The Diggers Trophy 2026

Superb spring weather greeted 18 SOS members for the 2026 running of the Diggers Trophy on the Tuart Course. This was a 'Par' competition, a cruel form of torture if your game is slightly off, for whatever reason!

Shelley's guests, Keith & Alyson Pellowe, joined the last group making for 5 groups of 4.

Not a cloud in the sky all day, a balmy 28°c and little to no wind until, on the last few holes, a southerly sprung up which required factoring in to your game! 

Diggers Trophy
2025 Winner - Paul Boquest

On the first tee:
Faye, Derek, Steph, Andrea, Coops & Kristian

Andrea, Dave & Keith looking confident?

Faye, Francis & Earle with Coops enjoying his pre match sandwich!

Lynne & Shelley flanking Keith & Alyson Pellowe

Derek has a frustrating lie - on the
 1st hole dogs leg no less!

Beware! Snakes on the course

Several snakes (dugites?) were reported heading into the bush at the green end of the 12th hole and the tee area of the 13th hole!

Stay clear & let them wander off!

Dave Millar's drive on the 15th stopped
 in a very inconvenient spot!

I did it again!

There were several crows around the 14th green behaving very strangely!
They sat motionless with their beaks wide open!

Coops 2nd shot on the 14th went the distance, pulling up just short of the danger zone!
The birdie putt missed, but at least the hole was parred.

Coops re-fuelling at the 14th.
The motionless crows are behind the food cart.

Post Game Meeting

All the raffle tickets sold, so let the meeting begin!

In the absence of President, Gerry Tessier, Andrea Williams opended the meeting and welcomed all to the post match festivities!

Birthday celebrations: Andrea congratulated Peter Baird who attained the age of 79 on Friday, 6 November!

Next Week - the Tuart Course again, where members willl compete for the Masters Trophy, won last year by Gary Burgess.  It is a stroke competition with tee off at 7.40am. 

SOS' roving envoy Gary Burgess will be lining up with 42 others for the The Australian All Abilities Open being held in Melbourne at the Sandhurst Club commencing next Wednesday.  Best wishes Gary from your SOS mates!  

The Results

The competition for the Diggers Trophy was hard fought with Lynne Malone's score of +2 touching out Tony Gooch, Don Beesley and Karl Wolzac who all scored +1

The official placings were:

1st    Lynne Malone

2nd   Tony Gooch

3rd    Don Beesley

Andrea presents the Diggers Trophy to Lynne Malone

The bag of lollies was awarded to Peter Baird for a less than inspiring -9.

Birdies

Only 3 birdies were reported. Congratulations to:

Dave Millar on the 6th

Goochy on the 12th hole, and 

Andrea on the 17th hole.

Novelties

Golden hole #3 - not won so the $92 rolls over to next week

#5 NTP in 2  -  not won

#8 nearest to stick* - Dave Millar beaten by Peter Baird

#11 NTP in 3  - Don, bettered by Karl

#14 longest putt - Don, but Karl's was longer

#18 nearest in 1 - Don, but Karl was closer

* The stick was lost and substituted by a tree branch, which may have led to some confusion!

The Ash Tray Collection - Diggers Month

Shelley Yeo provided some historic facts behind the Diggers Trophy which was first contested in 2015. Fines collected by SOS during the month of November are aggregated and used to provide a donation to the Kings Park Honour Avenue committee which maintains the small plaques commemorating fallen soldiers. The plaques can be seen at the foot of the white gums trees in Kings Park.

SOS members are encouraged to give generously to the cause. The first collection yeilded $48.25 which is a great start to the November collections.

Shelley Yeo prepares players to dig deep for the cause!

Raffle

There were 73 tokens in the barrel and the first one out was held by Karl who claimed the $10 gift card.

The 2nd token out was also held by Karl! What a coincidence!

What was not a coincidence, was that Karl had already won three $5 gift cards in the Novelties competition. More likely a lot of practice from recent pennant competitions!

Many thanks to Derek for acting as meeting scribe. It would be a strange blog if we relied on my hearing!

Thanks also to photo contributors.

💨

SOS CUP, ROUND 2

 

Last night in bed we’d all been visualising our round on the Tuart.

Only to discover it was on the Old.

So, after a false start

It started wet.

Got dry.

Sun came out.

Rained again.

Got windy.

Blue sky.

Etc.

The second round of the SOS Cup.

The Longhurst’s looking forward to finally getting rid of the bloody thing

Gathering dust next to the TV all year.

Karl did a quick reset of the novelties for the Old Course.

And off we went.

Was it a great round?

Not for all.

Birdies for Dave M on the 9^th, and

Karl on the 17^th.

Birthday for Coops on Nov 1^st.

That’s All Saints Day. Just a coincidence? I don’t think so.

Roland commandeers Mrs Petrie's vacuum cleaner's extension tube
to accommodate his umbrella!

Roland explains his less that stellar day by remarking that he had set his bag for the Tuart rather than the Old. Seems a reasonable excuse.

Are you coming to the Gala dinner? Then let Shelley know, and pay $45 to the operating account ($55 for your non-member guest).

I haven't had a banana this big for a long time

How did the novelties go?

Faye decides to take a drop - wise choice!

The gold and silver holes remain unclaimed.

Four top shots to get close to the 11th for the last group

The longest putt on the 9^th went to Dave Millar (with his birdie)

Nearest the bunker on the 4^th, Karl.

Nearest the stick on the 18^th, (couldn’t read it - but someone must have been)

Nearest in three on the 12^th, Shelley, outpointed by Coops.

BTW, Shelley in a big final at Cottesloe on Sunday - good luck, Shelley.

Meanwhile Gerry and Birgit are cruising to New Caledonia on Monday.

So, to today’s results:

A resounding victory to Andrea, who didn’t compete last week, so no placing in the two week competition.

 

You’re probably interested in how you went over the two weeks, so here are the aggregate figures:

 

So, dammit. The trophy sits next to the TV for another bloody year.

(Congratulations, Frances. Well played.)

Next week, it’s the Digger’s Trophy, on the Tuart at 8.12. Paul Boquest is the current holder. The traditional Digger’s fines will presumably be imposed, in support of the King’s Park Honour Avenue Appeal.

The forecast is currently for rain and a thunderstorm.

Will that hold us back? Nah!

 

SOS CUP Round 1 @Old Course

Before starting the actual blog:

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Please RSVP to Shelley ASAP if you would like to attend our Gala Dinner,

as the menu must be confirmed with the caterers!!!

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Our annual SOS trophy seems to attract rainy and windy conditions.......and when checking the weather forecast the 2026 edition surely didn't disappoint.

However, the rainbow spotted by one of our early birds might have been a sign of a beautiful day ahead.

I reckon those Canucks don't use white golf balls
though pink ones neither!

23 SOS players and one returning former member (Greg Dunkeld) registered for the game. We welcomed back as well Brett "4D" Fordham. Great seeing you!!

But let’s not dilly-dally and get right to a few pre-game photos.

BEFORE THE GAME

Captain Rollie saluting another
SOS member. Is he ex military?

Yep, looks like! A perfect posture!

That's all from our pre-game, the blogger played in the first group.

DURING THE GAME

Earle walking enthusiastically to his ball

One might wonder which 
"wonder shot" Gerry has in mind.
Straight through the tree?

Karl's task looks slightly easier.

on #17 Gim foraging in the forest

searching for mushrooms, while waiting for
the group ahead to clear the field.
We can be
glad that they don't grow in all parts of Wembley.
That would make it harder for the guys to
find their balls. 😇😇😇

While this might be true for some....

...it's a joy waking up in the morning and
checking on your "crops"

Where's your club Keith?

Kristian praying to the gods of golf?

Cookibooooo, where are you, my little ball?

Gim doing a bit of stretching
while waiting for Frances shot

Faye fires between 2 trees with
Popey in her direct line. One can
assume she didn't hit him. 😉

AFTER THE GAME and RESULTS

Our group waiting for the announcements...

...squeezed into the corner by the
City Beach players

Gim takes her "job" as 
raffle executor very seriously

10 raffle tickets!
Does Kristian want to support the group
or want to win a voucher?

And the raffle winner is FRANCES!
She won a 2nd voucher, but graciously
passed it back
into the prize pool. 👍

THE RESULTS

So what about the golf game? Let's have a look at the results.

Derek secured a comfortable 2-point lead, followed by James and Birgit.

The very proud podium

• Will Derek take the cup home next week?
• Only time will tell!
• Or most probably the game next week.

Coops took out the lollies; yep, he's a foodie! 

Rumours are that Cindy is the recipient of "The Lollies"

THE NOVELTIES

Silver Hole        #2            no winner, it currently holds $103

Nearest Buner    #4            Fran, beaten by Tom

Longest Put        #9            Earle, beaten by Tom

Nearest in 3        #12          Gary, beaten by Fordy

Golden Hole       #16          no winner, it currently holds $150

Nearest Stick      #18          Frances, beaten by no one!  

THE BIRDIES

Dave        #11

Fordy       #11

James       #14

Earle         #15

Lynley       #17

A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear SOS Members,

A friendly reminder to everyone about the importance of "Ready Golf", maintaining a reasonable pace of play and showing respect to fellow members.

While the first group finished today's game in 4:29 hrs, other groups played more than 5 hours.

We can certainly do better if everyone follows a few simple guidelines.

READY GOLF – KEY REMINDERS

• Be ready to play when it is your turn. Select your club in advance.
• Play when ready, provided it is safe, rather than always waiting for the player furthest from the hole.
• Keep up with the group ahead, not just ahead of the group behind.
• Lost ball searches are limited to 3 minutes. Play a provisional ball when appropriate.
• On the green, prepare your putt while others are playing and putt out when practical.
• If your group falls behind, have 2 players finish putting out and advance to the next tee
• Position your buggy or cart towards the next tee.
• Record your scores at the next tee, not besides the green.

SOS MAXIMUM SCORE RULES FOR STROKE PLAY

As approved by SOS several years ago, our maximum scores for stroke-play competitions are:

• Par 3: Maximum 8 strokes
• Par 4: Maximum 10 strokes
• Par 5: Maximum 10 strokes

Once you reach the applicable maximum without holing out, pick up your ball and move on to the next tee 

Official HDC System max score is double boogies of your score so no impact on your HDC 

STABLEFORD: If you can no longer score any points on a hole, pick up your ball immediately and proceed to the next hole.

RESPECT & GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP

While pace of play is important, respect and courtesy towards fellow members are equally essential.

Our objective is not to single out individuals, but to ensure everyone enjoys their golf in a friendly, positive and respectful environment.

Remember: Ready Golf is not about rushing. It’s about being prepared, avoiding unnecessary delays and respecting everyone’s time.

Thank you all for your cooperation. Let’s keep SOS Golf enjoyable for everyone!

THE END