Dalhousie won the annual event for the 8th time. Melbourne have 5 wins with two ties.
The event is played each year at Kilmore Golf Club between 40 players from each side playing for the Cris Testro trophy. Matches are decided by the best stableford score card v card and on this occasion Dalhousie won 10 matches to 8 with 2 ties.

Best score of the event was by Melbourne pair Alan Robbins and Trevor Cowper with 50 points, best for Dalhousie were Alan Williams and Ian Shearn with 46 points.

As usual the ladies led by Diedre Cleary presented a fabulous afternoon tea after the match and Melbourne President was loud in his praise for the hospitality extended by Kilmore ladies. President Bill Cleary accepted the trophy in modest style and set the tone for the 2009 game.

Alan Williams, Ian Shearn, Trevor Cowper & Alan Robbins        

Garry Kennedy editor and publisher of Hacker Magazine is a keen sponsor of Veteran Golf.
He sponsored the annual veteran event at Rosanna Golf Club which  was a great success despite the extremely hot day.

Players competed for the Hacker Cup a beautifully engraved Pewter Tanckard and copies of the Golf Course Guide plus free subscriptions of the Magazine  and other handy gifts. Peter Mumme from Box Hill won the “Hacker Cup” with a great 42 points on a handicap of 19.A grade went to Brian Morrow 41 points and B Grade was won by Peter Kutcher 35 points.

Peter Kutcher Peter Mumme and Brian Morrow are pictured right.

Read about Veteran Golf in the “Hacker” each quarter.  

Keith Kendall long term Captain of Melbourne District, former well known South Melbourne and Victorian cricketer played an exceptional round of golf at Commonwealth on 13th March to win the mid week competition scoring a magnificent 45 Stableford points. This equated to a 74 off the stick to break his age by 4 shots .
Success is no stranger as Keith was Captain of South Melbourne and during this time they won 3 Premierships. He represented Rosanna Golf Club at Pennant for 25 years and has won the Championship there on 3 occasions and the foursomes 7 times.

Melbourne District Veteran Golfers have launched their new website. Melbourne members can access
news, tournament information and results at www.mdvetgolf.org

Melbourne District conducted their final meeting for 2007 and are well set up for a great year in 2008. Refer to Web site www.mdvetgolf.org for current information  Here  are the Committee  pictured below.

Back left David Teasdale, Len Symons, Max Vine (new), Stewart Ley, Richard Froebel, Ian Hughes, Robin George  
Front left Andrew Deas, Paul Campbell, Rod Perrin (retired) Keith Kendall and Ian Reeve (retired) Absent Malcolm Algie

The Hume Veterans ended their golf year with a free day at Goonawarra, due to the great support of the Parmaker raffle held in July. The 90 Members who attended thoroughly enjoyed themselves playing a 2 ball Ambrose followed by a great B.B.Q. lunch .The competition was keen with 3 pairs scoring 62 points. The winners on count back were Peter Walsh and Carl Mazzone.

The group had a really great day. Presentations were made to Champion John Melouney, Mario Caiazzo A grade and Kevin Merrifield B grade following events at Gisborne and Trentham. Picture is of popular brothers Jack and Ralph Edwards hamming it up for the occasion.

126 Veterans played their final rounds of Veteran Golf for 2007 at the beautiful Kew Golf Course on Decenber 10th.

Richard Froebel (Cranbourne) with a fine score of 77 won the District Championship and Michael Eton-Jones (Heritage) won the handicap Bowl from a handicap of 12 with a nett 67.

Golfer of the year was won by Woodlands golfer Bill Rhoden.

David Marks from Latrobe had a hole on one at the 14th hole after a 10 on his opening hole . A grade was won by Michael Vaughan (11) SpringValley nett 70 and B grade by John Ellis (22) Heritage with nett 69.

Top left David Marks (Hole in one) John Ellis B grade winner with Ian Reeve Michael Vaughan A grade winner with Ian Reeve
Second left Bill Rhoden ( Golfer of the Year) with Stewart Ley Len Symons Richard Froebel (Champion) and Stewart Ley
Bottom line Michael Eton-Jones with Keith Kendall

Melbourne District played their annual Teams event at Southern Golf Club in November . This event is played in fours with the three best scores counting on each hole. 132 veterans took part and the team from Woodlands of Andrew Deas, Leon Butcher, John Dunn and Ian Martene with 113 points were the winners.
Ian Martine John Dunn Andrew Deas and Leon Butcher.

There were 99 Veterans in the field for the annual four ball at Latrobe Golf Club It was great to see one of the inaugural veterans Percy Adams who dominated Veteran Golf in the early years competing . Perc and his partner with 44 points were prominent but could not match the excellent scores of 47 points by Tony Gardiner and Brian Smith who defeated Kevin Innis and Brian Scott on a count back

Below Picture Gallery

Perc Adams (right) Tony Gardiner Brian Smith Kevin Innis Brian Scott and the hard working Veteran starters on the job

119 players turned out at Keysborough and found the course a difficult proposition .

Bob Szigeti from Kooringal won A grade with 37 and the score of the day came from John Blampied from Box Hill with a great 39 points.

Left John and Bob

Hume Veterans had a great day at Werribee and made Paul Campbell (VVGA Councillor) and Andrew Deas visitors from Melbourne very welcome.

John Harris won A grade with 41 and points Cor Veestraten B grade also with 41.

New member Stan McPherson had a hole in one on the 3rd.

Above Paul Campbell, Andrew Deas, Wreford Blake and Reg Chiller

The Melbourne District conducted their annual event at SpringValley Golf Club on August 27. 116 players enjoyed the course but found it a great test and only one player bettered 36 points and that was Kevin Milner from Amstel with 38 points from a handicap of 9. A grade was won by John Taylor Medway (6) on a count back from David Teasdale Riversdale with 34 points and B Grade by Les Benton The Dunes (19) 35 points. Runner up was John Gallagher 34. (Long Island) The day was sponsored by Geoff Hauser “Geoff’s Shed”

Right are John Taylor Les Benton Geoff Hauser and Kevin Milner.

The 25th AGM of the Melbourne District was conducted following the game at Spring Valley. The Annual Report revealed a strong membership (82 new members) and financial position. Playing members are up and full fields are the order of the day. A web site is being set up to cater for future bookings etc. The existing Committee was returned.

Fred Griffiths who has competed 20 years membership and has been a long term Liaison officer at Eastwood Golf Club was awarded Honorary Membership for Life.

After 25 years as Membership Secretary Rodney Perrin was made a Life Member of the Association and responded to the presentation by President Paul Campbell.

Top, Malcolm Macpherson and Rodney Perrin

Rod has resigned from the Committee and was joined by Life Member Malcolm Macpherson who has handed the Secretary role to Stewart Ley . Both Rodney and Malcolm are inaugural members of the District.

169 players attended the all day event at Kingston Heath. The AM round was won by Bill Rhoden (19) from Woodlands with the amazing score of 43 points in a howling gale. Bill won the Parmaker trophy and was 7 points better than his nearest rival.

The PM round for the Hacker Trophy was won by Robert Kum (11) Box Hill who won on a count back from A grade and B grade winners Ian McFarlane (12) and Peter Baker (15) Rosanna all with 36 points. Left Robert Kum and Peter Baker

The Veterans were delighted with the welcome extended by Kingston Heath staff led by Andrea Watson and look forward to the 2008 fixture.

Livewire Secretary Reg Chiller sends the following report.

“Hume Vets had their “Annual Parmaker Day” at Goonawarra and 82 players who attended enjoyed a B.B.Q lunch which was all done by the members. The day was a free day to reward our Members who again supported the annual raffle for the Parmaker electric buggy. This was won by long term member Peter Lumley.

The Ted Jarratt Perpetual Trophy played over two rounds was won by Graham Cooper (left) with a nett 143. His second round nett 66 from a handicap of 11 in difficult conditions was a ripper. He also won A grade and Peter Dawson (right) won B grade in the day’s competition.

The President Wreford Blake was most sincere in thanking the members for their contribution to the club. We have a very happy group of members always willing to assist with any task at any time. Another great day was had by us all”

The B.B.Q boys Alan Davenport, John Cooney and Gordon Copeland

190 players booked to play in the Bill Edgar trophy at Commonwealth Golf Club. The District was delighted with the response and were grateful to Commonwealth in allowing a second game one week later.

The first Edgar trophy was won by Ken Cooper with a great score of 39 points by Medway golfer and on Day 2 Ken Carnie (Commonwealth) continued his great debut year with the Veterans with a sensational eagle 2 on the 18th hole for 5 points to help him to 37 points and the second Edgar trophy.

Melbourne District Veterans played for the Woodland Cup for the third year of its history. Despite very windy conditions Les Fynn (22) from Victoria won the coveted trophy easily with 39 points. A grade was won by Michel Vaughan (9) 34 and B grade by Geoff Rodgers (22) 34.

113 players enjoyed the Woodlands hospitality and the day wound up with a delightful BBQl On the left are Geoff Rodgers Les Flynn and Michael Vaughan.

Stewart Ley from SpringValley Golf Club is set to take over from Malcolm Macpherson as the District Secretary in July. Stewart is seen here tuning his game with renowned teacher Peter Croker. Looks like Stewart intends to set a high standard on the course.

124 veterans played in the Guest Day event at Kew Golf Club on May 14th. The competition was individual Stableford with a trophy for the best member and guest aggregate. The day was sponsored by The Golf Works Burwood and the major prize a lovely golf bag was won by Len Boys from Heritage with 40 points on a count back from Kevin Armour Amstel who won the A grade section.(Len left and Kevin) B grade was won by Peter Meryrick Kew .

The member and guest trophy was won by Len Boys and Michael Leffler (below). Rod Kelly from Rosanna had his second hole in one and Frank Greig the Kew stalwart equaled his age.

88 Veteran Golfers played the annual event at Rossdale Golf Club on April 23 rd. Scoring was excellent and the A grade winner was Des Ramsay from Gisborne Golf Club with 40 points and B grade winner was Tony Gardner (pictured left) from Heritage with a great 42 points.

Rossdale was in good condition and the players enjoyed the hospitality of the club after the game.

Melbourne District conducted their annual game at Rosanna on March 26th. 77 keen golfers took part in the Stableford event. Hawthorn Board Member and Commonwealth member Ken Carnie making his veteran debut won the Hacker sponsor trophy with a great score of 42 points.

Hugh Rose won B grade with 40 points and Robert Kum A grade with 37 points. Melbourne committeeman and editor of the Newsletter David Teasdale had a hole in one on the 15th.

Right is Ken Carnie and Keith Kendall and below David Teasdale with his trophy.

Melbourne District opened their 2007 season at Northern and 105 players found the course to their liking.

With 23 players playing to or better than their handicap. Parmaker Products sponsored the day and their trophy was won by Peter Cribb 19 with 43 points.

George Hamilton won A Grade with 41 and B Grade was taken out by Vin McCarthy with 42 .Pictured are left Vin McCarthy and Peter Cribb.