From Tony Durkin
TEN, PLUS TEN: In his three most recent rounds of golf at Headland, Doc Fleming has won twice. But he has also accumulated a loss of 20 – 10 golf balls, and 10 strokes from his handicap. And, in an incredible round on Saturday which yielded him a monstrous 46 stableford points, Doc again managed to lose another ball. “I must admit, when I get hold of the ball, I can hit it a long way, but not always in the right direction,” says the Rugby Union player-coach, explaining his extraordinary number of misplaced Pro V1 Titleists. Because of his winter Rugby commitments and his job as a plumber/gasfitter contracted to Dominos, Doc has been unable to play consistent competition golf since he re-united with Headland in January after a five-year hiatus. But over the past three weekends he has returned scores of 41 points, 36 points and 46 points, and his handicap has not surprisingly been sliced from 31 to 21. And despite Saturday’s superb round – which included eight three-point holes and four-point pars at the third, tenth and sixteenth – he still managed a wipe and four one-pointers. NOTE: Doc’s christian name is Zhivago, the result of a mum who he says was ‘a romantic’.
HANDI WIN: Despite wiping successive holes – four and five – Leeanne Ptak still scored a remarkable 22 points on the front nine which catapulted her to victory in Saturday’s Single Stableford for women. And, her best-ever round (88) and her highest score (43 points), gave her victory in the Headland Handiskins competition, beating the 66 other competitors. Even accounting for her triple bogeys at four and five, Leeanne turned in 43 before coming home in 45 shots, for 21 points, and a win in the women’s event by three points. But, more importantly, the best of her best three rounds in the five-round Handiskins event elevated her to top of the Headland table, ahead of Coralie Walsh, Matt Prince and Rhett Charlton. The quartet will play off for the $1200 prize pool in the Headland final on November 20, and all four have qualified for the National Handiskins final at Royal Pines in May next year, where $10,000 in prizes and giveaways is up for grabs. NOTE: Only nine Headland women contested the Handiskins qualifiers, and Leeanne and Coralie finished first and second.
THE ‘DON’: He may have been beaten on a countback for the major prizemoney, but Don Follent won a more prestigious gong on Wednesday when he beat his age for the first time. The 82-year-old former plant operator shot 81 in the Medley Fourball Aggregate Stableford from his 14 handicap, to score 41 points. And while the fourball score of 78 points with long-time regular partner Burgess Stephenson was beaten by the pairing of Brian Richards and Ross Itzstein, Don will long remember his par at the last to give him one of his greatest achievements in the game he has played for more than five decades. Don’s steady round of nine pars and nine bogeys is typical of one of Headland’s most consistent performers whose handicap has stood around the 12-15 mark for much of his 20 years at the club. NOTE: Don’s son-in-law, Justin Walsh, was also on fire on Wednesday, returning 43 points, the best individual score of the day.
DUCKS IN LINE: A schoolteacher and a Grade 6 student – Kirsten Kaergaard and Sam Fichera – have returned the best scores in Sunday’s Wood Duck Challenge in which 13 players beat their handicap and shared in the prizemoney. Both had 66 nett with Kirsten, who backed up from victory seven days earlier, having 87 from her 21 handicap, while the ever-improving Sam (handicap 26) shot 92, his equal best score. Club Champion Adam Richards fired three birdies in his two-under par 70, and Scott Walker parred the course, both returning nett 69 alongside Headland Vice-President Peter Raymond and dedicated practiser, Katrina Watts. Emmet Walsh (68), Michael Rutledge (70), Brendan Duncan (70), Nick Donovan (71), Toby Zaremba (71), Ken Anderson (71) and Syd Shilling (71) were the other ‘Duck’ winners.
CONCENTRATION: Now that her goal of having a lower handicap than her husband has been achieved, Mary Dowling says better concentration may be the reason for her recent consistency on the course. Mary won Thursday’s Single Stableford with an excellent score of 43 points, her second-best result since she joined Headland in 2008. While it has been ‘quite a few years’ since that score of 44 points, Mary concedes her golf for the past 18 months to two years has been much more enjoyable because of her consistency. And apart from a pick-up at the first, her round on Thursday exemplified that steadiness with a one-pointer at the third her only other disappointment on a scorecard that revealed eight three-point holes and a four-pointer from a lengthy par putt at the 16th. When, as a rookie golfer, Mary joined Headland, she was given a handicap of 45 and is now down to 21.6.
FOUNDER RETIRES: Garry Shaw, Headland’s last remaining foundation member, has resigned his golf membership after an incredible 66 years and nine months. The 85-year-old retired doctor who spent two decades practising in Goondiwindi but always continued his Headland membership, has decided to retire his clubs after not having played for the past 18 months. But while resigning his membership, Garry donated his fee of $409 to the Headland Golf Club Future Fund. As a gesture to the long-serving member, the club has transferred Garry to continuing social membership, which enables him to maintain his membership number of 840. NOTE: Garry’s father, Hugh Shaw, was Buderim’s first doctor and Headland’s first Patron, and back in the 1930s permitted the Buderim Community to develop a nine-hole golf course on land he owned adjacent to Orme Road.
FAST FINISHER: Vicki Oxley is well aware that a new set of clubs was a major factor in her winning score in Tuesday’s Women’s Single Stableford, but she is at odds to explain her slow start/fast finish on both nines. A SWING graduate from 2018, Vicki scored 15 points on the final five holes of each nine to finish with 40 points and record just her third win in three years as a Headland member. After starting with a ‘cheapie set’ of clubs that she said ‘looked pretty in pink’, Vicki’s husband Neil convinced her an upgrade was necessary to improve her game and Head Pro Adam Norlander concurred, fitting her with Cobra irons and Callaway woods just two weeks ago. And they worked a treat with Vicki carding eight three-point holes and a four-point par at the 15th in her round. As a result of her win, Vicki’s AGU handicap has been reduced to 23, an amazing 20 less than her starting point of 43 in 2019.
RARE EAGLE: His fellow OLD GOATS (Order of Late Developing Golfers Optimistically Approaching Terminal Senility) were impressively surprised, but not as stunned as retired banker Duncan Watts when he eagled the par-four sixth hole at Headland on Wednesday. The 32 marker, who has been a Headland member for 13 years and plays competition golf only on Wednesdays, almost doubled his front nine score of seven points when his three-iron rolled into the hole, for a two-of-six. But not only was Duncan and his mates stunned, but so was Assistant Pro Mitch Jacobson who was asked to help Duncan submit his card after his MiScore app failed, and noticed the extremely rare six-point score. And despite three wipes and four one-point scores on his card, Duncan still tallied 36 points with his other highlight a three-point bogey at the tough 15th.
LONGER SWING: John Robertson eventually ‘broke out’ of the 30-point club on Thursday, a few weeks after a tip from Head Pro Adam Norlander. A Headland member for 20 years but an active playing member only since he retired from the legal fraternity in 2016, John said that apart from a recent score of plus four, his average score for ‘ages’ had been around 30 points – and he was reasonably satisfied with that. But following Adam’s advice to take his backswing ‘further, and slower’, he has been consistently hitting the ball 20 to 30 metres longer. And that added distance, plus a good putting round, gave him 41 points and a long-awaited victory in Thursday’s Single Stableford for men. Nine three-point holes – five of which were pars for the 24 marker – gave John an impressive three-point winning margin.
DOCTOR’S ORDERS: Mark Glassop says one of the best pieces of advice his GP has given him recently is to keep fit by playing golf three days a week, and walking the hilly Headland course. A Headland member for 20 years, the 74-year-former banker has never enjoyed the game more, a fact underlined by his winning score of 42 Stableford points on Tuesday. And while his impressive card showed five three-point holes and two four pointers, it failed to divulge a couple of lucky breaks which helped him to a birdie at the 12th and a three-point bogey at the fourth. “The golfing gods were on my side,” declared Mark who revealed he recently learned a legendary golfing tip called ‘keeping your head down’.
SWING BACK: Headland’s hugely successful SWING (Starting Women In Golf) program is back, with a six-week introduction to the game teeing off this coming Friday (October 29). The one-hour lessons will then be held on consecutive Fridays, finishing on December 3. The SWING clinics will be conducted by Assistant Professional Mitch Jacobson, and will be held from 9.30-10.30am in small groups at Headland’s practise facility. The clinics are social and interactive, and include a coffee and cake afterwards, and the cost is $169. The Pro Shop is accepting bookings.
WHOOPS: Former Headland Director of Finance, Michael Thomas, is sporting a sizeable bruise on his left ankle as the result of an errant shot on Saturday. Playing the second hole. Michael was extricating his three wood from his bag when struck by another player in his group – who, for legal reasons, will remain anonymous. And while the perpetrator DID call fore, he was so close to Michael at the time that the ball had already hit him before he had time to react.
WEEKLY RESULTS:
Monday, Vets, Single Stableford (competition abandoned because of an electrical storm).
Tuesday, Single Stableford, Women (50 players) – Vicki Oxley (40 points), Gwen Nancarrow (40), Raewyn Anderson (40). Men (60 players) – Mark Glassop (42), John Marrington (40), Brett Beaumont (40).
Wednesday, Medley Fourball Aggregate Stableford (218 players) – Brian Richards and Ross Itzstein (78 points), Don Follent and Burgess Stephenson (78), Jack Pyke and Drew Grant (77), Bill Oster and Chris Risby (75), Brett Stephenson and Ian Russell (75).
Thursday, Single Stableford, Women- sponsors Sue Keays, Helen Venter, Carolyn Richardson, Cathy Janiszewski (118 players) – A Grade, Chris Parkinson (41 points), Kerry Longworth (40), Gwen Nancarrow (40); B Grade, Mary Dowling (43), Margie White (43), Ree Condon (40); C Grade, Deb Prince (42), Jenny Pike (41), Trish O’Connor (40). Men (74 players) – John Robertson (41), Rod McKinnon (38), John Marrington (38).
Saturday, Single Stableford, Women (35 players) – Leeanne Ptak (43 points), Patrice Jenkins (40), Sue Briffa (39). Men (219 players) – A Grade, Rhett Charlton (42), Tom Burnett (39), Grant Martyn (39); B Grade, Jai Straney (43), Graeme Denovan (38), Ben Brown (37); C Grade, Doc Fleming (46), Geoff Opray (43), Lindsay Parchert (39).
Sunday, Medley Wood Duck Challenge (52 players) – Kirsten Kaergaard (66 nett), Sam Fichera (66), Emmet Walsh (68), Katrina Walsh (68), Scott Walker (69), Adam Richards (69), Peter Raymond (69), Michael Rutledge (70), Brendan Duncan (70), Nick Donovan (71), Toby Zaremba (71), Ken Anderson (71), Syd Shilling (71).
