Experience came to the fore in Saturday’s par round at the BLGC with the top five prize winners all being eligible to play veterans golf.
Leading the way was the evergreen Ross McMahon who turned back the clock, taking the win with +5 off his 26 handicap.
In favourable conditions and hitting off before the weather broke, McMahon was on the board early with three plusses over the first five holes. A rough start to his inward nine was soon righted with no more red ink on the card after the 11th to finish with his total of +5.
Mr “Blue Lake Golf Club” Russell Lingham was catching McMahon and with a plus on the 17th had but then let him off the hook with a minus on the last costing him the outright win.
It was still a strong round with nine plusses including an impressive birdie on the 15th.
Rounding out the Dad’s Army platoon was John Kamp and Doug McPherson finishing tied on +3.
Playing off a handicap of 3, Marc Dalton had to be on top of his game and he can be justly proud of his +3 round. Birdies on the 11th and 15th returned two plusses and that’s what he finished with to take the grade win.
Michael Watts was unlucky to be counted out of the grade win after also finishing on +2 highlighted by a superb eagle on the third.
Watts was one of three men to score Eagles alongside Bob White and Michael Dedonatis.
Tim Smith in third had tough opening nine that saw him turn with a -1 but pars on the 10th, 13th and 18th all resulted in plusses for an overall +1.
Kamp’s +3 was good enough to take out the win in B grade with Stephen Harvey (16) making a return from Adelaide showing he has not lost any of his ability with a return of +2.
Fortunately for Harvey he scored all that on the inward nine which saw him take the second in a count back with Ben Wilson (16) who had equal splits of +1.
Rounding out the placings in C grade after Lingham and McPherson was early morning starter Frank Pinneri (27) who carded a +2 total.
Two long-time members also showed off their experience n the Ladies Par competition.
Geraldine Scott (25) was on song early with a +3 under her belt after the first four holes but could not maintain that momentum, slipping back to square at the turn.
Her troubles continued early on in her inward nine with consecutive wipes but she showed true grit to knuckle down and score three plusses in the last seven holes.
That held her in good stead going into a count back with Rose Case 38) who ventured out for the first time in her new cart, putting it to good use to also return a score of +1
Rosemary Martland, who plays off the impressive handicap of 11, showed her prowess by keeping the wipes to a bare minimum with just the one pick-up for the day to finish square with her handicap.
Proving that his win in the recent BLGC Club Championship was no fluke Trevor Gartside continued his hot form in the mid week Tuesday Stableford competition.
Gartside made full use of his advantageous handicap of 24, to compile splits of 22 and 20 points.
Another club stalwart and valued volunteer, Russell Lingham returned to the podium with a second place finish after a roller-coaster ride closed with 39 points.
Making it a trio of club volunteers Stephen von Duve swapped his chainsaw for his golf clubs and put them to good use, taking out third prize with 38 points.
