Locals to contest sandgreen championships at Parklands

PARKLANDS Golf Course will host some of the best golfers in Victoria this weekend when the Victorian Sandgreen Championships are held at the course for the third time.

The championships were successfully staged at the course back in 2003 for the first time and then again in 2010 and this third staging is also part of the 50-year anniversary celebrations of the club, which opened back in 1972, but it also the 50-year anniversary of the first staging of the championships.

Club treasurer, Peter Irvin, was keenly anticipating the event with players coming from far and wide for the 36-hole stroke event to be staged on Saturday and Sunday.

“We have 82 players coming from all over the state and there are six Parklands members who have accepted the challenge and will be playing,” Irvin said.

“The champion from 2010, Simon Goggin, will return to the course to ‘defend’ his title too.

“Simon was a member here at Parklands and at Hamilton Golf Club too, but he is now representing the Portarlington club, but we’ll claim him for the weekend.

“Simon is one of the best players to ever come from the area and he now plays off a handicap of plus 0.3, which means he must add 0.3 strokes to his score at the end of each round to get his final score, whereas most players take their handicap from their score to get their final score,” Irvin said.

On Friday afternoon there will be a warm-up event consisting of a 4BBB for players to get accustomed to the course, with the event proper to start at 10.45am on Saturday with groups heading off from the first tee at intervals of eight minutes between each group.

Sunday morning the players will all begin at 8.30 in a shotgun start (where there is a group on each of the 18 tees and all groups start at the same time).

  The championships are open to both male and female players with a champion and runner-up to be awarded, but there are also events within the event as players are not restricted in what they can compete for over the two days including a teams event where three people can form a team.

“The Southern Grampians Shire has been great in the support of the event, as we gained a grant through the Greater Grants Program that the shire runs which has allowed us to stage the event,” Irvin said.

“Through our volunteers the course is looking great, and we are looking forward to the event.

“For the last two to three months we have had people working most days to get the course and the surrounds looking its best.”

There are several Parklands Golf Club members playing with Irene Box, Lil Hay, Peter Irvin, Kelly Hitchcock, Mark Miller and Allan Hitchcock all teeing a ball up come Saturday.

Lil Hay will be playing in her 21st championships at the event and except for the COVID years, she has been a regular at each staging.

Locally, there are players coming from Dunkeld, Macarthur, Casterton and Hamilton clubs to compete, so the event certainly has a local flavour with each of the players fancying their chances of topping the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.