Lismore Veterans Golf

"The actual date the Lismore Veteran's Golf Club started is not known, but in the early 1970's and up to 1978 it would appear that Stan Cook and Gordon Devlin ran it, because at a meeting on the 9th November, 1978 they were re-elected unopposed as President and Secretary / Treasurer respectfully, a position they held till 13th November , 1980, when Gordon Devlin was elected as President, Cliff Underwood, Secretary / Treasurer and Andy Jones as Captain. At the same meeting Stan Cook was appointed Life Member of the Lismore Veteran's Golf Club. At this meeting the membership was 47.

To get donations for Open Days early in the clubs history, committee members used to go around town and canvas businesses.   Members themselves even donated trophies as well, just to get the Open Days up and running.  Some of the sponsors on a regular basis over the years have been:-  Lismore Golf Club, Lismore Workers Club, Len Sackett and Partner, Kirklands Bus Coy, Wal Murray Real Estate,  Summerland Credit Union, Lismore Cellarbrations and Lucky’s Seafood.

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Over the years of the Open Days, B.B.Q’s and Dinners, particularly in the early days, dedicated members wives would provide or assist in putting them on and providing morning tea, and running the raffles, to ensure the day ran smoothly. Some of the ladies were:- Nola Webber, Norma Underwood, Mary Monaghan, Ada Kelly, Vilmai McDonald, Pam Francis, Val Murray, Norma Toohey, Ruth Sanders and Elaine Barry.

 

One of the things I tried to do was to find out the past winners of the veteran’s major events like the “Gordon Devlin Memorial Trophy”, “Vardon Trophy”, “Club Championships” and the “Presidents Medal”.   Attached are Major Winners names that I could find.

 

The Vardon and the Gordon Devlin had no PERPETUAL trophies as such, but something that was brought, like a prize or a money voucher.

 

In 1982, with the passing of Gordon Devlin, who was one of the driving forces in establishing the Lismore Veteran’s Golf Club, the Lismore Golf Club gave the veterans permission to run an event called “The Gordon Devlin Memorial Trophy”. The Gordon Devlin trophy was contested (by the vets) on the two rounds of the Lismore Golf Club Championships.   It was last contested for in 1995 and won by Athol Rogers.

 

The Vardon Trophy was donated by club professional, Barry Humphries in 1978. The Vardon was contested on the day of the Lismore Golf Club Monthly Medal, and it would appear that at least 8 games out of 10 had to be played.  The first winner of the event was Frank Dodd.  The main club also ran a Vardon event.  The contest was discontinued by a meeting in 1997, the last winner was Mel Sawtell and runner-up was Murray Buckley.

 

The winners and runners-up for the two events that I could find are in the attachment to this history.

 

At a Lismore Golf Club meeting on the 14th March, 1977 Stan Cook spoke on behalf of the Veteran’s Club and asked for a date to be considered for the running of a Veteran’s Open Day.  The Lismore Veteran’s joined the N.R.V.G.A on the 6th December, 1977 with a membership of 26.  The first Lismore Open Day after joining the N.R.V.G.A. was conducted on the 4th July, 1978.   Apart from the Lismore Veteran’s Open Day there were no Veteran’s Competitions run through the week prior to 1984.   It would appear that the members running the main golf club would not allocate a day for the veteran’s in fear of losing players from their Thursday and Saturday competitions.   It was these factors that caused a lack of interest in the Veteran’s Club from 1980 to 1984, even to the extent that there was no Vardon or Gordon Devlin competitions recorded, although open days were still held.  This led to the veteran’s committee under the guidance of Harry Thornhill and Cliff Underwood writing to all the known Veterans encouraging them to rally, and it was at a meeting on the 27th  February, 1984 that a Nine Hole Competition was sanctioned and began to be run on a Tuesday, and then on the 2nd  June, 1986 it was extended to an Eighteen Hole Competition which was the beginning of the Veteran’s Golf Club competitions as we know it today.   (At some stage between these two competitions there was a Twelve Hole competition played).

 

From about 1990 there has been an AJUSTED HANDICAPPING SYSTEM FOR THE VETERANS.  It was started by Fred Hyland to spread the prizes fairly over the members so the same members weren’t winning all the time.  The Veterans play the day’s event off their CLUB handicap and when all the cards are handed in the score is adjusted for the Veterans handicap only for that event.  The cards then go into Lismore Club for scoring on their club handicap and then sent to Golf Link.

The system starts with using the Club Handicap as a base, winners lose what ever strokes they break their handicap by up to maximum of 6 strokes, those that win but don’t break their handicap lose 2 strokes and all non winners get a stroke back.  Then in about 1999 Barry Hart wrote a software program using the same system so the Tuesday competitions could be recorded and the results produced on the computer. Over the years the system has been brought up for discussion at meetings, but has remained.

 

I rummaged through the records room at the golf club, only to find they had relocated some of the records down to the main Workers Club.  The reason the records were taken down to the Workers Club is that the Workers took over the Lismore Golf Club and wanted to centralize their records.  The Secretary/Manager of the Workers Club had people go through their store room but could not find anything pertaining to Veteran’s Golf.   It would appear that if any records did go down to the main Workers Club that they have been lost or thrown out.  Following is some information I did find:-

        1.          At a General Committee meeting on the 14th, March, 1977 in a Match Committee Report, Stan Cook asked the committee for a date to be considered for the Lismore Veterans so they could hold a Northern Rivers   Open Day.

        2.         At a General Committee Meeting on the 12th June, 1978 in the General Business section, Peter Mc Ewen suggested the Lismore Golf Club put out a Newsletter, Stan Cook says the Veteran’s Club will support it.

        3.         At a General Committee meeting on the 11th September, 1978 read by Les Mancell (Chairman) that apologies have been made to the Veteran’s Club for the oversight regarding the Captains v Presidents Event.

       4.         At an Annual General Meeting on the 13th December, 1978 there were three   bits of information under General Business for the Veteran’s Club:-

   a.         Stan Cook requested and was granted permission on behalf of the Veteran’s Golf Club to prepare a plan for the re-organization and beautification of the 10th tee, he, along with the Greens Committee Chairman were then to report back to the Board for approval.

   b.         The golf Club offered 4 extra turkeys as trophies for the Veteran’s Open Day.

   c.         The Veteran’s secretary be invited to attend the planning of the club’s yearly program with the Club Captain.

        5.         In two old annual reports by Club Captain, Stan Bendall, the report for          1986 stated that “the Veteran’s Champion for 1986 was Basil Elliss who beat Bill Boundy on a play-off”.  Then his report for 1986/1987 stated “the Veteran’s Champion was Athol Rogers and runner-up was Bert Hicks”.  This has to be the Gordon Devlin Event as the Veteran’s Championships never started till 1989, and that was commenced by captain Fred Hyland, the first winner was Mel Sawtell and runner-up was Alan Wilcox.

 

The years 1998 and 1999 were very difficult for not only the Veteran’s Committee, but the Lismore Golf Club and almost every golf club across the Northern Rivers because of the continuous wet weather, which meant the players could not play and resulting in loss of income to the club. This bought about the financial downfall of the Lismore Golf Club and in November, 1999 the golf club amalgamated with Lismore Workers Club therefore becoming the Lismore Workers Golf Club and the Lismore Workers Veteran’s Golf Club respectfully.

 

Apart from holding positions within the Lismore Veteran’s Golf Club, some of our members had worked hard on the committee of the N.R.V.G.A.  

 They are:-

            Stan Cook.                 President                    1979 – 1982

            Harry Thornhill.       Secretary                    1984 – 1990

            Bruce Sanders.          President                    1994 – 1995

            Jim Kelly.                 Vice President           1995 - 2002

                                              President                    2002 – 2008

            Brian Hayes.             Auditor for the last 7 years and a delegate for 16 years.

 In recognition for their dedication and loyalty to the veteran’s cause, the following were made life members of the N.R.V.G.A.

 Date Bestowed

             Stan Cook.                             22nd November, 1980.

            Harry Thornhill.                     21st October, 1991.

            Jim Kelly.                               18th June, 2009.

 

In February, 2009, at the Byron Bay Veteran’s Open Day, Jim Kelly was also awarded from the New South Wales Veteran Golf Association (Inc.) the Meritorious Service Badge dated the 3rd December, 2008 for dedication, tireless and hard work.

(See attachment).

 

At a meeting of the N.R.V.G.A. held on the 13th June 2014, a shield was presented to the Lismore Veterans Golf Club in recognition of the contribution of Jim Kelly and Harry Thornhill to Veterans Golf.  The idea being that the Lismore Veterans Golf Club allocate one day a year in which members will compete, with the winners name being inscribed on the shield.

In the Lismore Veterans Golf Club the following were made Life Members:-

                                                Date Bestowed

Stan Cook.                             22nd October, 1980.                                      

Bruce Sanders.                      September, 1994.

Arthur Monaghan.                 8th April, 2003.

Geoff Brickhill.                    11th April, 2004.

Jim Kelly.                              December, 2006.

Fred Hyland.                         October, 2008.

Brian Hayes.                         16th November, 2010.

Harry Thornhill.                    16th November, 2010.

Don McDonald.                    16th November, 2010.

Noel Bell                               24th May, 2019

John Lowe                             9th September, 2020

Col Fisher                             19th September, 2023

Ian Leake                              19th September, 2023

 

In 2021 Life Membership badges were introduced and presented to relevant members.

 

In summary, I hope that this history can be kept up-to-date by adding information to this important organization of the Lismore Workers Veteran’s Golf Club complied by Don McDonald. To add additional information notify the Secretary in tenure.

Updated Jan 2025