Welcome to The Vintage Vine, your exclusive source for all things golf at Chateau Elan at The Vintage!

The Vintage are fielding three men’s teams in the 2025 Hunter River District Golf Association Pennants competitions – A Grade, B Grade and Seniors.

A Grade – team captain Matthew Hill

Our A Grade team played Scone at The Vintage this week – Scone sent packing! 

Round 2 saw our A-Grade team take on Scone at home under sensational conditions, and the boys delivered in style, securing a 3-2 victory. With some borrowed clubs, intergalactic shot-making, and a clutch finish, it was a match full of highlights. 

Pat McMahon: 3&2 Win

Pat put on a rock-solid performance, proving that skill beats equipment any day with a quick trip back to Newcastle museum to return his bag. A classy display from start to finish from the 2024 Match Play Champion. 

Mathew Hill: 5&4 Loss

Mathew had a rough day at the office, struggling to keep the ball on the planet. Sometimes, golf is just cruel, but he’ll be looking for revenge next time he steps up.

Jack Rachel: 3&2 Loss

Jack fought hard but couldn’t quite find the centre of the club face when he needed it. A tough one, but he’s never far away from turning it around.

Harry Preece: 6&4 Win

Absolute dominance from our Club Champion! Taking on an opponent twice his size, Harry made it look easy with a commanding win. Size doesn’t matter when your golf game does the talking.

Josh Fuller: 2 Up Win

Even with injury, Josh came through in the clutch, holing out on the last to slam the door shut on Scone. A huge moment to seal the team victory - ice in the veins!!

The Verdict:

A fantastic home win, with standout performances from Pat, Harry, and Josh leading the charge. Next week, we’re off to Kurri to take on Cypress Lakes. A good start to the season and time to keep the momentum rolling!

- Matt Hill

B Grade – team captain Nic Bates

Our B Grade team this week played Paterson, at Singleton. The team this week comprised

Rodney Teasdale

Bryan Seymour

Bill Karakousis

Nic Bates

Peter Jackson

The less spoken about today the better.. we were quickly brought back down to earth against a red hot Paterson side.

After some morning nerves rocket Rod lead us off and after going 3 down he settled in and the comeback started… after going back and forth he finally hit the lead on the 15th hole. A mistake on16 allowed his opponent to square the match… they squared the 17th and it was all down to the 18th.Paterson’s player managed to find the green 10ft from the hole with Rod pulling his 3 wood 60ft left of the green and leaving his approach short and eventually ending the match 1 down. 

Up next was Bryan, not much to be said about this as he come up against a decent player… he fought hard but eventually went down 6 and 5.

Debutant Bill was up next and after going 2 down inside the 1st 2 holes he managed to get it back to all square after 4 but that’s where it ended.. even though he played some really good golf, the golfing gods we firmly on Paterson’s side today eventually going down the same path as Bryan losing 6 and 5. 

I was up next and after 6 holes it look destined for a real early day being down by 5. After taking along hard look at myself I decided it was time to knuckle down and made the turn only 2 down. After finding the cricket ground off the tee on the 10th I was back to 3 down. Then, after hitting my approach to 10ft and making birdie on 15 I hit the lead. But the twists would continue and I would lose the 16th and after I somehow found the carpark on the 17th I would be 1 down playing the 18th. After my opponent found the trees off the tee I hit my tee shot to the heart of the green and another mistake from my opponent allowed me to have a 2-putt to win the hole and square the game and the match ended all square.

Peter was the anchor again and in what seemed to be the story of the day another slow start cost him and he wasn’t able to run him down. It was a tough day for him with him making birdies and his opponent answering with birdies of his own eventually losing 4 and 3.

A tough day at the office for all, losing the match 4.5 to 0.5 but we will dust ourselves off and go again next week. Up next week we take on Aberdeen at Paterson

- Batesy

Seniors – team captain Rob Gallen

In Round 4, The Vintage played Murrurundi at Paterson G.C.

On what was a beautiful day for golf The Vintage warriors made the pleasant drive to the nine hole Paterson Golf Course where we were well catered for by the very hospitable members. Today’s villains were the undefeated team from Murrurundi. It was a very pleasant 20 degrees when we teed off, only to reach a high of 27 as the final putt rolled in. The hues of the bougainvillea were a brilliant juxtaposition against the vivid clear blue sky and green of the course. 

The day started well with first time captain Andrew “Quokka” Quoyle winning the toss.

First off was the last resort team of Graham (Spakfilla) Rawlins and BJ (Smokey) Dawson who lined up for BJ’s first ever pennants match.

They started well with a string of pars between them over the first 8 holes to be 3 up; but then a hiccup on the 9th involving a tree meant they turned at 2 up. Going around the second time they started the same way and got to 4 up by the 12th. After a loss on 13 where Murrurundi putted in for a birdie from off the green, The Vintage team bounced straight back and finished the game at 4 and3. Well done.

The second group off were Michael “MO” Oliver and Andrew “Quokka” Quoyle. The first nine saw them turn one down. The match was close with the maximum lead never more than two holes. Michael “MO” Oliver held the side together on the first nine. The second nine saw “MO” drive the short par 4 10th only to just grab the green side bunker. Quokka started to hit his strides with some desperate, deft putting which was starting to get under the Murrurundi team’s skin. One down with three to play MO lifted and played some great golf to get us to square coming down the 18th.Quokka was the only one to put his tee shot on the green, the door was open? The relentless number of strokes The Vintage team had to give away proved too much. Unfortunately a three putt let the Murrurundi team, after a very good chip and putt, take the game 1 up.

The final group of Stacey “SS" Sykes & The “King” Arthur Bosch, giving 12 & 7 shots respectively to the Murrurundi opposition. We could have won holes 1 & 2 but 2 metre putts on both holesweresunk by Murrurundi and it was all square. 3rd hole another 3 metre putt holed by Murrurundi damaged the King after a gimme par… 1 down! SS played a great shot to win hole 4 easily, all square. Again lost 7 & 8 to mammoth putts from Murrurundi to turn 2 down after another Murrurundi saving putt on 9.

SS also drove (through) the par 4 10th, only to square with a birdie, (another shot given to Murrurundi) The game was in the control of the Murrurundi boys, who played the last nine holes in par off the stick, with 3 and 4 metre putts and a 40 metre chip holed…….. Loss to The Vintage 4/2.

So overall, a loss for the team 2 to 1

We look forward to the return of Captain BobbyG, and next week, the round is played at The Vintage, with our team having a bye.

- Andrew “Quokka” Quoyle (Acting Captain)

The Ladies pennants team started the 2025 season with a bang. We have a strong contingent of ladies who have registered to play in the team this year giving the Co-Captains Jane Holmes and Bev Anderson a wealth of choice each week. The first team out for 2025 saw 2 new members and a returning member after a few years hiatus. The winning team out was; Jane Holmes, Mel Reid, Kat Kendall, Bev Anderson, Maree Gledhill, Helen Topp to take on the Muswellbrook team at Kurri. First out was Jane and Mel, and they both had seesawing games. Mel was 1 up going up 18, and managed to hold on. Jane was one down - but hit her best drive of the day - to par the hole and squared her game. Next out was Kat who had to give one shot and Bev had to give 4 shots. Kat was an early winner and in the clubhouse for the team first. Bev also played to 18 holes and managed the win. Last out Maree who gave two shots, and Helen who had to give 3 shots. Again all close games, with Helen winning on the 17th hole, and Maree also coming in with a squared game. 

Congratulations to the team on a great 5 & 1 win. Next week we travel to Hunter Valley to take on Branxton.