Temora Vets: Delta Ag Shield: Stableford Ray Jennings (8) back from a quick holiday, was victorious in round 14 of the Delta Ag Shield. Ray scored 37 points, three better than our runner-up, Warren Bremer (33) on 34 points c/b. Ball winners: Anthony Madden (12) 34 points, Diane Starling (19) 32pts c/b, Gavin Holt (10) 32 points c/b, Col McCrone (15) 32 points c/b, Barry Flakelar (8) 32 points, Dave Loftus (6) 31 points. Delta Ag points: Ray Jennings six, Warren Bremer five, Diane Starling four, Gavin Holt three, Col McCrone two. Nearest the pins: Third, Ray Jennings 7.7 metres, seventh, Ray Jennings 5 metres, twelfth, Jason Fernie 3.65 metres, sixteenth, Jason Fernie 8.26 metres. The drive and chip on the third was won by Anthony Abra 50 centimetres, eighth Phil Bleyer 5 metres. The skins: All players were on the one sheet this week, and I thought it was a good idea. It should be standard in my book, but that’s just my view. Ray Rodway sank an enormous par saving putt on the par-5 eleventh, and that one putt scored Ray three points for the hole. He ended up winning a 10 hole jackpot, and as a consequence, young Ray pocketed $11.00. Gavin Holt bagged four skins for $4.00. Bob Brabin one, and the kitty banked two for $2.00. Shot(s) of the day: Richard Starling was playing our signature hole, the par-5 seventeenth. Now I must say that Richard hit a very good drive, but his ball was just off the fairway on the right side just past the front of the embankment. Without any fuss, Richard played a beautiful three-metal straight down the middle of the fairway, roughly about sixty-meters short of the creek. No probs, out with the three-metal again, but this time Richard topped his ball and it was heading straight for the water. Richard had another ball out ready to hit again before the ball had stopped. The golfing gods were smiling on Richard as his ball hit one of the yellow pegs that define the penalty area. His ball finished in the middle of the fairway, 10 meters short of the creek. We all need a little bit of good luck sometimes when we play this mongrel of a game. Graeme Eyles hit a fairly good drive on the par-4 fifth, but his second shot was the talking point. Graeme hit a ‘Shank’, straight off the hosel, dead right over into the rough. (I didn’t want to write that dreaded word, it’s just as bad as the ‘Yips’). Graeme looked like he was in shock, he had no idea what was happening to him. Bill Robertson was just as shocked. Bill was over on Graeme’s right-hand side and took off in a cloud of dust, as Graeme’s ball was heading straight for him. (Weird things happen out on the course) Graeme’s ball landed on the roof of Bill’s golf cart, and luckily, fell off, otherwise Graeme was going to have an interesting time in trying to hit his ball from the top of Bill’s golf cart. Graeme said laughing, I can’t hit a bloody green in regulation, but I can land a ball on top of a moving golf cart. Graeme managed to compose himself, took a deep breath, and walked over to his ball. It was sitting up nicely in the rough, and he had a clear shot to the green. He pulled out his seven-iron, took a few practice swings, and then let it fly. The ball soared over the trees, and landed softly on the front of the green, 15 meters from the hole. Graeme let out a big sigh of relief, so did Bill, hiding behind a tree. Players please note: Gundagai Golf club his hosting their NSWVGA four-person Ambrose on Monday 7 September, then on the Tuesday there is a single Stableford. That’s it, keep safe, play well, and keep that rotten head down. Ladies Golf On Wednesday, ladies played a Stableford event sponsored by the Temora Golf Club. Winner on the day was Marg Townsend with 28 points, with runner up being Maureen Lynch who also had 28 points. Ball winners were: Di Starling 27 points Rhonda Schuck 27 points Sue Alexander 27 points Jacinta Watson 27 points Nearest the pins: Twelfth (NTP): Wendy McCrone 6.2 metres Sixteenth (D and C): Rhonda Schuck 2.7 metres On Saturday ladies competed in a 4BBB sponsored by the club. Winners on the day were Nora Saffioti and Sharon Wilmott on 39 points. Runners up with 38 points were Deb Block and Marg Townsend. Ball winners: Cath New and Judy Gorton 38 points Nearest the pins: Third (D and C): Judy Gorton 1.23 metres Seventh (NTP): Di Starling 2.37 metres Twelfth (NTP): Sharon Wilmott 13 metres Sixteenth (D and C): Pip Bleyer 50 centimetres Ariah Park Golf We had 11 players lining up to enjoy a lovely day of golf for Darrell Cameron’s two person Ambrose Day, although still welcoming a latecomer to play only 11 holes making it 12 players. After captains Bruce and Barry organised the players into teams, everyone headed out of the clubhouse to compete. Ron and Maree played against Darrell and Robbo – And so began the sledging early in the day from Robbo with his usual Scottish humour but quickly came to a halt after his first shot was not as good as predicted. Darrell followed by whacking the ball right up the middle of the first fairway, as did Ron but Maree’s shot took a curve to the right near the tree line. Ron played consistently well all day with many good shots – although Maree did throw in the odd winning shot – especially on the sixth hole getting a birdie from her great shots letting everyone hear from all her yelling and screaming. Darrell and Robbo were a great combination most of the day with their long drives and fancy fairway shots – apart from the occasional mishit from Robbo (followed by some Scottish words inappropriate to repeat). But Darrell saved the day with his perfect putting resulting in birdies on the third, fourth, fourteenth and sixteenth holes, showing his A-grade form. Robbo did mention though that his back was very sore at the end of the day from carrying Darrell. Brian drew with his brother-in-law Peter Hocking to play against Barry and John (the swarking galah as Nappa named him). From all acoounts they had a good day with no visits into rabbit territory and Brian again replaying some of his very reliable B-grade champion strokes, chipping and putting plus Pete also contributing to good shots throughout the days play. Barry saved the day for their golfing combo, while John indicated that it wasn’t his best day of golf – actually the worst he has played for a while. Not sure if that means he spent a lot of time in the scrub, as he didn’t give much away. We were told by a very honest source that Pikey’s golf was worse than a bit rough. He was totally out of control, clubs thrown on the ground, temper tantrums and carried on like a child, but I am not believing any of this rubbish – John, as you were not back in the club house to defend your name. I guess we will never know the truth…… (Ha, Ha, Ha). Maybe because you were not in the Russian Tank that you played bad. Bruce, Merrill and Zac started on the eighth hole. Zac had another good week playing many great shots all day, but Bruce took the credit for Zac’s results coming from Bruce’s coaching. Well done Zac – you certainly should be proud of all your golfing efforts. Once again Merrill showed her good skills by getting a birdie on the fifth hole on her own, while Bruce didn’t help her out at all, so maybe you could get some lessons off your lovely wife. Bruce’s golf on the ninth hole was pretty ordinary, hitting the same gum tree twice which was close to the tee both times. I believe Merrill’s lessons are a reasonable price, so give it some thought. Kirk Hocking joined the group on the fifteenth hole – teaming up with Zac. He also had some wonderful shots hitting a remarkable drive of 250 metres down the centre of the second hole followed by another 250-metre hit but it completely went sideways, so maybe you and Bruce could share lessons. After settling down, you played some good winning shots so well done and glad you had an enjoyable day. After everyone got back to the clubhouse, cards were tallied up to determine the winners – being the ever reliable Barry and his sidekick John – you are finally out of the DUNCE CORNER Mr Pete. NTP – on third Barry NTP – on eighth Peter H Best dressed (again) – Maree – (sorry Robbo) Darrell supplied the arvo tea of sausage rolls and party pies, followed by a lovely birthday cake for Maree (made by Merrill). Next week’s golf day is Brian Johnston’s Day – Stroke event. Temora Bowling Club Bowls Five-A-Side Round one of the new Five-A-Side competition was played last Sunday with section A playing on the number three green and section B using the number two green. It would be nice to say the new concept went off without a hitch, however, that’d be just plain wrong. Some players had no idea what the rules were even after the day was completed. Returned scorecards presented evidence of basic mathematics never being learnt at school. For example, three plus two does not equal nine, unless you are an expert in inventive accounting which these people are not. A few scorecards were simply marked on the wrong side of the card. For example, most players would know matches start on end one, not end 13. Those issues aside, the first round did go down well with the players forced out of the comfort zone being required to play in all positions at some point throughout the day. In section A, Team New (Herb New, Rick Potter, Mick Wynd, Terry Greenham and Rissole Rees) won all their matches to record seven points in total. They secured two points each for their 14-10 pairs win and their 17-6 triples win over Team Krause. They backed this up with an 11-5 Fours win to leave Team Krause with two black eyes, NO points and a lot of wound licking to do. The other Section A clash saw Team Moir win both the triples (15-9) and the pairs (18-5) against Team Mouawad, and then somehow drop the fours game (8-10) to win the match four points – three points overall. Section B was very tight through the triples and pairs action. Team Cole dropped the pairs 10-11 and won the triples 9-8 against Team Jordan. Team Stimson won the pairs 10-9 and lost the triples 10-11 against Team Breust. Team Cole romped home 16-3 in the fours to claim five points for the day while Team Stimson won their Fours match 11-6 to also finish the day with five points. The competition resumes in a fortnight due to this weekend’s August Triples Tournament. Round two matches in Section A: Team Krause play Team Mouawad while Team McKinnon debuts against Team Moir. Team New receive a bye. In Section B: Team Breust plays Team Cole while Team Cook have their first game against Team Jordan. Team Stimson receives the bye. Temora Triples Tournament One minute this event is full and the next minute we require another four teams to make a maximum 56 Teams entered. It has been full three times now only for withdrawals to throw a spanner into the works. Generating a draw to satisfy 56 Teams where all teams get a maximum two ditch rinks over the weekend is not an easy task. At events like this, you can’t ask players to come from as far away as Melbourne and parts of Eastern Seaboard only to present them with four or five ditch rinks over the weekend. That’s a recipe for “Thanks for the weekend. Hope I never see ya again.” Hopefully, there will be 168 players entered and every one of them should be presented with an unbiased draw, regardless of where they come from and how far they’ve travelled. The event requires a huge amount of behind-the-scenes preparation and as this article goes to press, the organizers and volunteers have been very busy in an effort to provide another great weekend for our guests. We have teams from Padstow, Gymea, Oak Flats, Huskisson, Corrimal, Dunolly, Mentone, Wests Sydney, Rutherglen, Moruya, Weethalle, RAFC, Young, Henty, and a stack of composite teams made up of people from all over the place and from different Clubs. There will be some special talent on our greens this weekend as we utilise the three greens at the Bowling Club and the one green at the Ex-Services Club. We extend a sincere welcome to all our visitors and may the weather be kind for the duration of the tournament. King of the Turf Last weekend’s Group one Porcelain Bowl over 1600m was the perfect lead in race into what is historically our biggest race of the year, the 1800m President’s Gold Cup valued at more money than Chief Steward Bomber Edwards can count. In an absolute cracker of a feature race, Jon Wilson saluted the judge with a well-timed but somewhat fortunate rails run against the fence to edge out Lucky Pellow and the Chief Steward with Glenn Breust just ahead of them in second place. The only problem with this beautiful run, Wilson has never put two decent runs together. Ever. With The Chief Steward’s “bestie” Peter V’Landys present this weekend, you can bet your last dollar the Brownish Bomber will pull some convoluted stunt to make sure he’s in the photo’s somewhere. Sports Opinion: By Sean Cunningham, Temora Independent Journalist Time to reflect on the winter season As we approach finals football and rush towards the end of the winter sporting season soon, it is time for clubs to reflect on their achievements or the lack of success they have experienced this year. For some clubs, it may have been a season to forget. These clubs will know who they are, so there is no need to draw attention to them. Other clubs may have excelled this season and surpassed previous years’ performances and expectations. My advice to the powers that be in charge of the clubs, which struggled to achieve greatness this season, is not to forget the horrendous season, but not to dwell on it either. Learn from the mistakes made throughout the season and come back bigger and better next year and make those affiliated with the club proud of “their team” once again. For the clubs that believe they have been involved in a season to be proud of, there is no need to rest on their laurels. These clubs can cement the foundations of their success and improve on it and achieve further greatness next season. Meanwhile, if there was an award for club of the year in this region, it might not necessarily go to a team that has remained undefeated throughout the season. Some clubs have recorded fantastic results throughout the year as battlers contending with adversity. If I had to nominate a club or team of the year, there could be a few that spring to mind for a variety of reasons. There are too many to mention that individuals could make a case for. The choice could range from a school team that has fought all season for a first victory, but still enjoyed their time together on the paddock in a bond of camaraderie playing sport. At the other end of the spectrum could be a team that has went through a season hitting a high note with impressive victories in most of their games. The mark of being a successful club or team is not always measured by winning a Grand Final to cap off the season. All our region’s teams will be able to ponder and look back on their highlights for one reason or another, or reflect on the lows they have experienced this season and discover ways to improve. Whether a change of officials is needed, or a recruitment drive for next year, clubs throughout the area have all through the off-season to try to rectify previous problems they have identified and make amends before next season’s winter codes start afresh. Let me know your team/club’s highlights or low points this season and your ideas how things could be improved at your club in a bid to reach the lofty heights of success next season. I can be contacted at scunningham@riverinamedia.com.au
