When Muriel Willett first joined Cooroy Golf Club the course comprised only nine holes, women weren’t allowed to vote at club elections, and hardly anybody rode in golf carts.
But none of that mattered to Muriel, because playing golf meant she could spend precious time with her husband Lionel.
The Willetts had been farmers at Dalby, and moved to the Sunshine Coast in 1981. Working the land was still a passion, though, and they bought a 50 acre property, where they raised a few beef cattle.
And they played golf.
Lionel joined Cooroy first, and Muriel followed a few months later – becoming an associate member in 1982.
“I never intended to play,” Muriel said, “but he encouraged me, and I came to love the game.”
Muriel’s first official handicap was 36, but she managed to trim it to 17 at one stage.
“There weren’t a lot of women playing at Cooroy then,” she said. “Only about 10 played in competitions.”
But it was the travel, and the social side of golf, that Muriel most fondly remembers.
“We’d travel a lot to play in veterans’ carnivals,” she said, reciting a long list of towns the couple visited throughout Australia during a 30-year period of competing in veterans’ events.
But all good things come to an end.
Lionel, who with a few mates began vets’ golf at Cooroy, is now 91 and struggles to get around 18 holes of golf.
And, without him playing by her side, the appeal diminished for 88-year-old Muriel who told fellow members recently she was giving the game away – for a while, anyway.
But she went out on a high, scoring 40 points in her final competition round last month, only to be pipped for the trophy on a countback.
Going back to the basics pays off
Paul Betar, one of Sydney’s best known motor dealers until his retirement, tracks his interest in golf back to when he was a teenage caddie at Pymble on Sydney’s Upper North Shore.
So diligent was he that he became only the second ‘A grade caddie’ at the club – a status that not only gave him a slightly larger pay packet, but also entitled him to play on the beautiful, parkland course after school.
“I remember my mum waiting in the car park several times, the headlights of her car turned on, as we trudged up the last fairway in the pitch black,” he said.
Building a career, raising a family and living life pushed golf into the background, and Paul didn’t play for 30 years – not until he brushed off his clubs eight years ago, took a few tentative swings, and decided to again commit to the game.
Fast-forward to Saturday last, and Paul’s performance in the Monthly Medal stroke competition at Noosa Springs – he shot a net 70 to win by two strokes – showed he’d not only regained the skills of his youth, but perhaps even improved on them.
“I’m always tinkering with my swing – always looking to get better,” he said. “On Saturday I just tried to concentrate on the basics – a low and slow takeaway, correct posture and accurate alignment. And it seemed to work.”
Paul and his wife Sue regularly visited Noosa for holidays. Then, about five years ago, on the night before returning to Sydney, he turned to Sue and said: “I don’t want to go home.”Nor did she, so they put their Sydney home on the market, sold it within a week, disposed of the Mercedes-Benz Sydney dealership they’d owned since 2008, relocated to Noosa and joined Noosa Springs.
Sunday Series swings back
It took only 32 stableford points, but it was enough to give Leisha McMenamin a chance of winning a year’s free golf at two of south-east Queensland’s finest courses.
Noosa Springs’ Sunday Series returned at the weekend – a competition which offers not only weekly prizes, but a spectacular grand prize of free golf at Noosa Springs and Links Hope Island for a year. Paul Matthews, with 35 points, won the men’s division.
The best score recorded each calendar month earns golfers a spot in the final, to be played in December, with the male and female winners of that event claiming the year’s free golf.
Visitors to Noosa Springs re encouraged to enter the weekly Sunday Series, with Sunshine Coast residents eligible for the Locals Sunday Special green fee rate of $79, which includes the cost of an electric cart.
Money back if Covid intrudes
With the threat of COVID-19 still an unknown quantity, organisers of this year’s Sunshine Coast Winter Classic have moved quickly to provide security for competing golfers.
If an outbreak of coronavirus prevents interstate players from entering Queensland for the event, they will immediately receive a full refund.
This year’s Classic will begin on Monday, June 7 and continue until Friday, June 11, with a rest day on Wednesday, June 9.
It will be staged across four of the Sunshine Coast’s premier golf courses – Twin Waters, Maroochy River, Peregian and Noosa Springs.
Noosa Springs Golf and Spa Resort executive general manager Mark Brady, one of the tournament’s organisers, said entrants in last year’s inaugural event had suggested a rest day after the first two rounds.“It will also give competitors and their partners an opportunity to explore our region and sample some of the delights of the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
Last year’s event was capped at 76 competitors because of the pandemic. Mr Brady said he was expecting a field of 120 players this year, with entrants likely from all Australian states and, possibly, from New Zealand.
The Winter Classic, a stableford event played over 72 holes, is open to male and female players with an official golf handicap.
The entry fee is $695 ($645 if paid before March 15). It includes golf, a welcome cocktail reception and a presentation function.
Club competitions
NOOSA
Monday, 25 January
Women’s stableford: A grade – Karen Haynes 38, Rungratree Cox 34; B grade – Sharman Phillips 35, Robyn Vincent 34; women’s 9-hole stableford: Lynne Hancock 15c/b, Elisabeth Thomson 15, Barb Allen 14c/b.
Tuesday, 26 January
Men’s stableford: A grade – Derek Connolly 40, Chris Wright 39c/b, Graham Farrell 39, Dean Jeffrey 38; B grade – Shane Taylor 39c/b, Brad Edwards 39, Stephen Jackson 38c/b, John Henry 38c/b; C grade – James Hiron 43, Michael Davenport 39c/b, Bert Hofer 39c/b, Greg Kuch 39c/b. Rundown to 35.
Wednesday, 27 January
Vets stableford: A grade – Kevin O’Farrell 40, Ty Dickson 38, David Whiticker 37c/b; B grade – Barry Macdonald 38, Scott Hobden 37, Evan Millar 35c/b; C grade – Neal Moloney 36, Paul David 33c/b, John Evans 33. Rundown to 32c/b.
Thursday, 28 January
Women’s stableford: A grade – Heather Alsop 37, Mandy Webb 36, Orawan Millar 33c/b; B grade – Noreen Scanlon 36, Marilyn Leslie 34, Anne Martin 32; C grade – Patty Neale 35c/b, Lynne Hancock 35c/b, Meliss Cowie 35. Rundown to 30c/b.
NOOSA SPRINGS
Monday, 25 January
Men’s stableford: Paul Weatherstone 39, Bruce MacKenzie-Forbes 38c/b, Graham Dill 38; women’s stableford: Anne Howick 41, Debra Oates 40, Jennifer Aitken 34c/b.Tuesday, 26 January
Men’s stableford: John Taylor 37, Phillip Fortington 36, Martin Scollon 34; women’s stableford: Kelly Lynch 36, Linda Jedynak 34, Elizabeth Wadsworth 32.
Wednesday, 27 January
Men’s stableford: Simon Rice 39, Graham Owen 38c/b, Peter Catchlove 38c/b; women’s stableford: Wendy Hopping 40, Anne Smith 38, Narelle Magner 37c/b.Saturday, 30 January
Men’s stroke: Paul Betar 70, Paul Grant 72c/b, Josh Constable 72; women’s stroke: Judy Buss 72, Maddison Kelly 73c/b, Rosie Randall 73c/b.Sunday, 31 January
Men’s Sunday Series, stableford: Paul Matthews 35, Glenn Sunderland 33, Bruce McCleary 32; women’s Sunday Series: Leisha McMenamin 32c/b, Jeni Sunderland 32c/b, Niki Matthews 32.
COOROY
Wednesday, 27 January
Vets 4-man ambrose: John Butler, Graham Laing, Peter Smith, Terry Wilson 56.375; Bruce Wilshire, Glen Johnstone, Dennis Beckhaus, Jim Prendergast 56.5; Dave Chapman, Bob Atkin, Wayne Carty, R. Carty 58.125.Thursday, 28 January
Women’s stableford: Chris Michael 39, Jenny Tucker, Helen Doughty 33. Rundown to 31.
Saturday, 30 January
Men’s stableford: Div 1 – L. Grainger 43, J. Kennedy 38; Div 2 – T. Gordon 38, M. Davies 37c/b; Div 3 – D. Davy 47, M. Saunders 42. Women’s stableford: Jocelyn Rabjohns 41, Terri Cairns 36, Carole Clancy 34.
