November Monthly Medal

The November Telescope Tyres / Hankook Masters Monthly Medal was played on Saturday, and our day sponsor was Ron Dunford Pharmacy.

The Dunford Pharmacy has been forever associated with the PGC and we appreciate their ongoing sponsorship for our members and guests. This round also contained the Medal of Medallist and Putter of Putter for 2025, so a prestigious round.

We had 75 starters teeing it up with winds building but the course in good condition as usual.

In A grade we were marching to the usual beat, as it was Medal day and Aaron Wilkie was out mid morning posting a 76 off the stick.

His 2 over round included a beige front 9 with 2 bogeys and 7 pars and a 2 over back with a double bogey, bogey and 2 birdies. The only other player to match the score on the day was club Pro Zac Kelly who had a 37/39 split.

John Green maintained the great form he has been in all year recording a 77 to lead the chasers but again had 5 bogeys but no birdies to really put the pressure on.

Blake Parker, freshened by a week on the south coast golfing, shot a 79 but 2 doubles held his round back.

In the net event it was Aaron Gaffey, finally finding his ball striking, that took out the prize with a very good 68 round. Aaron had a 79 off his 11 handicap so the handicapper will be reviewing that card.

Chasing hard were Ron Hetherington and Mark Kelly, both of whom have been in solid form of late as well, recording 71’s.

In the B grade scratch event Brendan Turner shot an 84 with a 43/41 split to beat Ian Hendry on a countback with his 42/42 just missing out on his 3rd Medal win this year. Brendan managed 5 pars and birdie in his round and Ian was similar with 6 and 1 birdie so they were both handling the building wind well and keeping the ball in play.

Phill Smith again got himself in the mix just falling a stroke short on the day.

Tony Dunford, visiting from Headlands GC, finished a further stroke back in a valiant chase.

In the net event Ian won the event on 69 from Tony and Brendan tied on 70 and Phill on 71. So, there was a consolation there after all.

In C grade the original ‘cherry picker’ Mick Bond finally put all those hard hours of practice to fruition to win the Medal.

A long time playing partner of Gordon ‘Francis’ Pritchard he’d heard all the stories of the podium finishes so this month he heeded the advice and fired 44/45 score to win the event by 4 strokes from Col Breaden and 2 further back to Peter Picker and Peter Kaden.

Mick’s strength is keeping the ball in play and utilising the driver in regular fashion off the deck, the course was responding with good run and plenty of fairway grass to hit off. In the net event Mick was unbeatable with a 65 being 4 strokes clear of Brian Hogan Snr who is slowly getting back to his best golf.

In the Medal of Medallist Ian Hendry reigned supreme and unfortunately, he’ll be telling that story for years to come. In the Ladies Medal of Medallist, a very worthy winner was Jen Hoy with her 71.

The Griffins Leading Edge putting competition was won by Dave Brown with 28 putts. The Norman family sponsored Wally Norman Vets Medal was won by Phill Smith with 71. The Putter of Putters was won by Phil Bishop for 2025, Mon a countback with 28 putts.

The Nearest The Pins on Saturday were – the Idlerite 1st by Mick Bond at 641cm, the Griffins Leading Edge by Rob Cheney at 183cm, the Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by Jack Matthews at 70cm, the Harvey Norman 11th by Blake Parker at 390cm and the Parkes Security Storage 17th by Jack Matthews 74cm.

The Money Hole was won by Blake Parker at 390cm.

Ball winners were Brian Hogan Snr 69, Tony Dunford 70, Ron Hetherington, Chris Goodie 71, Taj Harrison, Troy Thomson, Lindsay Elliott, John Green 72.

On Sunday the final Foursomes event was run with the Mixed event being played. Whilst numbers were down the event was enjoyable for the participants as well as being exciting for the contenders and spectators alike.

The winners on the day were the team of Kris Smith and Nym Dziuba on 124. As mentioned last week Kris is resuming from injury and looks to be healing just fine and Nym has added some toughness to his game after a few weeks playing the South African courses and chasing big cats away from his golf balls.

They finished a stroke in front of Kaye Jones and Luke Clarke after the 27 holes. Luke and Kaye proved to be the ideal foil for each other and came within a whisker of stealing the day.

In the net event team Jeffress were the winners with a tidy 98. Mick and Kath are back in the fold at PGC and looking to make up for lost time and this was a great place to start.

Next weekend is the clubs Short Course Championships with Ladies off the Yellow and Men off the Red.