IT WAS the battle of the mo’s at the 2010 NSW Veteran Golfers Matchplay Championship final at a fine and sunny Port Kembla today.

In a tussle that went right down to the wire, Mittagong’s Cameron Fraser beat defending champion and local Ron Hall 1 up on the 18th hole.

The pair were even after the front nine but with near perfect ball striking and deadly putting Fraser was inching one and two holes ahead as they came home.

Fraser, a recent NSW Senior Amateur Golfing representative and a tournament winner on the elite senior amateur circuit, hit 16 greens in regulation.

Not bad for a player who had a 30 year layoff due to business commitments and only came back to golf seven years ago.

In fact it was his wife, Ineke Kelson, winner of the Ladies Matchplay final over Wollongong’s Trikki Young on the 19th hole today, who spurred him back into the sport.

When they met over seven years ago in the NSW southern highlands Ineke told Fraser she was a golf nut and if he wanted the relationship to go any further he would have to take it up.

“I said I’ll go and learn,” Fraser told her, not mentioning his considerable early golfing success, beginning as a 12 year old.

“I was just lucky it wasn’t hang gliding or something like that she was into,” he said.

Fraser, who plays off 4 at his home club the Highlands Golf Club, was happy with his performance during the week long event, this year played at four clubs in the Illawarra on the NSW south coast.

“He’s a very good player, I was just very happy to beat him,” he said of his close battle with Hall. “He was hard to beat but I got him.”

Hall has appeared in every final since the event moved from the north coast to the Illawarra three years ago.

He won last year and was runner up the year before – all close, tense matches that went to the 18th hole or beyond.

“It went right down to the wire again,” Hall said. “I was pretty happy with the way I played but on the day he was just one shot too good.”

“He hit 16 greens out of 18. That’s pretty clever.”

Tournament director Dick Farrant was delighted with the successful week of golf, particularly since the tournament had been threatened at the 11th hour with severe weather warnings.

As it was the seeding event on Monday had to be moved to Kiama Golf Club because of wet conditions at Shellharbour Links, with the four matchplay rounds conducted at the Links, The Grange and two at the championship Port Kembla course.

Windy and cold June weather hasn’t been kind to the tournament in the last two years but things should improve dramatically for competitors with the event planned to move to a much warmer late February date next year.

Hall tees of on the 17th - a hole he needed to win to keep the match alive.

The 2010 Australian Veteran Golfers National Championship will be played in the beautiful Port Macquarie Hastings region on the Mid North Coast of NSW.

The event will be held from November 7 to 12 at three courses organisers boast the CSIRO says are in an area with the best climatic conditions in Australia.

The tree courses, Port Macquarie Golf Club, Camden Haven Golf Club and Wauchope Country Club, are located within a region that is a tourist Mecca offering pristine beaches, a lush hinterland, vast national parks and many local attractions.

The national championship, conducted under the auspices of the Australian Veteran Golfers Union, rotates state by state each year and has been growing in popularity annually.

The tournament in Cairns in 2009 was a big success and with the large veteran golfer community in NSW already strongly established, the Port Macquarie event is highly likely to be a sell out – and likely to do so quite quickly.

The tournament includes a 54 Hole Stroke Championship in three grades for men and a 54 hole stableford event for women in two divisions.

There are also single competitions conducted as part of the events and a Medley fourball stableford on the Monday.

The week begins with registration and a welcome function on the Sunday and concludes with the final rounds and a Presentation and Farewell Dinner at the Westport Club on the Friday evening.

Organisers say highlights of the 2010 Championships include

• Lady golfers and their playing male golfing partners will always play on the same course at the same time
• To maximise limited hire cart and buggy availability there will be morning and afternoon shotgun starts
• The three courses are only 30 minutes apart by road
• The program for ladies includes a 54 hole event
• Catering facilities will be available on each course during and after play
• Welcome and Presentation Function at the Westport Club are close to the Port Macquarie CBD and in easy reach of the majority of accommodation places
• There are a wide range of accommodation types and venues available

Entry Forms will be available on the NSWVGA website or you can email Tournament Director Neil Beecroft on neilb2008(at)live.com.au

The one stroke victory at the 54 hole championship in Cairns highlighted a week of veteran golf that delighted organisers and participants.

Tournament Director Claud Clark said 327 men and 95 ladies contested their respective events and the turnaround from the championship in Adelaide last year reflected the success of an intensive marketing campaign.

Claud Clark reports:

The Bendigo Bank Veteran Golfers National Championships provided one of the closest and most dramatic finals in the history of the event.

Going into the final day Ian Cooke of Cairns Golf Club led the two time championship winner Colin Angel from the Grange Club in Adelaide by one stroke.

Playing in the same group both had pars for the first two holes but Cooke stumbled with a bogey on the third while the consistent Angel responded with a par to level the scores.

Cooke bogeyed  the fourth which gave Angel a one shot lead but Cooke responded with  a brilliant birdie at the sixth to again square the match.  In a matchplay type atmosphere the players went stroke for stroke until the tenth when the consistent Angel moved to a one shot advantage.

Fighting hard Cooke birdied the twelfth and thirteenth to secure a one shot lead in the Championship with five holes to play. Angel squared the match on the 15th and a two shot turnaround at the 16th gave Angel a two shot lead with two holes to play.

Cooke again produced a birdie on the 18th but the experienced and classy Colin Angel held on to claim his third National title with a narrow one stoke win.

After the game Angel gave high praise to Ian Cooke and said he was confident the Cairns player had the game and the temperament to eventually win the National Championship.

Cairns won its first ever National title with Sam Lemura winning the Nett Championship and the prestigious Vic Kendall trophy with a clear four shot lead over Chris Hollands from Kiama Club in NSW.

Ray Miller from Half Moon Bay shared the lead after day two of the event but could not hold on and Lemura took full advantage of playing his home course on the final day to secure a clear win with a nett score of 212.

B Grade was won by Young Kim of Asquith ( NSW ) with an impressive score of 253 from Geoff Lavis of Wanneroo Club ( WA ) and C grade was won by Harold Lovelock representing Redland Bay (QLD) from John Corr of Port Kembla ( NSW ).

The ladies staged a stableford event with Siobhan Davies from Club Pelican ( QLD ) winning the A Grade with 68 points on a countback from Elaine Woodard representing Mt. Lawley Club ( WA ).

B Grade Ladies was won by Kaye Roberts from Rockingham ( WA ) on 75 points from Marjorie Carter representing the Western Australia Golf Club on 69 points.

Members of the National Executive and players gave high praise for the event which many rated the best they had ever attended.

VETERAN GOLFERS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

54 Hole Gross Winner and Champion for 2009  -  COLIN ANGEL    The Grange Club  S.A.          230

54 Hole Gross Runner up                                     -  IAN COOKE         Cairns Golf Cub    QLD        231

54 Hole Nett  Winner                                           -  SAM  LEMURA   Half Moon Bay GC   QLD     212

54 Hole Nett Winner A Grade                              -  CLIVE HOLLANDS    Kiama GC       NSW       216

54 Hole Nett  Runner up  A Grade                       -  JAMES  CORDERY  Southern GC    Vic.            217

54 Hole Gross Winner   B Grade                          -  YOUNG  KIM     Asquith  GC    NSW                 253

54 Hole Gross  Runner up B Grade                       -   GEOFF  LAVIS  Wanneroo GC   WA                 259

54 Hole Nett  Winner  B  Grade                            -   MAT  SCHLOTTERBACH  Club Pelican  QLD 222 c/b

54 Hole Nett  Runner up B Grade                          -  JOE ALEXANDER   Nedlands GC   WA             222

54 Hole Gross Winner  C Grade                            -   HAROLD  LOVELOCK  Redland Bay QLD       275

54 Hole Gross Runner up C Grade                         -  JOHN  CORR    Port Kembla  GC     NSW           276 c/b

54 Hole Nett  Winner  C Grade                               - TOM  TWIBLE  Wynnum GC     QLD                  214

54 Hole Nett  Runner up C Grade                           - GARRY  CARTER   Western Australia GC   WA  217

Ladies Results

36 Hole Ladies Stableford A Grade Winner            -  SIOBHAN  DAVIES  Club Pelican  QLD  68 pts C/B

36 Hole Ladies Stableford A Grade Runner up       -  ELAINE  WOODARD  Mt. Lawley GC  WA  68 pts.

36 Hole Ladies Stableford B Grade Winner            -  KAYE  ROBERTS   Rockingham  WA   75 pts.

36 hole Ladies Stableford B Grade Runner up        -  MARJORIE  CARTER  Western Australia GC 69 pts.

IT CERTAINLY took some doing, but Port Kembla’s Rod Hall has finally taken out the NSW Veteran Matchplay Championship.

Hall was beaten by a whisker on the 18th hole in last year’s final and today it took him till the 22nd hole to topple Canberra’s Joe Marumo.

There was never more than one stroke difference throughout the match and in a golf format that can be nerve wracking at the best of times, Hall called on some 50 years of golfing experience to retain his composure.

“It can be pretty nerve wracking but I guess you just call on all the things you have done in the past and trust your ability, that’s all. Just trust your swing and go from there,” a delighted Hall said later.

“You are always disappointed when you get beaten on the last but that’s the way it goes. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. This year it just happened to be my turn.”

The fourth and final round of the matchplay event, which included four men’s divisions and two ladies divisions, was played in near perfect sunny conditions at the Shellharbour Links course.

It was a far cry from the first two days of the tournament when sometimes gale force icy winds lashed competitors (see reports below).

“I’m pretty happy. Its always good to be a winner but when you consider what we have gone through all week it is more of a challenge to be still standing at the end of the week,” Hall said.

Hall took up golf as a 12 year old when the local milkman’s son in his home town of Windang suggested “we’ll go up the golf course with dad one afternoon.”

‘The pro up there (at Port Kembla where he has been a member for 49 years) got a few of us together, he used to give us lessons on a Friday afternoon, and it just developed from there,” Hall said of his golfing career.

He went on to have a plus one handicap in his late teens, be a junior and senior NSW state representative, win 13 club championships, the state Champion of Champions title, and a host of other wins.

The 62 year old will be itching to get back next year to defend his title.

‘It’s a good event, I enjoyed it last year. It’s very well organised. Dick (Farrant) does a great job of organising it.”

His final round opponent, Joe Marumo, from the Federal Golf Club, is also highly likely to be back.

Marumo has only recently qualified for the vets (aged 55 plus) and took a week off his job as a Canberra teacher to take part in the tournament.

He needed to win the 18th hole to keep the match alive. Taking Hall to another four sudden death holes should be more than enough to inspire his return.

Ladies Winner “Over the Moon”

QUEENSLANDER Lyn Morrison said she felt “over the moon” to take out the NSWVGA Matchplay Women’s Division One title.

It was a sterling effort from Lyn, from Coolangatta & Tweed Heads Golf Club, who was by far the lowest marker in the field and perhaps the one most feeling the earlier icy conditions.

“I was over the moon. It was quite a thrill. To give 15 shots away to win is a bit of a battle, but I really enjoyed it,” Lyn said.

Lyn beat Joan Hartmann from the Wakehurst Golf Club in Sydney 3/2.

“I was lucky, I got three up straight away and it was enough to hold her,” Lyn said.

“She had the opportunity to get back because I had to give away quite a lot of shots. She played really nicely.”

In the end, Lyn finished the 16th with the three hole advantage she had established early on.

Lyn took up golf some 30 years ago because she was “sick of (husband) Dave being away and I did it to join him”.

Having been involved in lots of other sports including tennis, indoor cricket and athletics, she took to it like a duck to water.

“I enjoyed it immediately,” she said. “I started on 36 and in 9 months I was on a 13 handicap and then the following year I got to 10 and I’ve been as low as four. But in my last 2 years I have gone out to 12. I used to average six or seven but the grandchildren have taken priority.’

Lyn said she loved the Illawarra area where the week long tournament was staged, but with her Queensland heritage she wasn’t that impressed with the icy conditions that had gripped the southern states.

“I really struggled with the cold weather, it just about killed me. I am just not used to it, I was freezing. I have split fingernails and split skin from the cold. It was cold for everyone I suppose but being Cairns born and bred I am just not used to it,” she said.

In the Women’s Division 2, Janina Aird from Branxton defeated Margaret Cole from Port Kembla 2 up.

Round 3

AFTER two days of freezing winds the third round of the NSW Veteran Matchplay Championship took place in comparatively balmy conditions at the Port Kembla Golf Club on Thursday.

Last year’s runner up and Port Kembla member Ron Hall continued his run for the 2009 championship title with a 2/1 win over Camden’s Joe Smuk.

Hall will face off against Canberra’s Joe Marumo (Federal), who convincingly beat Steve Mikosic from the Shoalhaven Heads club.

Much better conditions are forecast for the final round at Shellharbour Links on Friday.

The week long matchplay event, with a number of mens and ladies divisions, is not a knockout and all entrants will play a fellow competitor with the same win/loss ratio on the final day.

Round 1 & 2

ICY winds saw many competitors looking more like skiers than golfers but after two rounds of the NSW Veteran Matchplay Championships in the Illawarra spirits were still high.

Men and lady golfers from some 40 clubs and from as far afield as Cranbourne and Rich River, Victoria and Coolangatta Tweed, Queensland, were taking part in the week long event.

In the top Men’s scratch championship division last year’s runner up Ron Hall had recorded two wins and was still alive as the event moved into the third day at his home club Port Kembla.

Others unbeaten in the top division included Joe Smuk from Camden, Joe Marumo (Federal) and Steve Mikosic (Shoalhaven Heads).

This is the second year the event is being held in the Illawarra.

The first two rounds were played at Shellharbour Links and The Grange at Kembla Grange.

The fourth and final round will be at the much improved Shellharbour Links course and competitors are hoping that forecasts predicting a respite from the strong winds that have gripped much of the state are correct.

For full results see the NSWVGA website here

More final day photos to come.

[Show as slideshow]

PLACES are still available for the NSW Veteran Golfers Association Matchplay Championship being played in the Illawarra from June 8 to 12.

Tournament Director Dick Farrant says numbers are already up on the very successful event held in the Illawarra for the first time last year but there are still spots for both men and women.

The tournament is being played at three top south coast courses, Shellharbour Links, The Grange and Port Kembla.

The top 16 men will play off the stick for the championship and there will be at least three other handicap divisions for men and two for women.

Dick says the tournament is organised so all participants get a full week of matchplay and will end up on the Friday playing a fellow competitor with the same win/loss ratio.

Last year’s winner Tony Jones (pictured left with Ron Hall) from the Waratah Club will be defending his title along with runner-up Ron Hall from Port Kembla Golf Club.

Other low markers vying for the championship include Greg Kent (Charlestown), Joe Marumo (Federal), Bob Angus (Cumberland), Barry Bray (Liverpool), Grahame George (Charlestown), Dave Morrison (Coolangatta/Tweed), Alan Fensom (Wollongong) and Joe Smuk (Camden).

Greg Kent won the 2009 Rich River Bill Mead Memorial Matchplay when he defeated Geoff Everett (The Lakes) in the final at the nineteenth.

For further information, entry forms and contact details for Dick Farrant see the NSWVGA website.

DICK FARRANT was 15 when he first picked up a golf club and now some 56 years later he still doesn’t mind going out and “giving it a whack”, as he says.

Dick has tasted some personal success in his long golfing career, getting down to a very respectable seven on a few occasions and winning the odd club or country tournament here and there.

But these days Dick is much more focussed on what he can contribute to golf and the social and camaraderie aspects of the game rather than any personal playing satisfaction he may get out of it.

Dick is the new president of the NSW Veteran Golfers Association (NSWVGA), an organisation that helps offer veteran golfers, that is those aged 55 and over, with an unparalleled smorgasbord of golf tournament and competition opportunities across the state.

The NSWVGA currently oversees some 48 “Week of Golf” tournaments from the top to the bottom of NSW and way out west to Broken Hill.

As much as possible, the tournaments are organised in geographic loops so competitors can be on the road for weeks at a time just going from vet event to vet event.

There are also five state championships, including a stroke and a matchplay event, and next year NSW will host the National Veteran Golfer Championship based around Port Macquarie.

In addition, affiliated veteran groups run regular weekly or monthly competitions at club level.

All those golfing opportunities are of course great for the many older golfers that take advantage of them, but the regional tournaments can also be a huge boost to local economies when a couple of hundred golfers roll into a country town for a week or so.

…just putting back some of what the game has given me

All that golf also means a whole lot of organisational and administrative work and it is people such as Dick Farrant and those like him who make it all possible.

“To my mind I am just putting back some of what the game has given to me,” Dick says.

Exactly how much that “bit of time” is Dick finds hard to quantify, but his wife Marie commented some time after he retired that he seemed to be busier with his golf administration duties than he had been at work.

Dick doesn’t necessarily agree with that but he has certainly at times piled on the responsibilities, for instance for nine years he was jointly holding down the very  time demanding roles of President of Kiama Golf Club and Secretary of the NSWVGA.

A former high school mathematics teacher, Dick has been involved in volunteer golf administration for some 43 years.

“I was elected to the position of secretary of Wauchope Golf Club in 1966 and apart from four separate (single) years since then the administrative association has continued,” Dick says.

“At Wauchope I was on the golf committee for 10 years and in that time I covered position including secretary, publicity officer, handicapper, match committee and for the last two years I was vice president.”

“Then I received a promotion in my job and in 1977 took up the position of head teacher mathematics at Bowral High School, and within a year I was elected to the board of directors at Bowral Country Club and served there for 10 years, for eight years of which I was club captain”

“Then I was transferred to Kiama at the beginning of 91 and became a member of Kiama and one year later elected to the board, had 14 years on the board, five years as vice president, following by nine years as president.”

At about the same time as Dick became president of Kiama Golf Club, Des Coady, the then president of the NSWVGA, approached him about becoming secretary of the association.

Dick held that position for almost 12 years until last December when Des Coady stood down after 16 years at the helm. Dick threw his hat in the ring and was elected president.

Now some five months into the new job (as at May 2009), Dick is very mindful of the need to “consolidate and polish” the strong foundation and legacy that has been left to him.

“I wanted to consolidate what had been put in place to make sure that what Des Coady had set up, which seemed to be working pretty well, would continue,” Dick says.

What really drives the organisation in its mission to promote golf to veterans is the Week of Golf calendar.

The tournaments are typically four day events held Monday to Friday with a day off on Wednesday. Towards the end of the week there is usually a very well attended and much enjoyed presentation dinner.

Dick says the biggest event is held at Yamba/Mclean and attracts something like 420 competitors.

“Orange recently had 380, Coffs Harbour is usually around the 300 and just under the 300 mark would be Hawks Nest, Coolangatta/Tweed and Griffith. Then there’s another 10 or 12 events with over 200.”

At the other end of the scale are events like Gloucester.

”At Gloucester…they just kill you with kindness”

“You get a tournament like Gloucester which is only a nine hole course. They only take 80 people and they are delighted to have those 80 people four days out of the five.” Dick says. “They have a shotgun start at Gloucester and they reckon they have a ball and they‘ve got home cooking and scones and all sorts of things there and they just kill you with kindness.”

“That is again harking back to the economic influence of the tournaments in some of these districts because it is pretty big for them.”

Many veteran golfers really make a feast of it and travel for weeks on end, often as either a single or group of caravaners.

“The first veterans tournament I ever played, would you believe, was the National Veteran Championships in Port Macquarie in 94. That’s the first veterans event outside my own club,” Dick says.

“In the last round I played with a chap from South Australia, this was about October/November, and he and his wife had left home in February in their van and gone right up to the top of Queensland and come back and were on their way back home and they had a combination of just staying at caravan parks, site seeing plus playing golf.

“It was my first introduction to a concept of people going out on the road and travelling and following their ideals of site seeing, touring and playing golf.

“And that’s one of the driving things we’ve to do in the NSW program is to work it geographically so you can go from one tournament to the next and there is not a long distance to travel in between.”

“For example I have friends of mine who at the moment are getting ready to go to Tamworth, they’ll be playing a week of golf at Tamworth then they’ll be going to Narrabri for a week of golf then they’ll be going to Moree for a week of golf. So it that concept that they go away for three weeks at a time, or four or five weeks, whatever it may be.

“That was the first time I struck they idea of how, what’s the word, almost how dedicated some of these people were to getting out on the road, getting in their van, touring, holidaying, playing golf, and I thought that was great. It is certainly a feature of the NSW program that concept.”

The Lumley’s and Turell’s play at least 20 tournaments a year

Theoretically, you could play in 38 Weeks of golf in NSW a year.

“No one plays in all 38 but I could name a few people, the Lumley’s from Coffs Harbour would play a lot, the Turrell’s from Dubbo the same.

I hope I’m not misquoting them but they probably play at least 2o tournaments a year,” Dick says.

All the tournaments have mens and womens competitions and couples and singles are encouraged to take part.

Marie Farrant is an avid golfer of 20 years and she and husband Dick regularly attend tournaments together. Marie in fact won the ladies section of the NSW Veteran Matchplay last year and will be defending the title in the Illawarra in June.

“It is a very healthy exercise to be getting out on the road playing golf” Dick says.

“You have got people who are in their late seventies, early 80’s, who are quite good supporters of the tournaments. It is a tremendous mental thing for these people that they can get out, still be meeting people, still be competing. Because golf has handicaps, theoretically with your handicap you are able to compete against everyone else. Once you take out the younger folk and everyone is at least 55 years old you don’t feel you have to keep up with the Tiger Woods type young people who smash it a mile. Its very good camaraderie and I think also giving the women the opportunity to travel with their partners is a big plus.

“You get a few blokes who are on the road who play a lot of this golf who unfortunately have lost their wife and they find this terrific. They just get out there and meet everybody and it just puts the memories on the back burner for a little while.”

“You also get a lot of interaction between the people who are towing vans. Invariably they will get on these loops, say they might do the Tamworth, Narrabri, Moree events in consecutive weeks and when they get to the caravan parks they will all arrange to be booked in close to each other and they have their happy hours after golf and it is terrific. It is wonderful to be able to interact with people.”

As Dick says, he feel he is just giving back some of what golf has given him, but he is also confident he has a lot to contribute because of his long golf administration experience.

He acknowledges there are many others enthusiastically donating their time and expertise, firstly citing the “excellent” NSW executive team around him.

“An important thing which is probably taken for granted sometimes is the professional approach of all the (regional) tournament committees,” Dick says. “There are some very capable people who are running these tournaments and they are often people who have come up through the ranks not unlike myself who have been involved with their home club and now they are in there running a veteran tournament and handling big fields and results and things like that in a very professional manner.

“I suppose the strength of the association is firstly the network of all the group secretaries, so that’s the communication and dissemination of all the information, as well as the tournament directors. They’re the strength and they’re doing a tremendous job. And the tournament directors if they are worth their salt, which they all are, will have a very effective committee. You can’t afford to be a one man band. All of the events are run in a vey professional manner.”

Dick Farrant can’t say how long he will be at the helm of veteran golf in NSW. It depends, he says, on his health and how long he (and those around him) feel he has something to contribute.

Maybe it is just like his golf.

“I just like to get out and whack it and enjoy the company and the interaction afterward,” he says.

NSWVGA 2009 Week of Golf Calendar

NSW Veteran Golfers Association website

The Ladies Competition is already closed and there is a waiting list so that would seem out of the question.

Tournament director Claud Clark said this week he currently had 320 male entries, 104 ladies and 121 non players who will attend the social functions.

“This means only 40 more entries available so it appears we have been

successful in challenging the economic downturn with an extensive and innovative marketing program,” Claud said.

“In addition the funding we estimated as a requirement for the

Tournament has been achieved. This means we can get on with

the detail of the Championship.”

For full details of the event and a link to the online entry form click our previous story below.

National Veteran Golfers Championship Cairns

THE 2009 Australian Veteran Golfers National Championship is shaping up as a spectacular event with organisers delighted with the interest shown by senior golfers.

The Bendigo Bank sponsored event will be held in Cairns from the 23rd to 28th August.

With Queensland the rostered state for the Championships this year, the Queensland Veteran Golfers Union had no hesitation in choosing tropical Cairns, the “city within a garden,” as the preferred venue for the prestigious event.

Tournament director Claud Clark said this week organisers were highly confident the ceiling of 360 male starters would be reached well in advance of the closing date of June 12th.

As of mid February there were 260 nominations already in hand for the men’s championships and applications were being received at an average of 45 a month. Doing the math, places are running out fast.

Claud said a Ladies Golf Classic being held at the same time for accompanying ladies was also proving to be a popular attraction and the 100 spots made available for this event were almost completely taken up.

“A strong contingent of Western Australians have entered and 59 men and 17 lady players will cross the continent by caravan, rail and air for the event. Further contacts with senior golfers from the West indicate a total of around 90 entries from that state is likely before the closing date,” Claud said.

This year, in what is believed to be a first, an overseas player will compete in the Championships. Peter Bailey, a 16 handicapper from Coringa Golf Club near Christchurch, New Zealand, will fly in with his wife Stella for the Tournament.

Current National Champion Richard Froebell of the Cranbourne Golf Club in Victoria is expected to enter and will join a quality field that includes former national titleholders Colin Angel from The Grange in S.A., Ken Madden from Merewether in NSW and Jake O’Donnell from Helensvale in Queensland.

Froebell and Angel are the only players to have won the Championship twice and they will be vying to become the first player to hold the title on three occasions.

Organisers chose to hold the championship in August because they say is the best time of year in the northern city with pleasant dry conditions, low humidity and an average daily maximum temperature of 27 degrees.

They also chose two of the best local courses on which to stage the event.

Half Moon Bay Golf Club is a scenic course with a backdrop of lush rainforest and it has one fairway only 30 metres from the Coral Sea. It is renowned for its abundant wildlife.

Cairns Golf Club is set against spectacular mountain scenery. The course features generous fairways and wide greens and is generally regarded as a friendly course but with the tees back and clever pin placements its mood changes and it has real bite for the unwary golfer.

Both courses will be set up to fully challenge the skills of the low handicap players, but on days when the C Graders and ladies are playing, the courses will be tweaked to make them testing but not as severe.

For those who holiday beyond the tournament, Festival Cairns begins on August 29 and attracts people from all over Australia to a three-week program of fun and festivities, food, wine, music, dance, entertainment, street parades and fireworks.

To be eligible for the championship male entrants must be aged 55 and be financial members of an affiliated Veteran Golfers Association and hold a current Golf Australia handicap. The maximum handicap for men is 36 and women 45.

The men’s championship is conducted as a 54 hole stroke event over three grades.

For further details and an accommodation guide see the Queensland Veteran Golfers Union brochure here. (4.29 MB)

Discuss in Australian Senior Golfer Forums

To download a PDF of the Tournament Brochure and Entry Form Click Here

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Cairns 2009 National Veteran Golf Championsip Results

Victorian golfer Richard Froebel has won the Australian Veteran Golfers Union National Championship in Adelaide.

It was two years on the trot for Froebel, from Cranbourne Golf Club, who also won the event in Darwin last year.

Some 250 golfers from around the country took part in the week long event, with the 54 championship holes played at thee of Adelaide’s premier courses, The Vines of Reynella, Blackwood Golf Club and Tea Tree Gully Golf Club.

Tournament Director and President of host organisation the South Australian Veteran Golfers Association, Jeff McAllister, said there were entrants from 200 clubs around Australia.

Some two hundred male golfers and 44 ladies took part in the event, which began with a registration and welcome function on Sunday October 12 and finishing with a Presentation Dinner on the Friday night which was attended by 350 guests. South Australian Governor Admiral Kevin Scarce was special guest and presented the main trophies.

“Everyone who was at the dinner came up and said what a wonderful tournament it was and really enjoyed it and that was very heartening,” McAllister said.

A tremendous amount of organisation goes into such an event and apart from a few minor hassles with some mini bus hire arrangements and some concerns about golf cart hire pricing at a venue it all went well.

McAllister estimated he did around 600 kilometres during the week going from course to course and to the other venues.

“Everyone enjoyed the courses, a couple of them said they were a bit tough the way they played but all in all they said it was a great experience,” McAllister said.

“With the Adelaide event done and dusted the attention will now shift to the 2009 AVGU National Championship in Cairns.

AVGU National Veteran Championship Results Adelaide 2008

54 Hole Gross Winner and Champion for 2008 – The Jack Barkell Trophy

Richard FROEBEL 237 Gross  Cranbourne Golf Club, Vic

54 Hole Net Winner for 2008  - The Vic KENDALL Trophy

Michael ASPROS 212 Net  Bonnie Doon Golf Club, NSW

54 Hole Runner Up Gross

Barry FOSS 240 Gross  Buninyong Golf Club, Vic

54 hole Net Winner A Grade

Mike LITIS 227, Royal Perth C/B 

54 hole Runner Up A Grade

Peter LANGHAM  227, The Grange, SA

54 Hole Gross Winner B Grade

Joe ALEXANDER  271 Nedlands Golf Club, WA

54 Hole Gross Runner Up B Grade

Rod PROBERT  273  Blackwood Golf Club, SA

54 Hole Net Winner B Grade

Rod Peters 225, Queanbeyan Golf Club, NSW

54 Hole Net Runner Up B Grade

Alan Booth 231, Gunghalin Lakes Golf Club, ACT

54 Hole Gross Winner C Grade

Rod NUNN  272  Balgowlah Golf Club, NSW

54 Hole Gross Runner Up C Grade

Harold LOVELOCK 275 Redland Bay Golf Club, QLD

54 Hole Net Winner C Grade

Trevor BISSETT 220  Coffs Harbour Golf Club, NSW

54 Hole Net Runner Up C Grade

Reg PEARCE  221  Pinjarra Golf Club, WA

LADIES

36 Hole Winner A Grade Ladies

Marion THOMAS 76 Points  Horton Park Golf Club, QLD

36 Hole Runner Up A Grade Ladies

Sandi PROBERT 72 Points Blackwood Golf Club,  SA

36 Hole Winner B Grade Ladies

Marjorie CARTER 75 Points WA Golf Club, WA

36 Hole Runner Up B Grade Ladies

Susan SADLER 71 Points, Bonnie Doon Golf Club, NSW

(Results Courtesy of SA Veteran Golfers Association)

Cairns 2009 National Veteran Golf Championsip Results

The Veteran Golfers Australian Championship will return to Queensland in 2009 and the Queensland Veteran Golf Union has allocated the event to Cairns.

The Championship will be held in August, which organisers say is the best time of year in the northern city with pleasant dry conditions, low humidity and an average daily maximum temperature of 27 degrees.

The Queensland Union have chosen two of the best local courses on which to stage the event.

Half Moon Bay Golf Club is a scenic course with a backdrop of lush rainforest and it has one fairway only 30 metres from the Coral Sea. It is renowned for its abundant wildlife.

Cairns Golf Club is set against spectacular mountain scenery. The course features generous fairways and wide greens and is generally regarded as a friendly course but with the tees back and clever pin placements its mood changes and it has real bite for the unwary golfer.

Both courses will be set up to fully challenge the skills of the low handicap players, but on days when the C Graders and ladies are playing, the courses will be tweaked to make them testing but not as severe.

A Ladies Golf Classic will be conducted at the same time as the Championship for accompanying ladies and organizers are working to make this a top level event.

Nomination forms will be distributed in October but organisers say they are already receiving a strong flow of enquiries and  indications are that available places will be taken up very quickly.

Cairns 2009 National Veteran Golf Championsip Results

National Veteran Golf Championship Cairns - Story Update February 2009

For more information visit the Queensland Veteran Golf Union.

 See our stories on the 2008 Australian Veteran Golfers Union National Championships in Adelaide