From Tony Durkin

NEWTON’S LAW: He doubts there is a blood relationship, but Barry Newton says his driver – of late – has been prescribing to the theory of namesake Sir Isaac Newton that states ‘every object will remain in a straight line unless compelled to change’. “Recently I have been hitting it long, and straight,” said Headland’s Weekend Gold Medal winner for 2021 after Saturday’s nett 74 won him the title on a countback from Tony Kelleher and Chris Klazema. But while surprised the score was good enough to claim his first Gold Medal (or Mug) in his 21 years as a Headland member, Barry was filthy he and partner Gary Martin lost the match ticket to Ciaran Fenton and Matt Hetherington after his tee shot at the 18th missed the green by mere millimetres. Playing from the Championship tees on Saturday, Barry signed for 79 from his five handicap, but two days previously, from the white tees, the 60-year-old played off three, his lowest-ever handicap.

THE SWINGERS: Three Headland SWING graduates from the same year, who joined Headland at the same time and have subsequently become best friends, have teamed to win Thursday’s Irish Team Stableford. The trio of Raewyn Bissett (38 points), Sue Hadenham (31) and Odette Day (36) were joined by recent Rabbits Cup winner Ellen Bloxsome (36) to score 93 points and win the event, which was contested by a big field of 128. For Raewyn, it was not just her best round since joining Headland in 2016, but her first win – although the prize she won has caused a dilemma. Each winning team scored a new golf bag, something she had purchased from the Pro Shop just two months previously. While Raewyn, Sue and Odette do not regularly play competition golf together, they have two social rounds weekly and endeavour to team up for ‘fun days’ – like Thursday – with fellow 2016 SWING graduate, Kathy Haines.

PATRON FIRES: Headland Patron, Simon Whittle, has played his best round of golf at his home course for almost two years in winning Sunday’s Medley Single Stableford. Simon, whose parents were foundation members of the club and who has been a member for more than six decades, parred the front nine on his way to 42 points and a stunning 8&6 win in the side bet. Despite a wipe at the 11th hole when his tee shot could not be found, and a one-point double bogey at 13 after a penalty, the one-time regular six handicapper played almost faultless golf with 12 pars, a birdie and three bogeys on his card. Now playing off 12, his highest handicap since he was a teenager, Simon has been competing only spasmodically in recent years but is keen to be back playing at least twice a week.

SNAKE EYES: Sue Jones knows it was not one of her best rounds, but Saturday’s Single Stroke victory was one of her most memorable of recent times. Sue, a former Club Champion and once regularly playing off single figures, scored 87 for 71 nett from her 16 handicap – a mark she has not played from ‘for yonks’. And it was an adrenalin rush from seeing a brown snake curled near her drive on her first hole, the tenth, that she reckoned may have kicked her game back into gear. “I am absolutely terrified of snakes, and it took my Kiwi playing partner Kathy Atkins to give it a nudge before I could play my next shot,” she recalled. Following the ‘snake eyes’ incident, Sue birdied the hole and went on to win the competition by two shots, despite four three-putt greens. And that was not the end of her victory lap. Sue and Kathy combined to beat Headland stalwarts Ken Maynard and John Alsbury in the side bet.

GOLD, GOLD, GOLD: He knew he’d had a good round, but when Peter Gablonski double bogeyed his final hole – the ninth – at Headland on Wednesday, he thought he’d thrown away his chance of winning a third Gold Medal during his nine years as a member. But his nett 71 was good enough to hold off fellow 13-handicapper Scott Masters (75), and easily win the Midweek Gold Medal for 2021. Peter joined Headland from Canberra in 2011, and won his first Midweek Medal in his second year, but it took him six years to win his first Weekend Gold Medal. An extremely consistent golfer – epitomised by his round of eight pars, eight bogeys and two doubles on Wednesday – Peter has played off around 11 and 12 for most of his career, reaching an all-time low of nine on his 60th birthday, 11 years ago.

HANDICAP HOPE: She may not have won, but Marg Howard’s second placing behind Yvonne Henry in Tuesday’s Single Stableford for women has – hopefully – put her on the road to a further handicap reduction. From playing off her all-time low of 18 around a decade ago, Marg’s AGU handicap had ‘slipped out’ to 23.5 before Tuesday’s round of 38 points, but is now back to 22.3. “I need to do some work on my chipping and bunker play,” confessed the recently-retired Mooloolaba business owner, albeit delighted that Tuesday’s consistent round was devoid of the dreaded wipe. Her 38 points – the same as victor Yvonne – matched her most recent best score, which was more than 12 months ago.

BEERS FOR DUNCAN: Despite almost ‘taking out’ Club Champion Adam Richards on his final hole of the day, it was still beers all round for first-time Monthly Medal winner Bernie Duncan on Saturday. Teamed with his son Brendan (handicap 5), Rhett Charlton (10) and scratch marker Adam, 23-handicapper Bernie was initially overawed by the big hitters in his group but said all three had encouraged him, even the four-time Club Champion who he almost ‘wiped out’ after hitting a shank on his second shot at the ninth hole, his last of the day. “Rather than be filthy with me, Adam actually advised me how to play my next shot – which finished next to his drive – and I was able to score a five which eventually won me the Medal. Bernie, a valuer, had never played competition golf until he joined Headland 2½ years ago and although he finds the game ‘a bit of a battle’ at times, the 60-year-old thoroughly enjoys the challenge, as well as the company of the young men with whom he regularly plays. Graham Smith (68 nett) won the A Grade Monthly Medal and returned the best gross score of the day, and Denis Clifford (69) saluted in B Grade.

MEDAL WAIT: Bill Bolland, a former Headland Club Captain and Greens Director before he took a golfing sabbatical which lasted 15 years, has scored his first ‘Medal’ win in 26 years. And he did it in style, winning Wednesday’s B Grade Midweek Medal with nett 64, the lowest score of the day and his best round since a return to competition golf just on 18 months ago. But it was an outstanding round – 79 with two bogeys, nine pars and a birdie on his card – that almost was not completed. Constant rain fell during the first three holes and the former B Grade Pennant regular said it was ‘touch and go’ whether the group continued. Now back in the swing of golf and playing two days a week, Bill also practises twice a week, prescribing to a theory passed down by his dad that ‘practise makes perfect’ only when it is perfect practise. Quentin Poulsen (69 nett) and George Stoopin (65) won the A and B Grade Medals respectively. NOTE: Before Bill’s break from golf, Headland men contested Monthly Mug events only, not Medals, and they were played on Saturdays.

CALM PATRICK: Patrick Carmody did not allow a wipe at the tenth hole on Tuesday – his first – to upset his golf, or his enjoyment of playing Headland up to three times a week. A member since 2017 after taking a six-year hiatus from the game for business reasons, Patrick recovered from the poor start to score 38 points and win the men’s Single Stableford by a point from Steve Eggins. He followed his opening-hole wipe with seven successive bogeys, a par at the 18th and a birdie at the first before gathering another 16 points for his first appearance on the Headland winner’s podium. Playing from a 19 handicap, Patrick is keen to reduce that mark but the recent retiree doubts he will get down to his all-time low, 10.6, ‘many years ago’. NOTE: A former member of Wantima Golf Club, Patrick was Junior Golf Co-ordinator when current world No.22 Cameron Smith first started playing the game. However, he lays no claims to influencing a career that has earned more than $US 16.5 million.

GOLF ROCKS: Australia’s only US Kids Golf Master Coach, Leon Faulkner, has recently teamed with Headland to conduct regular coaching clinics for juniors. The founder of Golf Rocks Kids Academy has recently moved north from Sydney where he spent two decades successfully coaching juniors, and Head Professional Adam Norlander had no hesitation in signing him to not just work with the existing group of juniors, but to expand the growing numbers. Leon uses games as a mechanism to engage kids and allow them to learn while playing. “Our scaled approach across their equipment, instruction and on-course play provides what we believe is the right method to guarantee children consistently progress while building their motivation,” he said. The PGA of Australia-certified Game Development coach is conducting clinics each weekday afternoon, except Wednesday, from 3.30 to 5.30. And, as a huge help to parents, Leon has a bus which will collect children from both Mountain Creek State School and Matthew Flinders College. Leon can be contacted on 0412 646 030.

BROTHERLY LOVE: Dean Smareglia loves his golf, and fits his work as a ‘garden guru’ around his program of hitting the Headland fairways at least twice a week – rain, hail or shine. And with some of his group pulling the pin on Wednesday because of rain, Dean was teamed with brothers David and Brian Tymms, uniting on the Sunshine Coast for a week of golf. The makeshift grouping proved a bonanza for eight-marker Dean, who partnered Alice Springs Golf Club member David, to score 45 points and win Thursday’s Fourball Best Ball Stableford for men. While Dean returned a steady 33 points, David (handicap 16) was the star with 40 points from a birdie, five pars, 11 bogeys and one double on his card. According to Dean he ‘just came along for the ride’.

WEEKLY RESULTS:

Tuesday, Stableford, Women (55 players) – Yvonne Henry (38 points), Marg Howard (38), Gay David (37). Men (63 players) – Patrick Carmody (38), Steve Eggins (37), Len Dawson (37).

Wednesday, Medley Midweek Medal (188 players) – A Grade, Quentin Poulsen (69 nett), David Richards (70), Michael Warner (71); B Grade, Bill Bolland (64), Joe Stotscheck (68), John Jones (69); C Grade, George Stoopin (65), Ian Dennis (71), Ashleigh Matheson (73). Midweek Gold Medal (14 players) – Peter Gablonski (71 nett), Scott Masters (75), Ian Russell (75).

Thursday, Women, Irish Team Stableford (128 players) – Ellen Bloxsome, Raewyn Bissett, Sue Hadenham and Odette Day (93 points), Brooke Wilden, Tracey O’Connor, Lisa Ramen and Yvonne Henry (91), Janette Ritchie, Jodie McDonell, Jan Langdon and Susanne Harris (90). Men, Fourball Best Ball Stableford (88 players) – Dean Smareglia and David Tymms (45points), Sergio Nogarotto and Patrick Carmody (45), Malcolm Woods and Stephen Woollcott (44).

Saturday, Weekend Single Stroke, Women (18 players) – Sue Jones (71), Anne Callanan (73), Sandee Brimblecombe (73). Men (221 players) – A Grade, Graham Smith (68), Ciaran Fenton (68), Ross Brimblecombe (69); B Grade, Denis Clifford (69), Josh Poole (70), Karl Aldrich (70); C Grade, Bernie Duncan (70), Gary Martin (71), Darcy Smyth (72). Weekend Gold Medal (21 players) – Barry Newton (74), Tony Kelleher (74), Chris Klazema (74).

Sunday, Medley Single Stableford (51 players) – Simon Whittle (42 points), Neven Daniel (39), Mal Bradshaw (38). Fourball Best Ball Match Play quarter-finals – sponsor ZenFind Accounting – Michael Thomas – Richard Franklin and Errol Greiner beat Peter Sergeant and Peter Conran (4&3); James Reinke and Dylan Fennell beat Graham Newlove and David Rennie (3&2); Geoff Bland and Daniel Diachkoff beat Wayne Cassidy and Michael Rutledge (3&2); Will Millroy and Nick Reed beat Josh Poole and Rick Popik (3&2).