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Strathalbyn Ladies Results 23/9/2026 Ann Semple blitzes the field with 64 nett. Wednesday 23rd September dawned with the first warm day the ladies needed to deal with. Definitely t-shirt weather for some. The course was in great condition but running fast so directions on the fairways needed to be precise. Of the 13 ladies out to play a range of competitions including Stroke, Ann Semple tamed the course the best with a 64 nett. This comes on the back of her win in the ‘B’ grade championship. Down came her handicap!! Carol Pelle came next with 71, followed by Jo Pickhaver with 72. Kerrie Edwards finished with 74 and three ladies all scored 75 – Claire Methven, Tonya Merritt and Penny Geue. Mandi Vardon and Jayne Dunn both scored 79 and another three ladies finished with 80. This time it was Cara Eastwood, Di Krutli and Marie Kingsbury. Shelley Handke had 87 to finish her round. The ladies played for the Monthly Medal which Ann won with her excellent score. The other competitions included Mc Bain and Putting. The winner of the Putting comp for this week were 3 ladies who all finished with 26 putts. Well done to Tonya, Ann and Mandi. Kerrie had 27, Jo P 29, Carol 30, Di 31, Penny, Marie and Claire 34, Shelley 36, Jayne 38 and Cara 43. NTP winner this week with her second shot on the 17th hole was Mandi and she also had a birdie on the 12th and a gobbler on the 14th. Others to score birdies were Ann on the 12th and Kerrie on the 1st and 9th. Tonya had a gobbler on the 8th and Kerrie’s birdie on the 1st was due to gobbler as well. The warm weather brought the first sighting of a brown snake slithering across the 14th fairway. A few kangaroos were seen lazing in the shadows. The 16 ducklings had grown in the last week, and a new family of 4 tiny ducklings were seen snoozing in the 16th rough in the shadows of the large tree near the tee. In the group of Mandi, Carol and Jo P, the 6th and 15th posed problems for some. Mandi hit her drive skywards on the 6th and it landed to the right in the middle of an olive tree before the creek. As it couldn’t be found, Mandi took a drop and proceeded towards the hole with a few more shots than she wanted. On the 7th hole, a lovely drive by Mandi, unfortunately, to the right, hit a tree never to be seen again. Another lost ball!! Her next shot went towards the dam and rolled in for another shot. She was very happy to finish the hole. On the 15th hole, it was Carol’s turn. She found the same olive tree that Mandi found on the first nine. Lost ball. She hit a provisional and decided to take that ball. Jo P was just thankful, that, for once her clubs did the correct thing and got her ball to the hole both times without any trouble. It was great to hear that some groups were happy with their round. Claire evidently had some very good drives. Keep it going, Claire. It turned out to be a beautiful day at the Victor Harbor Golf Course on Friday 25th September. The competition for their Open Day was a 4 Ball better ball which involves taking the best score on each hole working as a team of two. Kerrie Edwards and Di Krutli represented Strathalbyn and their playing partners were Jayne Dawson and Sharon Daly from Clare. No ball down or raffle prizes but the 4 gals had a lovely time together with some great golf shots in the mix. All enjoyed the nature that had a joyous Spring feel and some steep climbs meant they had a good workout too. 20/9/2026 Champions decided. Congratulations to Mandi Vardon and Ann Semple. On Sunday 20th September, the finals of the Championships were played out at the Strathalbyn Golf course. The ladies had very pleasant weather with a tricky wind at times. The course was good with plenty of run that the ladies had to contend with. Mandi Vardon played Mel Johnson in the ‘A’ Grade final. Mandi won 6/5. Ann Semple and Cara Eastwood played in the ‘B’ grade final. Ann won that contest 6/4. Congratulations to all four and an extra well done to Mandi and Ann.  Both groups said they had good, friendly games and each had chances to win holes. 16/9/2026 Cara, Mel and Carol win Stableford Shambles competition. On Wednesday 16th September, 12 ladies played a team of 3 competition called ‘Stableford Shambles’. This involved all ladies driving each hole. The best drive was taken, and each played their individual game to complete the hole. Their Stableford points were recorded for each hole. At the end of the round, the best two Stableford scores were added to finalise the score that team had. Congratulations to the team of Cara Eastwood, Mel Johnson and Carol Pelle who finished with 84 points. Next came Mandi Vardon, Di Krutli and Claire Methven with 81. In third place were Kerrie Edwards, Jo Pickhaver and Shelley Handke with 67 and the team of Ann Semple, Maureen Need and Marie Kingsbury complete their round with 60 points. There were some unreal individual scores with Carol 49, Di 41, Mandi and Claire 40. Next came Cara with 35, Shelley 34, Ann and Jo P. 33, Kerrie 32, Mel, Maureen and Marie 27 points. Of course, these scores did not contribute to the ladies’ handicap scores as they were a mixture of players drives from the tee. NTP winner was Mel Johnson with a great drive on the 9th hole. Mandi scored a birdie on the 8th and Jo P. had one on the 15th. Shelley scored a gobbler on the 13th. Sad stories from the day include Mel hitting into the dam saying bye to that ball, Ann lost her ball on the dam edge as she couldn’t find it at all. On the 15th hole, these ladies in the same team had some trouble. Ann hit her drive to the trees and couldn’t find it. Marie hit her drive into the creek, as did Maureen. Then Marie hit her ball into the creek again from her drop. Time to abandon the hole!!!! It took a while to find the ducklings but there they were near the 2nd/10th tee block. They had grown quite a lot and there were still 16. Mum and Dad have looked after them well and in the photo this week, Mum stands guard on a tree stump as her family rests or looks for something to eat. Champions decided. Article and photo/s to come on Monday morning. 9/9/2026 Championship finalists decided. On Wednesday 9th September, the Ladies Championship Semifinals were played. In ‘A’ Grade, Mandi Vardon played Jo Pickhaver and won 4/2 and Mel Johnson played Di Krutli and Mel won with the same score, 4/2. Congratulations to Mandi and Mel for the final in couple of weeks’ time. In ‘B’ Grade, Cara Eastwood played Pauline Walkom and Cara won 9/7. Ann Semple played Jayne Dunn and won 6/4. Well done to Cara and Ann and all the best for your final on 20th September. There were only 4 ladies who played the Stableford round. Tonya Merritt won with 31 points. Not far behind was Carol Pelle with 30. Kerrie Edwards finished with 24 points and Shelley Handke scored 14 points. NTP winner with her second shot on the 17th was Kerrie. Tonya had a gobbler on the 7th and Mandi had one on the 12th hole. Stories from the day include that Mandi found the Hobbit Hollow on the 14th hole with an uncharacteristic shot from her. It gave Jo another hole to play. The trees were Cara’s friend to start with, but on the 9th, she hit a twiggy branch out of the rough that sent her ball in another direction away from the green!!  Jayne found the dam on the 7th but couldn’t find her ball. She also found the dam on the 16th but was a little lucky. She found her first ball, but not the second. Kerrie hit a galah, but it was ok. For those following the duckling story, there are still 16 and they are very mobile, walking from the 6th hole all the way to the 1st hole. Quite a trek for little duckling legs. The ladies celebrated Kerrie’s birthday with delicious raspberry muffins made by Jayne. A quote by Mark Calcavecchia – ‘Hit it hard. It will land somewhere.’ 2/9/ 2026 Nikki Alves wins with 70 Two competitions were held on Wednesday 2nd September with Nikki Alves winning the Stroke comp with a wonderful 70 nett. Not too far behind was Ann Semple with a very credible 71. Claire Methven followed with 79, Jayne Dunn 82, Mandi Vardon and Pauline Walkom 83, Shelley Handke 84, Mel Johnson 85 and Cara Eastwood finished with 90. Only 10 ladies were out to play the Stroke round with a few ladies absent with appointments or other activities. The second competition on the day was one of the quarter finals of the ‘A’ Grade Championships. Jo Pickhaver and Jenny Drury played in a tight tussle that took them to the 19th hole which Jo won giving her the win 1 up. It was a great game with each one leading at various stages through the game. The other finals will be played before next week if needed. Some players have byes into the next round. NTP winner was Ann Semple with a great drive on the 9th hole. Nikki had a birdie/gobbler on the 16thhole, Shelley had a birdie on the 9th hole and Jenny had a gobbler on the 15th hole. Kangaroos watched the ladies at the 5th/14th green by lazing under the trees in the shelter they provided. There are still 16 growing ducklings  around the same green. Mum and Dad are very protective. Cara found the big gum on the 7th hole but luckily the hit was to the left rather than into the dam. A magpie swooped Nikki on the 8th, Cara helped fend it away but then saw a wattle bird line up the magpie. Cara and Jo both found the ditch on the 12th but were able to hit out. Golf can be interesting with a few obstacles on the way round!! Ladies from the club are representing Strathalbyn at a variety of Open Days in the district. Friday, 29th August, Cara, Ann and Mel went to Oakbank where Cara won the longest drive and Mel won a lucky door prize. Ann played with the Oakbank Captain, Juliette and had a 12 on one par 3. Friday,4th September, Nikki, Eileen Alves, Mel, Ann, Dawne Thomas and former member Charmaine Aplin played at Murray Bridge. It was wet, cold and windy and the golf proved ordinary. The company, however, was great and helped make the day. Eileen and Mel both won raffle prizes. At both Open days, the ladies enjoyed a very delicious lunch which took away the disappointment of the golf with lots of yummy calories to get them back to Strath. Late mail told me that Nikki had a problem with disappearing balls. One went down a drain outlet, several got drowned with the count at 6 lost by the end of the round!! A quote from American Professional golfer, Walter Hagen 1892-1969 ‘Never hurry, never worry, and always remember to smell the flowers along the way.’ 26/8/2026 Claire Methven tamed the course with +3. On Wednesday 26th August, 12 ladies played a Par competition, however 2 ladies forgot to sign their cards as they had to rush off to an appointment so unfortunately their scores could not count. After more recent rain, the course played very heavy with little to no run, and in places casual water lay on the fairways. On the 7th hole, Ann bogged her cart and needed help from her playing partner, Carol to push it out. However, with no wind or rain, Claire Methven found the course to her liking. She finished the day with a fantastic +3. Not too far behind was Mandi Vardon with +1, while the other ladies finished in the negative. Next came Carol Pelle and Kerrie Edwards with -4, Jayne Dunn -5, Tonya Merritt -8 and Ann Semple -11. Three ladies finished on -12, and they were Cara Eastwood, Pauline Walkom and Jo Pickhaver. Ann Semple had an early second shot on the 17th hole and was very surprised to see that the marker still had her name on it at the end of the round. Congratulations, Ann.   The highlight of the day for Mandi and Jo P was seeing and hearing 4 kookaburras in the trees on the 15th hole. A couple of ladies were swooped on the 8th hole by a magpie with a nest nearby. The ducklings were spotted again but only 16 could be counted this week. Hopefully they all stay safe with Mum and Dad. Cara found the drain on the 14th, Ann found the dam (only once this week), but Pauline found the creek twice. The story of the day goes to Jo P. As she went to check the casual water drop area for Mandi, knocked her buggy control. Off it went towards the dam. Jo made a mad dash to try and save it from going into the dam!! No luck, but with the wheels spinning and Jo up to her waist in the dam pushing and Mandi pulling they eventually got it out of the water. That just finished a sad day for Jo!! She did finish the round pushing the buggy without the battery. A good idea is to face your buggy towards the fence on the 7th/16th, especially when your buggy has a tendency to veer to the right!! Jo has spent the next two days drying everything out and is ever hopeful that by next Wednesday her buggy will work properly!! What is the number one golf rule?   Take your purse, keys and mobile phone out of your bag/buggy before it finds itself in the dam, pond, water!! 19/8/2026 Nikki Alves and Mandi Vardon Runaway Winners. On Wednesday 19th August, the ladies played a competition called Russian Stableford. In teams of 2, they played an individual Stableford as well as multiplying the points score to get the team score. The ladies played off the men’s blue tees which made life interesting for some. No rain but quite windy at times and the course played long with not a lot of run. Nikki Alves and Mandi Vardon teamed extremely well together to finish with 66 points to well and truly win the Russian Stableford competition. Runner-ups were Mel Johnson and Carol Pelle with 31 points. Next came Jenny Drury and Ann Semple who tied with Pauline Walkom and Penny Geue on 30, Di Krutli and Sue Pryor tied with Kerrie Edwards and Marie Kingsbury and they each scored 24. Jayne Dunn and Jo Pickhaver finished with 18 and Cara Eastwood and Sue Phillips completed the day with 15 points. In the individual Stableford competition, Mandi scored 36 points, Nikki 32, Carol 29, Penny 28, Ann 26, Di 25, Kerrie 23, Pauline 22, Mel and Jo P. 21, Jenny 20, Marie 19, Sue Pr. 17, Cara 16, Jayne 14, Sue Ph. 12. Penny scored the NTP on the 9th hole with a great drive while Jayne scored the one on the 17th hole with her second shot. It was good to meet Nikki’s mum, Eileen straight off the plane from England. Well done to walk 9 holes!! Some interesting stories today included drama at the dam with three ladies drowning a ball each – Sue Ph. Marie and Nikki. The creek also came into contention claiming Di, Marie, Sue Ph. and Pauline. Carol had 4 shots before she reached the creek. Not a good hole for her. Pauline had a remote ball on the 7th hole. From the men’s tee, it ran down the hill, over the bridge and ended up on the other side of the ditch for her to have an easier second shot than she was expecting!! Cara and Sue Ph. played the 2nd and 11th incorrectly, realised their mistake, and went back to play them correctly. Nature was at its best as some of the ladies saw 18 ducklings with mum and dad on the 5/14th hole. The ladies celebrated Carol’s birthday with a delicious cake made by Sue Ph . On August 4th to 8th, Mandi Vardon represented the Strathalbyn club at the Port Augusta Golf Classic. She had a great 4 days scoring a range of prizes, on Wednesday NTP – a box of drinking Chocolate, on Thursday 2nd in Gross – a wall clock, on Saturday 2nd in the Ambrose with Graeme Noble – indoor garden. However, the best prize was winning the competition over the whole week. If you chipped in on the 18th green, there was a $100 prize. On the last day, Mandi was off the green, had a good downhill left to right, 8 metres, and she made it. Turns out she was the only one so the $500 was hers. What does it take to play golf?  A lot of balls!!!! 12/8/2026 Pauline Walkom wins the day. On Wednesday 12th August, 13 ladies played a Stableford competition in windy conditions, but luckily no rain. The course was heavy after the rain and the greens were slow for some of the ladies. Or maybe they just need to be braver and hit the putt a little harder. A few ended up centimetres from the hole. Pauline Walkom showed how to play the course by finishing with a credible 31 points considering the conditions. Penny Geue was not far behind with 30 points. Nikki Alves and Ann Semple followed with 26, while Marie Kingsbury and Kerrie Edwards scored 25 points. Four ladies all finished with 23 points, and they were Jayne Dunn, Mel Johnson, Sue Pryor and Tonya Merritt. Jenny Drury and Jo Pickhaver scrambled to 22 points while Cara Eastwood had 18 points. As you can see scoring was not high!! It was nice to see Tonya back out playing golf. Nikki won the NTP on the 9th hole with a good drive to the hole. Ann had a gobbler (chip in) on the 3rd hole while Jayne had one on the 10th hole. Penny scored a birdie on the 6th hole with a great drive and finishing putt for 2 on the par 3. Many stories from the day. Ann found the dam and the dam edge on her round, Cara and Ann both found the ditch on the 14th hole via various means. Sue found the creek and then on the 6th hole her buggy was behaving badly, not the operator??!! A big chase to catch it as no remote to be found- not available!! Nikki lost her GPS for a short while but eventually found it in the grass between the 13th green and the 17th tee block. Marie found the water on the fairway on the 7th. I hope she took a drop for casual water. It was great seeing the galahs back now that the little corellas have left for a while. The kangaroos were out and it was lovely to see one of the new season’s joeys with its head out of the pouch. How do you know your golf game is terrible?  When you had to have your ball retriever regripped!! 5/8/2026 Cara Eastwood shows the way. Wednesday 5th of August proved to be a perfect golfing day for the ladies at Strathalbyn. Overcast, calm, not even a breeze, and no rain so the conditions could not be blamed for any of the scores that were had on the day. The 14 ladies who played 18 holes played a few competitions including, a Stroke and Putting round, the 5th Qualifying round of the Championships, Monthly Medal for August, and Mc Bain. Winner of the day was Cara Eastwood with a nett score of 72. She played exactly to her handicap. Runner-up was Jenny Drury with 75, followed by Ann Semple 77. Jo Pickhaver and Penny Geue had 78, Nikki Alves, Pauline Walkom and Marie Kingsbury all scored 81, and Claire Methven finished with 82. Di Krutli and Sam Bradley had 86, Sue Phillips 87, Gill Keane 88 and Jayne Dunn finished with 95. Maureen Need played 9 holes and finished with 49. In the Putting competition, Marie won the day with 28 followed by Jenny with 30. Next came Ann 31, Penny and Di 34, Nikki and Pauline 35, Cara 37, Jo and Gill 38, Sam and Jayne 39, Claire 40 and Sue 43. NTP on the 17th hole with her second shot was Jenny and Jo had a gobbler (chip in) on the 9th hole. It was great to see Di out playing golf after her shoulder injury. Jayne, Gill and Jo’s group skipped over drains but found the dam edge and then the dam for Jayne and Gill. Jo’s shot ended up near to fence. She didn’t want to be the third in the dam!! Ann and Sue also found the dam while Cara was lucky as her shot hit the tree in the middle of the fairway and bounced to the rough on the edge of the dam.   What did the dentist say to the golfer?  You have a hole in one!! 29/7/2026 Ann Semple wins on a countback. Thirteen ladies headed out to the Strathalbyn course to play a Par competition on Wednesday 29th July. The conditions were fair with only a little drizzle part way through the round but luckily there was no wind to make the conditions unsavoury. Lots of kangaroos were sighted with at least 16 being counted. Using the conditions the best were Ann Semple and Mandi Vardon with Ann winning on a countback. They scored +1 for their round. The next two ladies were Jenny Drury and Claire Methven who squared their round. The rest of the ladies were unable to score in a positive way. Their scores were Cara Eastwood -3, Marie Kingsbury and Carol Pelle -5, Mel Johnsom -6, Pauline Walkom -7, Kerrie Edwards -8, Penny Geue -9 and Jo Pickhaver -11. The ladies had 2 NTPs. Mel won the first one on the 9th hole and Ann won the 17th hole with her second shot. It landed 1cm from rolling into the hole but refused to drop. Kerrie had a wonderful gobbler on the 5th hole. It was at least 30 metres from the hole, rolled down the slope and disappeared into the hole. Mandi had a gobbler on the 14th. The dam and creek claimed some balls. Penny, Claire and Ann all drowned balls in the dam. Its nice and full now, so there is no way of rescuing any that even roll in. Ann found the creek as well.  Kerrie hit trees on her round, but the majority found a good place to stop for a safe second shot. Great to see Di Krutli out practising chipping and putting after her shoulder injury. Hopefully she will be out playing on Wednesdays soon. On Friday 31st July, Ann Semple and Mandi Vardon represented the Strathalbyn Club at the Swan Reach Open day. It was a very foggy and cold drive. Golf was 'off' for both ladies so there were no prizes there. They both came home with a bag of potatoes - they were giveaways, not prizes.