25 Years Young
In January 1998 David Hyland approached the then President, Max Pride and asked if Max would seek the Board Members’ permission to agree to the creation of a Veterans division to function as a regular playing group known as The North Ryde Veterans. David pointed out that, at that time, all surrounding Golf Clubs had a Veterans regular competition.
The January Board Meeting Members unanimously agreed to the request.
On the first week of February the then current Vice Captain Dave Hyland chaired the first official Veterans Meeting in order to elect a committee. The result of the election was as follows:
- Chairman – Stan Edwards
- Captain – J D Smith
- Secretary – Cec Beynon
- Treasurer – Stafford Sharp
- Match Committee – Bill Boyd, Harry Bradshaw, Kevin Kane and Barry Rex
The Board allocated a tee time from 8.00am to 10.00am on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each Month for a 4BBB competition with singles in conjunction. The competition will play off the blue tees with handicapping by the Club. Winners would receive a voucher for the Pro Shop and a ball competition held for non-voucher winners based on a count back system.
Eligibility to the Veterans Competition was restricted to all Playing Members, Senior Playing Members and Veteran Playing Members over the age of 55 years.
The first Competition was held on Monday, 16 February, a wet and windy day and the initial starters of 72 were reduced to a brave 52 finishing. Winners of the day were as follows:
- 4BBB – Stan Edwards and Alan Ingram 46 points
- Individual – John Riddell 39 points
- NTP – 6th Cec Beynon 18th Stan Edwards
Successive Chairmen were as follows:
- Stan Edwards 1999- 2003
- Kevin Kane 2004
- Frank Oliver 2005 – 2008
- Warwick Thompson 2009
- Charles Titmuss 2010 – 2021
- Charles Kinder Current
During the 23 years the Veterans have only 9 Champions in A Grade, now classified as Division 1. They are:
- Bill Walsh 1999
- Dave Hyland (4 times) 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003
- Paul Hill (7 times) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014
- Denis Mather (Twice) 2007 and 2008
- Barry Hadaway 2010
- Peter Richardson (3 times) 2013, 2015 and 2020
- Roy Shuttleworth (4 times) 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022
- Glen Steer 2017
Of the other grades several showed promise or ageing:
- Freddy Wong twice in B grade 2002 and 2013
- Bob Ironside twice in B Grade 2005 and 2016
- Colin Moore twice in B Grade 2010 and 2012
- Bill Walsh fell back to B Grade in 2009
- Greg Williams jumped to from C Grade in 2009 to B Grade in 2020
- Henry Fong won B Grade in 2002 and C Grade in 2011
And where are we now 2022 and almost 25 years old:
- Total eligible Veteran Members 497 (84% of eligible playing members)
- Total eligible Playing Members (based on figures provided in 2022 Annual Report) 591
YET WE FIELD ON A DRY MONDAY AROUND 80.
SOME SHORTER HOLES, PINS IN ACCEPABLE POSITIONS, QUICKER ROUNDS, GOOD C0MPANY. Why not make it a regular booking?
Bruce Durham