Wilkie, Harrison make a winning combination

PARKES GOLF On Saturday the club held their Men’s Foursomes Championships for 2025. There were with 23 pairs heading out to play the unique alternate shot game where apologies aren’t required and a 27 hole event is a long time not to talk to your partner. Our generous sponsors for the event were again Safe Tasks QRS Group and the Littlewood family. They have been great supporters of the Foursome’s event and the club in general, and the players are very grateful for the continued association. In the Men’s A grade the winners were the well credentialled team of Aaron Wilkie and Riall Harrison. Aaron has the power game and Riall has great touch in and around the greens, and this was on display as they finished only 4 strokes over par and including having a par score on the last 9 holes. They were pushed all the way by Rob Hey and Wayne Powter who were only 3 strokes back in the end after recording a few bogeys plus missing out on the relatively easy par 5 8th on the last 9 holes. Rob was immaculate on the greens and his accuracy with the mid to long irons on the day was unmatched. His partner Wayne has come on in leaps and bounds since his hip issues have cleared and was pounding his drives on the day. In the B Grade last week's winners proved that form doesn’t have to be fleeting when the Dylan Hood and Justin Middleton combined to record a 141 for their round. Again, it is all about keeping the ball in play for your partners next shot and these two accomplished that with ease. It wasn’t a walk in the park though as they only won this week by a single stroke from Rob Staples and John Dwyer. Rob drove it like a chauffeur all day making John’s job easier for the next shot. John on the other hand hit some cracking 3 woods and long irons to keep the momentum going. They will rue the shots they dropped on the putting surface as they prepare for ’26, being runner ups 2 years in a row. In the net side the winning team on the day was Andrew Bament and Tim Cowling with a 105.5 net. This was a good score as the boys haven’t been able to play much competition golf this year and did combine well give those restraints. The Nearest The Pins winners were – Griffins Leading Edge 4th by Ron Hetherington at 90cm, Parkes Ready Mixed Concrete 9th by John Pearce at 320cm, the Parkes Security Storage 17th by Rob Hey at 219cm. The Big Dutch Cup Shootout sponsored by Peter Boschman was played for on Sunday. This event is an institution, and formerly known as the IGA Shootout, as players have 5 events in the front end of the year to qualify for it with the 19 best scratch rounds being the selection criteria. With such a tough entry hurdle the event is always a hard fought matchplay with a player being dropped on each hole until there are 2 players contesting the last hole. If there are more than the required number on the same score on each hole there is a chip-off until a player is dropped off. The inglorious first out this year was Peter Bristol, after a 3 way chip off with a double bogey. The dark horse in Scrubber Evans was noisy until the 3rd hole as he departed. President Peter Magill lasted until the 7th and the Baron, Rob Cheney, was happy to walk to the car as the 9th finished. From there it got very tight with the lower handicappers starting to snuggle into their comfort zones. Matthew Spedding was making a charge until the 16th hole. Matthew qualified in 18th spot so did extra well on the day. The real surprise package this year was Dave Brown who lasted until the 17th and then only went down in a 3 way chip-off where Aaron Wilkie and Anthony Rath both chipped-in. Aaron is the club champ and our lowest handicapped player, and Anthony Rath is a new player to the club and highly rated at his home club of Goulburn. He also plays rep Pennants in Sydney plus is our 2nd lowest handicapped player so it was fitting that these 2 players battled it out up the last hole for the winner’s prize. After 18 holes and tying the last the players went for a chip-off from the 1st tee onto the 18th green which Anthony duly won to win this years BDC prize. VETERANS GOLF By JOHN DWYER One of the first into the clubhouse and leading the field Forbes' Kim Herbert had to wait until the final group was in before being declared the winner of last week's twin-towns veterans golf competition played on his home course. With only 27 starters organisers decided there would be only one grade and a fidgety Herbert (seven handicap) - despite only scoring 14 points on the first nine - took the honors with 35 thanks to his second nine 21 points. Runner-up a point behind was Peter Grayson of Forbes, while Steve Edwards completed the trophy haul by the locals bagging the encouragement award. Parkes players were to the fore on the nearest-to-pins with Lex Hodges closest on the ninth hole and the consistent Nym Dziuba successful on the 18th. It didn't take long for the locals to bounce back in the twin-towns shield scoring 198 points to Parkes' 187. The ball sweep went to 32 points with the winners as follows: 33 points - Rob Staples (P) and Warwick Judge (F); 32 - Dale Stait and Lindsay Elliott (P), Frank Hanns, Ken Sanderson and Neil Herbert (F). Players are reminded that their $15 memberships are due. Twin-twin towns vets play in Parkes this week with nominations from 9am for a 9.30am shot-gun start. The weather is excellent and the course equally. Be there to conquer it. Looking ahead to November, the monthly Lachlan Valley competition will be played on Thursday the 13th at West Wyalong. As mentioned last week the twin-towns Christmas Party in Forbes on Thursday, 4 December. Two weeks later a 2-ball Ambrose will be played in Forbes on Thursday 18. Get organised now with a player in form with hams going to the winners.

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