Women's Golf News

What a hot end to the golfing year we have had.  Make sure you look after yourself during the coming weeks - and come back refreshed and looking forward to golf in 2020.  Hopefully the weather will calm down a bit and we will receive some rain.

Recent results - smaller fields now that our golfing year has officially ended and the social whirl becomes a bit more hectic.  Even in these hot and windy conditions some of our players are achieving some great scores and continuing to reduce their handicaps.

Single Stableford (Tuesday 10 December)
Seven players out early with Barbara Clayton (21) winning with 33 points from Jenny Ogg (22) on 32 points and Jane Clifford (23) with 31 points.

Single Stableford (Thursday 12 December)
A field of 14 with Annie Geddes (18) winning with a fabulous score of 35 points from Pat Donoghue (33) with 33 points.  Michelle Di Natale (3) won the NTP 2nd shot on the 4th.

Single Stableford (Saturday 14 December)
Only 6 players but some great scores.  Lyn Solness (27) won with 34 points from Ellen Neale (22) on 32 points.  Jill Scott (21) and Susan Harrison (22) both scored 30 points.

​Single Stableford (Tuesday 17 December)
A field of 16 players today.  Good to see Sue Olson (28) back playing again and in winning form with 36 points from Pat Donoghue (33) with 35 points.  Pat also won the Pro-pin ($22.50) and Carol Warner (19) won the NTP 2nd shot on the 15th.

Single Stableford (Thursday 19 December)
Only 4 mad players out today - Pam Barker, Annie Geddes, Helen Chadwick & myself - probably should all get medals - in fact the conditions were not too bad as we played in carts.  Annie Geddes (17) won with 36 points.  What another great round from our Women's Club Champion.

There was a Single Stableford scheduled for yesterday (21 December) but sensibly no starters for a 41 degree day.  As this was one of our nominated 15 rounds for the SAC Race (Summer Aggregate Competition) we will see if we can add an extra round during January.  If you play in 6 of the nominated rounds you will be eligible to win this special prize.

Don't forget to keep an eye on the BGC online Calendar to see what events are coming up.

Combined Christmas Cheer & Captain vs Captain (Sunday 15 December)
Always lots of fun with even Santa making an appearance out on the course.
Helen Chadwick (26) and Chris Hill (18) were the best of the women's pairs in this 4BBB event with 47 points.  Christmas was off to an early start with both winning a ham.  
The Captain versus Captain event held in conjunction with the Christmas Cheer was won by Captain Dick Hiser and his team with 227 stableford points from the Women's team with 210 points.  The results from the top 5 teams on each side were combined to achieve the team total.  Congratulations Dick and your team but wait until next year when the new handicapping system is in place - might be a lot closer then!

Women's Medal Playoff - State Final
​Ruth Bailey travelled to Stonecutters Ridge GC on 11 December as the CSGA district winner for Division 3.  The course must have suited her.  Not only was she Division 3 runner-up for the State Final with a Nett 73 but was overall runner-up across all divisions.  It was so close as Ruth was only beaten on a countback - Congratulations Ruth.
Ruth sent the following photo of the 11th at Stonecutters Ridge - her starting hole.

Vale - Susie Vicars
Sadly member Susie Vicars passed away last week.  Susie was a golfer and in later years often seen playing bridge at the club.
A service for Susie will be held at St Judes on Monday 30th December followed by a gathering at Bowral Golf Club.

All that remains is for me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy & Healthy New Year.

Jane Clifford
Women's Captain

Closing Day Christmas Cheer (Thursday 5 December)
What a day we had on Thursday.  42 players (14 teams) competed in a 3 person team stableford event.  Playing only 16 holes and a shot-gun start allowed us all to be in the clubhouse before it was too hot.
Everyone made a great effort with this year's Christmas outfits.  As you know, you need to actually be able to play in your costume, so the course was quite a sight.  Nick judged the "best dressed" for us this year.  He saw all the teams at the first tee as they came past the pro-shop.  This year's winners were the "Swinging Skirts" - Chris Hill, Carole Byrnes and Berneice Markwell.  Here is Nick in his "judging" hat.

Back to the golf.  The winning team was Jill Harwood (45), Wilma Lung (41) and Pat Donoghue (33) with 61 points.  Runners-up Jill Scott (21), Ellen Neale (22) and Ruth Bailey (31) were very close with 60 points.
[Don't forget you can always see the full list of results under "Current Results" just on the right of this page.]
We had a surprize visit from Santa out on the course.  One group must have been very naughty though as they missed out on the chocolates.  Here is a picture of Ellen Neale and Santa.

We were greeted with bubbles on arrival for lunch.  The food was fabulous as ever - thanks Regina.  The prize table was groaning before the trophy presentations later in the day.

A full list of the 2019 Trophy Winners is attached at the right of this page.  Most trophies are presented on the day the event is finalised but by presenting them again on closing day (along with the accompanying voucher) the winner can see their name now engraved on the trophy.
Not all results have been announced before closing day.  This year's winner of the President's Cup (Best 2 Nett scores from 3 stroke rounds) was Carole Byrnes.  The Captain's Trophy (McLeish Cup) (Best 2 scratch scores from 3 stroke rounds) was presented to Carol Warner.
Following lunch our tables morphed into various countries (USA, England, South Africa, Spain, Japan & Iceland) for a very amusing quiz session run by Annie Geddes, Sandi Short and Clare Stanham.  Iceland won the event mainly due to the good work of Andrea Tomlin.
During the quiz event it emerged that Anne Vitou was off to the golf on Saturday to see her idol Sergio Garcia at the Australian Open.  Unfortunately he failed to make the cut so this is as close as she could get.  Photo courtesy of Chris Hill.

The raffle was well supported as always.  The proceeds this year helped provide gifts for all the staff - including in the clubhouse, pro-shop and the greenkeepers.
First prize was a pudding, made by Pam Barker prior to departing on her epic voyage, was won by Jill Scott.  This completes the full set when combined with the hamper (with a ham) she won last week at Moss Vale.  Noela McMurray won the hamper which should come in handy with all the family guests she will be hosting over Christmas.

Single Stableford (Tuesday 3 December)
Susan Harrison (22) won this event with 33 points - and after reducing her handicap by a stroke moves back into Division 1. 
Please remember that it is vital you sign your card at the completion of your round.  This is a basic rule of golf and failure to do so will result in disqualification - particularly painful if you have had a great score!

Single Stableford (Saturday 30 November)
Carole Byrnes (22) played a great round to win with 35 points. Runner-up was Jill Scott (21) with 33 points.

Canadian Foursomes (Thursday 28 November)
36 players competed in this event.  Good to see such large fields enjoying our magnificent course.
Alex Dowling (20) and Andrea Tomlin (28) were the winners with a nett 74.  Runners-up were Ellen Neale (22) and Carole Byrnes (22) with 75.5 nett.  Jan Ferguson won a very healthy pro-pin worth $55.00.

BGC Women Playing Members Annual Meeting (Thursday 28 October)
The Annual Meeting was held at 2pm following golf and lunch.  41 Women Playing Members attended along with several members of the BGC Board.
During the meeting both the President and Captain presented their annual reports.  A copy of these two reports are attached under useful information on the right of your screen.
Our Life-Member Pam Tallents conducted the election of office-bearers and your new committee for 2020 is as follows:

President          Barbara Clayton
Vice-President   Helen Chadwick
Captain             Jane Clifford
Vice-Captain      Anne Geddes
Committee        Ruth Bailey, Jan Deane & Christine Levy.

Combined Christmas Cheer & Champion of Champions (26 November)
​This event was hosted by Moss Vale this year - Bowral's turn next year!
I thought I was back in Melbourne with the range of weather we experienced all within the time of a game of golf - sun, heat, wind, thunder, lightning, rain and hail.

Anne Geddes and Ellen Neale were our wonderful representatives in the Champion of Champions events.  Jocelyn McKay (Moss Vale) defeated Annie in the main event.  The reinstated Division 2 event was a very close fought affair with Ellen Neale only just defeated by Diana Pine (Moss Vale).  Please thank our two champions for their great play in such poor conditions.

The Combined Christmas Cheer was a fun team event over 12 holes with teams made up of a mixture of players from Moss Vale, Bowral and Highlands.  
Bowral players in the winning teams included Barbara Clayton, Carol Warner and Barb Mead.  Here is a photo Barbara in the winning team.
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As mentioned earlier Jill Scott won the magnificent raffle prize of a hamper including a ham.  
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I thought I would share the following photo with you.  It was just meant to show me presenting the Division 2 Champions trophy to Diana Pine.  Anne Geddes took the photo on my phone and it produced a very interesting result.  Maybe it just reflects life as a golf club captain - you need 3 eyes, 3 hands a peg leg and a very big mouth.

Single Stableford (Tuesday 26 November)
While we had a good turnout at Moss Vale to support our Champions and to play in the Combined Christmas Cheer, 12 players competed in a single stableford event at Bowral.
The stand out score of the winner Susan Harrison (23) of 38 points means that she is now back in Division 1 - again!!

​The Mentor Program
BGC had introduced a mentor program to assist new members (and some longer term members) make the move into joining our competition fields.  The role of mentor would consist of making contact with the player and arranging a game with them.  You will then be able to introduce them to the club, course and competition environment.  
If you are interested and would like to become part of the program please contact me and I will arrange this for you.

Jane Clifford
Women's Captain