by Dave Ransom

The annual Vets Hams Day was held at the club on Monday with an early morning shotgun start followed by a sausage sizzle.

Players were greeted by coolish weather conditions with the course in fine condition with many of the usual obstacles to be overcome. The main one being those dreaded flies. They were so bad that this newsletter may well be renamed the “Daily Fly”!

Competition was fierce as expected with countbacks needed in division 1.

A misunderstanding led to the hams being unavailable on the day, prompting some entertaining commentary from our Vets and a rapid bout of contingency thinking by the Vets Organiser and the Club Captain. Well done to both for thinking on their feet!

I’m pleased to announce that we were able to increase the number of hams available due to the number of entries, meaning that both first and second place getters in each division have now taken home a ham.

Here are the results:

Prize Winners – Veterans Stableford – Hams Day (closed event)

Div 1 Grade Winner:  John Hol   39 pts   2nd:  Les Skarratts   37 pts (c/b)  – half hams each

Div 2 Grade Winner:  Bob Anderson   40 pts   2nd:  Dave Billett  38 pts – half ham, Bob was unavailable to collect his ham on Tuesday afternoon and was awarded $40 to his prize account.

C Grade NTP 7th:   William Perry  1180 cm   B Grade NTP 9th: John Hol  234 cm  A Grade NTP 13th:   George Goor  610 cm

C Grade Men’s D&P 2nd:  Phil Lewis  427 cm B Grade Men’s D&P 8th:   Peter Hughes  421 cm  A Grade Men’s D&P 16th:   David Piccirillo  497 cm

Special Bradman’s Award: George Wells – Xmas cake.

Supershot 7th:   Les Skarratts  299 cm

Medley Stableford

Winner:  Dell Brand  37 pts (c/b)

Balls to:  37 pts

Special Presentation of the Barry Walker Shield

The special Veterans award, the Barry Walker Shield, was presented by Lance Fredericks to the 2025 winner.

The shield, honouring the former vets president, is awarded annually to the vet with the best aggregate stableford score across their best 20 games throughout the year.

Taking the sum of their top 20 scores, the top 5 players each received a $40 prize, courtesy of the NSWVGA. This year the scoring was very close with Mark Crampton, Bill Morris, Tim Reilly, and David Newton very close to the overall winner Les Skarratts.

The contributions of Lance Fredericks, Col Booth and Craig Foster to the administration and running of the Veterans competition and the Trevor Bell Shield were formally acknowledged. While the team mounted a determined defence of the title, a slow start to the season ultimately prevented them from overhauling the eventual winners. All players who represented Jamberoo in the Trevor Bell Shield were congratulated and warmly applauded by their fellow Veterans.

The Club Captain, Larry, also expressed his thanks to those members who represented Jamberoo in its inaugural season of the Super Seniors Pennant. Larry’s sterling efforts in organising and coordinating the Jamberoo team were recognised and sincerely appreciated by the membership.

Merry Christmas Members,

Wow — another year has flown by. I’m very much looking forward to getting back on the course after a short absence.

Works on the 16th hole are all but complete and a Certificate of Occupancy has now been issued. A small amount of turfing remains to be finished, the barrier fence is in place and, despite my initial misgivings about the fence style, I think it actually looks quite good and is in keeping with our rural setting.

In addition to the remaining turfing, there are still a few items to be completed:

• Removal of surface weed
• Installation of aerators in both dams (16 & 17)
• Clean-up of dredged material between the 16th and 17th fairways

17th Hole – Palm Trees
The three palm trees in front of the 17th drain consist of two Cocos Palms (Syagrus romanzoffianum) and one Date Palm. These are introduced species, and the Cocos Palms are on Council’s Exempt Species list, meaning they can be removed without Council approval.
The removal of all three trees is currently being considered, and we would welcome member feedback on this proposal before any decision is made.

It’s great to have the 4th green back in play. Unfortunately, the 6th bridge upgrade cannot proceed until Council DA approval is received and this is still some time away. The DA proposes using the old semi-trailer body currently located near the works compound. In the meantime, carts will need to continue using the 8th bridge until the new higher (above flood level) bridge can be installed.

Coming Soon

• New tee and directional signage is being negotiated with the Kiama Men’s Shed.
• Tree pruning and removals continue subject to Council approval.
• Stump grinding is nearing completion, at least until further problem trees are removed.

The new water cooler has been installed on the deck — thanks to the Ladies Committee and to Glen Bayo for the installation.

Flies, Flies and More Flies
Jamberoo Golf Course is surrounded by, and enhanced by, its rural setting — but unfortunately cows, cow poo and flies come with it. Flies can be a hot topic and while we do our best to manage the inevitable summer explosion, there is some debate about the effectiveness of our fly traps. This may simply be an issue of scale.

We currently have around a dozen traps in place, which generally fill within two weeks of being emptied. Our greens staff are of the view that they have little to no impact. If we are to continue the trapping regime, we may need one or two volunteers willing to take on this rather unpleasant task and significantly increase the number of traps, particularly near the boundaries with adjacent farmland.

If anyone is interested, please leave your details with the shop volunteer on duty and we will be in touch.

Christmas Function – Friday 19 December
Friday 19 December will be the JGC staff, Board and volunteers Christmas function, commencing at 12:00pm.
All club staff, shop staff and volunteers, and those who volunteer their time in gardens and other roles, are warmly invited to join us on the deck, with the option of playing a few holes of golf.

Finally, once again, I wish all our members and their families a very Merry Christmas and a happy, safe New Year. We look forward to seeing you back on the course.

Happy Golfing,

Phil Hahn
President
On behalf of the Board of Directors

A little tree trouble for Chris!

To say Chris was underwhelmed by the result of his tee shot on the third in Monday’s Veterans round is an understatement.

His playing partners showed much compassion for Chris’ dilema, in between fits of laughter it must be said.

Congratulations

Our Summer Vets Medalist was Glen Bayo who received his Medal on Saturday as he was unable to attend Monday’s early shotgun start.

Also at the after golf function, Les Skarratts was named as the 2025 Barry Walker Shield winner.

Ham it up! 🐖🎄

Congratulations to all the winners from today’s Hams Day — a terrific day of golf and very well contested.

Overall Winner
🏆 Peter Hackett – 39 points

A Grade
🥇 Craig Foster – 37 pts (c/b)
🥈 Bob Neilson – 37 pts (c/b)
🥉 Ken Bradley – 37 pts

B Grade
🥇 Ron Hewson – 38 pts (c/b)
🥈 Colin Van Woerkom – 38 pts
🥉 Matt Harrison – 35 pts (c/b)

C Grade
🥇 Chris Walsh – 38 pts (c/b)
🥈 Italo Baraldi – 38 pts
🥉 Bob Anderson – 37 pts

Nearest the Pin Winners
🎯 C Grade 7th: Matt Rodgers – 530 cm
🎯 B Grade 9th: Peter Francis – 334 cm
🎯 A Grade 13th: Anthony Smith – 390 cm

Women’s Event
🥇 Kim Gray – 41 points
🥈 Angie Adams – 34 points

🎂 The Nearest the Pin winners each receive a special Christmas cake, proudly supplied by Kings Patisserie & Café.

🐷 The overall winner, along with all grade winners and placegetters, will receive hams proudly donated by Fredericks IGA.

🎁 The Women’s winners will receive vouchers from Drummond Golf.

📍 All winners can collect their IGA ham vouchers, cakes or Drummond Golf vouchers from Marie in the Office from Monday afternoon.

Once again, congratulations to all winners and thanks to our generous sponsors for their fantastic support.

C-9 Christmas Party & Presentation Day.

What a great event! Today’s Christmas party had a big field of 36 players.

Our special ‘mascot’, winning greyhound, “Champagne 9” blessed us with a visit. 

Thank you to all the players who have played C-9 this year and contributed to ensuring this competition continues.

The Annual Presentation Awards: 

1. The Consistency Award:- for the Best overall scores in both Stroke & average of Stableford games. Winner:- Chris Smee, R/Up – Jo Page.

2. The Most Improved:- to the player who has had the greatest handicap reduction over the year. Winner:- Christine Mitchell

3. The Club Person of the Year:- for their overall contribution to C-9. Winner:- Diane Whiting. Diane has played 33/41 possible games, assisted in the GIG clinics and helped others gain their handicaps.

Special Awards were given to Kay Brennan & Cheryl Smee for their assistance in running C-9 competitions & teaching players how to complete their cards and understand Stableford scoring.

Pam was presented with a Drummond ‘gift voucher’ and some very kind words, (which was very much appreciated).

Champagne 9 will now be in recess and resume, 17th January.

Merry Christmas to All. 

Pam

Women’s Club	A Grade	Judi O’Brien
Champions	B Grade	Tracey Watson
	C Grade	Neen Coffee
The Pat Norman Memorial	Best Nett over the field	Judi O’Brien

Veteran’s	Gross Winner	Pam Middlebrook
Championships	Nett Winner	Jenelle Anderson

Foursomes Champions

Gross Winners

Lyn Kuskey & Jenelle Anderson

GNSW Medal	Div 1	Pam Middlebrook
(Nett winners)	Div 2	Jenelle Anderson
	Div 3	Barbara Costello
The Gold Medal	Div 1	Jenny Strong
(Nett winners)	Div 2	Marie Smith
	Div 3	Cheryl Legge
The Elsie Churchill	(Eclectic Overall Winner)	Diane Whiting
Trophy	Div 1	Tracey Watson
	Div 2	Leesa Swan
	Div 3	Diane Whiting
The Nat Fischer	Most Gobblers overall	Lidia Waine
Memorial Trophy	Div 1	Lidia Waine
	Div 2	Margaret Cook
	Div 3	Cheryl Legge/Kerrie Michie
Birdies	Most Birdies overall	Lidia Waine
	Div 1	Lidia Waine
	Div 2	Tracey Watson/Margaret Cook
	Div 3	Cheryl Legge

Hooker Cup	Winners	Linda Kirwan & Annette Robinson
	Runners-Up	Pam Middlebrook & Marie Smith
The Dena Kyle Memorial Trophy	Best Stableford score  (played in August)	Ticha Maichinwong

Most Improved

Biggest Handicap loss (Jan – Dec)

Ticha Maichinwong

President Pam congratulated all the prize winners and thanked all the women for the work they have done for Jamberoo Golf Club throughout the year.

Some Xmas celebrations near the 11th and 18th . Thanks to the green staff who answered an SOS to open the champagne bottle which was executed successfully!

Course and Comp Information

• Our green staff continue to work hard to keep the greens healthy during the current dry spell, and their efforts are certainly appreciated.
• In case you missed the notice on the main board near the first tee, 30 cm preferred lies are now permitted on all fairways until further notice.
• A quick reminder as well that the A Grade ‘Drive and Pitch’ has returned to its original home on the 16th hole.
• A big thank you to Bob Neilson, who answered the call and emptied, cleaned, and refilled all the flytraps around the course. Jamberoo is experiencing its worst ever fly infestation, with even village residents reporting how unpleasant the conditions have become.
• For those finding the flies a bit overwhelming, the golf shop has fly face nets available for $5 which may offer some relief.
• Champagne Nine Christmas Celebration. Champagne Nine will celebrate Christmas this Saturday with a special 11.30 am start followed by a party!
• Members Hams Day Reminder – Don’t forget that Members Hams Day is also on this Saturday — we look forward to seeing a great turnout!
• Many thanks to Fredericks IGA for their generous support of our club through their sponsorship of the Members Hams Day. Their contribution is greatly appreciated.
• Monday Veterans Hams Day and Xmas get-together on Monday with a shotgun start from 8am. Be at the club early to facilitate the start of the day.

by Pam Middlebrook.

31 players braved the heat (& flies) today in the last Women’s Vets event of the year. The ham winners had fantastic scores. Congratulations!

1st – Leesa Swan 

2nd – Julianne Lawton

Cheryl Smee (Vets Co-ordinator) thanked all the ladies for their support throughout the year. She also reminded members that their fees are now due.

Dulcie Piper who came and enjoyed a ‘shared lunch’, spoke from the heart, and thanked the members for their friendship and continued hospitality.

Cheers to all and we look forward to your support in 2026.