Murray Downs Pro Shop

19/06/2026

Great story by Shane Fleming in today's Guardian as we officially opened the 19th hole! ⛳

GREY skies and steady rain failed to dampen the mood at the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club yesterday, as members and guests gathered for the official opening of the club’s new 19th hole.

The new addition represents the club’s first major development since the course officially opened in 1991, with members and guests braving the wet conditions to celebrate a project expected to safeguard one of regional Australia’s premier golfing destinations.

Designed by the original course designer Ted Parslow, with help from Jason Winter, the 19th hole will help protect the course and maintain its standing, according to club chief executive Mark Parry.

He told The Guardian the opening was a “significant” moment in the history of the club.

“We’re very careful and we’re very proud of the course, so we engaged the original design team because we wanted it to fit in with the first 18 holes,” Parry said.

“Designing the hole to fit in with the rest of the course is important for any number of reasons, but particularly for course ratings and golf- related matters.

“It also gives us a lot of surety going forward, particularly if we have any maintenance issues, of any description, we now have the security of always having an 18-hole golf course.

“Maintenance issues could be anything from planned maintenance or unplanned maintenance, and now we have that safety for our members and our guests, that we will always have 18 holes available for you.

“It has been planned for a long time and I’m pretty lucky to work with a progressive and strong board, who really want to do things around both clubs, and bear in mind that we still have the Swan Hill Club too.

“Importantly, we are doing things to improve the club, not just on the course or in the clubrooms, but everywhere around the facility for all our members.”
Construction of the original course began in mid-October 1988, with the course opening in March 1991, with the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club fully operational for the past 35 years.

The addition of the 19th hole has been a project 25 years in the making, however, with construction taking place from December last year.

While many people had parts to play in the project, Parry was quick to praise the work of course superintendent Paul Robinson and Ben Chambers from Centreline Golf Design in Moama, who both worked tirelessly in sometimes harsh conditions to ensure its completion on time and on budget.

“For something that’s been in planning for over 25 years, it’s great to tick it off,” Parry said.

“There’s still lots more work to do, but we only started work properly on it in December.

“Overall, we’re happy that it’s in for any number of reasons, and we just want to assure the local community that we’re moving forward with several different projects, and to watch this space.”

After hosting the 2024 NSW Open, which featured golfing greats such as Cam Smith, Lucas Herbert and Geoff Ogilvy, the Murray Downs Golf & Country Club is the only top 100 ranked Australian championship golf course on the Murray River.

The 19th hole will bring plenty of positive additions to the club, least of which will be the opportunity for new golf professional Matt McFarlane to further teach and improve the games of our regions next generation of talented young golfers, as well as those new to the sport.

McFarlane, who will be running a two-day clinic during the school holidays, will make use of the club’s newest addition, with the clinic likely to be the perfect opportunity for the hole to be utilised.

“It is a 19th hole, so the majority of the time it won’t be in play, but it is a safety net for our team,” Parry said.

“It’s another asset for the club to make sure we can do those important things, such as teach people about golf, from beginners to scratch markers.

“The hole will be fully rated, and the course will be fully rated in when and if the hole needs to be put in play.

“But, again, that was why it was important to have the same designers of the original course design the hole.

“It’s a unique course, and we wanted the hole to reflect the course itself; you could put the pin in some interesting places.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get really close to the hole today given the weather conditions, but it’s an interesting hole, with the tee box high, the hole lower, and the green has a lot of different gradients.

“We could make it nigh on impossible or not too bad, and it’s got more sand than Bondi Beach in it, so you could get yourself in trouble really quickly.”

19/06/2026

Good luck to the Murray Downs Junior Pennant Team this Sunday as they take on Thurgoona GC at Deniliquin in the second round of the Golf NSW Encourage Shield.

18/06/2026

MURRAY DOWNS MEN’S GOLF REPORT

Par, Thursday June 11

Mates Jason Stevens and Dan O’Bryan had a day out last Thursday. Often playing together, Jason (8) and Dan (26) had a day out with winning their respective grades (A and C Grade) with +2 each. Dan was the overall winner on the day with a better back nine, but Jason’s back to back birdies on hole eight and nine was impressive too.

Behind Jason in A Grade were some Murray Downs Golf and Country Club veterans, with Laurie Shipsides (14) only just edging out Ken Gregory (10) when both players finished on +1. All three players in B Grade finished on the same score of +1 with John Tripodi (17) inching out the others in first, Stephen Cameron (17) in second, and Christy Merritt (15) third. Adrian Walker (28) finished with the silver medal in C Grade behind Dan on +1 and Gerard McKay claimed the bronze on -1.

Stableford, Saturday June 13

The Stableford saw Brenton Halligan return to form to top the leaderboard and claim the overall winner’s prize. Playing of his handicap of 12, Brenton scored a neat 19 points on each nine to finish on 38 points and claiming the secondary honour of first in B Grade. A Grade had a trio of 34 point efforts from Andrew Spitty (-2) Luke Merritt (0) and Shane Ingram with Andrew winning on a countback ahead of the other two with three birdies on the back nine.

Brian Elliott (14) and Laurie Shipsides (13) finished with 37 and 36 points respectively to take out the remaining places behind Brenton in B Grade and Stuart Patterson (17), Tony Miceli (15) and Allan Spencer (20) were amongst it in C Grade with 37, 36 and 35 points. The D Grade golfers who outperformed the others included Tom Lambert (24) in front on 36 points, followed by Charles Talboys (26) on 36 points, and in third came Howard Rosewarne (29) on 35 points.

4BBB Stableford, Sunday June 14

In the teams’ event on Sunday, pairings of players competed in the 4BBB Stableford competition. Justin Toomey had to pair up with two players because their group did not have a fourth player. Just struck it lucky teaming up with Mark and Bradley Pickering who had very good rounds. Mark and Justin took out first place on 49 points, only narrowly beating the pairing of Bradley and Justin who finished on the same score.

18/06/2026

Women's Golf Report:

Claris Bourne and Carol Wiseman were the leading scorers at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club on Wednesday.

Weather conditions were perfect, the fairways are still benefiting from the mild conditions and these two competitors, playing off handicaps of 30 and 32 respectively, were the winners of the two divisions.

Pam Austerberry (26) and Sally Fearn (33) were the runners-up.

Tamika Hogan scored a four on the par 5 12th hole to collect the value of at least 35 golf balls. Leanne Button 38 points and Tamika 37 points were the ball pool leaders and Tamika also collected a nearest the pin prize as did Bev Holt and Virginia Allen.

On Saturday, Lynne Bishop (13) scored 41 points to win from Kristy Gordon (20) 38 points. Lynne is often to be found in the practice fairway and her current form is the result of her commitment to the game. Michelle Holt (30) and Melita Sartori (32) were next best with 38 points each.

Lynne also collected the two nearest the pin prizes on offer.

The Silver and Golden Putters are next week’s events with full fields teeing off on Wednesday and Thursday. Assembly on both days is 8.30am.

17/06/2026

The Golden Girls are a group of lady golfers who play 9 holes every Friday at 9am.

Golfers of all abilities and ages are welcome with details available from the Pro Shop or Eileen Morath 0459 361908.

Jill Brown was the winner on Friday with21 points, Michelle Ewart was next best with 20 points and the nearest the pin prize went to Mag Kiley.

11/06/2026

MURRAY DOWNS MEN’S GOLF REPORT

Stableford, Thursday June 4

You know the course is playing difficult when the highest Stableford Score in the field is 35 points. Shaun Lawry (18) achieved that milestone last Thursday to take out the overall winner’s prize and first place in C Grade in a field of 76 players. The morning field had the best of the conditions with the sun shining and only slight breeze troubling players throughout the morning. Shaun birdied the eleventh hole on his way to victory, getting better on the back nine to claim victory. The C Grade players seemed to play better on the day with Robert James (29) finishing with 35 points also in second place, and Gregory Daniels (26) in third on 34.

A Grade was taken out by Matthew Loats (7) who may have thought his 32 points was nowhere near the mark on the way round. But golf is a relative sport and as long as you beat the others on the day the rewards are yours. All three prize winners in A Grade finished on 32 with Lyonel O’Shannassy (10) and Noah Starrs (-1) placing second and third on a countback.

B Grade was won by Graeme Matchiske (14) on 34 points, with Bob Burns in second on 34 and Malcolm Talbot (18) rounding out the numbers on the podium on 32.

Monthly Medal Stroke, Saturday June 6

Congratulations go to Allan Spencer who had a nett score of -2 in tough conditions on Saturday to win the June Monthly Medal. The last of the Financial Year, Allan will go into the field of monthly medal winners from the past 12 months to vie for the title of Medal of Medalists in July. Playing off his handicap of 21, Allan started on fire, shooting a nett -4 on the front nine to set his round up in style.

Matt Harrop (22) was second overall on a score of nett -1 and Anthony Ford (21) did very well to beat his son our for third place on nett even (we know who had the bragging rights in that family on the weekend!). Grant Ford (9) played very well for fourth place on +1, followed by Laurie Shipsides (16) and Jason Perry (16) on the same nett score. The remaining players in the top ten finished on +2 with Ian Johansen, Jimmy McLean, Lleyton McLean and Paul Mckee filling the remaining spots. Of those listed, Grant, Ian, Laurie and Matt won the Grade prizes behind Allan.

Stableford, Sunday June 7 and Monday June 8

While the local races were the main event over the weekend, small fields of players still made their way out to the course on Saturday and Sunday. Forty-nine and fifty players respectively turned up on Sunday and Monday.

On Sunday, the A Grade prize was won by Lyonel O’Shannassy (10) who followed up his good Thursday round with a 39-point effort, just edging out Brad Cockfield (8) who played very well for his 38 points. B Grade was won by Dean Farrell on 38 points, just beating Jason Perry (15) who continued his Saturday form with 38 points too.

On Monday, Craig Fletcher (10) and Lleyton McLean (2) had a day, both scoring 39 points with Craig only determined the winner by countback. Tom Lambert (24) won the B Grade prize on 37. Special congratulations must go to Julie McLennan who was playing in the Medley Stableford Competition on Monday, winning the inaugural Ace Society Jackpot for Murray Downs, netting a whopping $5,212 for hitting a hole-in-one on the eleventh!

11/06/2026

Murray Downs Golf and Country Club recently joined the Ace Society group which rewards golfers who score a hole in one or shots within two metres of the hole.

The entry is included in the daily competition fee and cameras are installed at the tee and green on the 11th with competitors registering their tee shot via a QR code.

On Monday, Julie McLennan was the first member of the club to score a hole in one since joining the society and in doing so collected the jackpot of $5212.

On Wednesday, 53 women enjoyed a benign winters day and a course that is showing the benefits of recent rains and the unseasonally warmer weather.

Sandra Whitfield is the current D grade champion and is continuing to feature in the prize lists. On this occasion Sandra scored 39 points from her 37 handicap to win Division two from Julie Overall (32) 36 pts.

In Division one, Carolyn Zambelli (27) 38 points and Lynne Bishop (13) 35 points were the leaders.

Tracy Hooper 36 points and Val Hedwards and Marg Moore, both 35 points topped the list of ball winners and the nearest the pin winners were Tracy Hooper, Colleen Roberts and Jude Simmonds.

On Saturday, Carol Wiseman (32) scored 35 points win from Jude Simmonds (26) and Suzanne Napier (23) both 34 points.

Suzanne Napier and Terri O’Callaghan were the ntp winners.

Barb Upton was the Golden Girls May Golfer of the Month, runner up was Eileen Morath.

Deb Watson 18 points and Laurel Dewhurst 17 points were the winners on Friday.

The annual Silver and Golden putter tournament will be held on June 24th and 25th. Golfers from all over Victoria and interstate will compete for these prestigious trophies with full fields teeing off on both days.

The qualifying round of the mixed knockout will be held on Sunday. The format is a Chapmans event with the top eight pairs to go on to play for the title.

09/06/2026

04/06/2026

MURRAY DOWNS MEN’S GOLF REPORT

Golfer of the Year 2026

The race for the Golfer of the Year in 2026 is close and you could throw a blanket over the top ten with only four points the difference between number one and ten. Remember, Golfer of the Year is decided by accumulated scores across singles golf events on Saturdays between 6 January and 30 November. Those that come first in eligible Saturday events are awarded 10 points, second nine points all the way down to tenth who receives one point

Troy Gnitecki is sharing the lead with Jake Budde on 23 points, Mark Warren sits alone in third on 22 points, Grant McNees and Ross Hendy are tied for fifth on 20 points and the remaining players in the top ten are all tied for tenth on 19 points. This is a reminder that all players should aim to get out each Saturday because one top place finish could turn the tables.

Stableford, Thursday May 28

Mild May turned out another good day for golf Thursday last week with seventy-nine players making the most of the conditions before winter hit. A Grade saw Craig Fletcher return to the winner’s circle with 37 points of his handicap of ten. Craig had a handy round of 81 off the stick with two birdies. Laurie Shipsides (14) was in second place in the top grade on 36 points. Rick Harding (10) was third on 35 points.

B Grade included the overall winner in the field with Kayne Walker (21) finishing with 39 points, two points clear. With birdies on seven and sixteen, Kayne took advantage of the par fives to secure the win. John Tripodi (17) followed Kayne in B Grade with Paul Raudino rounding out the prizes.

Dan O’Bryan (27), Stephen Matthews (27) and Howard Rosewarne (29) all did well enough to win a bit of credit in C Grade with 36, 36 and 35 points respectively.

Stableford, Saturday May 30, Ace Society Grand Opening

Sadly, no one hit an ace on the 11th on Saturday for the Grand Opening of the Ace Society at Murray Downs. All members were shouted the entry fee for the Ace Cam live on the eleventh which awards $5,000 for a hole in one. I imagine Brenten Hogan and Wayne Such might be tempted to come out to see if lightening can strike twice after their hole-in-ones earlier in the year. There are consolation prizes for those who hit it withing two metres and one metre in addition to the usual jackpot.

While a guest took out the top spot in A Grade, Ken Gregory (9) and Luke Wilson (35) finished well enough to place on 36 and 35 points respectively. Playing well must have been hard going because all players in the B Grade winners finished on 34 points with Mark Warren (11) just edging in front on a countback ahead of Ross Hastings and Andrew Halligan. Ross also hit it close to win the nearest-the-pin award on the second hole, finishing 93 centimetres from the hole.

Brett Farlie (17) did well in C Grade, finishing first on 35 points with Tony Miceli (16) in second on 34 points and Quenten Graham (15) on 33 points in the bronze medal position. Andrew Sartori (29) continued his run in the prizes with 36 points with Jake Budde (22) backing up his good Thursday round on 35 points, and Geoffrey Frame (23) in third on 34.

Medley Stableford, Sunday May 31

Hugh Thompson came out for a round on Sunday and shot a neat 79 off the stick to be the best in the field on 40 points. Tom Lambert (25) was the next best male on 39 points and Tom Lambert (25) did very well on 37 points. The remaining males who placed in the prizes included Brenton Halligan (13) on 36, Dylan Charleson (39) on 36, Zachary Caccaviello (11) on 35, Dean Farrell (17) 35, and Jason Perry (14) 33.

03/06/2026

Murray Downs Women's Golf Report:

Leanne Button is certainly enjoying a “purple patch” at Murray Downs Golf & Country Club.

Last month she took out the D grade Championship handicap title and on Wednesday collected the June Monthly Medal with a score of 116-38-68.

New golfer, Melissa Caffrey (38) 75 nett was runner up to Leanne in Division two.

In Division one, Tamika Hogan (17) and Marg Moore (25) both scored 70 nett to collect the vouchers.

Michelle Holt 71 and Claris Bourne 74 led the ball pool and Tamika Hogan, Virginia Allen and Marg Moore were rewarded for accurate shots on the par 3’s.

Winner of the putting competition with 32 putts was Lois Carnie.

Kathy Parkinson (21) 38 points and Maralyn Morrison (32) 37 points were the Saturday comp winners. They were followed by Dione Heppell and Marg Moore, both 36 points.

Sarah Clark collected two ntp prizes.