Strathalbyn Golf Club

05/09/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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.’

30/08/2026

Fantastic day, fantastic weather, awesome crew and many laughs and fun at today’s Sponsors day.
We couldn’t be who we are as a club without your support.
Support those who support us!

29/08/2026

Just a reminder for today. The course is closed until 2pm
Thankyou

Hi all, please note next Sunday the 30th of August the course will be closed for our annual sponsors day. The course will reopen at 2pm.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
Thankyou

28/08/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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!!

26/08/2026

Not golf, but what amazing words.

23/08/2026

Hi all, please note next Sunday the 30th of August the course will be closed for our annual sponsors day. The course will reopen at 2pm.
Apologies for any inconvenience.
Thankyou

22/08/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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!!!!

14/08/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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!!

08/08/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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!!

01/08/2026

Strathalbyn Ladies Golf
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.