Temora Vets: Intersales Cup The sun was shining, not a hint of a breeze, but there was a slight chill in the air. A perfect day to test the nerves, your patience, and golfing skills. With Temora copping a good soaking, the course had some surface water we had to contend with, but I must say, overall, the course was playable, playing long of course, but there was run to be had, with the right shot of course. Our friend from Gazannes Pizza, Anthony Madden (12) won round 14 of the Intersales Cup with an adventurous 83/net 71. Adventurous because Anthony lost a ball on the 15th, he drove his golf ball into places where a golf ball shouldn’t go, and he had no luck on the greens. With an ounce of green-side luck, Anthony could have gone five strokes better. But that’s golf. I must say, watching Anthony hit his driver, and irons is impressive indeed. Our runner-up with a 90/net 74 c/b, was our greens-man, Harry Wilson (16). Another player who could have scored a lot better than he did. Harry could have benefited with some luck on the greens as well. Many years ago, I was given a little bit of advice from an old timer when I first started playing this wonderful nerve-racking game. It went like this: “Give a two-foot putt the same respect you give your tee shots. Too many short putts are missed due to a lack of concentration.” Ball winners: Barry Flakelar (8) 82/net 74, Anthony Abra (16) 91/net 75, Judy Gorton (23) 99/net 76, Steve Shuck (12) 89/net 77, Warren Bremer (33) 110/net 77, Graeme Eyles (17) 95/net 78. Intersales points: Harry Wilson 6, Barry Flakelar 5, Anthony Abra 4, Judy Gorton 3, Steve Shuck 2. The remaining vets who played and returned a score receive a point towards their progressive tally. Nearest the pins: 7th Mike Daley 3.5 metres, 12th Barry Flakelar 2.3 metres, 16th Steve Shuck 7.6 metres. On the drive and chip holes: Harry Wilson hit his approach shot to within .30 centimetres of the hole on the par-3 third, and he drained the putt for par. On the par-4 eighth, Harry Wilson again. This time he was a little bit further from the hole, 7.2 metres, but no matter, he was the closest from 23 others. His birdie putt shaved the edge of the hole, but it was an easy tap-in for his par-4. The skins: Anthony Madden won five skins, thanks to a slam-dunk eagle on the par-4 fifth, honestly, it was a great shot. Anthony Abra and Judy Gorton won three skins each, Bill Ingram and Andy Taylor won two each, Nifty Neville Elwin won a skin, and the kitty banked two for $2.00. Shot of the day: After a regulation par on the par-4, 4th (should have been a three) Anthony quietly walked onto the par-4, 5th tee and drove his golf ball an easy 240 metres. He didn’t quite catch it out of the sweet-spot, but it didn’t matter. With approximately 110 metres from the green, Anthony removed his wedge from his bag, took a quick look at the target, and belted the daylights out of the ball. The ball flew high, and it never left the flagstick, it was dead on target. Anthony’s ball slam-dunked into the hole for an Eagle two, or five points if we were playing Stableford. What a shot, the flagstick was lucky to survive in one piece as it shook like crazy for about 20 seconds. Very impressive mate. A special thank you to Peter Cartwright for cooking the sausage sizzle. Good job Pete. Next week's competition will be the Delta Ag Shield, a Stableford event, with normal times applying, 10.30 am registration for an 11am tee off, but these times are subject to change with notice. FYI: On the 7 September, Gundagai Golf Club will host their NSWVGA four-person Ambrose, and on the Tuesday it’s the single Stableford event. There are conditions of entry/play, and entry forms to be completed. If anyone is interested, please contact our secretary for the relevant information/forms. That’s it, see you all on the first tee. Ladies Golf On Sunday we held our 2026 Ladies Open with a Pinehurst event. We had 74 players compete which was amazing. Thank you to everyone who travelled and supported our event. Thank you to all our volunteers who look after our course, it was in fantastic condition. Also thank you to all the ladies who catered, helped with the organisation and management of the event. A Grade Winners: Scratch Winners: Erin Pike and Nora Saffioti 86 Scratch Runners Up: Leanne Slater and Cheryl Minehan 90 Nett Winners: Jacinta Watson and Janene Block 73 Nett Runners Up: Leanne Loiterton and Emma Deep 78 B Grade Winners: Scratch Winners: Sue Griffin and Wendy Goodwin 94, Sue Ross and Rhonda Schuck 96 Nett Winners: Di Starling and Paige Starling 67, Cathy Johnson and Sue Sinclair 70 Nearest the pins: Seventh - Nora Saffioti 4.05m Twelfth - Judy Best Straightest Drive: 0-18 Nora Saffioti 19-27 Hazel Gardiner 28-54 Sue Griffin Coolamon Golf By THOMAS GOSS Strap yourself in for another thrilling edition of the achievements and foibles of the denizens of the Coolamon Golf course. There was no comp on Saturday as all roads led to Narrandera where the mighty Hoppers stormed into the grand final necessitating some tweaks to the golf program and generating huge excitement in the town. On the golf front, 20 players suited up for Sunday’s Stableford round, and it was Mark Hardy who emerged triumphant on a count back from Bruce Chant. It was an astonishing achievement by Mark as he was loaded up with the most debilitating handicap imaginable after being drawn alongside Paul Abbott and Brian Mangan. It was like having an enraged dragon on one side and Krakatoa erupting on the other whilst running the Sydney marathon carrying a ship’s anchor and a blacksmith’s anvil. What a tribute to the resilience of his ears and his mental health. Mark is in the very pink of form at the moment after pocketing the goodies at The Rock tournament the previous week. Also in the middle of golfing renaissance is Bruce Chant but unfortunately not able to cash in completely after being denied the winner’s prize on a countback two weeks in succession. There is some consolation. It’s vastly better marching home the proud possessor of two balls rather than limping away like a eunuch. Please excuse my high-pitched squeaky voice. Grub Broadhead also continued his recent sparkling form while utilising soothing music to keep his equipoise in control and temper the inner savage beast. Grub is tapering nicely for the upcoming club championship, so long as he doesn’t implode over one errant shot. This week’s pink ball featured an epic race to the bottom. I was confident my 20 points was enough, but the gloom lifted like an instantly evaporating fog when the news seeped out that the ex PM had had a huge meltdown over his game featuring a massive 19 points. His tantrum made Craig Fitzgibbon’s look like an audience with the Pope. His blushes were saved, however, when a cursory glance at the results revealed 15 points score under the name Matt Cook, a six handicapper from Wagga who was experiencing sand greens for the first time. Make good use of the ball Matt and thanks from the bottom of my heart. The nearest the pins and drive and chip prizes were won by Bruce Chant, Trevor Jose, Andrea Hilton, Danny Milne, Mick McCaig and Grub, Grub and Grub. Two of our finest compatriots returned from their sojourn in Merimbula somewhat bruised from their experience. Stu Seymour was just emerging from the ocean refreshed and dripping when he was assailed by a group of Greenpeace members who started throwing buckets of water over him and dragging him back to deep water. Meanwhile Adam Carroll returned sporting a bad case of sunburn and four harpoon wounds. The golf was good though. The course is in smick condition at the moment but will require significant tractor time to keep it that way. Please ensure that your assigned fairways are lovingly tended to over the next few weeks so that the course remains in dazzling condition for the upcoming club championships and the Ladies NSW Sandgreen titles in October. Be wise, be vibrant, be healthy. Play Golf. Temora Bowling Club Bowls Triples Tournament Thank the Lord, this event only happens once a year. The preparation required to run this event smoothly is only possible when lots of people pitch in to do the little jobs all weekend, not just the bigger more noticeable tasks. Our bar staff and kitchen staff took care of the more noticeable components. Without the proper people in place, we fail to meet the expectations of our guests. Thank you. The people who line-marked, cleaned ditches, repaired ditch faces, mowed and rolled greens, manned blowers to remove grass biscuits each morning. Thank you. Our breakfast chefs who did an awesome job on the barbeque and the “Toasters” in the kitchen. Thank you. Glen Keane, Chris Cole, Peter Harpley, Bevan Krause, Rick Potter, Fritta Moir, Chubb Macauley, Mary Jane, Tony Thistleton, Jon Wilson, Adam Reardon, Harrison Keane, Sara Spencer, Bruno Saffioti, Bill Robertson, Chris Cassidy, John Ratner, Wendy Douglas, Glynice Campbell, Helen Martin and list goes on. This event would not be the success it is without your help in doing all the un-noticed things. Thank You. One hundred and seventy matches over two days and played on four greens. It’s a nightmare to get right, and somehow, we keep pulling it off. There are five major prizes from first to fifth and seven secondary prizes for the best scorecard in each round. Round one winners were Glenn Breust, Glen Keane and John Rayner with a margin of 20 shots. Round two went to Mentone’s Josh Sosseby with a margin of 21 shots. Round three was picked up by Young’s Geoff Holt, Peter Watts and Bob White with a margin of 25 shots. Round four went to Bill Robertson, Spud Walker and Charlie Carp with a margin of 22 shots. Round five went to Henty’s Glen Harrison, Kim Maher and Bob Walsh with a margin of 11 shots. Round six went to another Mentone team of Ron Manning with a margin of 15 shots and Round seven went to the Gymea team of Pat Stapleton, John Ferguson and Lefty Wright with a margin of 15 shots. One team remained unbeaten after seven rounds. Seven Teams had a single loss and a further six teams had two losses. Our own Trevor Firman, Rick McKinnon and Don Martin finished in fifth place with six wins plus 37 shots. The composite team of Arty Stacey, Liam Hiscox and Matt Armstrong scored fourth place with six wins plus 41 shots. Moruya’s Martin Smith, Rolly Halligan and Brett Vickers picked up third place with six wins and a margin of 56 shots. Second place went to Lavington’s Bluey Edwards with six wins plus 64 shots. The 2026 winners were all Temora raised. Brad Foote, Sam Goesh and Mark Pinney finished with seven wins and a margin of 34 shots. It’s amazing to think, if they had dropped one game over the weekend, they would have finished outside the prize money altogether. There are already 30 teams booked into next year’s edition but thankfully, that’s months away and we’ll worry about that later on. Five-a-Side The Five-a-Side competition might hit a snag this weekend with the President’s Cup being played in Wyalong. We have players involved in this event both as players and officials and this event takes precedence over our club events. The John Tucker, Bruce Saffioti, Mike Tucker, Bert Taylor and Marcel Mouawad game against Bevan Krause, John Rayner, Bruce Lack, Wendy Douglas and Leo Casey has multiple players involved at Wyalong. Peter Harpley, Richie Moir, Jon Wilson, Peter Hocking and Ross McKenzie play Rick McKinnon, Greg McKinnon, Jarrad McKinnon, Logan McKinnon & Josh Breust in Section A. In Section B, Glen Keane, Chris Cole, John Cronin, Ray Lanyon and John Bartel play Dave Taylor, Glenn Breust, Phil Reid, Steve Gilchrist and Brian Oliver. The other Section B match sees Kev Mowbray, Rob Jordan, Phil Waterson, Dean Walsh and someone else up against Harry Wilson, Bill Spletter, Paul Cook, Les Horan and Dee Goesch. Ariah Park Golf Another wonderful day of golf on Saturday with the weather doing us a favour by staying warm and sunny and with 12 players playing and the pressure of championships behind us, it was just a friendly outing to play for the Noosa Johnson Stroke Day. It wouldn't be golf if it wasn't for Robbo the Scotsman to declare that it was he himself best dressed golfer out here each week. But I must admit he does dress up in his nice “Temu” golf shirts just to add a bit of colour to the place. But he also has a bit of competition as a couple of other “Temu” shirts are appearing each week. Rocky has built a very large putter and ball out the front of the clubhouse, and it looks fantastic. So, stop and have a look at it and give him a pat on the back as he comes up with these great projects, as in the putter and watering can, and they both look amazing. Rocky, looking forward to your next one. Barry and Rocky did the cards and the Pinney crew of Nappa, Tim, Maree starting off the dreaded Par 3 - third hole. Now Rocky knows that I hate starting off on a Par 3 so I must have upset him at some stage in my write-ups. But I can handle it, old fella (but can I) haha. So, the Pinney crew just went about their business of golfing with no pressure on us and we didn't set the world on fire with our play, but we had a laugh. Barry, Rocky and Zac took to the course and also didn't do justice to their golfing skills with some good and bad shots coming from a bag of tricks and I could hear the old tree being ring barked. Rocky reckons it was Zac - and Zac blamed Barry and so on - but it doesn't matter who it was, will make the paper. Pikey was back on deck, and he teamed up with Perko so these two old farts could play some decent golf, but that didn't happen as Pikey managed to put Perko off his game (according to Perko) with Pikey's humour. But in all, you just have to knuckle down and do what you have to do, even with all the distractions of squawking galahs around the place - and Robbo also putting in his two-bobs worth of crap. So, we just enjoy the day - now Camo and Nodsa played very well that day with only a couple of mishaps along the way. It was one of these two players who would take the honours for the day. As everyone else were duffing shots or missing putts - just ask Robbo, Tim and myself. But we all had a few good/great shots which will bring us back next week - the golfy is looking great at the moment with plenty of grass cover, so the eight irons and pitching wedges have been in use of late and with the rain the ground isn't as hard so the chip and run isn't working as much - which is a good thing as we are using more clubs - and that's probably why some scores are blowing out - (how good is golf). So, after some swearing, banter, sledging, high fiving, back slapping, cursing, and all that rubbish we all head back to the club house for a wonderful meal made and supplied by Nodsa - yep right - well we don't believe Nodsa made something as nice as that - (we heard about your cooking on your fishing trips buddy) so we hooked in and enjoyed the tucker - thanks Nodsa for the sponsor. Cards were done and winner winner Noosa's dinner - Camo, well done. N.T.P. 3rd Rocky N.T.P. 8th Robbo Lost Balls - Zac two - Tim four yes four - Nappa one, Pikey one, Perko one. The grass is getting longer off the fairways so you dog walkers just check in the grass, you might get lucky and find some for the kids. Shot of the Day (1) Robbo Par 3 8th, a lovely shot over the trees to land about a foot from the hole - well Robbo, there is a golfing god. Shot of the Day (2) Tim - on the 7th - first drive over in the crop - re-load. Next shot over in the crop - tee off again - down the middle - wood - next in the rabbit trappers - next yes, a tree and deeper than before - and there it stayed - so NIP for Tim. Next hole about the same - so well done Tim, you stayed at it - golf is just a game. So, thanks everyone. See ya all next week. Cheers, Preferred Lies
