevor (38), Trevor Simpson (38).
Wednesday, Medley Two-Person Ambrose – front nine twice – (116 players) – Natalie and Chris Pace (58 nett), Lyndon Hoger and Rory Hanley (65.25), John Harris and Erik Larsen (65.25).
Thursday, Women, Three clubs plus putter – sponsors, Robyn Boreham, Di Stark, Helen Fraser and Marg Moran – (64 players) – Division One, Bev Kelly (37 points), Narelle Hollowood (35), Kirsten Kaergaard (31); Division Two, Lee Heseltine (38), Trudi Russell (37), Lesley Wilson (32).
Men, Single Stableford (47 players) – Rick Popik (37 points), Stewart Douglass (36), Dennis Schloss (35).
Saturday, Medley Fourball Best Ball Stableford (79 players) – Division One, Mick Prince (43 points), Derrick Bogaart (38), Gary Marr (37); Division Two, Taksil Dias (39), Stewart Smith (38), Peter Wark (38).
Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (15 players) – Joshua Kay (41 points), Lincoln Harris (37), Jack Hourn (36).
