SEVENTY players enjoyed overcast and sometimes rainy conditions last Saturday in a two player aggregate stableford sponsored by the club captain's wife, Julie Blanch. Thankyou Julie. Despite the better conditions, play off the bare lies was still difficult. Best of all the players on the day was the combination of Scott Stoddart (40 points) and Geoff Swaffield (35 points), their combined total of 75 just beating Rohan and Trevor Abbott on a countback. Next was Ron Wilson and David Blair, also on 75 points total. Fourth spot went to Trevor Martin and Pat Welsh with 74, due largely to Pat's great round of 42 points (that means Trevor's contribution was a meagre 32 points). Apart from Pat Welsh's 42, the best individual scores went to Dave Andrews (40 points), Tony Lattimore (second with 38 on a countback), and Brock Hynes (38 points). In the ball competition, Jason Fowles and Matt Hardy got the last with a combined total of 67 points. There were two eagles, Mitchell Steel on the second and Nev Webb on the 17th.

In the nearest to the pin (NTP) competition, Brock Hynes was the day's big winner, firstly hitting one close to win the Wingham Plaza Butchers 1st/10th and secondly, also won the Caddie's Restaurant "Shot of the Day" for his effort. Trevor Abbott won the Manning Natural Healing 3rd/12th, Syd Gilfillan was too good for the rest on the 4th/13th All About Conveyancing hole, as was Bill Osborne on the Bayview Seafoods 7th/16th and last but not least, Damian Keen won the Bent on Food voucher for the 9th/18th.

FIFTY one starters played a single stableford this past week and would you believe, Ernie Starling finally stood atop the winner's podium. Ernie played possibly his best ever round of golf to record 44 points, beating the runner-up Courtney Adamson, by two points. Syd Gilfillan was third with a creditable 41 points. Dennis Wisely won the NTP on the 3rd/12th and Paul Dawson did likewise on the 7th/16th.

THE good weather conditions continued into the afternoon on Wednesday, and a field of 60 players obviously enjoyed the conditions, with several great scores returned. Best of the lot was a record equalling eight under par round (net 25 and 7/8) by the "Browns plus one" team, captained by Dave Irvine. They beat "Family Ties" (net 26 and 9/10) captained by Paul Primmer with third spot to the "Shonky Ones" (Pat Welsh) and "Kings" (Richard Clark) fourth. Rod Brown won the ntp on the third hole, Terry Robards won the cooked chook and Damien Moore won the port.

THURSDAY was a bit of a scorcher and resulted in a relatively small field. As usual though, the winning scores were quite unbelievable, with several players on 22 points missing out on the prizemoney. Dave Elliott had a great par round for 26 points, but would you believe he was "knocked off" by George Legge's 27 point round. By the way George had a "bust" in that round, so it was really 27 points for eight holes. Rex White continued his good run to claim third spot with his 22 points. Dave Elliott's round also included two NTP wins, one on the seventh and almost a "hole-in-one" on the third. Great round Dave. I had to feel a bit for Rod Brown who shot two under par for the nine holes for no prize. Bad luck "Browny."

THIS Saturday is a single stableford for the Wingham Beef Exports trophy and with some green grass promising to be on show, a good field is expected. 

LAST Sunday the annual David Steel Memorial Golf/Bowls day attracted 56 players in damp, rainy conditions; and boy was it pleasant. It was a great day, one of the best ever, with scores the closest in the history of the event. The eventual winner was the "North West Frames and Trusses" team, consisting of Brendon Summerfield, Luke Steel, Mathew Bartlett and Andrew Brook. They just beat "Sea Dragons" (Matt Essery, Antony Urquhart, Andrew Cross and Steve Allwood) with "Stop'n Go" (Scott Murray, Adam Ward, Brent Dawson and Trenton Spriggs) in third spot. The Best Dressed team went to "Little Pussies" (Michael Dawson, Russ Grofos, "Foody" Martin and Sean Stewart).

In other results, long drive in the golf went to Adam Steel and the two NTPs were won by Matt Essery and Jack Beattie. The best bowling effort was won by Jackson Mullen's "Jackoffs" team with special mention to the "Kiwi" team of Logan Pockington, Piripi Parangi, "TJ" and Rikki Tory. They have apparently never played bowls before, yet managed to beat the previously undefeated Stewart Baker team. The "Tigers" committee and volunteers did a superb job organising the day and all went smoothly. Overall it was a superb day.