Hawks Nest golfers celebrate putting prowess

PUTTING prowess was celebrated at the Paramount Putters Club’s 2025 presentation at Mumm’s on the Myall on 30 January.

A total of 21 putting ladies gathered to celebrate a successful year, welcoming newcomers Jo Scott, Tanya Sinclair, Susan Hair, Caroline Affleck, as well as previous member Donna O’Brien.

“We are one of two putting clubs run by ladies at the Hawks Nest Golf Club and last year we had a record number of ladies participating (22),” Paramount Putter Elsa Jones told NOTA.

The Putting Club exercises a complex rule system whereby, should any player exceed a number of putts in their Tuesday golf game, they are ‘penalised’ half a dollar for each putt over the limit.

“After each game on a Tuesday, some ladies are so pleased to come up to me and say ‘no three-putts today’, whilst others come with long faces to tell me they had four three-putts and sometimes even four-putting outcomes, so the money rolls in,” Elsa explained.

At the end of the year, the complexity of the system hits fever pitch as all the ladies get their money back (usually between $35 to $50), to spend on the annual presentation luncheon.

“It’s quite ironic that the bad putters who end up having the most to spend on their meal are quite pleased with themselves,” Elsa pointed out.

“All in all we have a lot of fun throughout the year and enjoy our big get-together at various restaurants around the area.”

Paramount Putting Club winners for 2025, with the lowest number of putts for the year, were Elsa Jones (1^st), Pam Keegan (2^nd), and Jo Scott (3^rd).

‘Most Improved’ went to Liz Edmonds, the Encouragement Award went to Tanya Sinclair, while the Bradman Prize was awarded to Sharon Barwick.

A special gift was presented to Elsa Jones to thank her for significant efforts organising the club throughout the year.

By Thomas O’KEEFE