59 adults and 5 children, incorporating 40 golfers, attended the 2019 Clare weekend. Weather was cool and sunny for most of the 4 days with a little breeze at times. It was good to see some of our new sponsors and also new members attend. This was our first outing to Clare for our end of year tournament.
The Clare Golf Club and the Country Club were good hosts with plenty of food and drink available for everyone. The course is differs from Renmark with more variation in alignment – both vertically and horizontal. Also, there are no bunkers – good for those of us challenged by these. Greens were in very good condition especially after the coring.
Our SAOGA sponsors provided teams in the Friday competition with a total of 9 teams entered. It was a great day with good feedback from our generous sponsors. Well done to Bruce Clark and the DrillQuip team winning the Presidents Cup.
There were many challenges this year based on our first visit to Clare and uncertainty regarding our budget and sponsorship. Great work by the Committee in bringing it together – especially Rob Pearce for his efforts with the golf and country clubs. It worked out well based on a first attempt and will be finessed next year, if at Clare.

Here is a summary of the results:

Thursday / Friday Winners:
• JFK Cup (Thursday Stoke) – 1st – F Sampson (69), 2nd – T Reardon, 3rd – B Clark
• Presidents Cup (Friday Ambrose) – Winning team – DrillQuip – B Clark, J Lunnay, T Carter & F Sampson.

Saturday / Sunday winners:
• Bardrill Cup (Ladies Stableford) – 1st – L Wedge, 2nd – V Mortimer
• Stealth Tools Cup (Best Stableford – Sat/Sun) – 1st – R Mancini, 2nd – M Mancini, 3rd – R Mulder
• Cavpower Cup (Most consistent) – K Rodrigues
• Ensign Trophy (Best Stableford – Sat) – 1st – S Garrick, 2nd – B Cox
• SAOGA Cup (Best Stableford – Sun) – 1st – J Lunnay, 2nd – M Duerden
• OICS Cup (Best Scratch) – 1st – J Trezise, 2nd – J Brown
• Santos Cup (Eclectic) – 1st – M Henderson, 2nd – B Clark
• RD Koch Trophy (Most Improved) – 1st – S Thomson, 2nd – G Thorpe
• NAGA – B Ferraro
• Halliburton Cup (Calloway) – 1st – J MacDonald , 2nd – N Bird

SAOGA Club Championship:
• A Grade – 1st – W Engel, 2nd – J Elliott
• B Grade – 1st – R Mancini, 2nd – M Mancini
• C Grade – 1st – D Crimmins, 2nd – T Reardon

Again, many thanks to our generous sponsors who make the weekend possible. Also, thank you to all who donated prizes for the raffle on Saturday night.

The Vines 2019  – Mark Mancini breaks through for a Win. In cold wet and windy conditions 20 Hardy Members teed off at The Vines Reynella.The Results, with no one playing to handicap, tells the story of a tough round of Golf. The Course was in great condition considering the amount of rain we have had.

Results 

1 Mark Mancini 35

2 John Mortimer 34

3 Al McDonald 33

Ntps

3 Al McDonald 1m unfortunately Al 3 putted !

6 Frank Sampson 6.5m

10 Wolf Engel 1.8m

14 Mike Willis 6m

Our next round is on September 15th at South Lakes Golf Club at Goolwa.

John Mortimer 

Thaxted Park July 2019 Ryan Mancini the winner.

25 Members made the trip down to Thaxted Park for our 6th round.Weather was great considering what it has been like during the week and once again we were lucky to have hardly a shower over 18 Holes.

Results 

1st Ryan Mancini 40 pts

2nd James Lunnay 38pts

3rd on c/b Travis Reardon 38pts

NTPS

3rd Mark Duerden 3m

8th Wolf Engel .75m

11th John Mortimer 7m

15th Travis Reardon.5m

Next Round is at The Vines 18th August 

John Mortimer 

Flagstaff Hill 2019 – Rob Mulder Romps Home.

27 Members teed off in great weather for our annual visit to this testing layout. Rob Mulder on his old home Course blitzed the Field to win by 6 points! Rob was the only player to score more than 35 points.

Results

1st Rob Mulder 41

2nd Travis Reardon 35

3rd on countback Paul Chalk 35

NTPS

Hole 3 Paul Chalk 2.2m

Hole 7 🙏

Hole 9 Darren Griffiths 3.5m

Hole 13 Frank Topolnjak 0.25m

Hole 14 Mark Duerden 2.5m

Our next round is July 14th at Thaxted Park

John Mortimer

Sandy Creek 2019 – Paul Serpo Wins 

Despite the forecast of rain, the weather was great for our round and 31 players teed off, a decent size field for this event .

Results:

1st Paul Serpo 41pts

2nd Mark Mancini 38pts

3rd John Mortimer 37pts

Ntps: 

4th Mark Mancini 5.2m

6th Darren Griffiths 1.7m

8th Mike Willis 1m

13th Mark Duerden 2m

Several games of the Winter Match Play comp were also played, all very competitive and going to the 17th to decide the results. Travis Reardon, Mark Duerden and Mike Willis took the hounours from Stu Thomspn, Benn Cox and James Lunnay respectively. Intertestingly, each match being won by the higher handicap player of the pair.

Next Round is Flagstaff Hill 23rd June

John Mortimer

Ryan Mancini wins back-to back from Tanunda and in back-to-back years at Victor Harbor – well done Ryan! (We had better check that handicap next time I reckon…!)

25 Members teed off at this excellent golf course in great weather and some good scores were recorded by a number of players:

1st Ryan Mancini 42

2nd Wolf Engel 40 

3rd on cb Jim Day 39

Worth a mention :

Dave Crimmins 39

Mark Harkins 39

Bruce Clark 38

NTPS 

3rd James Lunnay 0.5m

7th John Elliot 2.5m

10th Wolf Engel 7.5m

14th Brad Colman 2.5m

Next round: Sandy Creek 19-May

John Mortimer 

32 Members made the trip to the Barossa Valley to take on this challenging course in perfect weather.There were some excellent scores posted by a number of members playing to or lower than their handicap.

Results 

1st Ryan Mancini 42

2nd Paul Serpo 40

3rd on cb Al McDonald 40

NTPS

6th Andrew Hudson 6.5m

8th Chris Skewes 14m

11th Leon Mulder 1.9m

16th Mark Mancini 3m

Next Round is Victor Harbor 14-April-19

John Mortimer 

Mt Compass 2019 Steve Moss takes a Win

A big field of 36 Contested our first round of the new season at Mt Compass Golf Club.

This Course demands respect with deep rough, water hazards and 89 bunkers just waiting to destroy your round. Some excellent golf from the Winners.

1st Steve Moss 41

2nd on count back Andrew Hudson 39

3rd Paul Chalk 39

NTP:

5th John Mortimer 0.7 m

9th Wolf Engel 0.3 m

12th Dwi Dwiyatno 3.75 m

14th Rob Pearce 2 m

See you all at Tanunda

John Mortimer