There are ominous signs for those looking to knock Shepparton Golf off of its perch atop the Goulburn Valley Bowls Division summit.
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The Golfers have a monopoly on the Allan Matheson Shield - awarded to the division one weekend pennant premier since 2017 - having been crowned champion of the top tier in each of the past four seasons.
With their quest for a five-peat of flags starting Saturday, the club's stars have been showcasing their supreme form in the GVBD state events leading up to the new campaign.
After Brad Orr, David Daws and John Hallam secured the men's triples title recently, Orr joined forced with Col Power, Wayne Dagger and John Dagger to take out the men's fours event at Kyabram.
Orr's side snuck past Shepparton Park quartet Ross Higgins, Paul Becroft, Ernie Salvemini and Brian Hall 17-16 in the decider to warm up expertly for the start of the weekend pennant season.
The Golfers made up one half of the semi-final contests in the competition, with John Stokes and his rink going down to Orr 22-9 at the penultimate hurdle.
Higgins had outlasted Daniel Nichols and his East Shepparton side 22-20 to make the final.
Shepparton Golf also snared the over-60 men's pairs title last week.
It was an all-Golfer final on the club's home greens with John Dagger and Peter Lawer eventually defeating Richard Warburton and Jock Hastie 13-11.
News photographer Megan Fisher was on hand to capture some of the action in the tournament.
Other state event winners to this stage of the season include Kyabram's Rob Sceney taking out the over-60 men's singles, Mooroopna Golf's Lynn Barber and Sheryl Emmett claiming the over-60 women's pairs and Rushworth's Jean Sprague snaring the over-60 women's singles crown.