Steady on the greens

Air Force golfers needed no mulligans to win the 2026 ACT Regional Defence Golf Association interservice championships, acing the tournament for a fourth consecutive year.

The three-day match play at Mollymook Hilltop Golf Club capped off a week on the greens around Canberra and NSW from October 26 to 30.

Match play is a team format where the goal is to win individual holes rather than tallying the total of all the strokes.

Air Force defeated Army 8-4 on day one before downing Navy 7-5 on day two to claim the interservice trophy.

Captain of the ACT Air Force team WOFF Brad McGarrity said match play golf has some strategy in pairing the best player against their opposition. However, it comes down to individual performance on the day. 

“Everyone on the day has to play to their best golf. I backed everyone to play to their best and, obviously, we came away with the win,” he said.

“It was extremely satisfying. That's what we were all chasing at the start of the week and to come away with the chocolates was a great outcome.”

Navy won against Army on day three to claim second place. 

Captain of the ACT Army team WO1 Sean O’Toole said that despite the result, the Army golfers made a good showing for themselves.

“Navy had, in general, higher handicaps than Army, so we gave up 70 shots before the game even started. We had to play very good golf to beat them,” he said.

The week kicked off with a nine-hole Ambrose as a warm-up and social icebreaker at the RMC Duntroon golf course to get into the swing of things.

The individual competition was an 18-hole Stableford event at the Murrumbidgee Golf Course on October 27.

PLTOFF Liam McCarthy won the A-grade tournament with 35 points and LEUT Belinda Wozniak won the B-grade tournament with 40 points.

LEUT Wozniak won despite only having 10 months of golf under her belt, though she said a high handicap and lucky shots helped her chances.

“There were a couple of par threes where I used an iron on the tee and topped it, but the ball rolled the whole way down and ended up on the green – but I did hit some nice shots as well,” she said.

“I had some holes where I absolutely butchered it, but the people I played with made it a whole lot more fun. We all congratulated each other's good shots and giggled at the bad shots.”

Her prize – two sleeves of golf balls – added to her collection of more than 400 golf balls, including special orders from Japan and Canada.

“A lot of people collect ball markers or pencils or cards, but I just think the golf balls are super cute,” she said.

Throughout the week, players were encouraged to donate to Legacy Monaro, and the association raised more than $1000 throughout the competition.