The Northern Beaches Goodwill Golf Pairs Championship
Sunday 8 Feb 26
TD's Tim Becker and Gary
Skulander
The 2026 event
Four Teams arrived ready to do battle on a cloudy morning. The course is redesigning the 15th and 16th holes which became Par 3 holes on the day and we were very fortunate as rain did not occur until after we finished.
Gary, Marie and Nick joined us for refreshments in the clubhouse.
John and Ken combined to wipe out any competition with 52 Points with Neil and Mike runners up with 42 Points.
A fun morning had by all and thanks to Gary and Marie for their assistance.
TimThe Format
Both partners tee off on every hole. Each player then plays their partner's ball as their second shot, the best of the two balls is then selected and that ball is then played alternate-shot until holed.
The Handicaps are SMERGS plus 3 for 20 plus handicaps and plus 2 for under 20 adjusted to the Long Reef Slope off the White tees as found on the SMERGS Website.
The Teams Handicap is calculated by adding both players and divided by 2. and if it is uneven then it is rounded up, so lucky team!
The Results
Team
H'cap Front
Back
Team
1
Steve Figgis & Tim Becker
33 21
19
40
2
John Ferreira & Ken Miller
24 26
26
52
3
Neil McLaren & Mike Bell
30 21
21
42
4
Peter Burns & Peter Thornton
26 17
19
36
Goodwill Pairs winners John and Ken, 2 shots Front 9 winner Steve and Tim, 1 shot Back 9 winner Neil and Moke, 1 shot NTP 2nd Hole Neil McLaren Longest Drive, 9th hole Ken Miller NTP 13th hole Ken Miller
The Photos
Ken and John don the Pairs Jacket
The Obelisk (three club event)
November 16, 2025
TD Nick Hillyard
2025 titleholder: Nick Hillyard
2025 Event:
The
Annual Dinner on Friday night was SMERGing at its best and special thanks to Ken
Miller for organising the venue and to Phil Stabback who led The Song with
perfect harmonies.
This morning, Nick fresh from his many months cavorting around Europe both
organised The Obelisk Three Club event and went on to win with 20 points.
Longest drive and NTP were won by Steve Urwin.
2025 Results: Click here
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Phil leads the SMERGS Choir - 14 Nov 25 |
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(or The Golden Putter)
19 October 25
TD: Rick Butler
The
Bobbitt is a celebration of skill with a short stick played in honour of the
legendary John Bobbitt who famously had his penis severed and thrown out of the
window by his wife. He will forever be known for his performance with a short
stick and the moral of the story is "never push your luck on a Sunday morning".
"No" means No so go and play golf!!
(Previously known as The Bobbick until extensive research by Peter Thornton
revealed the mistake. Click here for Peter's
research.)
2025
Rules: This event takes place over the usual 9 holes and all putts on
the green count towards the final result.
This is a two ball event as the Bobbit is played in parallel with our customary
9 holes.
2025 titleholder: Tim Becker won with a massive 15 putts, the second highest
number ever! We must be getting old.
Click here for the Stableford results, which Tim
also won with
just 40 hits for a massive 26 points.
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2025 Results: |
Winners: |
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Australia Day
Saint
Mary MacKillop Miracle Open
Monday 26 January 2026
Tournament Director: Steve Urwin
2026 Rules for the Day
- For (we think) the first time, played over 18 holes rather than the back 9 at The Royal
- First group tees off at 6.00am so on the first tee no later than 5.50am please. It’s a full card behind us, from 6.30am.
- White tees
- SMERGS handicaps
- Usual, ‘putter grip’ length ‘gimme’ puts
- Three balls in
- Order of play in handicap order and miracle ball (provided) is played in rotation through team.
- Miracle ball scores double stableford points towards team prize only, played/ rotated in handicap order from low handicapper. Otherwise team score is total points per hole.
- To score miracle ball, score normally and multiply by 2. In other words if you score a zero points normally, the miracle ball still scores zero.
- If miracle ball is out of play/ out of bounds it can continue to be used, if found, with applicable penalty (e.g. if retrieved from water hazard, one shot penalty, if out of bounds, 2-shot penalty, to continue to use miracle ball)
- If miracle ball found by another group it cannot be played by them
2026 TD's Report
A full field of 12 was on the first tee before 6am, 11 SMERGS as well as Steve’s Northbridge clubmate Sead Redzovic. Pace was good and we got through in 3˝ hours.
Results:
Miracle Ball/ team score
Team 1 (Urwin, Redzovic, Becker and Bell) – required a miracle on 10th to get a bounce back in from well OB. Retained ball throughout. Score 159 points (winning team)
Team 2 (Butler, Ferreira, Thornton and Lowndes) – miracle ball survived until the 3rd hole only. Score 126
Team 3 (McLaren, Miller, Waddington, Skulander) – captain ‘misplaced’ miracle ball with tee shot on 1st hole! Score 138
NTP on 5 McLaren
NTP in 2 on 11 Bell
NTP on 15 Becker
Long drive on 18 McLaren
Front 9 (lose one shot) Skulander (20)
Back 9 (lose 1 shot) Bell (23)
Overall (lose 2 shots) Becker and Waddington tied (40)
The usual ‘tee ceremony’ took place from Urwin’s extensive tee collection.
Scores:
Becker 40
Waddington 40
Skulander 38
Bell 35
Lowndes 34
Miller 33
Ferreira 33
Urwin 30
Thornton 28
Butler 28
McLaren 27
Redzovic 25
Coffee – paid for by Team 2
Thanks Steve for a terrific morning
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Joint winners of the 18 hole MMM stroke the trophy |
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And here's the mob |
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ANZAC DAY
TROPHY
Saturday, 25th
April 2025 (34th Year) TD Alan Waddington |
Played each year at Royal
Northbridge Golf Club
The longest
running SMERGS major. Played over the back nine until 2007. In 2008
and 2009
played over 18 holes.
In 2010 rain prevented play on 25th April and the event was played over the back
nine the following day, a public holiday.
In 2011 rain again prevented play on Anzac Day and just four intrepid SMERGS turned up on the following day (a public holiday due to Easter Monday) to play in intermittent rain.
In 2012, played over the first ten holes which proved popular as 12 intrepid SMERGS did battle with the unfamiliar holes.
In 2013. TD Alan reverted to the back nine format.
In 2020 postponed due to Covid restrictions, played close to Armistice Day on 8th November
Since 2021, back to "normal"
In 2025, TD Alan reports:
Nine players teed off in the 33rd SMERGS
Dawn Patrol. Drenching rain which greeted our arrival in the car-park,
eased and we enjoyed a fine, though misty morning with just a few sprinkles. Tim
joined us this year, delivering The Ode, a fitting resume of ANZAC history and
his own story of two years as an Army conscript.
Alan O’D was victorious, recording his fourth Dawn Patrol victory. Nick was
runner-up and the TD took third place on the Honour Roll. The Teams Award was
incredibly close with Teams 1 & 2 equal on 50 points and Team 3 on 49 points.
No one took the Big Bertha award for the second year in succession and the TD
took the Nearest to the Pin Award on the17th.
Thank you all for an enjoyable morning's golf and coffee at OOPS, the old venue
of SCHMOOZE.
Lest we forget
Hearty thanks to TD Wadds and to all who participated this year.
2025 Results:
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Click here for individual results |
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The Winner |
Alan O'Donovan |
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NTP 17th |
Alan Waddington |
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Longest Drive 18th |
No one on the fairway! |
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Best team |
Tied (not team Wadds/Hillyard/ Lowndes!) |
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Coffee at OOPS |
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