Millaa Millaa Golf Club

16/06/2026

With the weather starting to improve is there a better way to spend a morning.

15/06/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
14 JUNE
Before I get on to this week’s results, a couple of celebrations should be noted. Yesterday Alan “Happy” Hapgood brought along cakes to share for his 60th birthday – truly a Happy birthday. (The superb cakes, I understand, were courtesy of Michelle Bradley, our wonderful pastry chef. It’s not true that we only let her husband Shane play because of her cooking.) Also, I missed Ray Marsh’s 80th last month (mainly because he wouldn’t tell me when it was). Great milestones all round, anyway.

With such advanced birthdays, it’s just as well that we are getting some (relatively) young blood amongst our newer members, and it’s great to see them sharing in the winnings already. Last week, Mark Hayward was our winner, and this week first and second places also went to players who have recently joined. The Stroke event was sponsored by our local State MP, Shane Knuth – thank you Shane for your continued support. Way out in front was Fred Anderson with an excellent nett 62 in just his fourth start. Rod McInnes, also new this year, took out second on 68, just ahead of Shane Bradley with 69. Sheree Rolfe was the best of the ladies with 71 nett.
NTPs were won by Beorn Peacey with a great shot to 1/10, Glen Vick (2nd shot 8/17) and Sheree Rolfe (3rd shot Ladies to 7/16). No-one could get a tee shot onto 5/14 – given the cold head wind on that hole, I’m not surprised.

This was also week two of the Club Championship. In B Grade, Warwick Howarth has increased his lead over Brian Cole to seven, with Glen Vick and Beorn Peacey a shot further back. C Grade is a little closer; Karl Youse is two strokes clear of Paul Chiari, with Geoff Errey one behind Paul.

Back in the club house, Les Taylor, Alan Hapgood and Fred Anderson were raffle winners, while Warwick Howarth scored the members’ draw (his first time in all the years he’s been playing he reckons). The $100 board was also drawn and was shared by Wayne Crowley, Shane Bradley and Alan Hapgood (the things we do for his birthday). And welcome back to our treasurer Trevor Warrener, fresh from a long holiday in WA.
Just a reminder that membership fees are due by the end of this month – they can be paid on-line or on Sunday when you come for our next Stroke event. This will be sponsored by Saw Civil, one of our new sponsors this year – thanks Steve and Grant – and will also be the concluding round of the Club Championship.

Mungalli Creek Dairy
MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL
Elders Insurance Tablelands
Central Tyre Service Atherton
PaintRight Cairns
Fnqvga Vets Golf
Yungaburra Butchery
Golfworld.com.au
Millaa Millaa Tourist Park
Malanda Meat Co
Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat

07/06/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
7 JUNE
Decisions, decisions… It’s 8° - do I go with the long trousers for golf this morning and risk being too hot later on, or wear shorts and suffer the cold till the sun warms up? (I know, I know – First World problem.) As it turned out, a cool breeze and cloud towards the end of the round meant that it never got too hot for anyone who had decided to dress conservatively. Anyway, a year-best turnout of 27 players arrived in glorious conditions for the June Monthly Medal, sponsored as ever by Mungalli Dairy and the Millaa Millaa Hotel. Our thanks to both these local businesses for their continuing valued support. This also counted as the first round of the 2026 Club Championship. A welcome back to Zac White who has rejoined the club after being away for a couple of years, and we also welcomed a visitor in Graham Kershaw.

Despite the course looking in immaculate condition thanks to our hard-working volunteers, scoring on the day (except for the winner) wasn’t overly impressive, especially from some of our better-credentialled members. The Monthly Medal was decided as usual on the best nett score, but the Championship will be awarded on lowest total gross score over the three weeks – gradings determined on GA handicap rather than Daily Handicap. So, Monthly Medal results first. Mark Hayward, in only his third competition round, streeted the field with a nett 64 to finish first, well ahead of Karl Youse and Bruce Hunter, both on 70. Mark’s 90 off the stick is his best round ever, he says. A countback gave second place to Karl with his excellent 39 on the back nine holes. Glen Vick picked up nearest-the-pin on 1/10, while Karl rounded out his successful day with NTPs on both 5/14 and second shot to 3/12.

In the Championship, neither of the A Grade players were able to make it today. Leaders in B Grade so far are Warwick Howarth (80), Brian Cole (83) and Alan Hapgood (87), while in C Grade Karl Youse (85) leads Paul Chiari (86) and Geoff Errey (89). So Warwick is thus far well placed to retain his Club Champions title.

With a big field in attendance, there were enough entries for four draws in the raffle – winners were Sheree Rolfe, Graham Murray and Bruce Hunter twice. Warwick Howarth donated four sleeves of golf balls, so four extra draws took place to distribute those. Thanks Warwick. Andrew Broadbent’s number came up in the members’ draw, and in his absence, it jackpots again to next week. Andrew and wife Hayley are the new owners of the Millaa Millaa Caravan Park – Andrew is also a mechanic and has kindly offered to help maintain the Club mowers for us. Much appreciated Andrew. If you have visitors camping up this way during the tourist season, make sure you recommend Andrew and Hayley’s hospitality.

Next week’s Stroke round is sponsored by our local State MP, Shane Knuth, and will also be Round 2 of the Championship. See you all then.


Mungalli Creek Dairy
MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL
Elders Insurance Tablelands
Central Tyre Service Atherton
PaintRight Cairns
Fnqvga Vets Golf
Yungaburra Butchery
Golfworld.com.au
Millaa Millaa Tourist Park
Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat
Malanda Meat

02/06/2026

01/06/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
31 MAY
Millaa turned on its best weather for the year thus far, so it was slightly disappointing that only 18 starters fronted for the Atherton Gas and Camping 2-Ball Ambrose on Sunday. After the draw for partners, the nine pairs set off under a cloudless sky with ideal conditions for great scoring. Some of the greens are still a bit iffy while we wait for the grass to grow back, but the rest of the course is looking terrific.

Mal Armstrong and Graham Suffield took out first place with a nett 63½, clearly ahead of Mark Peters (welcome back from two months in the Territory) and Mark Twomey with 64¾, though the two Marks did have the best gross score with a one over par 70. Third place went to Fred Anderson and Ash Healy on 65¾. NTPs were won by Don McHardie and Paul Chiari (1/10), Les Taylor and Graham Murray (5/14) and Rod McInnes and Ross Ellen (second shot to 8/17). Karl Youse and Ross Heidke picked up the raffle prizes, while the members’ draw jackpots to next week.

As next week sees the start of the Club Championship, it would be good to see a few more volunteers on Wednesday to help prepare the course for the big event. The Championship will be conducted over the next three Sundays (7th, 14th and 21st), though each Sunday will also be a stand-alone event, starting with the June Monthly Medal next Sunday. So even if you can’t make it for all three Sundays of the Championship, you can still compete in any of the individual Stroke events.

Mungalli Creek Dairy
MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL
Elders Insurance Tablelands
Central Tyre Service Atherton
PaintRight Cairns
Fnqvga Vets Golf
Yungaburra Butchery
Golfworld.com.au
Millaa Millaa Tourist Park
Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat
Malanda Meat Co
Millaa Millaa Golf Club

25/05/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
24 MAY
With a few days of fine weather at last, the maintenance crew were able to get busy with the mowers during the week, and get the course looking in good shape for Sunday’s competition, which was a Stableford event sponsored by Eacham Fuel, courtesy of Errol and Bec Langley. It was satisfying to finally get some reward for shots as the course has dried out considerably and the ball actually bounced and ran after landing for a change!
Despite the improved conditions, the scores turned in by the 19 starters weren’t all that brilliant – perhaps we were having trouble adjusting to the more benign environment. No-one could reach nett par – the best was Brian Hughes with a nett 70, which gained him 35 Stableford points and first place on the day. Les Taylor and Doug Rolfe tied for second with 34, while Karl Youse (33) beat Graham Suffield for fourth on a countback with an excellent 22 points on the back nine.
Karl (1/10), Ash Healy (5/14) and David Gibson (second shot to the seventh) were nearest-the-pin winners, earning themselves a spot each on the $100 board. Fred Anderson, Geoff Errey and Paul Chiari had winning entries in the raffle, while Rod McInnes’ number was pulled out in the members’ draw, which scored him a nice little bonus. It’s back to $10 again next week.
Roger and his team at Atherton Gas and Camping are our generous sponsors for next Sunday’s event. We’ll be drawing for partners in a two-ball Ambrose, and with a forecast of even more dry weather, we’re looking forward to some good scoring.
Just a reminder that after that, on the first three Sundays in June we’ll be holding the three rounds of the Club Championship for 2026. From memory, Warwick Howarth (A Grade), Brian Cole (B Grade) and Trevor Warrener (C Grade) are the defending champions from last year - can they do it again? Given that Warwick is now in Cairns, Coley has been crook with the flu for a month, and Trevor is currently on holidays in Perth, there may be a chance for the rest of us. The June Monthly Medal will coincide with Round 1 of the Championship.

Mungalli Creek Dairy
MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL
Elders Insurance Tablelands
Central Tyre Service Atherton
PaintRight Cairns
Fnqvga Vets Golf
Yungaburra Butchery
Golfworld.com.au
Millaa Millaa Tourist Park
Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat
Malanda Meat Co
Millaa Millaa Golf Club

18/05/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
17 MAY
An oven full of hot sausage rolls and party pies greeted 20 cold, wet golfers after they finished their round on Sunday, which can only mean that the event was sponsored by the wonderful people at Malanda Bakery. Thanks so much to Ash and Deb Healy – never has a hot feed been so welcome at Millaa. Ash also took pity on us and made the Stableford event a best-9-holes format, which meant we could scrap all those scores affected by the rain and boggy conditions (well, nine of them anyway).
Doug Rolfe’s 25 points were enough to get first prize, just in front of Warwick Howarth on 24. Ross Ellen and Glen Vick tied for third on 22, but with no way of doing a countback in this format, a coin was produced and Ross was pronounced the winner when Glen called tails incorrectly. Ash had also brought along a pumpkin from his garden, so Glen happily took that as his consolation.
Glen was also nearest the pin on 1/10; Shane Bradley on 5/14 (welcome back from SA) and Warwick with a great second shot on 8/17 took the other two prizes.
The three raffle winners were Ray Marsh, Doug Rolfe and Bruce Hunter, while Graham Suffield, Don McHardie, Fred Anderson and Bruce Hunter shared the $100 board winnings. The members’ draw jackpots for another week.
As you can see from the photos of the worst parts of the course, we really need a spell of dry weather to give the place a chance to recover. Rainless days with sunshine are forecast for a few days – let’s hope it lasts until at least next Sunday, when Errol and Bec Langley from Eacham Fuels are sponsoring another Stableford event. In the meantime, stay dry and we look forward to seeing you all next week.

Mungalli Creek Dairy MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL Elders Insurance Tablelands Central Tyre Service Atherton PaintRight Cairns Fnqvga Vets Golf Yungaburra Butchery Golfworld.com.au Millaa Millaa Tourist Park Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat Malanda Meat Co

12/05/2026

Never to early to get your nominations in.

10/05/2026

MILLAA MILLAA GOLF CLUB
10 MAY
Before I get onto this week’s event, a big shout out to Wayne Norris. Last Sunday, after his round of golf, Wayne started tackling the gully in front of the third green with the club’s little push mower, then came back on Monday to finish the job. Given the length of the grass and weeds in the gully – almost knee-high in places – this was an outstanding effort from a guy who celebrated his 80th birthday earlier in the year. As someone who had attempted the top parts of the slope a few weeks ago (and given up when I got into the heavier stuff) I can attest that this was a monumental achievement. Great work Chuck.
To golf. With persistent drizzle forecast, it wasn’t surprising that by 8.30 this morning only five stalwarts had turned up, and we were thinking about calling the day off. But in ones and twos over the next half hour more players appeared until we teed off with nineteen very optimistic golfers for Bill and Di Dray’s Stableford event. Bill and Di have just returned from a trip to Mitchell – pity they didn’t bring some western Queensland weather home with them. As well as having the Drays back with us, we also welcomed back Les Taylor, our club captain, from a couple of months down south.
Despite initial predictions that the conditions were due to improve as the morning went on, they didn’t. Ray Marsh suggested that someone had parked a large iceberg off the Innisfail coast and it certainly felt that way. The wind grew stronger and colder, the rain got worse and the course became boggier by the minute. Cart driving was even becoming dangerous, and one by one, groups gave up and retired from the course, until at around midday those who were left called the game off after 11 holes. (Just when I was having my best round in months.)
So we’ll try again next week, with a 4BBB Stableford event sponsored by Ash and Deb Healy of Malanda Bakery. Pick your own team and we’ll see you there, hopefully with better conditions.

Mungalli Creek Dairy
MILLAA MILLAA HOTEL
Elders Insurance Tablelands
Central Tyre Service Atherton
PaintRight Cairns
Fnqvga Vets Golf
Yungaburra Butchery
Golfworld.com.au
Millaa Millaa Tourist Park
Rose Gums Wilderness Retreat
Malanda Meat Co

06/05/2026

Free fertiliser and a close trim on the practice green.