He might be turning 79 in April, but when it comes to golf Max Hellyer is not about to fade off into the sunset.
He had tongues wagging just before Christmas when he racked up an almost unheard of 50 points to claim the Stableford competition at the Mount Gambier Golf Club.
He was playing off a 33 handicap that day and despite dropping to 25, was still able to notch up another win last Thursday thanks to a 41-point haul.
That put him in the box seat to take out the Driscoll Summer Cup with just one more round to go.
His best six rounds aggregate was a staggering 240 points, an average of 40 and a full 24 points clear of last year’s winning total.
But coming into the final round he was only eight points clear of second-placed Gordon Bignell, so he was not about to rest on his laurels.
“I have been having trouble in the bunkers so I had a lesson with the pro this week to try to get that part of my game sorted out,” Hellyer said.
“I have been able to drop 10 strokes off what my handicap was about six weeks ago so I’m pretty pleased about that.
“My ambition now is to get down to 20 and see what I can do from there.”
On Thursday he started modestly, notching 19 points on the front nine before adding six more on the first three holes after turning for home.
But he hit top gear after that, picking up three-pointers on the 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th on his way to 22 points on the back nine, finishing one clear of Henry Forbes with Graham Thomas one back in third place on 39.
Meanwhile it was also a second win in recent weeks for John Miles who topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s Stableford competition, also with 41 points.
Miles took out last October’s Monthly Medal, but had to leave the clubs in the shed for a few weeks thanks to an unexpected wrist injury which occurred whilst watching the Ashes at Adelaide Oval.
“I had not been playing well since I came back … I’m pretty much hooking everything trying to protect the wrist,” he said.
“My goal on Saturday was to try and get 30 points so winning was a bit of a surprise.”
Starting on the 10th tee and playing off a 19 handicap, he had 19 points on the back nine, thanks largely to three-point pars on the 15th and 18th.
He added four more points on the first two holes on the front nine and then doubled that tally thanks to a four-point birdie when a putt from off the green on the par-three 3rd hole hit the flagstick hard but managed to drop in.
Pars on the 5th and 8th gave him two more three-pointers on the way in, good enough for the highest tally of the day and an easy three-shot win over Andrew Birks in C Grade.
The A Grade division was taken out by Tim Kenny who was four points behind his handicap after 11 holes and seemingly out of contention.
But three consecutive birdies on the 12th, 13th and 14th, thanks to one-putts from about six, 15 and 25 feet, added another 12 points to his tally.
He followed that hot sequence with a two-point par on the 15th, then dropped in another birdie on the par-three 16th from just 41cm, which not only gave him another three points, but also the nearest the pin prize.
Kenny was not done there, adding five more points thanks to pars on the final two holes, his 23 points on the back nine giving him 40 for the round and victory in A grade on a countback from David McGregor.
In B Grade it was Chris Gabriel who returned to the winner’s list after a long absence, edging out the in-form Jack Jennings after they also came in with 40 points apiece.
