By Colin MacGillivray

Horsham Golf is the toast of the Wimmera Playing Area bowls competition, completing a clean sweep of pennant premierships on Saturday.

The club entered the weekend with teams in all three division grand finals, having already won the division-two midweek pennant premiership on Tuesday last week.

While Horsham Golf president Craig Turvey anticipated it would be an uphill battle to claim all three weekend premierships, the club only dropped two of nine rinks across the afternoon.

Its division-one win was its most dominant, with Horsham Golf showing why it finished atop the ladder in a 16-point, 91-shot to zero-point, 46-shot thumping of Horsham City.

Golf got away to a strong start in the first rink, with Ross Barnett, Stephen Harris, Geoffrey Bald and skip Ashley Batchelor besting City’s William Hogan, Graham McDonald, Duncan Bottoms and skip Ron Dolby 31-19.

The second rink was even more one-sided, with Golf’s Hayden Tucker, Danny Schmidt, Ken McClelland and Bradley Robinson accounting for a City foursome of Colin Morrell, Bruce Campbell, John Burchell and skip Anthony King 31-11.

Robert Grieger, Heath Miller, Denis Ballinger and skip Gavin Walter put the finishing touches on Golf’s premiership in the final rink, beating John Lehmann, Douglas Mitchell, Kevin Smith and skip Kevin Clyne 29-16.

Division two also saw Horsham Golf win comfortably over Nhill, coming out nearly 20 shots ahead despite dropping the first rink.

Nhill’s Charles Hickman, Bob Schneider, Shaun McDonald and skip Larry Bywaters got the best of Golf’s Chris Mellor, Dave Gove, Craig Turvey and skip Darryl Phillips to win 28-23, but Golf, the minor premier, responded strongly to win the next two rinks 30-15 and 24-15.

Division three produced the closest grand final of the afternoon, with Horsham Golf and Nhill again squaring off.

Nhill entered as the team to beat after topping the ladder, but was put on the back foot when Horsham Golf’s Graeme Ough, Peter Broadbear, Raymond Schulze and skip Michael John won the first rink 22-11 against Ian Marra, Ronald Beer, Robert Cook and skip Philip Henseleit.

Nhill rebounded to capture the second rink 19-10, putting it only two shots from the lead entering the decisive third rink.

While Peter McDonald, Jock Bone, Bruce Muller and skip Maurie Haby put up a strong fight for Nhill, it was Golf’s Diane Dale, Margaret Smith, David Landwehr and skip Russell Smith who sealed the premiership for their team with a narrow 19-17 win, making the final score 14-51 to 2-47.

Other playing areas

North Wimmera Playing Area’s division-one weekend grand final went the way of Warracknabeal, which defeated crosstown rival Warracknabeal Golf White 16-98 to 0-54 in a dominant display.

Warracknabeal flexed its muscles from the opening rink with Shane Powell, Peter Anderson, Edna Anderson and skip Ron Baron securing a massive 43-14 win to set the stage for their side and cap an undefeated season.

Warracknabeal also celebrated an undefeated year in division two, beating Minyip 14-70 to 2-66 in a hard-fought grand final that came down to the final few ends.

The Grampians Playing Area division-one weekend pennant belongs to Chalambar Golf Bowls Club, which beat Stawell Golf 12-94 to 0-39, winning each rink by at least eight shots.

The division-two grand final was closer, with Stawell defeating Stawell Golf by only seven shots despite winning all three rinks.

Wycheproof was victorious in the North Central Playing Area division-one weekend pennant, defeating Donald 10-70 to 2-64 despite a valiant fightback by Donald in the final rink.

The division-two grand final went to Wycheproof, defeating Wedderburn 12-80 to 0-57. 

The entire March 4, 2026 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!