Midweek Competition

Our club secretary and senior volunteer, Greg Hosking, was the winner of the Goulburn Soldiers Club voucher as he cruised to a 2 point (30 pints) win in the 12 hole midweek competition. For once Greg out did his playing partners and kids, Michael and Nikita Hosking who are getting warmed up for bigger challenges than dear old dad.

Anthony Winters was next in line with a solid 28 points (40 points equivalent) with Russ Schmitt and "The Don" Grimston on 27 next in line by a countback. Lester Adams scored an excellent 15 points (considering the counttry he saw) to win the special ball.

Upcoming Special Events

A busy weekend is planned for the middle weekend of May. On Saturday, May 14th the Tully Park Committee is hosting the local running of the Golfer Pacific Best Ball Challenge, while the following Day, Sunday May 15th is the annual Tully Park Charity Golf Day, in which the club raises valuable funds for the Goulburn Prostate Cancer Support Group, a most deserving charity.

The Golfer Pacific Best Ball Challenge is a Four Ball Best Ball competition open to all male officially handicapped players. Up to $1400 in prizes are on offer including golf bags, clubs and much, much more. Cost is $35 per head which includes 3 Taylormade Burner golf balls and a sausage sizzle lunch.

All participants in the Golfer Pacific Best Ball Challenge automatically go in the draw for $325,000 in prizes. The monster prize draw will take place during the national final. A brand new Mitsubishi Lancer, E-Z-GO golf car, overseas golf tours to New Zealand, Fiji and Bali are among the incredible array of prizes on offer. Consolation prizes include 50 luxury golf escapes, 30 Sureshot GPS units, 3000 golf gift vouchers and much, much more.
The regional finals will be hosted at premier resort courses in September. There will be 24 regional final venues throughout Australia and six in New Zealand.
The regional finals will again be an 18-hole best ball stableford event with golf carts being an added bonus for all players.
The winning team at each of the regional finals will qualify for the national final on the Gold Coast from October 24-30.
The National Final will be hosted in conjunction with Australia’s biggest and richest amateur tournament, the Mitsubishi Motors World Masters Golf Championship. The national final will be a four-round, 72-hole best ball stableford event with rounds at The Glades, Lakelands, The Colonial and Palm Meadows.

In addition to the golfing competition, national finalists will receive seven nights deluxe accommodation at Radisson Resort Gold Coast. Every night there are social and entertainment functions with a poolside welcome reception and gala presentation dinner the highlights. Everything is provided for the national finalists, including golf carts, transfers, gift packs, souvenir shirts and more.

The Tully Park Charity Golf Day, supporting the Goulburn Prostate Cancer Support Group will be a single stblefor event for handicap golfers and a Callaway competition for golfers without handicaps. Great prizes will be on offer as well as a good dose of Tully Park hospitality.

Certainly a fantastic weekend of golf is on offer mid May.

Next Sundays competition is the club qualifier for the NSW Fourball Best Ball Championships which culminate in a State final at Coffs Harbour. The top three teams from this comp go on to the ACT/Monaro regional final, with the winning pair from that gaining entry to the State Final. The trophy for next Sundays competition is donated by Brett George.

Monthly Medal

Andrew Kadwell romped home last Sunday to claim his first monthly medal by a whopping 7 shots. Andrew played outstanding golf recording 85 off the stick for a nett 57, easily his best round. The best of the rest included Lindsay Gegg (64), Gary Spence (66), Eddie Hawkins (67) and Ken Wray (67). Andrew was very pleased with his trophy, donated by Tony Clewett, and is certainly enjoying his golf at the moment. Ken Wray was the progressive winner with a nett score of 50 while Grant Mooney won a dozen balls in the weekly raffle. Grade winners were Marty Hunter (A grade, nett 67), Lindsay Gegg (B grade, 64) and Andrew Kadwell (C grade, 57). Danny Dingle may have been thinking of Easter eggs, or crucifixion, or resurrection as he claimed the last ball with a "special" nett 85.

In the Cock O' the Walk (a fourball matchplay), the music died for Darren "Disco" Jansen and Mick "Chicken Dance" Simpson after a marathon session on the tiles. In a cut and thrust match they eventually succumbed to the clever and handsome combination of Marty Hunter and Charlie McDonald, losing 2 down with 1 to play. (Your scribe is not sure which is clever and which is handsome). Chuck and Mart face Roy "Yippee Ki Yay" McNair and Glenn Piazza in the next installment of this keenly watched competition.

Welcome visitors were Robert Courts from Northcote, Victoria and Phil Toole from RSL.

Midweek

This weeks Goulburn Soldiers Club Midweek competition saw Eddie Hawkins and John Blair continue their recent good form both returning excellent scores of 31 points. Eddie Hawkins was determined as the winner over John by way of a countback.Kevin Peterson and Royce Dockett also recorded good scores of 26 points although they were 5 shots adrift of the leaders. The ladies once again joined in the midweek competition with Helen Carne enjoying the walk with 6 points for the special ball.

Nikita Hosking on tour

Young Nikita Hosking, who attends Mulwaree High School has been selected as the sole South Coast Combined Highschools girl representative in the NSW Schoolgirl Championships. On the back of her win at Kiama Golf Club in the regional chapionships Nikita has qualified to compete in two State level championships at Blackheath and Dubbo. Nikita unfortunately has to pay some (most) of her own way to compete in these unique opportunities so a fundraising effort has been initiated to help her on her way to greater glory for herself, Tully Park and Goulburn in general. Raffle tickets (to win an Microwave, Compressor, Lollypotz, Scratchies and more) are now on sale at Tully Park Golf Club, Goulburn Water Systems, Mission Australia, Tully Park Tavern and Goulburn Engineering. Nikita is not only one of Tully's stand-out junior golfers, she also is a fabulous volunteer for our club. She deserves the unreserved support of Tully Park and all of Goulburn as she does us all proud.

Anzac Day Chook Run

If you are down to your last $6 after 2 up on Anzac Day then the Tully Park Chook Run may be just for you. It is open to all golfers, with or without  handicaps. Cost is $6 paid to the honesty box. Your card must be marked by a member (preferably handicapped) to be eligible. The Chook Run is open all day and winners will be notified via the report next week.

Sunday Competition

Excellent weather brought out a strong field at Tully Park last Sunday as the members fought out a stableford competition in conjunction with the Barry Pengelly Consistency Competition. Josh Whittaker was unstoppable as he cruised to a 3 shot victory, carding 43 points, over Darrell Spence and Mick Hosking on 40 points. Brian Mills and Tracker Tahana scored 39 points each, while Eddie Hawkins and Roy McNair managed to scrape together 38 points. Mart Weise was the special ball winner, making a welcome return to competition golf.

Mick Simpson won the Progressive Competition, and a $25 voucher to one of our voucher sponsors with 49 points. In the Progressive, players gain a shot each week for their "Progressive Handicap". When they win a "Progressive", their "progressive Handicap" is reset to their current handicap. It gives every member a chance to win at least once per year, or so your scribe hopes.

Royce "Double O" Dockett rated a mention for his eagle 2 on the par 4 12th hole as did Scott Nolan who won the Nearest to the Pins on both the 6th and 14th holes. Don Grimstons "kids" were welcome visitors with Angela and Tony Grimston from the Gold Coast Country Club enjoying the quality golf on offer at Tully Park.

Next weeks competition is the Monthly Medal, a stroke competiton with grade winners qualifying for the Gold Medal Playoff in January. In all his time at Tully your scribe has won a single monthly medal, probably in his first few rounds of comp golf. They are not easily won, and are one of Tully Parks most keenly sought trophies.

Welcome Ladies

How nice it has been to have the taming influences of a number of ladies enjoying the midweek competition. The gentlemen golfers at Tully Park could learn a lot from the our lady members by observing the way that they grace our fairways. The ladies were well represented in the ball rundown winning exactly half the number of balls on offer. One of our gentlemen golfers, however, has learnt the gentle art of golf. He is renowned for his "silky" swing and his pleasant demeanor, and he upheld the male egos as he won this weeks midweek comp. The gentleman, in this case, is Eddie Hawkins who recorded 27 points to win the Goulburn Soldiers Club voucher. Nikita Hosking, Ray Waters and John Peterson also scored well while Helen Carne could not be beaten for the special ball. The midweek comp is held every week between Sunday and Saturday and is open to all handicap members, men and ladies alike. This scribe is looking forward to more ladies competing in the midweek competition. A lesson in golf may be forthcoming.

Not Just Handy...

Royce "Double O" Dockett proved that he has talents that exceed those expected of a handyman or landscaper as he tore up the course to record an extraordinary score of nett 59 (88). In spite of the inclement weather it seemed as if Royce had carefully placed every blade of grass, shrub and tree around the course specifically to suit his game. Royce knocked in 4 pars and a birdie on a day when some A graders struggled to get bogie and claimed the trophy which he had also generously donated. Gary Spence and Michael Simpson were also in the mix with outstanding scores of 60 and 61 nett. Wally Thorn made sure that he got a mention with an outstanding shot on the 5th hole, knocking it to within a few inches and winning the Nearest to the Pin prize. Eddie Sivell chipped in for eagle on the 12th to seal up the Drive and Pitch prize.

"Disco" Jansen and Michael "Chicken Dance" Simpson continued their onslaught in the Cock O The Walk defeating President Hogate and Wally Thorn. Simmo and Disco take on Nikita Hosking and Tiger Woods next week, although they remain odds on favourites. Paul Hunter won the raffle and took home a box of soft feel balls (nice one Pauly). Next week the committee is pleased to present a Stableford competition in conjunction with the April round of the Barry Pengelly Consistency competition. A marvellous trophy has been donated by Marty Weise.

Midweek

John Blair was the only player that stood in the way of a Hosking family whitewash in last weeks Goulburn Soldiers Club Midweek competition as he held steady to record a solid 28 points for the 12 holes. John started well with 3 pointers on the first two holes and held firm with four consecutive pars to finish his round. Hot on his heels were Greg and Nikita Hosking who recorded 27 and 26 points respectively, while Michael Hosking secured the other end of the field winning the special ball. Wally Thorn, as always, gets a mention.

Course Update

The greens at Tully are now making an excellent recovery from the December flood damage and the ensuing Pytthium infestation. The Greens Committee, headed by our MVV (Most Valuable Volunteer) Greg Hosking reckon that they will be back close to their best in 3 to four weeks. Meanwhile the fairways are in magnificent condition and the course in general is as pretty as a picture. Unfortunately there still remains an estimated 60,000 cubic meters of debris, timber, rubbish and snakes alongside the 4th Fairway which needs to be removed. The committee are still anxiously awaiting state government funding under the NSW Disaster Relief Fund in order to remove the piled debris on the western side of the course. A tree planting programme has also been implemented which will further enhance our best value golfing experience. Time will tell.

Canadian Foursomes

Tony "TC" Clewett and "Steady" Eddie Hawkins were were in fine form in Sundays Canadian Foursomes event winning the nice trophy provided by the McDonald Family/Goulburn Water Systems. Returning a nett score of 7 under par (60) TC and Steady had perfectly matched games and could be a threat in the Foursomes Champs, later this year. Captain Mills and Billy McMahon (82/62) were 2 putts behind the leaders, while Tracker Tahana returned 83/64 to place third. A very special mention goes to Wally Thorn and his partner in crime, our president, Mr Roger Holgate. They were the best of the rest. Charlie McDonald won the nearest to the pin on the 14th hole, while Billy McMahon was closest on the 8th. Next weeks event is a stroke event with a fabulous trophy on offer courtesy of Docs Landscaping.