From Tony Durkin

EQUAL BEST: Geoff Bland shot his equal-lowest Headland round on Saturday, returned the best score in a field of 229 and won A Grade. But the Buderim Retirement Village Manager still sensed a tinge of guilt, despite scoring plus six in the Par Plus event. “Wayne West shot 69 and scored plus five, so I felt a bit ordinary about beating him,” he confessed. A member since 2018 after moving from Goondiwindi to the Sunshine Coast in 2004, Geoff has had a somewhat lean trot in recent years following an early Headland onslaught. He won the C Grade Championship in 2020 and teamed with Dan Diachkoff the following year to capture the Fourball Best Ball Match Play title, and at one stage had reduced his GA handicap from a starting point of 21, to eight. “But recently I haven’t had much success until today, and it felt great,” he said of his notable round of 76, which included a birdie, 12 pars and five bogeys. “That is my best round in two years, and I put it down to my new driver.” His previous round of 76 was during the bunker renovations, so Geoff considers Saturday’s round his pinnacle. Derrick Bogaart (also plus six) won B Grade and Lachie Valderrama won his second event of the year, his plus four leading the C Grade field.

RUNAWAY WINNER: Lynn Hayman concedes she hasn’t won a host of golf events since she graduated from Headland’s hugely successful SWING program in 2017, but when she does, she has a habit of blitzing the field. The former Sunshine Coast business owner scored 41 points to win Division Two in Thursday’s Single Stableford for Women, scoring by a margin of seven points. Back in 2018 she won her first event by eight points, and in September last year clinched the Vets’ Living Choice Eclectic, scoring an accrued 46 points. As a result, her handicap has dipped from a starting point of 44 to 31, although it has been as low as 27. “My husband and I travel a lot, so golf obviously suffers,” said Lynn after penning three four-point holes and five threes on her winning card. “Although the greens are a little difficult to read at the moment because of the renovations, the course is in great condition, so golf is enjoyable.” A big field of 100 teed off on Thursday, with  Sarah Gardner (40 points) winning Division One and Jannette Ritchie (35) continuing a recent good run to head the Division Three field.

THE REAL DEAL: Last Thursday week, when Rick Popik won the Men’s Single Stableford, he felt like a lucky winner. “Because of course renovations, we played the same nine twice, so the field was only half the normal size,” was his almost apologetic reaction. But a week later, no concessions were offered after his 41 points won the day, and he pocketed $120. However, the septuagenarian confessed he still felt a somewhat uncomfortable winner. “Terry Ward, playing off an 11 handicap, also scored 41 points from a beautiful round of 78, and I beat him on a countback,” he offered. “And I’m still embarrassed by my handicap of 27, seeing I once played from 13.” But while conceding much room for improvement remained, the former fly-in, fly-out supervisor in the oil and gas fields feels his game ‘maybe’ coming together, and he is looking forward to his irons being fitted with graphite shafts, currently on order from the Pro Shop. While the previous week’s field was only 47 players, 81 teed it up on Thursday with Rick scoring three points on eight holes, plus another eight two-pointers in a consistent round of 95.

MAKE IT THREE: Not only does her golf continue to improve, but Nicola Whitmore seemingly has a habit of continuing to win. In just her third year as a Headland member, Nicola won Saturday’s Par Plus for Women despite four minus scores on her card. Playing from the red tees, she wiped three consecutive holes on the back nine yet came in with plus four, and victory by two shots from Suzanne Pledge. After winning back in late January, Nicola quipped ‘I’ve finally figured out how to play this game’, a fact becoming quite evident to her fellow members. Since the start of the new golf year, Nicola has 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, and then the Division Two Plus Par win, with plus three, in late January.

SCORE LASTS: Half a dozen years ago Ian Harper, who regularly plays in the morning field, posted 44 points in a Single Stableford, and was beaten. “I waited all day, thinking I would win, and someone in one of the final groups beat me,” recalled the retired boilermaker, who posted the same score in Wednesday’s Medley Stableford. But this time his score lasted as the best in the field of 223, and he won B Grade. “Again, I was confident I might win, but obviously it is never over until it’s over.” Ian won a C Grade Monthly Medal last year, but his victory prior to that was exactly two years earlier than Wednesday’s win by the ex-Pom, who joined Headland just on a decade ago after playing golf only with social clubs while residing and working in Brisbane. And despite those wins, he has still been frustrated by not consistently firing on both nines together – which he finally did on Wednesday. His 23 points on the front nine included six three-point holes, while he penned four three- pointers on the back nine of 21 points, for a gross score of 82. Spencer Ives (39) won A Grade and Natalie Pace (37) continued her recent purple patch by winning C Grade.

TWIN PEAKS: On a low-scoring Tuesday, respective Single Stableford winners Joy Murray and Peter Hutchinson, peaked their winning scores at 38 points. And for Peter, it was his second victory in a week, also carding 38 points to win the previous Tuesday. Joy, a SWING graduate from 2019, penned seven three-pointers and eight twos for her win, on a countback from Janette Ritchie, a winner two weeks earlier. Peter scored 95 from his handicap of 25, with an impressive three four-point holes plus four threes on his winning card.

OSTER’S OYSTER: Because of the illness of his beautiful wife and fellow member Mandy, who passed recently, Bill Oster had played scant golf recently. “I’ve probably played three comp rounds in two years,” said 17-year member Bill after a short game on Saturday that was, in any sense, very rewarding. He may have finished with minus six in the Par Plus event from his handicap of four from the white tees, but he did – for the first time in a while – have the last laugh. Bill collected Pro Pins at the sixth and 12th holes, knocked in both putts for birdies, and had an astonishing $161 added to his ailing House Account. And, just to prove that two good shots aren’t a fluke, he birdied the par-three fifth hole as well. But Bill felt some compassion for fellow A Grader Wayne West. “Wayne blitzed the course with 69, scored an eagle, finished second in A Grade and won just $85,” he quipped.

SOC IT TO ME: He may not have ridden 2019 Melbourne Cup winner Vow and Declare for its Gympie-based owners like his eminent namesake, but Headland’s Craig Willaims does have a sporting background which may well negate anything he achieves in golf.  A former top-flight soccer player who won a national title with the Brisbane Strikers back in 1997, Craig has recently turned his hand to golf and scored his first Headland win in Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford. Like most new members, Craig waited years before becoming a member and Sunday’s victory was another sporting milestone. And, in racing parlance, he survived a photo finish for his 40 points to beat Tristan Scott and Lindsay Olsson. Playing off his 23 handicap from the white tees, Craig scored a birdie at the par-four 12th, carded three pars, 10 bogeys and two doubles, while his two disappointing wipes did not have a negative conclusion.

SIMPLY THE BEST: Each week in 2026, HH will name our ‘Simply the Best’ golfer, and this week the nod goes – again – to Wayne West. And he joins Adam Rydwanski and Jack Hourn as the third golfer to win the award for the second time in 2026. Wayne’s round of three-under 69 came in Saturday’s Par Plus event, in which he scored plus five with an eagle, four birdies, 10 pars and three bogeys on his card, but was beaten into second place for the A Grade win. His 69 is the best for the year – one shot better than Jack Hourn’s 70 a month earlier. Although 69 is his lowest score on the ‘new course’, Wayne has previously shot 67 five times at Headland. SIB was introduced to recognise the club’s low-handicap golfers, and each week those who return the lowest round.

WEEKLY RESULTS:

 Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (29 players) – Joy Murray (38 points), Janette Ritchie (38), Jenny Stokes (35).

Men (62 players) – Peter Hutchinson (38 points), Josh Poole (37), Ian Crombie (37).

Wednesday, Medley Single Stableford (223 players) – A Grade, Spencer Ives (39 points), Ian Robinson (38), Lance Richards (37); B Grade, Ian Harper (44), Simon Lowing (42), Mick Garske (40); C Grade, Natalie Pace (37), Drew Walker (36), Rob Douglass (36).

Thursday, Single Stableford – sponsors, Helen Venter, Sue Keays and Katherine Janiszewski – (100 players) – Division One, Sarah Gardner (40 points), Marg Howard (36), Narelle Hollowood (36); Division Two, Lynn Hayman (41), Rhonda Biggs (34), Del Whittaker (34); Division Three, Janette Ricthie (35), Barb Birks (34), Ree Condon (34).

Men (80 players) – Rick Popik (41 points), Terry Ward (41), John Craven (39).

Saturday, Par Plus, Women (24 players) – Nicola Whitmore (plus 4), Suzanne Pledge (+2), Carolyn Fisher (square).

Men (229 players) – A Grade, Geoff Bland (+6), Wayne West (+5), Simon Groom (+5); B Grade, Derrick Bogaart (+6), Mick Kinnear (+4), Ian Scobie (+3); C Grade, Lachie Valderrama (+4), Kevin George (+4), Stewart Smith (+4).

Juniors, Nine-hole Stroke, Max Faulkner (40), Matthew Bothma (41), Finn Darlison (42), Emme Coburn (58).

Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (62 players) – Craig Williams (40 points), Tristan Scott (40), Lindsay Olsson (40).