Considered to be one of the younger members of the Gloucester Golf Club, ‘almost 40’ Paul Blanch walked out of this year’s Gloucester Golf Club annual presentation night with six awards under his arm.
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The mine worker saw his hard work throughout the year pay off as he stepped up to win Club Champion, the Bob Webeck Memorial Trophy; the Advocate Cup Open Day Trophy; A Grade Match Play Championships; A Grade Winter Eclectic Champion and Mens Foursomes Championships, which he combined to win with his father Doug.
“I’ve been associated with this club for 40 years, and in all that time I’ve never seen anyone take out that many. He won everything worth winning, bar one,” club captain Roy Crichton said.
“Put it this way, people’s handicap start at 36. Paul’s playing off one. There are not a lot of one handicap people around in clubs. We’ve got a couple of guys at two or three... Everyone close to him is just going to have to lift their game higher,” he said.
Crichton attitudes Blanch’s skill to not just his technique but also his competitive streak.
“Paul puts a lot of work into it and he’s pretty competitive,” Crichton said, adding that on the golf course, it was a necessary quality.
“If I see someone who can laugh at a bad shot, they’ll never make a good golfer. You really have to learn to just grind your teeth and do better.”
Blanch began playing golf around 14-years of age, after ‘tagging around with the old boy’ for years.
“I used to go with my dad, but didn’t have my first comp game until I was 15. Then I worked my way through the grades, and made A grade when I was 19 or 20. I’ve been there ever since,” Blanch said.
A sports enthusiast, Blanch represented NSW in his younger days, particularly in hockey. Juggling work, family, and interest, he now plays in the club’s competition one Saturday a month.
“I had to take time off to play most of the championships. It can make life difficult.”
But it seems, not difficult enough, and time on the golfing green with other golfers is something that he welcomes as a way to relax.
“It’s really enjoyable. It’s a great excuse to chase something up a hill,” he laughed.
Blanch said the most important quality for golf is patience. Alot of it.
“You can have a terrible day, and next day great... I’ve played really well this year. I’m really happy,” he said.
In other club results, Tom Dare was declared B grade men’s champion, Neil Dowsett C grade champion, Roy Crichton and Jill Carson Mixed Foursomes champions. Veteran’s A grade champion was also Roy Crichton.
Crichton said it had been a successful year for the club, but the challenge was getting younger generations in to stay.
“Our whole issue is we bring kids into sport, but then they have to go away to find jobs. Veterans golf here on the other hand is doing so well. On the whole, it’s been a good year for the club.”