xvi) Player Profiles

 

R.A. Wearne
Mr Wearne holds a record that will probably never be equalled: he was Club Champion 17 times. He was the best player and regarded as club champion in its first year and was then champion every year except 1910 when he lost to George Harrison. Wearne’s long run as champion ended in 1915 when he lost to Charles Brown at the 18th hole. Wearne immediately called for a cheer from spectators for the new champion - a sporting gesture that was typical of this great player. In 1913, with choir conductor Leonard Francis as partner, he won the handicap section of the Queensland Foursome Championship and was runner up overall. He was a member of the Queensland Golf Association committee which introduced a uniform handicapping system in 1927.

Mr Wearne was a master at Ipswich Grammar School but in 1900 was appointed as the first principal of the Ipswich Technical College. His wife Minnie was the daughter of fellow Golf Club member Elias Harding.

Jack and Charles Brown
In 1914, Jack Brown and his partner Miss Deacon won the Queensland Mixed Foursomes Championship at Brisbane Golf Club, Yerongpilly, with a gross score of 90. He was also Club Champion at Ipswich in 1919, 22, 23 and 24. In 1919, he established the course record of 71.

Charles was Club Champion in 1915 and 1916 and was Queensland Amateur Champion in 1923.

The two brothers combined as a formidable team. They won the Queensland Amateur Foursomes Championship in 1920, 22, 23 and 24 and in 1922, were sent to play in the Australian Amateur Championships in Sydney. Charles and Jack both went on to become Professionals, Charles winning many events including the Queensland PGA title in 1930, 31 and 32.

Col Jackes
Col was a member of the 1929 Pennant Team which won the BDGA Division B Pennant. He was also Club champion six times, in 1934, 35 and 1937 to 1940. In 1931, he held the amateur course record of 75 and in 1936, he set a new record of 70.

W.S. Lettice
Bill Lettice was Club Captain in 1916, and Club Champion four times, in 1931, 32, 33 and 36.

Doreen Cameron nee Galligan
Doreen Galligan joined the Ipswich Golf Club in 1931 and soon established herself as an exceptional player and Club member. This seems to have been a family tradition as a Mrs Galligan and a Mr Galligan appear in Club records as Associates and Members captains at this time.

War interrupted her golfing . She spent a year at Redbank Army camp, then was the only Ipswich member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment to be selected to go overseas. She served in hospitals in Palestine and then near El Alamein, helping care for casualties evacuated during the African campaign. She returned to Australia, then was sent to Borneo where she worked in a 1200 bed hospital, caring mainly for released prisoners of war.

She returned in 1946, having played only one game in Cairo in five years, but was soon swinging her club again on the Ipswich course. On opening day, onlookers were pleased to note that "Doreen Galligan is playing well, with no diminution in her former grace and effectiveness".

Later still, the Club was delighted when Doreen and Col Cameron were married.

Doreen was Associates Secretary in 1932 and President from 1952 to 1961 and again in 1963 and was made an Associates Life Member. She was also Associates Champion 1936, 37, 39, 52, 59, 63, 65 and 66 and played in the first Queensland team in Sydney in 1938. She died in 1996.

Alice Campbell
Alice played off a handicap of 4 and was Associates Champion four times, in 1935, 38, 49 and 51. In 1937, she was runner-up in the State Championship to Miss J. Gardner at Indooroopilly and she represented Queensland twice, in 1939 and 1947. When she travelled to Adelaide by train in 1939 for the competition, the team of four women was chaperoned by a Miss McLeod and Alice later recalled with amusement the severe restrictions which were placed on them.

Alice won the Moreton and South Coast Mixed Foursomes with partner Ted Dickson and the Queensland Ladies State Foursome Championship with Selina Thomas.

Selina Thomas
For Selina Thomas, 1947 was a very good year. She was playing off a handicap of five and was at that time, the lowest marker in the state. In the same year, she was Associates Champion at Ipswich, established a course record of 75 at Gailes and with Alice Campbell, won the Queensland Ladies Foursome Championship.

She was Associates Captain from 1942 to 1946 and won the Club championship in 1940, 41, 46, 47 and 48. She was a Queensland player in 1946 and 48, performed well in state championships and won several district awards. She was also Gailes Club Champion from 1946 to 1951.

Her husband was Les Thomas, a well-known Ipswich businessman who was secretary of the Ipswich Golf Club for many years. Selina died in 1996.

Ella Wright
Ella contributed a great deal to the Club as Captain for 13 years, in 1950-52, 55-58, 60-61 and 64-67. She was President in 1962 and delegate to the Queensland ladies Golf Union in 1967.

She was Associates Champion for three years, 1960-62 and won the Associates Foursomes with Doreen Cameron in 1962, 64, 65 and 67 and the Mixed Foursome with Max Hertrick in 1955. Her grandson Tim is the 1996 Club Champion.

Max Hertrick
Max started as a caddie in 1936 at the age of 12. He won the Ipswich Caddies Championship on the old course and at the age of 15, won the Courier Mail Caddie’s Cup in Brisbane. He was awarded honorary membership for a year as a reward and eventually got his handicap down to scratch. In 1941, he set a course record of 69 at Ipswich. He also set a record of 72 at the new course about 1951.
His competition achievements included:

  • Club Champion 1950, 1952, 1959, 1960, 1967
  • Men’s Foursome Champion 1951, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1962
  • Mixed Foursome Champion 1955, 1959, 1964
  • West Moreton Championship 1957
  • Club President 1968 and Club Captain 1952, 1953, 1957
  • Honorary secretary and treasurer on several occasions in the 1950s
  • Life Member 1967

Ron Hertrick
Ron started as a caddie at the old course about 1937 and won the local Caddies Cup on several occasions. In 1947 and 48, he was Ipswich Champion and Queensland Country Champion. He joined Gailes in 1950 when the club moved to Leichhardt and went on to win state selection from 1966 to 1974, captaining the team in 1974 when a fellow team member was Greg Norman.

Doug Hertrick
Doug Hertrick put the second Hertrick name on the Courier Mail Caddies Cup in 1947, having won the Ipswich Caddies Cup in 1944 and 1947. He was well-prepared for the contest: almost every evening, he swung a bag of clubs on his shoulder and rode his bicycle to the links for practice. He joined Gailes about 1953 and went on to be a champion player for that club, representing Queensland in 1965. and won the Queensland Foursomes Championship in 1959.

Cliff Ryan
Cliff started his association with the Club at the age of 12 in 1947 as a caddie at the old course and won the local Caddies Cup in 1951. When he joined the Club at the age of 16, he was given a handicap of 12 and won his first championship the following year, a Mixed Foursome with Mary Gould as partner. He joined Gailes in 1953 but returned to Ipswich after his marriage and went on to win the Club Championship six times, in 1958, 61-62 and 64-67. He and Dennis Hoger hold the record for the most number of championships won at the Leichhardt course.

He also won the Club Foursomes Championship seven times (1961, 1964-66, 1968-70), the IWM Close Championship in 1961 and the IWM Members Four-ball championship in 1966. He was a member of the victorious pennant team in 1969.

Col Ryan
Col started as a caddie at the old course in 1947 with twin brother Cliff, both of whom started with a handicap of 12. In 1971, he and Cliff created history when they played off in the Club Championship final. One of his favourite memories is when he equalled the course record of 71 in 1961 in morning play - and then repeated the performance in the afternoon to win the West Moreton Open Championship. He teamed up with Terry Bullock to win the Foursomes Championships in 1982, 87 and 88 and the two silver-haired golfers gained the nicknames of the Silver Foxes Nos 1 and 2. They are still playing today as a team. His golf highlights include:

  • Caddies Cup 1950
  • Club Champion 1968, 71, 72, 84
  • Club Senior Champion 1985, 89, 92
  • Club Veteran Champion 1995
  • Foursome Championship 1967, 71, 79, 82, 87, 88
  • Mixed Foursome Championship 1973, 75, 79
  • Match Play Championship 1977
  • West Moreton Open Champion 1959, 60, 61, 66, 87
  • Won amateur section, South Pacific Open 1971
  • Club Pennant player

Terry Bullock
Terry joined the Club in 1968. A great club supporter, he is known as Mr Raffles as he ran so many fundraising events. His other nickname was Silver Fox No 2 because of his silver hair. His golfing highlights include:

  • Club champion 1974, 88
  • Senior Champion 1986-88, 1990-91, 1993-96
  • Veteran Champion 1996
  • Moreton District Senior Champion 1991-95
  • Foursomes Champion 1982, 87, 88
  • Mixed Foursome Champion 1982, 83
  • Single Handicap Match Play Champion 1982, 83
  • Club Pennant Player

 

W. Rigg

  • Club Champion for three years running - 1954, 55 and 56
  • Foursomes Championship 1954
  • Queensland Country Championship 1954
  • Queensland Country Foursomes Championship (with Jim Nutter) 1955
  • Ipswich and West Moreton Close Championship 1955, 56
  • Ipswich and West Moreton Mixed Foursomes Championship with wife Pearl in 1956

After 1956, he left this district and went to Sydney.

Flo Carbine
Flo holds the course record of 74, shared with Libby Wilson who is now a professional and has represented Queensland intrastate. Her other achievements include:

  • Australian Senior Title 1991
  • Gold Medal for Senior Title, World Masters Games 1994
  • Club Champion 1964,67, 68, 69, 70
  • Associates Foursomes Champion 1963, 64, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71 and 1983
  • Mixed Foursomes Champion 1963
  • Moreton District Champion 1967, 70, 71
  • Moreton District Mixed Foursomes Champion 1970
  • Gailes Championship 1981
  • Gailes Foursomes Championship 1970, 72, 74, 75, 78-82.

Robyn Darwen (nee Carbine)
Robyn represented Queensland in the Australian Schoolgirls Ansett ANA Cup in 1967 and, with Judy Byrne, won the event. She played her mother Flo in the final of the Club Championship in 1968 but Flo was the eventual winner. This is probably a first for Ipswich - to have a mother and daughter in a Club final.

Robyn was Club Champion in 1977, 1981 and 1983. She won the Mixed Foursomes Championship in 1966 and again in 1971, playing with her father Athol Carbine. She also won the Associates Foursome Championship in 1968, 69, 70, 71 and 83 with her mother Flo, the Gailes Championship in 1968 and the Gailes Foursomes Championship with her mother Flo in 1970..

 

 

 

Dennis Hoger
Dennis was another player who was only 12 when he joined as a caddie in 1964. He showed a natural talent and was a member of the junior coaching clinic run by the club members and the Professional Ken Davidson. In 1969, he was both Junior Champion and Club Champion - the first occasion on which a junior won both titles in the same year.

He decided to turn professional in 1969 and accepted a traineeship at Indooroopilly under a former Ipswich Professional Ossie Walker. However after 18 months, he decided that the life of a Professional was not for him and he applied for re-instatement back to amateur ranks. This was granted in 1972. He was still a Junior and in this year, won the Junior Championship again, followed in 1973 by another double with the Junior and Club Championships.

He was known for his big hitting ability and many players gathered at the first tee just to see Dennis scream one down the fairway. Greg Norman was also a junior at this time and they often had duels to see who could drive the furthest.

His ongoing achievements include:

  • Downs and South west Junior and Open Champion 1973
  • State Junior team 1973
  • Senior Queensland team 1973, 75 ( a fellow team member was Greg Norman)
  • Course record of 65 at Ipswich 1973 (a perpetual record as the course was later altered)
  • Club Mixed Foursomes Champion 1974, 76, 78, 92, 93, 95
  • Club Foursomes Champion 1975, 79, 84, 89, 90, 91
  • Club Champion 1969, 73, 75, 76, 80, 89
  • South Coast Open Champion at Southport and new course record of 68 in 1976
  • City of Ipswich Open Champion 1989
  • Member of winning Division 3 pennant team 1983
  • Moreton District Champion 1990, 91

Wayne Ziebell
Wayne has managed to get his name on every honour board at least once, but had to play the Calcutta final six times before he added this last win.

  • Queensland State Foursomes Championship 1980
  • Club Champion 1979, 81, 83
  • City of Ipswich Open 1987
  • Men’s Foursomes Championship 1981, 84, 92
  • Mixed Foursomes Championship 1984, 85, 87,89, 91, 94
  • Handicap Matchplay Championship 1986, 88
  • Summer Cup Championship 1993
  • Calcutta (with Jim Tankey) 1993
  • Moreton District Open Champion 1986
  • Coal City Open Champion 1990
  • Dr Tweddell Cup 1996
  • Kev Pearson Memorial Event, Karana Downs 1985 (an Angus Buchanan event)
  • Stroke Average winner 1985, 86, 87, 94
  • Club Pennant player

 

Richard Novotny
Richard has twice played in the World Junior Championships in San Diego, USA where Tiger Woods was a fellow competitor; he finished 4th in his age group in 1992 and 15th overall in 1993. He is currently (1997) employed as a groundsman on the course.

Closer to home, his achievements include:

  • Club Junior Champion 1992, 93
  • Club Champion 1994
  • Foursomes Championship 1994, 96
  • Club pennant player
  • Qld Representative in Australian Secondary Schools’ Golf Championship 1990
  • State Junior team 1993 - the team won the title
  • Runner-up in Australian Junior Championship 1993
  • Summer Cup 1996

Paula Solomon
Paula joined in 1965 and learned most of her golf from her parents and from the Saturday morning cadet clinics. After only three months, she and Glen Malcolmson won the West Moreton Foursome Championship at Ipswich. In 1968 at the age of 16, she won the Queensland Schoolgirls’ Golf title and with Pauline Nunn and Bernice Jeffrey, won the Mary Maddick Salver.

She won the Schoolgirls’ Championship again in 1969 and other wins included the Australian Schoolgirls Ansett ANA Cup in 1968 with Roberta Simpson and 69 with Alayane Gray. She was chosen for the Queensland Senior team in 1970,

Peter Wouti
Now a professional, Peter was the Club’s Junior Champion in 1982 and Club Champion in 1983. He was Queensland Amateur Champion and a member of the state team in 1983. He has since won the Queensland State Foursome Championship and has twice won the Queensland Mixed Foursome Championship.

Tim Wright
Tim comes from a family of keen golfers - his father Tony Wright, grandfather J.B. Beirne and grandmother Ella Wright all served on the committee and loved the game. His first experience was caddying for his father at Tewantin at Easter, 1985. Within a short time, his own golf standard was improving rapidly and his successes include:

  • Club Junior Champion 1987-1989
  • State Junior squad 1989
  • State Colt team 1990 and 1993
  • State Senior team 1991 and 92
  • Queensland Country Champion 1991,
  • Queensland Amateur Championship runner-up 1992
  • Club Champion 1990-92 and 1996
  • Coal City Cup Champion 1995
  • City of Ipswich Open Champion 1993,
  • Centenary Summer Cup Champion 1997.

He is also a Club Pennant Player and is currently one of the two assistant managers of the Club.

Paul Dagger
Paul joined as a junior member in the 1980s and turned professional in 1995. He represented Queensland in 1989 in the Secondary Schools team and in 1991 in the state Colts team. His list of championships includes: Junior Championship 1987, Club Champion 1995 and Ipswich City Open 1988 and 1995. He was also a club pennant player.

Matthew Hill
Matthew is a Club pennant player. His successes include taking third place in the Australian Schoolboys Championship and representing Queensland in the State Junior Team in 1996.

Cassandra Burgess
Cassandra joined as a junior Associate in 1990 and now plays off a handicap of 5. She won the Mixed Foursomes Championship with Wayne Ziebell in 1994 and the Associates Foursome Championship in 1994 and 95. She represented Queensland in Alice Springs in the Schoolgirls team in 1990 and in Melbourne in the Junior team in 1991.

Rachel Hetherington
Rachel Hetherington is one of Ipswich Golf Club’s most successful players. Recent highlights of her career include winning the Maredo Ladies German Open and the La Manga Club Spanish Ladies Open in 1995 and qualifying for the USLPGA Tour in 1997.

Born in 1972, Rachel joined Ipswich as a Junior Associate at the age of 15. She left Bremer State High School in Year 11 to concentrate on golf as a career and was sometimes employed as a casual by the Club to help her along. She spent plenty of time practising and soon showed her winning form.

In 1988, for example, at the age of 16, she won the Ipswich Associates Championship, the Associates Foursomes, Mixed Foursomes and the Brisbane and District Junior Championship.

Her list of subsequent amateur achievements is impressive and includes the Australian Junior Plate, the Queensland and Victorian Junior Championships, the New South Wales Junior Championship four years in a row and the Tasmanian State Amateur. In 1993, she was selected in the Queensland State Ladies team and the Australian Ladies Tasman Cup team. The same year, she set a course record of 68 at Indooroopilly in winning the Club Championship.

Along the way, she reduced her handicap to 7 in 1988, 2 in 1989, 1 in 1990 and scratch in 1991.

In 1994, she turned professional and competed for the next three years in the Women Professional Golfers European Tour (WPGET). As the Club celebrates its centenary, Rachel will be playing in the US, but she says her favourite courses are still her old home course of Ipswich, along with Oxfordshire in England.

Jim Nutter - Life Member 1963
Jim served on the Club Committee and was President from 1957 to 1961. The following year, he was co-opted onto the Water Reticulation Sub-committee and for the next five years, was one of the people responsible for initiating the Club’s comprehensive watering scheme. Club members today are grateful for the dedicated pioneering work of Jim and his colleagues.

Jim Jacobs - Life Member 1987
Jim joined the Club in 1957. He was elected to the Committee in 1960 and in ensuing years, served in a variety of capacities including President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and Greens Chairman. He concluded his role as Administrator in 1983. Most of this time was when there were few paid staff and Committee positions such as Secretary meant a large amount of work. He was a delegate to the Moreton District Golf Association and with Alf Knauer and others, established the continuing tradition of the annual visit to Warwick Golf Club’s wholesalers/retailers day.

As a golfer, Jim did not win championships but he did achieve the golfer’s dream of a hole in one (on the 15th).

Alf Knauer - Life Member 1987
Alf served in the RAAF as a pilot for four years during World War II, operating mainly in the Middle East, Palestine and Libya. On his return to Australia, he married Thora in 1946 and joined Ipswich Golf Club in 1954. He was elected to the Committee the following year and served in a variety of roles including Honorary Treasurer, Captain and President. His many years of service were recognised in 1980 when he was appointed Club Patron and again in 1987 when he became a Life Member. Sadly, Alf died as the Club was celebrating its Centenary Year.

Clarrie Turner - Life Member 1993
Clarrie joined the Club in 1944 when he was engaged in wartime work as an engineer at the Ipswich Railway Workshops and is consequently one of very few current members who have played on the old Course. He was transferred to Townsville in 1946 but returned to Ipswich when he received a promotion in 1954, soon afterwards resuming his golfing connections. He was elected to the Committee in 1960 and his roles include President and Honorary Secretary. During his time on Committee, he was involved with the commencement of the automatic watering system, the entry of the Club into the Brisbane District Golf Association Pennants and Calcutta Four Ball Match Play Competition. In his late 80s, Clarrie still enjoys a game.

Col Cameron - Life Member 1958
The Club’s best-known provedore was the late Col Cameron who undertook the role for more than 20 years from 1937 onwards. He became so involved inside the Clubhouse that his active golfing dwindled and his handicap increased - but his devotion to golf remained constant.

According to Col, the role of a provedore was to restore the spirits of a golfer who had had a bad day and make him want to come back. As Chairman of the Club’s House Committee, the Provedore also used to be the Club’s purchasing officer and arranger of functions - a role now undertaken by the Club’s manager and fulltime staff.

Within two years of becoming provedore, Australia was at war and the Golf Club was struggling to remain in existence. At one point, Col said active membership had dwindled to 14. During that period, Jack Dixon and Col did most of the maintenance on the course. Fortunately, the Army used the Clubhouse as an officer’s mess and army personnel also used the course and helped maintain it.

After the War came the shift to Leichhardt and Col worked for a while from a tent. He said it was "quite a job keeping players happy, especially when they were playing on a course just being built. Their nerves were a bit frayed when they hit the tent."

 

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