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!

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