Pennant Corner

Upcoming Pennant rounds

• Friday Women’s Pennant – 4th April: Vs Centenary Park at Kooringal GC – 8.00 am

• Women’s Pennant – 6th April: Vs The Eastern at Box Hill GC – 11.30 am

• Youth Pennant – 6th April: Vs Latrobe at Rossdale GC – 8.20 am

• Men’s Pennant – 6th April: Vs Kooringal at Rossdale GC – 12.10 pm

Spectators are always welcome to come and support the teams.

Friday Women’s Pennant

Please see the Friday Women’s Team Managers report below from Di Chapman.

The Women’s Friday Pennant team once again arrived at Medway Golf Club in the dark. The team were confronted with a last minute team change due to a finger injury to Lisa Cochrane.

Lynn Zhang, our emergency, arrived expecting to be caddying and found she was playing at number two. Playing her first pennant match she took her opponent to the 18th hole with a 1 down result. An amazing effort ably assisted by caddy Lisa Cochrane despite injury. 

Sue Poole, playing once again at number one, played steady golf all day. Her caddy, Barb Pinchbeck, was very impressed with Sue’s great decision-making and club selection. Sue won 4/3.

Karen Teo was another pennant debutant, only flying in from Singapore earlier in the week. She absolutely outplayed and overwhelmed her opponent. Enjoying the milder weather conditions after the heat of Singapore. Thank you to caddy Lindy Hosking, a welcome addition to the group. Karen won 7/5. 

Brenda Carey and Fi Bunting are proving to be a formidable combination, with Brenda scoring another strong 2/1 win. 

Bev Moore, our MVP from last year, played her first pennant match of the season being unavailable the previous two rounds. Playing strong steady golf all day resulting in a 3/1 win. Caddy Jo Day and witnesses Brenda and Fi soundly applauded a chip in from off the green on the 7th hole which Bev could not see at the time. Welcome back to pennant Bev. 

Anne Corboy had a very close match all day against a strong opponent with the score 1 or 2 up or square all day unfortunately going down 3/2. 

Justine Grover was called upon to play late on Thursday and despite not being 100% fit fought hard with the assistance of caddy Prue Graf to go down 5/3. 

Overall a great team 4/3 win with the team placed 3rd on the ladder with two rounds to play. 

A special thanks to our amazing caddies many of whom are also involved with the Sunday pennant team. A huge contribution to the club in time, expertise and travel. 

We have had a great start to the season. Let’s keep the momentum going. Next week we journey over the bridge to Kooringal. Good luck everyone. 

Competition results can be found here.

Sunday Women’s Pennant

Please see the Sunday Women’s Team Managers report below from Barb Pinchbeck.

The Sunday team headed out to Rosanna to play the second placed Patterson River in a must win match. And win we did!

With 2 wins and 2 losses in, Lucy (1up), Ness (1 down) and Deb (sq) all headed up the 18th. All 3 birdied it to win the hole giving us 2 more wins and a half with the final result a 4 1/2 – 2 1/2 win.

Annelie played a team strategy at number 1 and was courageous in defeat against a pro, managing to halve 6 holes.

Deb had a close match all day, culminating on 18 with an amazing drive, then a beautiful 7 iron onto the green. A perfect putt to win the hole and match.

Ness was up and down all match, managing to halve on 18 with a clutch putt.

Lucy was in an arm wrestle all day but destroyed her opponent on 18 with a clutch 35 foot putt to tap in to close the match out.

Fi started hot with birdie, par, par finally winning 4/2. Highlight was a topped rescue on Par 3 15th straight at hole finishing 2 metres from pin.

Anne played great golf with a magnificent bunker shot on 9th. winning her match 3/2.

Karen playing her first game for the Sunday team battled against an opponent with a much lower handicap going down on the 16th – we look forward to her playing many more games!

Our squad motto of BELIEVE was certainly evident today – very proud team manager!

Competition results can be found here.

YC Senior Pennant

Please see the Senior Teams Captain’s report below from PD Downey.

There are 8 games played during the season, 9 matches per contest, 10 players per team with an estimated 750 shots per contest, this equates to 6000 shots for a season. The odds of that last shot of the 6000 determining our fate would be astronomical to say the least. But this was the scenario that played out in our contest V The Heritage on the 9th (our 18th) hole at Kew GC.

I left Kew after the last of our squad headed home and ventured to my happy place – the balcony overlooking the course at Green Acres. The bar had shut, the crowds had gone, and it was just me and the birds enjoying a balcony beer courtesy of Dylan.

It was this same place I sat prior to round 1 pondering the squad Ernie and I had at our disposal for 2025. We were an aging list which is quite the oxymoron for senior pennant, we had no early draft picks from which to choose from and the unavailability of 3 of our best players – John Mansfield (strike rate 90.48%), Brian Wasley (strike rate 75%) and Roger Schmitt (strike rate 66.67%) suggested the season ahead would have its challenges.

Well, how wrong I was – at the end of the season we found ourselves in equal 1st place, with Rosanna and The Heritage edging us out of our 5th consecutive final due to a higher YCSP percentage. But how close we came was due cause for positive reflection. We fought hard all year with some amazing wins against the odds, coming from behind with heroics on the 18th the stuff of legends amongst our peers in YCSP.

After a tardy start, we found ourselves yet again behind the 8-ball on the back nine, but The Heritage lads knew we would make a charge, and what a charge we made finding enough wins and halves to eradicate defeat from the equation. All we needed was one more half, one more putt to roll in or one of their putts to miss, but alas, the golfing gods had other ideas, granting The Heritage 2 birdies on the 17th with putts that didn’t want to go in (but did) and the rub of the green on the 18th. We were, and are, disappointed with the result – some were even devastated, but the sun came up on Saturday morning and we brush ourselves off, learn from it and plan for next year.

We had a great season, a winning season, both from a team perspective and from an individual standpoint. As you can see from the table below cascading down from games played, our squad has an incredible strike rate with wins/halves V losses. This will hold us in good stead moving forward.

This year’s final will be played at Yering Meadows on Friday 11 April. For those teams not playing in the final we compete for the YCSP Shield which consists of the 5 highest Stableford scores from each club and also some individual glory for players who participate. Ernie and I would encourage as many Green Acres players as possible to play so that we can bring some silverware back to Green Acres and put on display in our foyer.

And finally, thanks to all the players who represented our great club over the past 3 months. I know you are hurting but what a season we had with so many memorable wins. I am proud to be part of this squad and am looking forward to yet another off season of player development. To our caddies and supporters who show up each week to help us to perform – you are our rock and on behalf of all of us – A BIG THANKS.

Competition results can be found here.

Capt Pd

Youth Pennant

Please see the Youths Team Manager report below from Greg O’Brien

This week’s match was against Kingston Heath and played at Eastwood in Kilsyth and sometimes, it’s not just about the results—it’s about everything else we gain along the way.

Our team faced a strong opposition in a new setting, and the experience alone was invaluable. Thanks to the Men’s pennant who shared their course notes with the team. Excluding our seasoned captain, the average age of our four junior players was under 15. Meanwhile, all of our opponents drove themselves to the course—some even had to arrange babysitters!

With only two games of combined youth pennant experience across our four players before this match, our team was as young as it was eager. Over the weekend, that experience doubled, with two debutants, Ollie and Max, stepping up for their first game.  Ollie was so excited to be a pennant player that he was still smiling at the end of the day. Max finished after 18 with the result all square. I think he would have the win if there was one more hole!

Hugo and Mason each had one previous game experience in youth pennant – and stepped up into the #2 and #3 players. What a great effort.

What stands out even more is the camaraderie and support within the group. These mates play together multiple times a week, and that spirit was on full display, with Joel Dichiera and Sam Reid helping out on the bag. Parents also showed up in great numbers, with four in attendance to support their sons.

Next week, we are playing Latrobe at Rossdale.  Cant wait!

Competition results can be found here.

Men’s Pennant

Please see the Men’s Team Captain report below from Jack Allan.

On Sunday, the men’s pennant team took on Northern GC, hosted at Eastwood Golf Club.

In sunny and calm conditions, we were led out by our trusty number 7 – Charlie Sartori, who took care of his match on the last hole, winning the 18th to give him a 1-up victory.

After Charlie was Tom Allan, who had some struggles earlier in the season, seeking redemption, he made light work of his opponent, winning 4&2.

Our next 3 games out on the course were Nick Papaleo, Myself and Barney Greaves, who all claimed stress free wins, and sealing the win for the team early on.

At number 2 Nick Shortis battled all day, being 1 down on the 18th tee, he hit his approach shot into 18 to 3 and a half foot or just outside gimme range, but was unable to convert and ultimately lost 1 down.

Lewis Read played at the top of our order, but was unfortunately outplayed and went down 5&3.

A bounce back 5-2 win for the team helps steady our season and leaves us with a chance to still make finals. A big thanks to all the caddies and supporters who came out on the weekend. Next week we play against Kooringal at Rossdale.

Competition results can be found here.