A beautiful early autumn day greeted golfers as they teed up for the quarter finals of the Algie Mitchell Shield and the club’s stableford round.  Measures to reduce the chance of spreading Covid-19 were clearly explained before hit-off.  There was a flippant wind from the SE but it seemed to have little effect on play.  Recent rains and milder weather saw the course green up considerably and there were far fewer bare patches on the fairways.  The quarter finals of the Algie Mitchell Shield were all close with all four of the groups heading to the 10th “all square”.  At the end of the day three semis went to 1up and the other 2up.  The Stableford round saw some wonderful golf followed by close meetings with trees deflating many players.  The eventual winner picked up four birdies to have a very memorable round, he felt it was an enjoyable day to be out on the course.  On a wonderful autumn day the results were;

Winner; Steve Wilkins (17) – 39pts from Scott Willians (15) – 36pts

NTPs; 1st – Roger Baker, 15th – Pat Chisholm

Algie Mitchell Shield Quarter Finals  results;

Jim Patton (0) D John Freestone  (1) – 2up

Mal Mottram (0) D Bob McLennan  (5) – 1up

Andrew Laing (0) L Davey Kenney (1) – 1up

Bob Dwyer (20) D Anthony Lakey (0) – 1up

Algie Mitchell Shield Semi-finals (April 4th) will be;

Jim Patton (9) Vs Mal Mottram (0)

Bob Dwyer (19) Vs Davey Kenney (0)

The Kilmore Challenge Bowl  was held amid several cancellations of district events and “Social Distancing” becomes the new norm.   The clubhouse and all buggies had been thoroughly sanitised, golfers were reminded to remain apart from each other and handshaking was discouraged.  These restriction had little effect on the golf as scoring was very good. The RGC team of Wendy Gosden (39pts)/Jenny Hartley (33pts)/Elaine Scanlon (33pts) – 105 pts were runners up in the bowl.

The 2020 Kilmore Challenge Bowl winners were; Lancefield – Carol Mee(41pts)/Florence Meyer(37pts)/Sandra Stevens (35pts) –  113.    Congratulations to the Lancefield team who attributed their great scores on the day to their previous day’s hit out on the Romsey Course.

The top five for Player-of-the-Year points were Chris Doherty (Trentham) – 43 pts, Carol Mee (Lancefield) – 41pts, Wendy Gosden (Romsey) – 39 pts, Glenda Woods (Seymour) and Maureen Warrener (Woodend).

A great day was had by all as Romsey Golf Club hosted visitors from Lancefield Golf Club for a friendly game of 4-person Ambrose. The weather was very conducive to good golf, the fairways were great and apart from some late season bird damage the greens were quite good. Numbers worked out perfectly to have two Romsey and two Lancefield players in each group and whoops and cheers could be heard across the course as long putts dropped and approach shots landed close.
All players were reminded that in this time of Covid19 concern, social distancing and general precautions were required so there no picking up of someone else’s ball and the flags remained in the hole at all times to minimise double handling.   Lunch was served after the round and at the large tables that usual accommodate 8 people we maintained our distance by having only four chairs at each table.

Results for the day on the 12 Hole Old Course

1st; Jenni Vennel, Carol Mee, Denise O’Meara, Darlene Baker                  46/10.08/35.92

2nd; Di Brennan, Robyn Stevens, Lorraine Robb and Beryl Cole                  50/10/40

3rd; Sandra Stevens, Lyn Murchison, Wendy Gosden, Jenny Hartley    52/8.83/43.17

It was a beautiful Autumn day  when a large number of players from many different clubs traveled to Gisborne to compete in the annual Gisborne Challenge Bowl.  Romsey was represented by Wendy Gosden(27) 32pts and Lorraine Robb(40) 30pts. A Gisborne player made up the team. The fairways were very good and provided some run, the greens were tricky but good and the bunkers gobbled up golf balls. Lorraine had a NTP.

The 2020 Bowl was won by a team from Gisborne with 103 pts.

At the end of the game players nodded their thanks instead of shaking hands.

Thirty teams from across DDGA and beyond competed in The Country Teams’ Ambrose Fund Raiser at Euroa.  The course was presented beautifully with lush fairways and near perfect greens.  Romsey Golf Club was very well represented by two teams.

The entire day was played in atmosphere of friendliness and fun with excellent organisation from Country Teams Captains Trish Grinter and Ian Richardson.

Congratulations to scratch winners of Team Carrracher with 61.

The RGC mixed team; John Freestone, Beryl Cole, Steve Wilkins and Scott Williams performed well to card an excellent score; 71/9.5/61.5.

The RGC Women’s Team; Darlene Baker, Jenny Hartley, Wendy Gosden and Elaine Scanlon had a top front nine but the back nine was more challenging with a number of birdie putts missing by a smidgen. Their performance was also excellent and all were proud of their final score; 74/12/62.

With just under 20mm belting down late on Friday afternoon the course was soft and whilst  the wind had dried any casual water on the fairways there was still some around a few of the greens.  Mud would certainly stick to the ball after most shots so “Mark, Lift, Clean, Replace” was brought into play.  A cold wind from the S/SW made some holes play longer and kept everyone honest on the 18th where the wind pushed shots towards the internal “Out Of Bounds”.  At one stage the wind even moved around to the East keeping everyone on their toes.  Despite the challenging conditions some excellent golf was played.  On a cold, windy afternoon the results were;

Winner; Jim Patton (18) – 40 pts from Andrew Laing (19) – 38pts, Mal Mottram (9) – 38 pts and Bob Dwyer (39) 36pts

NTPs; 15th – Dean vanDenHeuval & 16th – Chris Lingard

The quarter Finals of the Algie Mitchell Shield will be;

1 – Jim Patton (0) Vs 8 – John Freestone  (1)

3 – Mal Mottram (0) Vs 6 – Bob McLennan  (5)

2 – Andrew Laing (0) Vs 7 – Davey Kenney (1)

4 – Bob Dwyer (20) Vs 5 – Anthony Lakey (0)

On a largely still, sunny day players from 15 clubs throughout the Dalhousie District and beyond gathered at Seymour for their “Phyllis Williams Challenge Bowl”.  Surprising for this time of the year there very little run on the fairways with the greens running true

The Romsey team; Wendy Gosden (25) 31 pts/Jenny Hartley (20) 30 pts/Darlene Baker (18) 31 pts combined very well  to win the Bowl with 92 pts, five clear of second place.  This is the second bowl RGC has won so far this year.

Wendy won NTP on the 170 metre par 3, 12th.  Beryl Cole (23) 30 points and Elaine Scanlon (27) 22 points were individual entries and were thrilled to be on hand to congratulate the RGC Team.

Wendy, Darlene & Jenny with the Phyllis Williams Bowl

Superb weather conditions and a beautifully prepared course greeted the golfers, one group played a round of Pinehurst with the following results –
1st; Pam Drummond/Beryl Cole – 96/30.5/65.5
2nd; Wendy Gosden/Elaine Scanlon – 96/30/66
3rd; Lorraine Robb/Jenny Hartley – 104/32.5/71.5
Another group of players enjoyed a round of Stableford with their results –
1st; Clive Mensford – (40) 36 points
2nd; Hugh Williams –  (24) 32 pts
3rd; John Freestone – (18) 27  pts
Yet another group enjoyed a relaxed social game of golf on a lovely day.

A good field teed up for the club’s Labour Day round of Stableford.  Apart from the wind which moved between west and south for much of the afternoon conditions were excellent for golf.  The fairways had dried out after steady wind and, in general, the greens and surrounds were in excellent condition.  Strangely enough the birds had left their favourite playground, the 7th green, alone and had what seemed to be a large party on both the 15th and 16th greens.  Hopefully, as the weather cools, these birds will move on and we can get about repairing their damage.  On a mild, sunny, if windy afternoon the results were;

Winner; Mitchell Clement (11) – 37 pts from Keith Hocking 26) & Toby Clement (24) – 36 pts

NTPs; 15th – Andrew Clement

After ~100mm of rain over Wednesday and Thursday the course was in surprisingly good condition.  There was some casual water in the usual locations but the in general the greens and fairways had held up well.  The cold air and softer fairways saw everyone lose distance off the tee.  Softer surrounds meant approach shots had to be “on the money” or risk landing and stopping well short.   Players teed-up in cool, overcast conditions with a gusting southerly wind, as the round progressed the sun came out and the afternoon warmed up considerably.  It was a day for accuracy, those who could control their drives and take advantage of the excellent condition of the greens were able to score well.  The 4Ball Aggregate format allows teams to score almost on every hole so a score over 55 pts is usually requied to have ny chance of take-out the day.  One player really hit his straps and his performance was vital to his team’s success.  On a changeable afternoon the results were;

4Ball Team Winners; Mal Mottram (9)/Hugh Drummond(20) – 68pts from Toby Clement (24)/Andrew Clement(9) – 63pts & Lorraine Robb(43)/Pam Drummond(34) – 62 pts

Individuals; Mal Mottram (9) – 38 pts, Andrew Clement (9) – 34 pts

NTPs; 15th – Anthony Lakey